The fire at the fuel depot lasted six days and destroyed 25 million gallons of fuel. Coming completely out of the blue as it did, the incident revealed how vulnerable the Rhodesians were and certainly marked the beginning of the end for them, writes Dr Felix Muchemwa in his book The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe (1890-2010) that The Patriot is serialising.

INSIDE Rhodesia, on December 11 1978, a ZANLA commando unit specifically deployed by the ZANLA High Command through the Commander of Tete Province, Comrade Perence Shiri, with detailed plans from ZANLA’s Political Commissar Comrade Josiah Tungamirai who was based in Tete, torched the central oil depot in the heart of Salisbury’s (Harare) industrial sites with rockets and tracers.
The fire at the fuel depot lasted six days and destroyed 25 million gallons of fuel. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.156)
Coming completely out of the blue as it did, the incident revealed how vulnerable the Rhodesians were and certainly marked the beginning of the end for them.
The year 1979 was to become a most disappointing year for them.
And, it opened with a bang as on December 31 1978, the President of ZANU PF and ZANLA Commander-In-Chief, Comrade Robert G. Mugabe, declared 1979 ‘Gore reGukurahundi’ or ‘The year of the Storm’.
Downing of the second Air Rhodesia Viscount
On February 12 1979, ZIPRA used a SAM-7 (Strela) heat-seeking missile to shoot down a second civilian Viscount aircraft.
A total of 54 passengers and five crew members aboard the Air Rhodesia Flight No. 827 from Kariba to Salisbury were killed in the air crash that followed.
Cde Joshua Nkomo, the Commander-in-Chief of ZIPRA, claimed that the intended target was General Peter Walls who had unfortunately boarded another plane which had taken off just after the Viscount plane.
The immediate result was that Rhodesians introduced military Dakotas with civilian painting but with heat dispersion units around the engine exhausts, to fly civilian passengers to holiday resort centres. South African Airways responded by cutting back its flights and stopped its jumbo jets from flying into Rhodesia. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.157)
Rhodesian reprisal raids against ZIPRA did not take long to come.
The first was a combined force of three Rhodesian and four South African Airforce Canberra raid on Luso, a suspected ZIPRA training camp on the Benguela Railway Line in Angola, on February 26 1979. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.157)
The next was a Rhodesian security forces raid on the ZIPRA Military HQ in Lusaka on April 13 1979.
The Rhodesian SAS attempted to assault the ZIPRA Command HQ, but were pinned down by ZIPRA light machine gunfire.
Comrade Nkomo had been reported to be at the ZIPRA HQ, but managed to escape. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.159)
The liberation war expands countrywide: Liberated and semi-liberated zones
By the middle of 1979, the war had expanded countrywide, with the Rhodesians losing control of most of the countryside.
ZANLA guerillas inside Rhodesia had increased from 13 000 in mid-1978 to 20 000 by June 1979. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: pp.308-309; Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.160)
In the west and north-west of Rhodesia, ZIPRA was also increasingly entering the war.
At one stage, in the Karoi District, a ZANLA company of about 150 guerillas, authorised by the Provincial Commander Perence Shiri, were carrying out joint operations with ZIPRA forces under the command of Comrade Mataure. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.299; Ngwenya; Chinenge)
Tete Province
In the Tete Province, especially in the Takawira and Nehanda sectors, liberated and semi-liberated zones had been established, and ZANLA forces controlled most of the countryside.
The Kandeya Tribal Trust Land in the Tete Province was the first liberated zone and a safe haven for ZANLA guerillas for much of the war. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.99)
In the Takawira Sector, ZANLA operations extended to just north of Salisbury.
The whole Mudzi District was declared a liberated zone, where the Rhodesian Security forces could venture ‘only in strength.’ (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.99)
A permanent provincial (training) base camp with full-time instructors and a network of underground tunnels had been established. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.308)
In the Nehanda Sector, ZANLA operations had extended to Sinoia (Chinhoyi) in the west, Zvimba and Chirau TTLs in the south-west, and Norton in the south.
ZANLA forces in both Takawira and Nehanda Sectors had begun cultivating food together with the ‘masses’ or people in the semi-liberated and liberated zones. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.309)
Manica Province
Melsetter District almost had the status of a liberated zone. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.99)
More than 160 white farmers had been reduced to a mere 10 farmers in the Cashel Valley.
In Chimanimani, the more than 110 white farmers had been reduced to less than 20 still on their farms by the middle of 1979.
ZANLA forces had extended to the west of Gwelo (Gweru) and Shabani (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.309) and a large number had infiltrated around the Rutenga Railway Line which they constantly sabotaged using anti-tank landmines and ammonium nitrate fertiliser. (Rupiza)
Gaza Province
ZANLA forces in the Gaza Province had penetrated up to the south-east of Plumtree, beyond the Brunapeg area of Matobo District. This was the deepest penetration from Mozambique by ZANLA forces who now threatened Rhodesia’s railway and road trade route to the south through Plumtree and Botswana. (Martin and Johnson, 1981: p.309)
Nyajena District had been declared a liberated zone where ZANLA military training inside Rhodesia had begun. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin, 1982: p.99)
Martial Law and extra-judicial killings
By the end of 1979, martial law had been extended to 95 percent of Rhodesia.
As had happened during the First Chimurenga, the destruction of whole villages and wholesale slaughter of livestock again became the common Rhodesian method of punishing indigenous civilians for co-operating with guerillas.
Many Africans court-martialed and found guilty of aiding guerillas were hanged without recourse to appeal in higher civilian courts. (Moorcraft and McLaughlin)