7 Guerrillas who fought the Chinhoyi battle

Here are the 7 Guerrillas who fought the Chinhoyi battle:

Simon Chimbodza
Godwin Manyerenyere
Arthur Maramba
David Guzuzu
Ephraim Shenjere
Christopher Chatambudza

Battle

In March 1966 four small groups of ZANLA guerillas crossed the Zambezi near Chirundu, the first nationalist incursion following UDI.^[3] One group, comprising seven men from Guruve, Hurungwe and Makonde Districts traveled to the Chinhoyi/Sinoia area, but their presence was detected by the British South Africa Police‘s PATU unit.^[4] Throughout the day of 28 April 1966 the two sides skirmished, and all seven ZANLA men were eventually killed, but only after their ammunition ran out.^[4] The cadres had initially planned but failed, to cut the Kariba power-line from the Kariba Dam, which was supplying 70 percent of the country’s electricity, and then subsequently the cadres planned to attack the blacked-out town centre and police station at Sinoia. A notebook found on one of the bodies showed that the insurgent had been trained at Nanking military college in the previous November and December. The presence of the Rhodesian helicopter which had been effectively used as a gun-ship during the attack was an important factor in the victory over the seven guerillas.

A ZANU spokesmen abroad later claimed that the group had been responsible for killing twenty-five policemen and shooting down two helicopters, although the Rhodesian government disputed this, stating that the security forces had suffered no casualties.

As a result of the inept handling of the situation by the BSAP, the government became convinced that the BSAP were policemen and not soldiers. A shift of emphasis resulted in 1966, and the Rhodesian Security Forces became the government’s primary instrument for conducting counterinsurgency operations rather than the BSAP.

The Sinoia incident also marked the official introduction of dedicated insurgent forces into Rhodesia. These insurgents were organized into small groups of 8-15 men operating from bases in Zambia. Throughout this early phase, the insurgents had two objectives: attack European owned farms and destroy the oil and powerline link between Rhodesia and the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. These initial attempts were completely unsuccessful.

Although the battle was a Rhodesian victory, the event became a source of inspiration to the nationalists: Edgar Tekere wrote in his memoirs that when news of the battle reached nationalists detained in Salisbury Maximum Security Prison, they “went wild with joy”.

Rhodesian commander: Frank Barfoot

Result of the war: Rhodesian Victory