The 5th Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). The 5th Brigade was created in 1981 from three former battalions of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). It later incorporated over 3,000 ex-ZANLA guerrillas from various units. The brigade was based in Gweru and participated in the Mozambican Civil War as well as a controversial domestic operation known as Gukurahundi which targeted Ndebele civilians and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas. The 5th Brigade was reactivated in 2006 following a prolonged period of inactivity. Organization The 5th Brigade was subordinate only to the Chief of the Zimbabwe National Army. In 1983, it consisted of five infantry battalions as well as an armoured company equipped with T-54 tanks. The brigade was at least partly mechanised and possessed a number of BTR-152 armoured personnel carriers. History The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) was created in 1980 through the amalgamation of the former Rhodesian Army with the militant wings of two rival guerrilla organisations: the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). To ease the integration process, large numbers of former Rhodesian servicemen and guerrillas were demobilised and the remaining troops interspersed throughout new units. By 1981, the bulk of the ZNA's manpower was concentrated in thirty-seven new light infantry battalions composed of about 37,000 personnel, almost all of whom were former ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. The battalions were to be trained by a combination of British and former Rhodesian military instructors. Guerrillas from both sides resisted integration by establishing separate camps. The infantry battalions were almost immediately wracked by inter-factional skirmishes in 1980 and again in 1981. Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe and his government responded by disbanding three battalions and reorganising the remainder into four separate brigades. Furthermore, all former guerrillas awaiting integration with their new units were to be disarmed en masse. Upon learning of this policy, some former ZIPRA personnel began to desert the army, taking their weapons with them. They complained that the disarmament campaign targeted them unfairly and was being used to buttress the military influence of ex-ZANLA troops at their expense. Mutinies by ZIPRA elements in the ZNA became notoriously common. In 1982 there were several hundred disgruntled and otherwise unemployed ZIPRA fighters at large in the provinces of Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North, many of whom had resorted to armed banditry. The Zimbabwean government referred