The Sunday Mail
Last week, CDE TOBIAS KANYONGO (TK), whose nom de guerre was Bomber Chimukwende, chronicled how he and other freedom fighters were trained in Tanzania before being transferred back to Mozambique. He continues his story by recounting to our Features and Arts Editor PRINCE MUSHAWEVATO (PM) how they were pre-emptively attacked by Rhodesian security forces before deployment to the front.
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PM: After thoroughly preparing for the looming attack, what happened next?
TK: Around 6am, on September 20 (1978), we noticed a Rhodesian army spotter plane hovering above our base — probably to confirm our position.
The plane flew around the camp for close to three hours. We remained quiet in our positions, waiting for contact.
Commander Josiah Tungamirai was in charge of the battle on the day.
We maintained our positions, yet we were eager to open fire.
After a while, we became convinced that the spotter plane was failing to locate us.
Some suggested we signal or bait the aircraft to make it easy for them to spot us.
PM: Was that a wise move?
TK: Yes, it was.
Remember, I told you we were itching to engage in combat.
We just could not let the enemy go without exchanging fire.
When Commander Tungamirai noticed our exuberance, he promptly responded by ordering us to open fire towards the spotter plane.
Imagine close to 1 800 guns firing towards a single target? Bullets rained. ‘Kakatsvuka moto kandege nekurohwa nemabara’.
However, I think the material used on that aircraft was strong and specifically meant for such situations; we failed to bring it down.
At some point, the pilot faked a fall, but we later realised it was a manoeuvre to get closer to the ground to check where the firepower was coming from.
The plane, as if in a fresh take-off, flew back into the sky before gliding towards Rhodesia.
Within 20 minutes after it left, a fleet of fighter planes covered the airspace above our camp.
I remember seeing an English Electric Canberra, which they used a lot during that battle, and the MiG-29. The enemy fighter craft started attacking us around 10am.
They approached us flying low, using the cover of a mountain that was close to our base.
Unfortunately for them, we had at least six anti-airs mounted on the mountain, as we anticipated the move.
When the aircraft reached our firing zone, we started shooting them down.
We managed to strike down a good number and they fell in nearby villages.
This was not an easy battle.
The Rhodesian soldiers were relentless.
They kept on dispatching more fighter planes. A lot of lives were lost but the numbers were in our favour.
As time passed, the camp became clouded with smoke because of the heavy exchange of fire. There was a thick cloud of smoke that made it nearly impossible to see a person who was three or so metres away.
The battle lasted from 10am to 6pm.
I am sure they stopped the onslaught around 6pm because it was getting dark, and they could not operate at night.
We capitalised on the break to restock our ammunition and food since we knew they would resume the attack in the morning.
And true to our suspicions, as early as 5am-6am, they began the assault.
I had a heavy machine gun, a weapon that eight comrades and I had been using since the onset of the attack.
The battle was protracted.
It lasted for about four days.
The enemy followed the same modus operandi — attack early in the morning and retreat at night. On the third day, we got reinforcement from Mozambique’s Frelimo fighters.
They brought weapons, as well as personnel, to assist us in the battle.
Their involvement changed the game, which then forced the Rhodesian fighters to also up the ante.
With the Frelimo fighters’ involvement, it was more like we had added petrol to fire; the attack intensified.
PM: So, they still maintained airstrikes while you fought from the ground?
TK: Everything changed after the third day.
They deployed a ground force on the fourth day, and this complicated the battle for us.
It is not easy to deal with both the ground and air force at the same time.
So, after noticing that the enemy was gaining advantage, our commander called for a tactical retreat.
The camp was on low ground, so we retreated to higher ground.
As we regrouped in an advantageous position, Frelimo fighters came in handy.
We had top-of-the-range weapons we got from friendly nations like China, Russia, Romania and Yugoslavia.
But the Mozambican fighters brought with them a “killing machine” called the Katyusha.
The Rhodesian forces made a huge mistake after we tactically abandoned our camp as they opted to invade our space.
The enemy’s ground force got into our camp.
We could observe their movements from a distance. For those who understand war and battle formations, higher ground has numerous advantages. We let them trickle in and after a while, the commander directed us to attack our camp to neutralise the enemy who had compromised it.
At that point, the Mozambican weapon came in handy. What a wonderful weapon it was! I was impressed by how we decimated the Rhodesian fighters from a distance.
We fired hard and killed many of them until they retreated.
Smith publicly acknowledged our resilience and how tough the battle was, on Radio Rhodesia. After this battle, we became more hardened and much more eager to fight.
This was our first battle after training, and taking place in a foreign country, but we performed extremely well.
This further boosted our morale and gave us confidence that we would liberate the country within a short space of time.
Next week, Cde Kanyongo will tell us about his deployment back home and how he survived the war.
