The Gold Coast Regiment in the East African Campaign

by Sir Hugh Charles Clifford

These things happened in the space of a few seconds, and already Captain Foley had taken complete charge of the situation, his fluency in Hausa making it easy for him to give his orders clearly and rapidly. He bade the Battery Sergeant-Major retire the two guns and all the ammunition across the river, and then dividing his small force, which was composed of the thirty men of A Company and about a dozen men of the Battery, he placed half under the Sergeant-Major of A Company and the rest under Sergeant Mahmadu Moshi of the Battery. These non-commissioned officers successively led charges into the bush, whence, barely twenty yards away, the enemy were firing upon Foley’s men. This had its immediate effect, and Foley next retired half his little party a few yards to the rear, while the rest emptied their magazine rifles into the bush occupied by the enemy. The party in advance then retired at the double through the men behind them, and in their turn took up a position from which to cover the retreat of their fellows. In this manner the enemy, who were in greatly superior force, were successfully kept at bay, while Sergeant-Major Bukare Moshi retired the two guns to the further bank of the river, an operation which was so successfully conducted that, in spite of the deep water, it was performed with the loss of only one box of ammunition. One gunner and three men of A Company were killed, and three gun-carriers were wounded; but the guns were saved, and the great coolness and skill with which Captain Foley handled his men, and the pluck, steadfastness, and resource which the latter showed, won the special praise of Colonel Tyndall of the 40th Pathans. The action of the Battery on this occasion did much to avert what at one time threatened to be a serious disaster. Later in the day Captain Shaw, with two hundred men of A and B Companies, marched to Rumbo to reinforce the 40th Pathans.

The feat thus accomplished was one of quite extraordinary difficulty. The river-crossing at this point, even in the dry season, is by no means easy, for the banks, which are some ten feet in height, rise sheer from the bed and had been worn smooth by the passage of much running water. On this particular day, however, the stream was a raging torrent and the steep banks were as slippery as ice. That, in these circumstances, the passage of the guns and ammunition should have been effected with such expedition and success shows what human effort is capable of achieving in moments of intense excitement.

During the action just described, Lieutenant Murray, R.N., who was in command of a naval Lewis gun section, had all the men of his team either killed or wounded. He then attached himself to Captain Foley, rendering him valuable assistance, and refusing himself to cross the stream until the last of the Battery had passed over in safety.

Captain Macpherson, in command of I Company, was also in action during this day at a place called Beaumont’s Post, which was situated near the banks of the Magaura river, on a track that runs parallel to the coast, but well out of sight of the sea, to the east and a little to the south of Rumbo. This post, though of great strength, was very close to the enemy, and it and the patrols sent out from it were frequent objects of his attack. On this occasion Captain Macpherson lost two men killed, two wounded, and two local porters killed.

On the 19th April the rest of the Regiment marched to Rumbo, and there relieved the 40th Pathans; and during the afternoon the enemy, under a flag of truce, sent in five men who had been wounded during the action of the preceding day, and who had fallen into his hands. The bearer of the flag of truce admitted that the enemy had himself lost thirty men in that action, so the veterans of the 40th Pathans and the Battery of the Gold Coast Regiment and its escort had not put up their rather desperate little fight in vain.

During the next two days the surrounding country was patrolled, and the defences of the camp at Rumbo were improved; and on the 22nd April the Brigade Headquarters were established there, and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles arrived in camp. Patrolling continued, and on the 25th April Captain Macpherson reported from Beaumont’s Post that he had been engaged with the enemy on the 18th April and again on the 20th April; that he had lost in all four men killed, four wounded, and one missing; and that among the killed was Company Sergeant-Major Hassan Bazaberimi.

It was while the Regiment was in camp at Rumbo that von Lettow-Vorbeck planned and carried out one of those daring little ventures which, even though they might have no special military value, helped no doubt to keep up the spirits of his people, and certainly appealed very strongly to his opponents’ instinctive love of a good sportsman. He sent a small raiding party through the bush to a point overlooking the harbour of Kilwa Kisiwani, and having got a gun on to a hill in the vicinity, opened fire upon a British transport which was lying at anchor. He actually scored three hits, and, the surprise being complete, this unexpected attack upon the British sea-base caused for the moment a certain amount of apprehension. Even the Depôt Company of the Gold Coast Regiment at Mpara was mobilized under Major Read, and was posted along the northern shore of the harbour; but the Germans were not in a position to deliver any serious attack, and when a British cruiser appeared on the scene they prudently withdrew.

For the rest of the month the Regiment remained at Rumbo, daily patrolling the country, improving the defences and the water-supply of the camp, and having frequent slight brushes with the enemy, in the course of which a few casualties were sustained.

The strength of the Regiment on the 1st May 1917, was only 9 officers, 6 British non-commissioned officers, 7 clerks, 2 dressers, 786 rank and file, 381 carriers, 18 servants, and 41 stretcher-bearers, or 1250 men of all ranks. As compared with the personnel of the force which had left Sekondi for East Africa on the 6th July, 1916, only one-fourth of the cadre of officers was now available; the British non-commissioned officers were reduced by 9; the rank and file by 194; and this in spite of the reinforcements from the Gold Coast which had reached the Regiment on the 27th December. Notwithstanding the prolonged and trying experiences to which the men had been subjected, they were as keen and as staunch as ever; but the strength of a native force must ever depend in a great degree upon European leadership, and now there were only 7 company officers and 2 British non-commissioned officers all told, to be distributed between the Battery and the four Companies of the Regiment, two of the other British non-commissioned officers being members of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and one being in charge of the transport. It may be accounted no less than marvellous that, in these circumstances, the corps continued to exhibit so great a measure of energy and vitality.

During the whole of May, however, the Gold Coast Regiment remained in camp at Rumbo, making the usual daily patrols, and on one occasion taking part in a reconnaissance in force, in conjunction with the garrison at Mnasi and I Company at Beaumont’s Post, on a thirty-two-mile front, during which, however, the enemy was not brought to action. A few casualties continued to occur during the month to men belonging to the detachment at Beaumont’s Post; but by the end of May there were eleven combatant and two medical officers with the Regiment,—a material improvement, but still little more than one-third of the proper establishment. The combatant British non-commissioned officers still numbered only four. During the month news was received that Lieutenant Kinley had been awarded the Military Cross for his action on 11th April, and that a similar distinction had been conferred upon Captain Foley, commanding the Battery, for services rendered in the engagement at Rumbo, when supporting the 40th Pathans, on the 18th April. A Distinguished Conduct Medal, and four Military Medals were also awarded to the Battery and to the sections of A Company which supplied its escort for the fight they had put up on that day.