HEROES SPECIAL: Zimondi relives Chimurenga II ‘In the heat of the battle’

10 Aug, 2014 - 06:08 0 Views
HEROES SPECIAL: Zimondi relives Chimurenga II ‘In the heat of the battle’

The Sunday Mail

chimurengaIT has been over three decades since the end of the country’s liberation war but he reflects on the battles as if they were fought yesterday. The memory is deadly accurate and he speaks like a true soldier. He gives blow-by-blow accounts of the moments that ultimately contributed Zimbabwe’s Independence. Today, he is the Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Prison Service. Above all else, Major-General (Retired) Paradzayi Willings Zimondi says he would like to be remembered as a dedicated liberation fighter. As the country commemorates the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays this week, Comm-Gen Zimondi shares his wartime experiences: the highs of masterminding victorious battles and the lows of losing comrades. Below are excerpts of his account, which he shared with Senior Reporter Kuda Bwititi.

Genesis

Living hero - Zimondi

Living hero – Major-General (Retired) Paradzayi Willings Zimondi

I was 26-years-old in 1974 when I left my family, my young wife and new-born baby to take part in the liberation struggle by joining other comrades who were in Mozambique.

The decision to leave everything I had was an easy one because I was determined to fight the Ian Smith regime and I was prepared to die.

When I left my home in Mufakose, I did not tell anyone about the decision because I knew that my family would get emotional and perhaps not accept my decision.

For me, this was not the time for sentiment. I woke up one morning and made off with some friends on the journey that would lead us to Mozambique.

After spending some time in Mozambique, I then joined other comrades at Mgagao Training Camp in Tanzania, which was really the bedrock of the liberation struggle.

I was trained at Mgagao in 1975 and some of my instructors were Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantine Chiwenga, (Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander Air Marshall) Perrance Shiri and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri.

I spent about a year at Mgagao and after that I went to Mozambique where I was appointed an instructor to the growing number of comrades who were coming to join the struggle.

In 1976, I was deployed to the Gaza area in Mozambique, where Cde Harry Tanganeropa (ZBC boss Happison Muchechetere) was the commander. In the same year, I was appointed officer-in-charge of intelligence for the province before I eventually rose to the post of Commander of Manicaland. This position was both an honour and an unenviable task because the Manicaland area witnessed some of the fiercest battles that were fought during the liberation struggle.

The Chimoio Massacre

I vividly remember the day that the attack on Chimoio occurred.

What I also recall, besides the attack itself, was that we had a force of about 400 combatants who were not based at the Chimoio headquarters but lived about 30km from the main camp. This was because this group comprised a lot of new comrades so we placed them at an isolated place.

So in essence all these combatants survived the Chimoio attack. In retrospect, maybe the Chimoio attack could not have been severe if these comrades had been present at the base.

On the morning of the attack, I was stationed at the camp because the High Command had made a decision to remove all children and women from Chimoio.

On that day, a fellow comrade named Cde Baya asked to make use of my Land Rover because his vehicle had developed a fault.

We were having breakfast in preparation for the mission to ferry the women and children when we suddenly heard the sound of an aeroplane.

Upon looking up we assumed that it was a Red Cross plane, because it was white.

But after a few minutes came the attack!

We were suddenly surrounded by fighter jets that bombarded us heavily, leaving people to scurry for cover.

The bombs were coming thick and fast and they targeted all the bases. There were many bases at Chimoio.

A structure, which we called the White House, because of its importance, was the first to be targeted and even our camp hospital, which was named Parirenyatwa, was also bombarded.

As we fled the attack we also took positions to fight back.

But there were only a few guns at the base at that time so our resistance was easily quashed because the Rhodesian forces would target the positions that were returning fire.

As the attack raged on, I took position. Along with fellow comrades, we activated the 37mm anti-aircraft machine gun, to launch a fight back.

But this was to be short-lived as the enemy fired directly at us in response. I watched my fellow comrades being gunned down and I survived by leaning against a tree which shielded me.

I could actually see the bombs coming in my direction but I was lucky that they narrowly missed.

As I was shielding myself from the fire power, I remember seeing Cde Jamu, (Women Affairs and Gender Development Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri) running in the direction of where the bullets were coming from.

