During the Bush War, the Rhodesian Army augmented its ranks with foreign volunteers, who were accepted into regular regiments with the same pay and conditions of service as locals.

Apparently under the impression that they had signed up as highly paid mercenaries, many of the French troopers returned home after their first bush trip, unhappy to have received no more money than a regular Rhodesian soldier.

The Rhodesians deemed the experiment a failure and following a series of disasters for the company during the latter part of its second tour, including two friendly fire incidents and several fatalities, it was disbanded in May 1978.

Forces led by one of its members, Bob Denard, later that month executed a coup d'état in the Comoros with French, Rhodesian and South African governmental support.

[4][5] The Rhodesian Bush War was the result, beginning in earnest on 21 December 1972 when ZANLA attacked Altena and Whistlefield Farms near Centenary in the country's north-east.

[5] The Rhodesian Security Forces launched Operation Hurricane in response and fought back strongly, reducing the number of guerrillas active within the country to under 300 by December 1974.

[9] The Rhodesian Army, though mostly made up of local men, also included some foreign volunteers, who were integrated into regular units under the same salary and conditions of service.

[11] The RLI initiated a major overseas recruitment drive in 1974, targeting potential volunteers from Europe, Oceania and the Americas,[12] and requiring successful applicants to speak good English.

MacLean relayed the idea to the General Staff in Salisbury, which decided in late 1977 to form a "French battalion" to alleviate the strain on its regular units.

[19] French-speaking veterans of an assortment of African and Middle Eastern conflicts spanning the previous two decades successfully applied, but past service did not prove a necessity; some of the men accepted had no military experience.

[19][20] Beneath them were the Antillean Captain Toumi, who became the first black officer in the regular Rhodesian Army as the unit's second-in-command,[19] and "Colonel" Bob Denard, an infamous French soldier of fortune nicknamed le chien de guerre—"the dog of war".

Spirits were high during the unit's brief training period as the men enjoyed playing sports, observing the country scenery and experiencing the night-life of the nearby capital.

In the eyes of some of the French-speaking soldiers, the ranks assigned appeared to have been chosen almost at random by their superiors, and did not reflect their actual respective levels of training, ability and experience.

[15][19] The brazen attitude of most of the company's soldiers jarred strongly with that of their Rhodesian commanders, who had high standards regarding presentation and dress which many of the Frenchmen had little inclination to meet.

"Sticks" of four men (three FN FAL riflemen and an MAG gunner) would be sent out into the bush from Rusambo for periods of up to two weeks, equipped with a radio to communicate with the base.

Though discretion was paramount if they were to observe enemy movements covertly and effectively, the men of 7 Independent Company were found to have difficulty maintaining this and sometimes made careless mistakes which risked revealing their presence.

With neither side willing to budge—the Army refused to give the strikers extra pay or special treatment, saying this would contravene Rhodesia's policy not to engage mercenaries—the disaffected men were repatriated to France at their own request.

The Rhodesian Army considered disbanding the unit altogether, but persevered when Major de l'Assomption convinced his superiors that his remaining men were still loyal and eager to continue serving.

They returned to Rusambo, where the camp was now manned by the British South Africa Police (BSAP), Criminal Investigation Department and Special Branch, guarded by a group of Coloured and Indian-Rhodesian soldiers.

The following months were a disaster for the locally based Rhodesian forces; first one stick fired on another, causing an injury, then a BSAP Land Rover hit a mine, killing two members of the French company.

[21][30] The Comoros subsequently became a key location for Rhodesian "sanction-busting" operations, providing a convenient end-user certificate for clandestine shipments of weapons and equipment bound for Rhodesia in spite of the UN embargo.

Two of them, Gervais Henri Alfred Boutanquoi and Simon Marc Chemouil (both former Foreign Legionnaires), were executed in April 1983, despite a late plea from French authorities for clemency,[31] having been found guilty of robbing and murdering Richard Kraft, a Karoi café owner.

[26] Witness Mangwende, the Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued a statement clarifying that the execution was for the murder and unrelated to their earlier "service as mercenaries during the time of the Smith regime.