The MAP75 Armoured Personnel Carrier (a.k.a. MAP 'seven five') is a

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

n 4x4 heavy troop-carrying vehicle (TCV) first introduced in 1978 based on a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

truck chassis. It remains in use with the

Zimbabwe National Army The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is the primary branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces responsible for land-oriented military operations. It is the largest service branch under the Zimbabwean Joint Operations Command (JOC). The modern army has ...

General description

The MAP75 consists of an all-welded body with a fully enclosed troop compartment built on a modified

7.5 ton Series LA1113/42 truck chassis ('Rodef 45'). Adapted from the Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier, the open-topped hull or 'capsule' is faceted at the sides, which were designed to deflect small-arms' rounds, and a flat deck reinforced by a v-shaped 'crush box' meant to deflect

landmine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

blasts. Three inverted U-shaped 'roll bars' shorter than those on the Crocodile were fitted to protect the fighting compartment from being crushed in case the vehicle turned and roll over after a mine detonation. However, the reduced height of the 'roll bars' often hampered the crew's movements inside the vehicle, though the problem was rectified only in the post-war Zimbabwean versions by fitting higher bars. Access to the vehicle's interior is made by means of two medium-sized doors at the vertical hull rear whilst two square hatches placed low at the hull sides allowed for rapid debussing, an innovation that reflected the vehicle's combat offensive role.

Protection

The hull was made of ballistic 10mm mild steel plate; front windscreen and side windows had 40mm

bullet-proof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. Fragmentation (weaponry), shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials ...

laminated glass Laminated glass (LG) is a type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of breaking, it is held in place by a thin polymer interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), lonoplast polymer ...

Armament

Rhodesian MAP75s were usually armed with a FN MAG-58 7.62mm Light Machine Gun (LMG), sometimes installed on a locally produced one-man MG armoured turret to protect the gunner. Vehicles assigned to convoy escorting duties ('E-type') had a Browning M1919A4 7.62mm medium machine gun mounted on an open-topped, cylinder-shaped turret (dubbed 'the dustbin'). Twin Browning MG pintle mounts placed behind the driver’s compartment were often added on 'Seven fives' employed for 'externals'. The Zimbabwean vehicles after 1980 sported pintle-mounted

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-made 12.7mm and 14.5mm

Heavy Machine Gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...

s (HMG) instead.

Variants

*Troop-Carrying Vehicle (TCV) or "Puma" – is the standard IFV/APC version, armed with either a single LMG (Rhodesian SF 1978-79) or HMG (ZNA 1980–present) and capable of carrying 16 infantrymen. *Convoy escorting version – basic IFV/APC version ('E-type') fitted with 'dustbin' Browning MG turret (Rhodesian SF 1978-79). *Command vehicle – command version equipped with radios and map boards. *Ambulance – modified version of the command vehicle intended for medical support and casualty evacuation. *Cargo vehicle – transport version with shortened, open-top cargo hull. *Articulated tractor – heavy transport truck with a four-wheel cargo trailer. *Horse-carrying vehicle (HCV) – modified transport version with wooden box for horses ('horse box'). *Armoured horse-carrying vehicle – one specially-modified articulated tractor in service with the

Grey's Scouts Grey's Scouts were a Rhodesian mounted infantry unit raised in July 1975 and named after George Grey, a British soldier and governor. Based in Salisbury (now Harare) it patrolled Rhodesia's borders during the Rhodesian Bush War, and then became a ...

, later converted to a mobile operations and command room (Rhodesian SF 1978-79). *Wrecker – recovery version with shortened cab mounting a 6-tonne Model 600 Holmes jib, with A-frame and tooling.

Combat history

The MAP75 TCV was employed late in the war by the elite units of the

Rhodesian Security Forces The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel a ...

– the

Rhodesian African Rifles The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) was a regiment of the Rhodesian Army. The ranks of the RAR were recruited from the black African population, although officers were generally from the white population. The regiment was formed in May 1940 in the ...

(RAR), the

Rhodesian Light Infantry The 1st Battalion, Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI), commonly The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), was a regiment formed in 1961 at Brady Barracks (Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia) as a light infantry unit within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia ...

(RLI), and the

Rhodesian SAS The Rhodesian Special Air Service or Rhodesian SAS was a Rhodesian special forces unit. It comprised: *C Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment (Malayan Emergency (1951–1953) *"C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service (1961–1978) *1 (Rho ...

– on their cross-border covert raids ('externals') against

ZIPRA Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodes ...

and

ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

guerrilla bases in the neighboring Countries, such as the September 1979 raid on the ZANLA's New Chimoio base in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

(Operation "Miracle"). After independence, the MAP75 entered service with the

(ZNA) in early 1980 and equipped both the 1st and 2nd Battalions, RAR, which participated in the large military exercises conducted at Somabula Plain,

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi r ...

that same year. ZNA's 'Seven Fives' were thrown into action in November 1980 against ZIPRA troops at the 1st Battle of Entumbane and later at the February 1981 2nd Battle of Entumbane (near

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

, Matabeleland), and later again after February 1982 by helping to put down the Super-ZAPU insurgency in Matabeleland. During the

Mozambican Civil War The Mozambican Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century, the Mozambican Civil War possessed local dynamics but was a ...

, 'Seven Fives' were also employed by the ZNA forces in

guarding the

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...

- Beira

oil pipeline Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...

in 1982-1993 from

RENAMO RENAMO (from the Portuguese , ) is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents oppose ...

guerrilla attacks. The MAP75 served with the ZNA contingent sent to the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

during the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year a ...

from 1998 to 2002.Abbott & Ruggeri, ''Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960-2002'' (2014), pp. 41-42.

Operators

* – In service with the Rhodesian Security Forces in 1978-1980 passed on to successor state. * – Still in service with the ZNA.

In popular culture

The post-war "Puma" version made some appearances in television and film productions shot in Zimbabwe and set in the

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era of the 1970s-1980s. In one such film, the 1987 British movie ''

Cry Freedom ''Cry Freedom'' is a 1987 epic apartheid drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. The ...

'', ZNA Pumas appear on several scenes portraying

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

(SADF) and

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Afr ...

(SAP) armoured vehicles.

Notes

References

*Laurent Touchard, ''Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l'Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979)'', Batailles & Blindés Magazine n.º 72, April–May 2016, pp. 64–75. (in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) *Neil Grant & Peter Dennis, ''Rhodesian Light Infantryman 1961–80'', Warrior series 177, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2015. *Peter Abbott & Raffaele Ruggeri, ''Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960-2002'', Men-at-arms series 492, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2014. *Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, ''Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80'', P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. *Peter Stiff, ''Taming the Landmine'', Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986.

External links

Photo and caption of Rhodesian MAP75 TCV in 1978-79Rhodesian Mine Ambush Protected Vehicles 1975-80
{{DEFAULTSORT:Map75 Armoured Personnel Carrier Armoured personnel carriers of the Cold War Weapons of Rhodesia Wheeled armoured personnel carriers Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s