Though he fought his rearguard action with ruthlessness and skill , and though it delayed the transformation of white-dominated rhodesia into black-ruled zimbabwe by 15 or more years , it was from the outset doomed to futility .
At the locations of particularly fierce battles-which the indians , without obvious exceptions , lost-the memorials include accounts of fierce rearguard fighting , in which heroic soldiers gave their lives so others could escape .