On the 10th January the reconnoitring party returned to Regimental Headquarters viâ Gold Coast Hill and the main road from Kibata to Mtumbei Juu Mission, while active patrolling of the Kibata-Mwengei road began.
On this day word was received that Captain Poyntz had been awarded the Military Cross, Colour-Sergeant Campbell the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and Lance-Corporal Sully Ibadan the Military Medal for their meritorious services in the engagement on the 15th December.
During the next few days points of strategic importance were occupied, and patrols were sent out in various directions. By one of these, which was furnished by the 40th Pathans, two white German prisoners were brought in, one of whom was a certain Major von Bompkin, and the other a gunner from the Koenigsberg, decorated with the Iron Cross. Major von Bompkin had been second-in-command to von Lettow-Vorbeck, but after the British had forced their way into the Uluguru Mountains at the beginning of the preceding September, he had headed a deputation to the German Commander-in-Chief, representing to him that enough had been done for honour, and that further resistance was useless and a mere waste of human lives. Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s reply was forthwith to degrade him to the rank of a mere patrol commander; and at the time of his capture von Bompkin was in charge of a party of only six men. He had apparently taken the harsh treatment meted out to him in a fine soldierly spirit, and as a patrol leader had shown great daring and enterprise. For instance, on one occasion he had passed the greater part of the night in the middle of the camp occupied by the 40th Pathans, sheltering himself from the rain in the officers’ latrine. At dawn he had run into a very sleepy officer of the regiment, who failed to recognize him as an enemy in the uncertain light, and he had thereafter made good his retreat, carrying with him the detailed information of which he had come in search.
On the 20th January the Regiment moved down the mountain by the main road to Kitambi, Colonel Rose returning to Mtumbei Juu mission station in the afternoon. He came back to Kitambi on the following day with the staff of the 3rd East African Brigade, to the command of which he had been temporarily appointed; and on the 22nd January he left for Ngarambi Chini, a place situated some twenty miles due west of Kibata. Major Goodwin took over the command of the Gold Coast Regiment with effect from the 21st January.
CHAPTER V
IN THE KILWA AREA—IN THE SOUTHERN VALLEY
OF THE LOWER RUFIJI
On the 26th January, 1917, the Regiment, under the command of Major Goodwin, left Kitambi for Ngarambi Chini, and reached its destination next day, after camping for the night on the road at Namatwe, a spot distant fourteen and a half miles from the former place. From this point the roads in the neighbourhood were regularly patrolled; and on the 31st January the Regiment moved to Kiyombo—a place some six miles north of Ngarambi Chini—where the brigade camp was established. From the 29th January to the 6th February A and B Companies were detached from the Regiment, and were stationed first at Namburage and later at a place on the banks of the Lugomya River, to which the name of Greene’s Post was given. From all these points, the work of patrolling the roads in the vicinity was regularly carried out; and on the 3rd February Lieutenant Shields, with Colour-Sergeant Nelson, 50 rank and file and 1 machine-gun, were sent out on this duty from Njimbwe, where the Pioneer Company was then on a detached post, along the road leading to Utete. It should be noted that the Utete here mentioned is not the largish town on the right bank of the Rufiji River which bears that name, but a much smaller place situated about eleven miles north of Kiyombo.
KIBATA AND NGARAMBI AREA
The patrol under Lieutenant Shields had orders to meet a patrol of the King’s African Rifles from Kiwambi at a point some nine miles from Njimbwe, but he had proceeded along the road leading to Utete for a distance of only about a mile and a half when the advance point sent back to report that they had seen a group of about ten German Askari on the eastern or right side of the track. It was a favourite trick of the Germans at this time to dress themselves and their native soldiers in kit belonging to the British which had fallen into their hands, and thus to occasion confusion as to who was friend and who was foe. The country through which Lieutenant Shields was patrolling was for the most part of a fairly open character, though it was covered with rank grass, set pretty thickly with trees, and studded here and there with patches of underwood. The party of the enemy had only been glimpsed for a moment, but as Lieutenant Shields went forward at once, followed or accompanied by Colour-Sergeant Nelson, a white man, dressed like an officer of the King’s African Rifles, appeared at a little distance ahead of the advance point, crying out in English, “Don’t fire! we are K.A.R.’s.” Lieutenant Shields, who was very short-sighted, taken in by this treacherous ruse, bade his men not fire, and the enemy, who appear to have been about 200 strong with many Europeans among them, thereupon poured a volley into the patrol from the bush at very short range. This was followed by the blowing of bugles and an assault. Lieutenant Shields and Colour-Sergeant Nelson were both shot, as also was the corporal in charge of the machine-gun while trying to bring his piece into action. A German who attempted to approach Shields as he lay on the ground was shot by a man of the Gold Coast Regiment, and the rest of the machine-gun team managed to get their gun away safely. The patrol, however, had to retire in disorder, and in addition to the casualties already enumerated 8 rank and file were missing and were afterwards ascertained to have been killed, while 2 stretcher-bearers were wounded, and 1 machine-gun carrier, 1 transport-carrier and 2 stretcher-bearers were also missing. The patrol further lost 3 boxes of small-arm ammunition, 6 machine-gun belts, 2 stretchers and a medical haversack.
It was Lieutenant Shields, it will be remembered, who held the advanced post on the ridge beyond the summit of Gold Coast Hill during those soul-searching hours between 11 a.m. and dusk on the 15th December. It seemed a tragedy that this gallant young officer, who had come unscathed through the ordeal of that day, and who had earned for himself a high reputation for coolness and courage, should lose his life in the paltry wayside ambush above described.