I could see that she was heading straight into the enemy’s hands so I called out to her to change direction. Lucky enough she changed direction and survived the attack.

Because of the heavy shelling we ran in different directions to flee the camp, because it was clear that we had been defeated.

I ran into the bush and spent some time there with fellow comrades, before we gathered later at an area that was arranged by Frelimo.

Rhodesian soldiers occupied the camp and killed the remaining people there. We later heard that they cut the heads of people and also poisoned all the food that was there to make sure that no one returned.

When the attack occurred, our leaders were attending meetings in Maputo. It was only five days after the attack that we went back to the camp.

We realised that most women and children that were at the camp had been killed.

There were dead bodies everywhere so we dug mass graves to bury them.

As we were going through the bodies, I remember hearing the voice of a woman. The voice was coming from beneath so for some time, we couldn’t locate exactly where it was coming from but could only hear the cries.

But, it was Mrs Tekere! (wife of Cde Edgar Tekere, former Zanu Secretary-General and late national hero). She had managed to survive the attack through the most audacious means by jumping into a pit latrine.

To pull her out we tied the belts from our guns to make a makeshift rope.

I remember the state she was in, but this counted for nothing. We were elated that she managed to survive.

Revenge!

After the Chimoio Battle, the comrades were down but not out. We realised that we had lost a battle but the war was far from over.

We sat down as members of the High Command and decided that we had to revenge.

The agreed target was Grand Reef, which was a base for Rhodesian soldiers. It housed Rhodesian fighter aircraft and it was an obvious target for revenge because it was also the recovery base for those that had attacked Chimoio.

As Commander of Manicaland Province, I was one of the chief officers tasked with leading the attack on Grand Reef.

Cde Tongo (Zanla Commander, General Josiah Magama Tongogara) ordered a reconnaissance of Grand Reef. I remember very well Cde Tongo boasting that we were going to hit the enemy hard!

He was enthusiastic about the mission and we assembled a new force that was generally inexperienced in such combat.

He actually saw this as an advantage and we rehearsed a lot in preparation for the mission to make sure that our execution was perfect.

The force was made up of about 120 members.

It was on December 9, 1977 that we made the journey by passing through the Zimunya area, crossing Birchenough Bridge before proceeding to Gandayi Mountains.

To us, the Gandayi Mountains were convenient for our tactics because we could conceal our forces in the thick vegetation.

At around 3 to 4pm on that day, we left Gandayi to proceed to Grand Reef.

By around 5:30 pm, we were in position to attack Grand Reef. There was a power line near Grand Reef so our first act was to task our engineers to blow up the power line.

We got closer to the enemy position and began monitoring their actions.

It soon became clear that the enemy was not prepared for any attack. They were actually preparing for their Christmas festivities because it was normal during the war period to hold Christmas celebrations early.

We could see aircraft landing at the base and the Rhodesian soldiers going about their business, oblivious of us.

There could not be a better opportunity to strike.

I fired the first shot at them from my 75mm recoilless rifle.

The enemy did not know what was hitting them as we launched a barrage of relentless attacks, making the most of our obvious advantage.

They suffered a lot of causalities, even though I am not sure of the actual numbers. We continued firing at them until around 10pm.

They did not return fire so we stopped the attack on realising that we had won the battle.

We organised a withdrawal, utterly satisfied that we had won the battle to avenge the horror of Chimoio.

After the attack, we knew that is was possible the enemy would retaliate as we made our way back to our bases. This was likely because we also realised that our engineers had not been successful in blowing up the power line.

To avoid such an attack, we changed route and travelled via the Odzi River through the Bocha area.

But there was another challenge awaiting us. It was the height of the rainsy season so it was not easy to cross the flooded Odzi River.

At that point, we got wind that the enemy was on our trail and we could even hear the sound of horses behind us.

To our advantage, we knew the area very well and we took cover in the bush.

We were not afraid because we also knew that we had destroyed their planes and we always had confidence that we were better than them in terms of ground battle.

We waited until dawn to cross Odzi River and even as we crossed we could feel that the enemy was on our trail.

