It was not till nearly five o’clock in the afternoon, however, that the Pioneer Company became heavily engaged; and Captain Butler presently went forward to the picket which he had placed near the bend of the road to see how things fared with them. It was while he was lying here on the road beside his men that he and several of the picket were wounded by a sudden burst of machine-gun fire from the kopje immediately in front of him. In all, twelve men of the Pioneers were wounded during the afternoon, but the Company held firm, and maintained its hold upon the kopje which Butler had occupied. Late in the afternoon B Company, under the command of Captain Shaw, was sent forward to reinforce the Pioneers, and to make good the ground which had been won. This was successfully accomplished, the wounded were evacuated to the rear, and the men dug themselves in, and dossed down for the night in the excavations they had made.
Captain Butler died that evening of the wounds which he had sustained during the afternoon. A young officer possessed of at once a charming and forceful personality, of an absolutely fearless disposition and of more than ordinary ability, Captain Butler, V.C., D.S.O., had won for himself a conspicuous place in the Gold Coast Regiment, and had earned the devotion and affection of the men in a very special degree. His death, in this the first action in which the Regiment had been engaged since its arrival in East Africa, was felt to be a specially malignant stroke of ill-fortune, and was mourned as a personal loss by his comrades of all ranks.
During the night, orders were sent to Captain Shaw, who was now commanding the advanced companies, to push forward at the earliest opportunity. This he did at dawn, creeping in the darkness to the point of the road where Captain Butler had been wounded, and thence up the grassy hill to the road above it. Here the charge was sounded, and the men with fixed bayonets rushed up the kopje, which was captured after a few shots had been fired. In this charge Acting-Sergeant Bukari of B Company displayed conspicuous bravery, which was subsequently rewarded by a second Distinguished Conduct Medal. This fine soldier was promoted to non-commissioned rank on the field, and awarded a D.C.M. for conspicuous gallantry when fighting in the Kameruns. Now, in this his first fight in East Africa, he again won that coveted distinction; but his subsequent history was a sad one. Evacuated to the rear suffering from only a slight wound which, during the long journey to the base at Korogwe, on the Tanga-Moschi railway, was allowed to become septic, he died in hospital before ever he had learned of the second reward which his dash and courage had earned for him.
During the rest of the day the force under Captain Shaw’s command continued to fight its way from kopje to kopje up the road, the Pioneers under Lieutenant Bray and B Company under Captain Shaw alternately advancing under the protection of the other’s fire. In this manner, by evening, a point distant about 400 yards from the head of the pass was reached and secured.
Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles was advancing up the northern slope of the big clump of mountains, which have been described as rising on the right side of the pass. As soon as this was observed, a gun of the Gold Coast Regiment was brought into action to assist the advance of the newcomers. The enemy was heavily shelled, but owing to the commanding positions which he occupied, it was not found possible to push home the infantry attack, the King’s African Rifles not having yet won possession of the crest of the mountains. None the less, considerable progress was made during the day, and B Company succeeded in capturing the highest point of the spur round which the road ran.
At dusk on the 5th September Captain Wheeler with A Company relieved B Company, and took over from it the ground which it had won, B Company forthwith going into reserve. During the day, moreover, Major Goodwin made a reconnaissance with half of I and half of G Company for the purpose of finding out whether a flanking party could be sent over the hills to join up with the King’s African Rifles. He was able to report that this could be accomplished.
During the night of the 5th-6th September, the enemy received reinforcements, and shortly after dawn he opened a violent machine-gun fire upon the advanced positions occupied by the Gold Coast Regiment. Two guns of the Battery were brought up, and all the commanding heights held by the enemy were heavily shelled by them, assisted by two guns belonging to the 5th South African Battery. By noon the enemy’s fire slackened, and the King’s African Rifles began to make their presence felt on the summit of the mountains to the right of the pass, which they had now succeeded in occupying. G Company, under the command of Captain Poyntz, had been sent early in the morning to join up with the King’s African Rifles by the path discovered the day before by Major Goodwin, and this junction was effected by about 2 p.m. An hour later the enemy’s fire ceased, and by 4 p.m. Kikirunga Hill, the capture of which was the task that had been set to the Gold Coast Regiment, was duly occupied.
The casualties during this two and a half days of fighting numbered 42 in all, including Captain Butler and 6 rank and file killed, 3 men dangerously, 13 severely, and 19 slightly wounded. Among the latter was Colour-Sergeant Beattie. The doctors and their staff of stretcher bearers, etc., had a heavy time during these few days, as they not only attended to the wounded and evacuated them to the rear under fire, but also conveyed all the more serious cases back to the mission station at Matombo.
On the side of the enemy the casualties suffered were difficult to ascertain, but he lost three Germans and three native soldiers killed, and there were numerous signs of considerable damage having been inflicted upon him, while a number of rifles and some ammunition were picked up in the positions from which he had retired. In the type of warfare in which the Regiment was now engaged, however, it almost invariably happens that the fugitive force is able to inflict more casualties upon its pursuers than it is likely itself to sustain. As has already been observed, it enjoys the advantage which the selection of the ground confers, and can always occupy positions from which it can do the greatest damage to an advancing enemy with a minimum of risk to itself. It is also able to break off an engagement at the precise moment that best suits its convenience and advantage; and the possession of machine-guns further enables it to fight a delaying rear-guard action, and to mask the fact of its retirement, to the very last moment. It rarely happens in fighting of this class that the holding of a given position is a matter of any special importance to a fugitive force. The latter therefore hold it as long as it pays to do so, and thereafter can abandon it without danger or embarrassment, as soon as its defence threatens to become inconvenient. The pursuing force, on the other hand, has only one course open to it—to attack the enemy whenever and wherever he can be found, to inflict upon him as much injury as circumstances permit, but above all, to keep him on the move and to allow him as little rest and peace as possible. It is an expensive business, and it becomes increasingly difficult as lines of supply and communication progressively extend. It is, however, the only method whereby bush-fighting can be efficiently prosecuted; and expense and difficulty are qualities inseparable from this kind of warfare.
The following telegram was received by Colonel Rose from Brigadier-General Hannyngton, commanding the 2nd East African Brigade, on the evening of the 6th September:—