“Please tell your Regiment that I think they all worked splendidly to-day, and I wish to thank them for their good work.”
On the 7th September, while the King’s African Rifles advanced, the Gold Coast Regiment rested and reorganized. On the 8th September, however, it pushed forward along the road which it had opened for itself under the lee of Kikirunga Hill, and made its way viâ Kassanga into the heart of the Uluguru mountains. These are a clump of high hills, covered with grass and patches of scrub, and strewn with boulders, and the road was scarped out of the hillsides, with a steep slope running skyward on the one hand, and a khudd—over the edge of which, from time to time, a transport mule toppled—falling away no less steeply on the other. The view of the marching men was for the most part confined to the grassy slope on one side of them, to the valley tilted steeply downward on the other, and across it to the rolling, boulder-strewn hills, smothered in long shaggy grass, green or sun-dried, with the blue of a tropical sky arching over-head. No signs of life were visible, save an occasional deserted village, composed of scattered mud huts, with grass roofs in the last stages of decay and dilapidation; but from the vantage ground all about them the marching men could, of course, be seen from many miles away.
On the 8th September the Regiment caught up with the King’s African Rifles, which had dispersed a small party of the enemy. On the 9th September the former, which was still leading the advance, surprised and scattered the 22nd German Company at a place called Donho; and that night, after a very hard day’s marching the Gold Coast Regiment camped at Kiringezi at about 4.45 p.m. On the 10th September the Regiment came out upon the main road which connects Tulo and Kissaki, and a stray German Askari was killed by the men of G Company, who also captured a few rifles. The 2nd East African Brigade was found to be some five miles ahead, and in the afternoon the Regiment overtook it, and once more joined the reserve.
The advance troops had succeeded in keeping more or less constant touch with the enemy, and as he now showed a disposition to make yet another stand, A and B companies, under Major Goodwin, were sent off at 4 p.m. on the 11th September to reinforce and prolong the extreme right of the British line, which was being held by the King’s African Rifles. Meanwhile half of I Company had been sent to the eastern or extreme left of the line in order to form an escort to the Machine Gun Company of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Just before dark half of G Company received orders to advance and take up a position on the left of half I Company. At 8 a.m. on the 12th September further orders were received, and the rest of the Regiment—viz., the Pioneer Company, half of I Company and the Battery—moved up the road toward Nkessa and held itself in readiness to reinforce the left. This the Pioneer Company and half I Company did at 11 a.m., the former taking up a position on the extreme left of the line; and shortly afterwards the Battery advanced to a point immediately in the rear of these companies.
At 2.30 p.m, an advance from the left in a generally south-south-westerly direction was ordered, and the Pioneer Company and half I Company pushed forward to a distance of from 500 to 600 yards, when they were held up by the enemy who were strongly posted in a village ahead of them. Here the men dug themselves in. Captain Poyntz, who was in command, held on to this position for some time, but he was eventually compelled to retire, as he found that all touch with the company on his right had been lost, and as he heard heavy firing from his right rear, he feared that his detachment might be surrounded and cut off.
Meanwhile, G Company, under Captain Macpherson, had barely advanced a hundred yards before it was forced to halt, a very heavy fire being opened upon it from a salient in the enemy’s line on the right flank. The fire was so close and continuous that one gun of the Battery had to be retired; and when, subsequent to the action, the grass was burned off and the true position revealed, it was found that the contending forces had here been within fifty or sixty yards of one another.
The enemy’s position was astride of the Tulo road, to which his trenches and rifle-pits ran at right angles for a distance of about four and a half to five miles, his extreme right being thrown slightly forward in the neighbourhood of the village against which the Pioneer Company and half I Company, under Captain Poyntz, had advanced. The country was for the most part grass and thick scrub, with trees interspersed among them; but in the centre of his position on the side of the road opposite the British left, where a patch of young cotton trees afforded him excellent cover, he had pushed forward the salient of which mention has been made above.
Orders were sent to Captain Poyntz to fall back; but his own appreciation of the situation had already shown him that retirement was necessary, and he presently lined up alongside G Company, which maintained its position.
Reinforcements were asked for by telephone, and a reply was received from Brigade Headquarters that the 29th Punjabis were being sent up by a road which had recently been constructed to a neighbouring water-supply. A later telephone message stated that the 29th would advance to the relief of the Gold Coast Regiment viâ the main road.
Meanwhile, on the right flank, A and B Companies had been sent by Major Goodwin to occupy a position on the extreme right of the British line, with the King’s African Rifles on their left. At 8.45 a.m. a brisk action began, but the advance achieved was slow. By 1.30 p.m., however, two hills overlooking Nkessa had been occupied. The edge of this village opposite to A and B Companies was strongly held by the enemy, and though the fight continued while daylight lasted, no further advance was made. At 6 p.m., therefore, outpost positions were taken up for the night, and the men slept in the rifle-pits which they had dug. Intermittent firing continued during the night.