The fighting had become very hot. Two companies, although their commanders, Lieuts. Gerlich and Spalding, had fallen had quickly captured the fortified buildings of Jassini by a brilliant charge, and had now established themselves close in front of the enemy’s position. Soon the intervention of the enemy’s main force made itself felt. From the direction of Wanga, in the north-east, strong hostile columns arrived and suddenly appeared close in front of our companies, lying close to the fortifications of Jassini. The enemy made three strong attacks at this point and was each time repulsed. Hostile columns also arrived from the north and north-west. Against that from the west the Arab corps had done badly; the day before many of them had urgently demanded their discharge. Now, when they were to lie in ambush on the enemy’s road of advance, the tension became too great for them. Instead of surprising the enemy by an annihilating fire, they fired blindly into the air and then bolted. But luckily these hostile columns then came on Captain Adler’s two companies, and were repulsed with slaughter. Up till then the whole action had been in the nature of an energetic assault; even the last reserve, the European Company, had, at its urgent request, been sent into action. Towards noon the fighting had everywhere become stationary before the strong defences of the enemy. We had, as a matter of fact, no means of making a sufficient impression on them, and even our field-guns, which we placed in position at two hundred yards, produced no decisive effect. The heat was insupportable, and, as at Tanga, everyone quenched his thirst with young cocoanuts. I myself went with Lieut. Bleeck to the right wing, to find out how things were going with Major Kepler’s column. At that time I had not yet obtained a clear idea of the enemy’s defences, and so, on the sands of a clear and open creek, which was then dry, we again came under a very well-aimed fire. From a distance of five hundred yards the bullets fell close to us, and the spurts of sand they threw up made correction easy. The sand was so deep and the heat so great that one could only run, or even walk quickly, for a few paces at a time. Most of the time we had to walk slowly across the open and bear the unpleasant fire as best we could. Fortunately it did no serious harm, although one bullet through my hat and another through my arm showed that it was well meant. On the way back from the right wing our thirst and exhaustion were so great that several gentlemen, who were usually by no means on bad terms with each other, had a serious difference of opinion about a cocoanut, although it would not have been difficult to get more from the countless trees all round us.

Headquarters had now returned to the Totohown-Jassini road. Along this ran a light railway for the work of the plantation, the wagons of which were now continuously employed in taking wounded back to Totohown, where a hospital had been established in the European buildings. Ammunition—of which the Askari carried about 150 rounds—began to run short, and reports from the firing line that they could not hold on longer became more frequent. Slightly wounded who had been tied up and a mass of stragglers collected at Headquarters, whole platoons had completely lost themselves, or had for other reasons left the places assigned to them. All these men were collected and reorganized, and thus a fresh reserve was made available. The ammunition in the machine-gun belts was to a great extent expended, and fresh supplies came up from Totohown by the light railway. The belt-filling machines were fixed to the palm-trees and kept incessantly at work. It was evident that we had already suffered considerable casualties. A few wished to break off the action, as there seemed no prospect of capturing the enemy’s defences. But the thought of the unpleasant situation of the enemy, shut up in his works, without water, and having to carry on all the occupations of daily existence in a confined space, in a burning sun and under hostile fire, made it appear that if we only held on with determination we might yet achieve success. The afternoon and night passed in incessant fighting; as is always the case in such critical situations, all sorts of rumours arose. It was said that the garrison of the enemy’s works consisted of South African Europeans, who were excellent marksmen; some people even declared they had understood their speech perfectly. It was indeed still very difficult to form a clear idea. My orderly, Ombasha (Lance-Corporal) Rayabu, at once volunteered to make a close reconnaissance, crawled close up to the enemy’s line, and was killed there. The native, who is at all times easily excitable, was doubly so in this critical situation at night, and I frequently had to take the men severely to task for firing blindly into the air.

Early on the 19th January the fire broke out again with the greatest intensity. The enemy, who was surrounded on all sides, made a sortie, which failed, and soon after hoisted the white flag. Four Indian companies, with European officers and N.C.O.’s, fell into our hands. We all remarked the warlike pride with which our Askari regarded the enemy; I never thought our black fellows could look so distinguished.

Both friend and foe had been in an unpleasant situation, and were near the end of their nervous strength. That is usually the case with any soldier who takes his duty seriously. But the Askari now learned that one must overcome one’s own feelings in order to obtain the superior moral force necessary for victory.

I estimated the enemy’s casualties at 700 at least; the captured documents gave a clear indication of his strength, which was more than double our own. According to them, General Tighe, commanding the troops in British East Africa, who had landed a short time before at Wanga, had more than twenty companies assembled at and near Jassini, most of whom had come by march route along the coast from the direction of Mombasa. They were to push forward towards Tanga.

With the aid of the mechanical transport and the rickshaws, which worked between the Field Hospital at Totohown and Tanga, the wounded were moved from Jassini to the hospitals on the Northern Railway quite easily in a few days. These rickshaws, small spring-carts (like dog-carts), drawn by one man, which take the place of cabs at Tanga, had been requisitioned for carrying wounded by the Senior Medical Officer. The enemy had withdrawn into his fortified camps north of the frontier, and a fresh attack on them did not seem to me very promising. We immediately commenced patrol operations, as a support to which we left a detachment of a few companies at Jassini; the bulk of the troops was moved off again to the Kilima Njaro country. On the march to the entraining station on the Northern Railway the troops passed through Amboni Plantation. There the inhabitants of Tanga had voluntarily provided food and refreshments; and after the tremendous exertions entailed by the expedition to Jassini, with its continuous forced marches, the exhausting heat, and the uninterrupted fighting by day and night, the sulphur-laden Sigi stream was soon alive with white and black bathers. All our toil was forgotten, and our spirits rose to the highest pitch on receiving at this very moment, after a rather long interval, another wireless message from home. It indicated that news of the fighting at Tanga had probably just reached Germany, and contained His Majesty’s appreciation of the success we had gained there.

CHAPTER VII
GUERILLA WARFARE AND FURTHER PREPARATIONS

DOCUMENTS which we captured later proved by figures that the enemy moved troops from Lake Victoria towards Kilima Njaro. So the battle actually did relieve other, far distant theatres. This observation bore out the original contention that the best protection of the whole territory consisted in taking a firm hold of the enemy at one point. Whether the remainder of the Colony was also locally protected with energy was not as important. All the same, I was greatly rejoiced when in February, 1915, the Governor was persuaded to issue the order that the coast towns were to be defended if threatened by the enemy. The successes obtained hitherto had demonstrated that this local defence was not hopeless, even against the fire of ships’ guns.