The next attack was on Neu-Pommern, the chief island of the Bismarck Archipelago, where, you will remember, there was an important wireless station. On 11th September a British force arrived at Herbertshohe, the port at the northern end of the island. A party of sailors landed at dawn and pushed through the bush towards the wireless station. The roads had been mined, rifle pits had been dug, and snipers were hidden in the trees. The British fought their way for six miles, losing ten officers and four men; but when they reached the wireless station the whole enemy force surrendered. The German flag was hauled down, the Union Jack flew triumphantly in its stead, and thus the Bismarck Archipelago was lost to the Kaiser.
Two days later our troops sailed for the Solomon Islands, which were captured without difficulty and without bloodshed. A force was then sent against Kaiser Wilhelm Land, where it was thought that the Germans would show fight. Again there was a bloodless victory, and the British flag was hoisted above the chief port, which was left in the possession of British troops. Early in November the Japanese occupied the Marshall Islands and some of the other northern groups.
By this time the Pacific possessions of Germany had vanished, save for a few small and unimportant islands, and her wireless stations had been destroyed. These rapid successes were largely due to the Australian navy, which had worked with the highest speed and efficiency. H.M.S. Melbourne, for example, covered no less than 11,000 miles of sea in the first six weeks of the war.
Togoland was the first of Germany's African colonies to fall. Its geographical position made it easy of attack and very difficult to hold. You will remember that it had British and French territory on its flanks, and that its sea coast was open to bombardment by British ships. So situated, and held by military forces which did not number more than 250 whites and 3,000 natives in all, it was certain to fall quickly and easily.
Soon after the outbreak of war the cables connecting Togoland with Germany were cut by the British, so that only by means of wireless telegraphy could the colony communicate with the Fatherland. Native troops were rushed down from Kumasi[134] to the Gold Coast, and all Britons in Accra[135] were sworn in as volunteers. On 6th August a British advance guard pushed across the western frontier, and a few days later was followed by the main column, under Colonel Bryant. Meanwhile the French made a similar movement from Dahomey, on the eastern frontier. When the British advance guard reached Lomé, it found the town deserted, and the Germans retiring northwards along the railway line. On the arrival of the main column arrangements were made for an advance on Kamina, where the great wireless station had been established. There were two or three skirmishes on the way, but no engagement of any particular importance. On the river, south of Nuatja, the enemy was found to be strongly entrenched, and fighting continued from early morning until after dusk. During the night the enemy abandoned Nuatja, and at daybreak the British marched in. Our losses in this engagement, including those of the French troops from Dahomey, were very high.
Two days later the advance was continued towards Kamina, near the Government station of Atakpame, at the railhead. Here the enemy had dug trenches, built blockhouses, laid in provisions, and made other preparations to stand a siege. During the advance our men spent two or three nights in the mud huts of filthy native villages. Several rivers, swollen into rushing torrents by the heavy rain, impeded the advance, for the Germans had blown up the road and railway bridges. Meanwhile the advance guard pushed forward, and as they did so the enemy sent two men with a flag of truce to Colonel Bryant, offering to surrender on certain terms and with the usual honours of war. Colonel Bryant told them that they were not in a position to ask for terms, and that they must surrender unconditionally. Next day (10th August) the enemy agreed to do so.
A telegraphist with the Togoland Field Force thus describes the surrender: "I rode in with the Headquarters Staff, and, arriving at Kamina, found the Germans, all white men (their native troops having deserted), drawn up in front of the acting Governor's residence, with himself, a smart-looking man, at their head, and all their rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and other weapons of war piled in front of them.
"We formed up on the other side in the shape of a triangle—the British troops on the right, French on the left, guns at the apex, and Headquarters Staff in the centre. Our adjutant, with the Union Jack in one hand and the French flag in the other, accompanied by a native soldier of each nation, planted the two flags in front of the massed troops, who all presented arms. We saluted, and in that brief half-minute, while we were at the 'present,' Togoland, which had been a German colony for over thirty years, passed into the hands of Britain and France. It was most impressive, and something I am not likely to forget. We took at this place alone 206 white German prisoners, three machine guns, hundreds of rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
"The Germans had destroyed their powerful wireless station—a tremendous place, three miles long, with nine masts 250 to 410 feet high—two days before we arrived; otherwise I might have been able to get into communication with Whitehall direct, instead of sending the news of the surrender to the Secretary of State on a little field buzzer set, tapped in on the telegraph wire by the side of the road.