RHODESIAN WAR ART: John Wynne Hopkins

‘Full Flaps’

On Sunday 17th September 1944, the first lift of Operation Market of Horsa gliders, towed by aircraft of the RAF, landed at LZ ’Z’ outside Wolfheze, near Arnhem, in occupied Holland. The Horsa glider carried troops of 1st Airlanding Brigade, light artillery, vehicles and equipment. Shortly afterwards, the paratroopers of 1st Parachute Brigade (Bde HQ and three Para

Left: John Wynne Hopkins presenting framed prints of Ginkel Heide. Below Right: John Wynne Hopkins with the painting Full Flaps. Below Left: John Wynne Hopkins at Ginkel Heide, with Col John Waddy. Overleaf: ‘Ginkel Heide’ and ‘Full Flaps” by John Wynne Hopkins.

Battalions) carried by RAF and USAF, dropped nearby at DZ ‘X’: an impressive site!.

Oil on stretched canvas 40” x 30”.

When Brig Mike Dauncey DSO DL, phoned john and invited him to paint the Glider landings he was more than thrilled and had a very good idea of what was expected of him. Producing the Full Flaps painting was quite straight forward as John had most of the research and Brig Mike Dauncey talked him through it. To get the right angles on the gliders coming in to land, John had to build two 1/72nd scale model gliders, a Horsa

(Continued from page 191) and a Hamilcar to get the correct angles of decent. John actually used an angle level to achieve this, placing the model on it. He was surprised to hear from Mike that the gliders had gone in at 70% (a tactical decent) to get through any anti aircraft fire. Using reconnaissance photographs which were taken after the landings, John was able to recreate the landing area in the painting. After a number of trips for Mike so that he could study the progress John finally completed the painting to his satisfaction. It now hangs in John Dauncey’s lounge, in pride of place. The print ‘Full Flaps’ depicts: On Sunday 17th September 1944, the first lift of Operation Market of Horsa gliders, towed by aircraft of the RAF, landed at LZ ’Z’ outside Wolfheze, near Arnhem, in occupied Holland. The Horsa glider carried troops of 1st Airlanding Brigade, light artillery, vehicles and equipment. Shortly afterwards, the paratroopers of 1st Parachute Brigade (Bde HQ and three Para Battalions) carried by RAF and USAF, dropped nearby at DZ ‘X’: an impressive site!.

Chinese intelligence challenge to the USA in Afghanistan.

RS 167

One of many political headaches waiting for President Biden on 20th January is US policy in Afghanistan. Under President Trump US troop levels in Afghanistan are at an historical low and Trump signaled a clear intention for the US to exit Afghanistan. Reports over past months have indicated that the US has been in negotiations with the Taliban through the CIA. The purpose of these contacts is apparently to broker a deal between the Taliban and the US backed government of President Ashraf Ghani. Chinese intelligence challenges to the US are nothing new and the past year has seen a stepping up of Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operations both physical and cyber. However, it was a surprising development when the Afghan government informed President Trump in late 2020 that their National Directorate of Security (NDS) had information that Chinese intelligence operatives had offered Taliban fighters a 'bounty' on US troops. Intriguingly, it now transpires that the Afghan NDS arrested 10 alleged Chinese MSS operatives in early December, shortly before their warning to the USA. The arrested group was flown out of Afghanistan 23 days later on a Chinese charter flight. Information has recently come to light, in the Indian press, alleging that a number of those arrested were based in Kabul where they were running a fictitious chapter of the Chinese armed resistance group the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (EITM) which seeks statehood for the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province of the Uighars. It appears that this MSS operation was aimed at gathering information on actual EITM members seeking political and armed support for their struggle from the wider Muslim world. The possible connection to the 'bounty' information is that at least two of the arrested group had connections with the Haqqani network in Afghanistan which, while being allied to the Taliban, maintains its own independent structure and militants. The indication is that the Chinese MSS will continue to step up intelligence operations anywhere in the world where they can interfere with US political and intelligence interests.