Viljoen, and his wife, just 50 miles outside the capital. Within days the fighters had all been killed by Rhodesian security forces; they would be remembered as the Chinhoyi Seven.
For the next six years the guerrillas made so little headway that few Rhodesians took much notice. Their camps were far away in Tanzania and Zambia, from where their attacks were launched, and a lack of arms and training made them little threat. Like most of the country, the area around the Houghs' farm in Headlands had not been affected at all.
However, in late 1972 the Mozambican province of Tete, which bordered Rhodesia's long north-eastern frontier, had come under the control of Samora Machel's Frelimo forces fighting against the Portuguese colonial government. This enabled Rhodesia's freedom fighters to set up camps in Tete from where they could cross the Zambezi and infiltrate the north-east of the country around Centenary and Mount Darwin, starting with the attack on Altena Farm. The raid was led by a commander called Solomon Mujuru, though like most of the guerrillas he used a nom de guerre- his was Rex Nhongo. Mujuru's men started making bases in villages and the bush from which they attacked white farmers, laid mines and set ambushes on the roads.
The war, which until then had seemed no more than a low-level annoyance, suddenly intensified. By 1974, Smith had introduced blanket conscription and Nigel's elder brother Edwin was one of those called up. Recruits were told they were like Peter in the Dutch fable holding a finger in the dyke, stopping the guerrillas pouring over the borders to bring down all they stood for. Brought up on the myth of the Shangani patrol, whether it was right to be fighting for white supremacy and against universal suffrage was not something they questioned.
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