When asked what signs of war they had seen, they replied that apart from
the heavily armed FRELIMO soldiers, and the presence of much war material
being transported around, the combat zones were far away and the people's
daily lives continued undisturbed.  Thus, they saw no fighting although
Fernando dos Santos Rosa commented that a few months after being captured
he had been in C&bo Delgado not far from Mueda and had heard the explosions and gunfire when the airfield was attacked by FRELIMO forces.
However, although the Portuguese troops could not operate in the liberated
areas, the Portuguese air force could still carry out constant bombing
raids. All of them witnessed air attacks.  Indeed, they themselves experienced a few such raids that were a little too close for comfort.
Americo Neves de Sousa laughed when he recalled one such occasion when
three of them were in an air-raid shelter and a bomb exploded close by.
They all panicked and ran out of the shelter in such confusion that they
kept falling over each other, thus putting themselves in much more danger
than before. A FRELIMO soldier had to,:take them in charge and make them
camouflage themselves. Manuel de Jesus Santos described how, on another
occasion, a surprise bombing raid caught them unawares while they were
washing by a river. They had to dash for cover completely naked.
Having spent such a long time among the Mozambican people, alongside them,
these Portuguese had a unique opportunity to get to know our people, observe our life and our struggle;  our morale and determination, the
peoples' sharp, clear awareness of the situation, of what they are :" z
fighting for; the consciousness that it will be a protracted war and what
sacrifices are involved. They were able to compare their own experience
and observations with the fantasies propagated by the Portuguese army
authorities, and their experience of urban Mozambicans corrupted by the
Portuguese. Apart from the most obvious things such as the absence of
"foreign instigators", the presence of thousands of well-armed troops
instead of small groups of "bandits", there were several aspects of
revolutionary life that made a particular impression on them.
Americo Neves de S5usa, for example, kept comparing the women in the bases
to the women that spent their time hanging around the Portuguese army
headquarters, who had no self-respect and were practically bought and
sold by the Portuguese. In the liberated areas he found women with dignity, and pride ir themselves and their country. He observed how they
particpated equally with men in every activity; they worked in* the
fields, they taught in the schools, they sat on committees and spoke well
at meetings, they fought in the army (it took the Portuguese some time
to get used to the sight of women carrying guns!).  Similarly, the very
young and the very old were also engaged in specific tasks of the revolution, such that no-one could ever say that it was only the guerrillas
who were fighting the war - but everyone. Augusto Lopes was particularly amazed at the maturity of the children, how they participated and
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