Operation Motel
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Location
Zambia
Lusaka
Solwezi
Operation Motel (Zambia)
ObjectiveDestroy ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia.
Date23 August 1979
OutcomeZimbabwe-Rhodesian victory
| Operation Motel | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Rhodesian Bush War | |
| Location | Zambia Lusaka Solwezi Operation Motel (Zambia) |
| Objective | Destroy ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia. |
| Date | 23 August 1979 |
| Outcome | Zimbabwe-Rhodesian victory |
| Casualties | Many ZIPRA camps were destroyed, and many ZIPRA guerillas were killed |
Operation Motel was a Zimbabwe-Rhodesian military operation in Zambia with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned raids against a ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia.
The operation consisted of two raids on a ZIPRA camp on 23 August 1979. The Rhodesian and South African Canberra bombers and Hawker Hunter strike aircraft took off at 09h40 for Operation Motel I with the aircraft forming over Victoria Falls before conducting a low-level bombing attack on a camp 32 km south of Solwezi in Northern Zambia.[1]: Ch5