o event in the Mashona Rebellion which broke out in June 1896 possesses the same drama as the rescue of the besieged residents of Mazoe by the two patrols which were despatched from Salisbury to its relief.

ews of the first killings in Mashonaland reached the Alice Mine at Mazoe on 16 June 1896. Next day the local residents numbering eleven men, three women, and a coloured man called George, settled down in a makeshift fort on a kopje overlooking the mine. Soon after daybreak on the 18th, John Blakiston a young telegraphic mechanic, Harold Zimmerman and a coloured policeman, Hendrick, drove up to the fort in a wagonette drawn by six mules with the intention of evacuating the women to Salisbury, twenty-seven miles away.

fter consultation it was decided that the entire party would go to Salisbury. It soon clashed with a rebel force on the road and three of the men were shot. The remainder withdrew hastily back to the fort at Alice Mine.

ith great bravery Blakiston and Routledge, a telegraphic operator, then hurried down the hill to the telegraph office and got a message through to Salisbury asking for help. Both the men were killed on their way back to the fort.

ts little garrison was now closely invested by a rebel force numbering over a thousand men, many of whom were armed with modern rifles. A heavy fusilade lasted all that afternoon, and the night which followed, according to one survivor, "was one long nightmare". But next day the fort was reinforced by the arrival from Salisbury of Dan Judson and six other volunteers. The force was still too weak to fight its way down to Salisbury, but that night Captain Nesbitt, V.C., leading a second relief patrol of twelve men, rode into the laager.

he decision to break out was now taken; the wagonette was "armoured" by fitting iron sheets on to its sides and at midday on 20 June the whole group set off for Salisbury, a Mr. Pascoe riding on the roof where he could do good work with his rifle. The little party had to fight hard to reach safety, losing three men dead and five wounded. 4:40 PM 23/07/2002