As Kimathi made his way into the Forest, the Brits few in troops to heighten the security in Kenya. Troops flew in from Uganda and Palestine to make the total number of soldiers on the ground to over 10K...These ninjas were here under specific orders..

To deal with Mau Mau who were now growing into a big force. Quickly, they started arresting young men from Central in towns & deported them to their home districts b/c they would poison others tribes with their Mau Mau rhetoric...

These deportations were direct to African reserves where men had no land & were under constant surveillance. Being jobless, they were forced to provide free hard labor to manage paying the poll tax- sth they hated wholeheartedly.

So to avoid this work & constant harassment they ran into Mt Kenya forest ready to join da freedom army. Here, they joined camps under the leadership of men who had started preparing for this war ever since they came back from fighting in WW2...

Men like Gen Mathenge of Nyeri & Gen Ruku of Embu who had already smuggled in guns from Ethiopia. These 2 had served under the Kings African Rifles regiment guarding Haile Selassie, an exposure that convinced them that a black man was capable of ruling Kenya.

So after deployment, they secretly travelled back to Ethiopia & requested Haile for arms which he gave. They then approached Kenyatta seeking help to smuggle them and he linked them up with his Somali pal called Mohammed Hassan- seated next to him

Mohammed owned a shop at Juja where KAU leaders frequently met. Thru his home contacts, he helped carry these guns with donkeys & camels to caves in Mt Kenya where they lay in wait for the day the war bells would be rang as they now did in 1952.

Now the men who joined the forest from; Nyeri were led by Gen Mathenge Embu were led by Gen Ruku Mathira & Kamba were led by Gen China Murang'a by Gen Kago Meru by Gen Mwariama These leaders were all under Kimathi

Who visited them met in their camps to motivate & give them attack plans. These plans made 1953 the bloodiest year in Kenya b/c they involved raiding settler farms for food to sustain them in the forest and attacking police posts for guns to kill collaborators.

The first food raid was done in Kinangop where the Mau Mau raided the farm of Roger Ruck & killed him, his family and all their African servants. These murders shocked the settler community in Kenya..

Na 1500 of them gathered in Nairobi to protest against Mau Mau. They walked to Statehouse to present their grievances to the colonial Governor Mr Everyln Barring, asking him to deal with the Mau Maus ruthlessly.

A protest that inspired Mau Mau to scale their attacks where weeks later in February 1953, they decided to attack the police at Kandara Government Post This attack was led by Gen Kago and it was successful in getting more guns..

Lakini as they moved back to the forest, colonial cops ambushed them on the ground & air with Lincoln Bombers after getting a tip off. This ambush led by to the death of more than 200 men at River Kayahwe which was called the Kayahwe Massacre https://cutt.ly/tr2L4HKu

Lakini by the grace of God,Gen Kago survived it and made it back to the forest to tell Kimathi about what had befallen them. Kimathi was heartbroken but instead of feeling defeated, he decided it was best to respond by laying 2 coordinated attacks to show their might.

These attacks were scheduled for 26 March 1953 where he spearheaded the first one at Naivasha Police Post where they killed 3 cops and stole 303 rifles,18 submachine guns,a shot gun & various ammunition. They also raided the detention camp & freed 173 prisoners

As other Maus laid out the 2nd attack at Lari in Kiambu county at the home of Chief Luka. Chief Luka was a collaborator who viciously fought the Mau Mau and for this he had to pay dearly. He was chopped to death & all his men & houses were burnt alive A horiffic scene that..

That shocked both the people and government. Sadly, it presented an an opp for the government to spread propaganda against MauMau where they warned that supporting Mau had no benefits & only the government would better their lives.

This propaga worked in brainwashing citizens who started looking at Mau Mau as terrorists instead of liberators who had no mercy for traitors. They started snitching on people who had Mau Mau ties and they were were arrested and tortured.

However, these arrests did not faze kina Kimathi who scaled their attacks. Remorseful of the collateral damage at Lari, they decided to no longer attack reserves and focus on attacking settlers & police posts for the next months.

Between April & Aug, they laid more attacks with the major ones that were reported by international media being in Nyeri & Murang'a. In Nyeri, they were led by 24yo Gen Kariba who killed more than 50 cops before he was betrayed by his leader Gen China - the first Mau traitor.

In Murang'a, they were led by Gen Matenjagwo( the one who didn't shave his hair) who hit all police posts in Rwathia, Kiria-ini and Kinunga killing more than 100 white cops. Amongst his victims was son of Chief Njiiri the traitor ..

The most daring attacks were led by Gen Tanganyika of Nyeri who raided the Treetops Hotel & Sagana Royal Lodge which was a wedding gift to the Queen They destroyed these properties which were the Queens fav spots in Kenya

And sent the message of these successful raids to Kimathi in the forest via letters hidden in this tree. It was his post office where he communicated with MauMau in the forest, making it hard for anyone to spot him. So even the British didn't have any picture of him by then..

Design Kimathi decided to taunt them on Christmas Day 1953. He calmly walked out of the forest, took this picture outside a government post & sent it to them with these words "This me. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN YOU BASTARDS!!

@mainandegwa232 We need a Dedan Kimathi Day

@mainandegwa232 You guy, You need now to direct a movie. Itanasa sana. Good job.

@mainandegwa232 Very important and accurate information

@mainandegwa232 True hero

@mainandegwa232 Your stories are always poetic, great job sir

@mainandegwa232 Siieet

@mainandegwa232 A good read

@mainandegwa232 Nashangaa kwani Gen China was a traitor?

@mainandegwa232 Part 3 please

@mainandegwa232 Asante.

@mainandegwa232 Is that it? Imeisha hapo?

@mainandegwa232 Nice Thread