The rest of the march up the Rovuma progressed very slowly. A great part of the force were unaccustomed to long route-marches. The columns straggled endlessly. The Askari women followed singly, several hundred yards apart. It was some time before they learned to keep to a regular marching order. Incidentally it became obvious that in some companies the Askari who had come with us had not been selected from the most suitable point of view. In the reorganization of the companies which had had to be carried out during the fighting, many good and reliable men had been left behind, and replaced by others, stronger perhaps, but less reliable. Many went into battle with their children on their shoulders; it would have been better to choose an equally reliable man who was not burdened by having to drag about a wife and family.
But it was too late now to alter anything.
Apparently we had quite got outside the enemy’s range of observation. The aircraft which usually followed our marches were absent and no bombs fell on our camps. Once an enemy supply column crossed the Rovuma right into our camp. It was a welcome capture. Of grain we found practically none in this district, but on the other hand, we shot plenty of game. Several buffaloes and quite a number of antelopes, particularly Wasserbok, fell to our guns. But we dared not delay; our shrinking supplies urged us continually forward. Fortunately I had with me a few Europeans who knew the country, and who, shortly before, had been working near the confluence of the Ludjenda and the Rovuma. In peace time a Portuguese station had been situated there, and even in war a more or less strong garrison had been reported there. It might be assumed that even now we should find some traces of the enemy. The few natives we came across even spoke of a stronger garrison, amounting to two thousand English or Portuguese. The natives’ figures could not, of course, be relied on, but they strengthened my belief that in the neighbourhood of Ngomano something might be done.
PART III
FIGHTING ON FOREIGN SOIL
(From the Crossing into Portuguese East Africa to the Armistice)