At the commencement of the war our light cruiser Königsberg had left the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam and had, on the 29th September, surprised and destroyed the English cruiser Pegasus at Zanzibar. Then several large enemy cruisers had arrived and industriously looked for the Königsberg. On the 19th October, at Lindi, a pinnace steamed up to the steamer Praesident, of the East African Line, which was concealed in the Lukuledi river. The local Defence Force raised at Lindi, and the Reinforcement Company, were at the moment away under Captain Augar, to repel a landing expected at Mikindani, so that nothing could be undertaken against the pinnace.
It was not till the 29th July, 1915, that several whalers went up the Lukuledi and blew up the Praesident.
After successful cruises in the Indian Ocean the Königsberg had concealed herself in the Rufiji river, but her whereabouts had become known to the enemy. The mouth of the river forms an intricate delta, the view being obstructed by the dense bush with which the islands are overgrown. The various river-mouths were defended by the “Delta” Detachment, under Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld; this detachment consisted of Naval ratings, European reservists, and Askari, and its strength was about 150 rifles, a few light guns, and a few machine guns. The enemy made many attempts to enter the river-mouths with light craft, but was invariably repulsed with severe loss. The Adjutant, a small steamer which the English had taken as a good prize, and armed, was recaptured on one occasion, and was used thenceforward by us as an auxiliary man-of-war on Lake Tanganyika. Some English aircraft had also come to grief in the Rufiji delta. A blockship, which the English had sunk in the most northerly of the river-mouths, did not close the fairway. The frequent bombardments by ships’ guns, which he had no means of opposing, Lieut.-Commander Schoenfeld defeated by the skilful design of his positions, and by shifting them in time. Early in July, 1915, the English had brought to the Rufiji two shallow-draught gun-boats, armed with heavy guns. On the 6th July they made the first attack with four cruisers and other armed vessels, and two river gun-boats. The enemy bombarded the Königsberg, which was at anchor in the river with aeroplane observation. The attack was beaten off, but when it was repeated on the 11th July, the Königsberg suffered severely. The gun-detachments were put out of action. The severely wounded captain had the breech-blocks thrown overboard and the ship blown up. The loss of the Königsberg, though sad in itself, had at least this advantage for the campaign on land, that the whole crew and the valuable stores were now at the disposal of the Protective Force.
Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld, who was in command on land at the Rufiji delta, at once set himself with great forethought to raise the parts of the guns that had been thrown overboard. Under his supervision the ten guns of the Königsberg were completely salved and got ready for action again; five were mounted at Dar-es-Salaam, two each at Tanga and Kigoma, and one at Muansa. For their transport he made use of several vehicles constructed for heavy loads which were found on a neighbouring plantation. In their concealed positions on land these guns rendered excellent service, and as far as I know not one of them was damaged on this service, although they were often bombarded by the enemy’s vessels.
On the 26th September, by night, the steamer Wami was taken out of the Rufiji to Dar-es-Salaam.
At the end of August several boats came to Lindi from Mozambique with men belonging to the steamer Ziethen, in order to join the Force.
On the 10th January, 1915, about 300 Indian and black troops with machine guns landed on the island of Mafia. Our police detachment, three Europeans, fifteen Askari, and eleven recruits, opposed them bravely for six hours, but surrendered when their commander, Lieutenant Schiller of the Reserve, was severely wounded, who had been maintaining a well-aimed fire on the enemy from a mango tree. The English held Mafia with a few hundred men, and also established posts of observation on the smaller islands in the vicinity.
It was apparently from here that the work of rousing the natives against us was undertaken. On the night of the 29th-30th July, 1915, we captured a dhow at Kisija carrying propaganda papers.
The events at Dar-es-Salaam, where, on the 22nd October, the captain of an English cruiser declined to be bound by any agreement, have already been discussed.
On the outbreak of hostilities an aeroplane, which had been sent to Dar-es-Salaam for the Exhibition, was taken into use, but was destroyed by an accident at Dar-es-Salaam on the 15th November, when Lieutenant Henneberger lost his life.