Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) authorities. Within 48 hours the British had detained 206 known insurgents. In the following weeks over 50,000 Africans were detained and questioned. Nevetheless, numerous leading figures among the rebels managed to escape from Nairobi into the countryside. The operation ended on 26 May. Operation Anvil marked a turning-point in the British campaign against the Mau Mau. The action left the insurgents mostly isolated in the forested mountains of Nyandarwa and Kirinyaga without access to supplies and the assistance of passive supporters. It proved to be the most sophisticated undertaking of the Kenyan Emergency. In the following weeks Mau Mau activity
Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) In the weeks preceding the operation rumors circulated among the African population that Nairobi was due to be subjected to a security sweep. Some insurgents moved to the outskirts of the city and were thus outside the cordoned area. On 04:30 on 24 April British forces initiated Operation Anvil, sealing off every road and track leading in or out of Nairobi. Government forces then surrounded locations which were home to substantial Kikuyu populations in the city such as Makongeni, Bahati, Kariokor, Ziwani, and Pumwani, thus preventing any Mau Mau from escaping. Informers disguised with hoods identified suspected rebels to the