RHODESIANS describe it as the ‘most mind-boggling special operations victory in history’. 

They told the world, and still tell the world, that it was a most spectacular victory against 10 000 ZANLA cadres at Chimoio and 4 000 at Tembwe. 

They boast killing 6 000 ZANLA in all and hail this raid as the biggest battle of the Rhodesian bush war, a major battle in the Southern African military history.

The following description sounds like a movie script, something which showcases the ingenuity and prowess of Rhodesian forces and resulted in thousands of guerilla casualties to only two Rhodesians and one aircraft. 

But there was nothing so special on this mission. 

There was nothing to be proud of. 

It was a mission to murder, in cold blood, thousands of civilians as Muchemwa (2015) writes: “It is worth noting that in the entire ‘Operation Dingo’, the Rhodesian security forces went for the soft targets at Chimoio and Tembwe and deliberately avoided the ZANLA Operations Base which had more than 2 000 ZANLA commandos not far from the Chimoio HQ. 

And they also avoided the Tembwe Operations Base which had more than 1 000 ZANLA commandos.”

Having murdered thousands of refugees, Rhodesians have never stopped singing songs of praises about themselves for the ‘greatest’ victory. 

They call this massacre of the defenceless, the biggest conflict of the Rhodesian bush war, a major battle in the Southern African military history. 

A battle against children and the sick!

There were no 10 000 guerillas at the Chimoio HQ Base; there were patients, the disabled, women, children, refugees. 

They did not succeed in killing anyone at Tembwe. 

The commanders had been warned by the Chimoio Raid of two days before but the Rhodesians still claim they killed at least 1 000 guerillas at Tembwe. 

They never went there to fight but to murder. 

All that grandstanding for a mission to murder, it is unfathomable, and all that celebration for successfully murdering defenseless civilians is devilish.

There are two things that are absolutely inhuman about this. 

First, you murder thousands of defenceless refugees, and then you beat your chest for having killed guerillas when in fact you have murdered civilians, refugees, patients, amputees, children and young girls. The utter cruelty and shamelessness of the Rhodesians never ceases to amaze! 

It is an atrocity to murder defenceless civilians, but it is also unconscionable because it was a war of attrition. Rhodesians had no justification for waging war against Zimbabweans.

The land of Zimbabwe was indisputably for Zimbabweans as it is now.

They had been robbed of their land at gunpoint. 

It does not mean that what you seize through robbery becomes yours; you never can have any legal claim to it. 

The 2 000 comrades killed at Chimoio were killed because they were part of the material and moral force which defied British robbery of their land, Zimbabwe.

Rhodesians claim, after the Chimoio raid of November 23 1977, ZANLA established another base in Chimoio which they later attacked in September 1978. 

As clarified by Muchemwa, the ZANLA Operations Base near Vanduzi Mountains, and only 15km from the Chimoio HQ, was already in existence at the time of the Chimoio massacre on November 23. 

Rhodesians have to tell this lie to hide the fact that they avoided a military base, the ZANLA Operations Base, and instead attacked soft targets at the Chimoio HQ. This was a deliberate choice to cause such deep hurt and demoralisation and disturbance by massacring the unarmed and most vulnerable. 

It was also meant to boost the morale of the Rhodesians by making it seem they were winning the war which, in fact, they were fast losing.

When they finally attacked the ZANLA Operations Base on September 18 1978, which they had avoided in 1977, they came face to face with the ZANLA military…. Then the story became different. 

At 8am, the Canberras and the Hunters came but were driven off by ZANLA anti-aircraft fire and never returned. 

The Lynxes did not attempt to bomb for fear of the same fate as the Canberras and the Hunters.

ZANLA anti-air defences were impregnable. 

Although they carpet bombed the Base spread over 10km, they could not claim any ZANLA casualties except Cde Giepe, the ZANLA commando engineer who was killed while disabling a photo sensitive mine. ZANLA commandos were holed up in trenches. 

Their anti-air defence system forced the Rhodesians to bomb at very high altitudes which limited their effectiveness. 

After three days, they retreated after failing to successfully assault the ZANLA Operations Base. 

Rhodesians call the second Chimoio Raid ‘Operation Snoopy’, but unlike the Chimoio attack of November 23 1977, the reports are very sketchy. 

It is claimed they attacked 25 bases around Chimoio and killed hundreds of ZANLA combatants in retaliation for the downing of an Air Rhodesia Viscount passenger plane. 

There are no details about the location of the camps, air craft or other military hardware used. 

The information is also contradictory. 

Some claim the aircraft was shot down by ZIPRA, while others attributed it to ZANLA. 

They claim the attack was on September 20 1978, when it was actually from September 18 to 20. 

It is a sketchy not-so-coherent story with quite a number of factual inaccuracies, which just shows that Rhodesians did not spend too much time posting and celebrating this raid. 

There was nothing to celebrate because military to military, they lost. 

But still, there are no lavish accolades about this raid. They do not publicise, though they mention, it. 

They do not go into details because they could not massacre anyone, which is always the trophy they sought. 

The internet is full of stories about ‘Operation Dingo’, hailing it as a great military victory demonstrating the superiority of the Rhodesians but so little on the second Chimoio raid ‘Operation Snoopy’ of September 18-20 1978 which was truly a military battle contrary to the genocide of November 23 1977. 

They publicised so much the November 23 raid because murdering thousands of refugees made it seem like they were winning the war. 

But you don’t win wars of attrition and, as we remember the thousands who were mercilessly massacred at Chimoio, let’s also remind the world that Rhodesians are long overdue for the International Criminal Court.