As I was crossing the river, I was nearly swept away by the tide. I survived because my gun belt caught on a tree stump.

After this battle, we resolved not to go back to our bases immediately and spent about two weeks living amongst the people of Marange.

They were very receptive and we celebrated the Grand Reef victory together. Because it was the Christmas season, a number of families slaughtered beasts and it was a joyful time in the midst of war.

The Battle of Mavonde

This was without doubt the most decisive battle of the liberation struggle.

Mavonde was located about 20km from the Mozambique border, because we needed to be as close as possible to the country. Mavonde was a hive of activity and a model military facility. You would see Dakotas, anti-aircraft guns and different kinds of ammunition of war. It was generally a well-armed base.

We had learnt our lessons from Chimoio so there were no children and women at Mavonde. It was purely for operations.

The mountainous nature of the area was also a plus for us and our guerilla warfare. The peak of the mountains was Monte Cassino, which was a great position from which to monitor the enemy.

So in terms of preparations, we were well-equipped and ready for war.

The significance of the Mavonde Battle was that we were in a make-or-break situation. Our leaders were having the Lancaster House talks so whoever achieved victory in battle would get a distinct advantage in the talks.

At that time, Cde Tongo had actually travelled to Lancaster for the talks. Before he went for the talks, he warned us that the Rhodesian forces would attack us. There were a lot of activities which pointed to a possible attack on us. As a result we also adopted strategies to prepare.

I was drinking a bottle of gin on one odd night with my colleague Cde Agnew Kambeu (late Rtd Lieutenant-Gen Amos Chimombe). We were very close friends and he was also my role model because he was one of my trainers at Mgagao. We concealed the remaining gin in a small pit to save some for the next day.

Cde Rex Nhongo (late General Solomon Mujuru) was due to leave for Tete Province, where Perrance Shiri was the Commander.

As he was driving out, one of our positions told us that the enemy was coming. The column got into our camp, blocked it and prepared to launch an attack.

Some of the comrades from the High Command that were there in the camp include Cde Gava (late Gen Vitalis Zvinavashe), Rex Nhongo, Cde Mupunzana, Cde Kambeu and myself.

Because we had a position in the mountain, Cde Rex Nhongo advised us to go to that point and take a position to face the enemy.

As the Rhodesian forces were shelling, Cde Rex Nhongo at one time mistook the enemy for Frelimo soldiers who had brought reinforcements. He told Cde Gurupira (with his trademark stutter) “Eeeh eeh enda unoudza …ve Frelimo not to shell us.” But when Gurupira came back, he said, “Varungu ava shefu, we are under attack!”

Rex Nhongo then directed the anti-aircraft to fire at them so that they could not advance. We could see their jets hovering above us but they could not fire because they could not see the targets due to the nature of the Mavonde area.

After some time, the Rhodesians stopped firing and Cde Nhongo directed us to go eat and retreat to our underground bunkers. We went to our bunkers and planned to fight the enemy the next day. We knew that there was going to be heavy shelling.

We got wind of the plan by the Rhodesians, which was that if they defeated us at Mavonde, they would call off the talks and say that we have defeated the guerillas so there is no need for talks.

So the stakes were high!

We wanted our leaders to negotiate from a point of victory. We knew that if we lost that battle, Independence would be long in coming.

Cde Nhongo asked Fox Gava and Cde (Tonderai) Chiwenga to go to Chimoio to get reinforcements from Frelimo. Before that, Cde Mupunzana and 10 other men withdrew from their positions and the result was that the route he took was ambushed. He and the 10 combatants were all killed.

But his death, though very painful, inspired us to fight even harder. We received bigger weapons from Chimoio, which included the stallion guns.

On the third day of the battle, we organised ourselves and realised that we could corner the Rhodesians at our base. We had three or four tanks in the camp and we steered the enemy to a gum tree plantation.

This gave us the edge and we were able to attack the enemy from different positions. We pummelled the enemy from different angles and they realised that they had been defeated.

They suffered heavy casualties and for us it was the definitive victory that we so much needed.

After their defeat, we heard that Peter Walls, the commander of the Rhodesia Defence Forces, had conceded defeat in the war and this virtually marked the end of the liberation struggle.

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