A FIGHTING COLUMN
Next day we were off to the south on a narrow dust-laden track. We were an infantry column, a column made up of variously dressed soldiers of different races, a column of various kind and equipment, eloquent of the brotherhood of colonies. We streamed out in column of route, after scouts had preceded us by half an hour or so. The 129th Baluchis, olive-hued Indian soldiers in turbans and loose-kneed trousers, were in advance; then their maxim battery of gunners and side-burdened, bridle-led mules. Then came the 29th Punjabis, another regiment of similar kind, followed closely by some battalions of South African artillery—a bold array of gun-carriages and ammunition wagons, each drawn by eight span of sturdy South-American-bred mules, and driven by reckless Cape boys mounted on the line of near mules. Then followed more infantry, the 25th Royal Fusiliers, of familiar face and colour, of our own kind, but soiled and sunburnt with long exposure; the 1st King’s African Rifles, well-trained natives of stalwart appearance, khaki-clad as the rest, but with distinctive dark-blue puttees and light close-fitting headgear. And so on, and so on, down the line, except that one might mention the ammunition column in the rear, a long line of two-wheeled carts, drawn by two span of patient, slow-gaited oxen. In the rear, trailing far behind, came the miscellaneous transport—some motors, large four-wheeled mule-wagons, Scotch carts, and water carts, an assortment of varied, somewhat gipsy-like kind. The wagons, which were most in evidence, and which carry from three thousand to four thousand pounds, were drawn by ten span of mules, or by sixteen to twenty span of oxen, and all were ordered and driven by capable management of men from South Africa, who had long experience in trekking in their own country. In all it was probably a column of a fighting strength of from 4,000 to 5,000 men, with its necessary large following of accoutrements.
When the column reached far out into the grass-grown, sandy plain—for it was open highland here—one could look back, almost as far as the eye could distinguish, and see the course of the column, as the fine line of a sinuous thread drawn across the blank space of an incomplete map! To-day, the map was marked; to-morrow, the thin dust-line would be gone onward, and the desert veldt would again lie reposed in vagueness.
Thus did we leave our harbour of safety to venture far into the enemy’s country on “the long trek”; to travel amidst dust, and dryness, and heat, for many days.
It was on a Sunday morning, the 5th of March, 1916, that the advance began. This column leaving Longido was to operate round the west of Kilimanjaro and finally converge on Moschi, the terminal of the Usambara railway—the only railway in the northern area of German territory. The column was acting in conjunction with large forces operating, also on the border, away to the east of Kilimanjaro: forces which were largely South African, and that were opposite the long-standing enemy line defending Taveta and barring the main thoroughfare into German territory. This marked the commencement of the offensive campaign under General Smuts—an offensive that time proved was to last twenty-one months before German East Africa was to be cleared of the enemy and completely in our hands.
However, as I have said, one Sunday morning, at the beginning of March, found us moving out on the big game, eagerly, and with a great gladness to be “up and doing.”
WE ADVANCE FROM THE BORDER
The column travelled east along the line of Longido Hill, then struck south across the flat, sandy plain before us until the shelter of the Sheep Hills was reached. Here the column was halted under the northern slopes of the hills, thus making use of the protection which they afforded from observation from the south—for the south held ever the danger of the enemy. The column had trekked about eight miles across trackless country, making a road as they went merely by the commotion and pressure of wheels and of thousands of feet of troops and their transport animals. Marching was unpleasant in the soft, powdered dust which lay ankle-deep underfoot, and was kicked in the air in a hanging cloud to choke both throat and nostrils, and adhere to every visible part of one’s clothing.
Under the Sheep Hills we lay in the heat of the sun, waiting our orders. At 6.30 p.m. the column moved out on a long night march. A two hours’ halt was called at midnight, but otherwise we trekked steadily on all through the night. At midnight, detachments went off on our left flank to attack at dawn the enemy post on Ngasseni Hill. The enemy were engaged, but the fight was short-lived, and in due course the hill was occupied by our troops. The main column encountered no opposition, though opposition had been expected at the Engare Naniuki water.