Once signed up , each man was instructed to travel to Switzerland , where appropriate visas was swiftly procured from the South African Embassy . In early November 1977 , the French recruits flew from Zurich to Johannesburg on a South African Airways liner , then to Salisbury by Air Rhodesia . Already in Rhodesia waiting for the men was their leaders : Major Roland de l 'Assomption , an ex @-@ officer of the French Army 's crack 11th Shock Parachute Regiment , and a former officer of the Gabonese President Omar Bongo 's guard ; and Major Mario La Viola , once a non @-@ commissioned officer in the Foreign Legion 's 2nd Parachute Regiment . Beneath them was the Antillean Captain Toumi , who became the first black officer in the regular Rhodesian Army as the unit 's second @-@ in @-@ command , and " Colonel " Bob Denard , an infamous French soldier of fortune nicknamed le chien de guerre — " the dog of war " .