The Gold Coast Regiment in the East African Campaign

by Sir Hugh Charles Clifford

On the 27th September No. 1 Column broke camp at 5.30 a.m. and continued its march to Nahungu from the east, the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles forming the advanced guard, with the Gold Coast Regiment in support. Simultaneously the Nigerians were advancing upon Nahungu in two columns from the north. Very shortly after leaving camp, the King’s African Rifles came into contact with the enemy outposts. The latter fell back, and a ridge situated to the east of Nahungu was occupied without any serious opposition, by the King’s African Rifles, by the 27th Mountain Battery, and by the Headquarters and two companies of the Gold Coast Regiment with the Battery. The main road here runs east and west through fairly thick trees and underwood, with the river flowing parallel to it a few hundred yards to the south. The road ascends from a boulder-strewn hollow until the crest of the ridge above mentioned, which is in the nature of a long hogsback along the spine of which the road runs, is reached. It is overlooked on the north-west by Nahungu Hill, a bush and tree-covered eminence which the enemy had strongly fortified, and where a gun was now in position; and it is also commanded from the south-west by Pori Hill, a similar isolated eminence on the other side of the Mbemkuru to the left front of the British, upon which another gun was in position. This piece was of Portuguese manufacture—how obtained no man could say—and its fire proved completely ineffective. The shrapnel burst in the right spot with exemplary regularity, but thereafter pattered down through the trees with less violence than hail, exciting much derision from the men subjected to this innocuous bombardment. The gun at Nahungu Hill was more formidable, but it was put out of action by the 27th Mountain Battery at about 5 p.m.

The King’s African Rifles deployed along the crest of the hill, as soon as its summit was nearly reached. The position which they took up was roughly the segment of a circle, with its convex side toward the enemy, and the road bisecting it at right angles. The Pioneers and I Company of the Gold Coast Regiment reinforced the firing-line of the King’s African Rifles, which was extended on both sides of the road; and Colonel Rose, realizing that his left flank was exposed, posted a section of I Company with one machine-gun under Captain McElligott, halfway down the hill to the left rear of the firing-line, and there made them dig themselves in. He also sent an officer’s patrol furnished by the Pioneer Company, under Captain Buckby, down to the river to watch the movements of the enemy from that direction. Meanwhile A Company under Major Shaw, and B Company under Captain Methven, were held in reserve behind the shelter of the rising ground, and a few hundred yards to the rear.

The moment the presence of the British was discovered, the enemy guns on Nahungu and on Pori Hill both opened fire, and though the gun on the latter did no damage, it was recognized that this hill commanded the left of the Regiment’s position, and an officer’s patrol under Captain Buckby, as has been mentioned, was sent to the river at 4 p.m. to watch any movement that might be made from that direction. At 5 p.m. the troops on the right got into touch with the Nigerians, but shortly afterwards touch with them was again lost; and half an hour later the Pioneer Company joined up with the firing-line of the King’s African Rifles on the left. About the same time B Company, under Captain Methven, was brought forward from the reserve and was halted in the hollow at the base of the rising ground, on the crest of which the fighting was going on.

Though it was hardly anticipated that B Company would be called upon to take part in the action, Captain Methven sent out one native non-commissioned officer’s patrol to supplement Captain Buckby’s patrol which, earlier in the day, had been dispatched to the river on the south of the position, and he also established a picket of ten men, under Colour-Sergeant Naylor, to guard B Company’s left flank. At dusk he went forward to this picket with ten more men to see how the former was faring, and to tell them that they would have to remain for the night in the shallow excavations which they had made. Just as he reached them one of the men of the picket drew attention to a considerable commotion in the bush in the direction of the river, and presently an irregular line of men was seen to be scuttling through the trees and underwood. In the uncertain light the impression at first formed was that they belonged to the King’s African Rifles. One of them was carrying a machine-gun on his shoulder, which he set up with extraordinary quickness, and forthwith opened fire at Captain Methven, at a range of not more than thirty yards. He missed him, however, and the men of B Company, who were squatting down barely a hundred yards away, and who, clumped together as they were, presented at that moment an absolutely fool-proof target, were able to fling themselves flat upon the ground and to crawl into a line, whence they opened a hot fire upon the advancing enemy over the head of Captain Methven and his picket of twenty men.

Darkness was now falling, and the movement of the enemy presently developed into a strong attack, the object of which was to outflank the British left, and to work in to the rear of the positions on the ridge. In this attempt he very nearly succeeded, and might well have done so had it not been for the prompt action taken by Major Shaw, who, with A Company, was a hundred yards or more further down the road than the spot occupied by B Company. He rapidly deployed the men under his command, having in the darkness practically to assign his place to each individual, and he in an incredibly short time joined his line up with that formed by B Company, thus presenting a united and continuous front on the British left to the enemy’s determined and well-timed counter-attack, upon which A and B Companies now poured a heavy and sustained fire. The section of I Company which, with one machine-gun under the command of Captain McElligott, had dug themselves in earlier in the day on what was now the left of the enemy’s line of attack, also came into action with great effect.

Meanwhile Captain Methven’s picket had been joined by both the patrols that had been posted near the river, they having contrived to evade the advancing enemy. The little party, however, had a very hot time of it. From their rear, B Company was firing over their heads with machine-gun and rifle. Ahead of them, less than fifty yards away, the enemy was in considerable force and was busy with rifles and machine-gun; while the men of the picket, exposed to this double fusillade, and being compelled to lie as flat as they could to avoid British, no less than German missiles, threw the bombs, with which some of them were provided, with a wonderful recklessness that caused many to explode in a manner more dangerous to their friends than to their opponents. The fire, too, was very rapid, and its maintenance was essential if the picket were to avoid being rushed and overwhelmed by the enemy; yet it presently became evident that the supply of small-arms ammunition in the men’s possession would speedily become exhausted. No one with the picket, except Captain Methven, knew precisely where the Headquarters of the Regiment had been fixed, or could undertake to strike it in the dark; so Captain Methven decided to attempt to find it himself. It was a really desperate venture to try to make one’s way through the scrub, with the enemy firing from in front and B Company blazing away from the rear, but Captain Methven crawled and crouched and ran, now on his feet, now on all-fours, tearing his way through the underwood and scratching and bruising himself from head to foot until, luck befriending him, he contrived to reach headquarters. Here he procured some boxes of ammunition, and managed to impress a couple of Mendi carriers, with whom, dragging a box of ammunition in each hand, he returned to the picket by the perilous route whereby he had left it. It was a gallant deed dashingly done, and it saved the picket; and the prompt action taken by Major Shaw, combined with the pluck and steadiness of the men of B Company, prevented what might well have been an enemy success of some magnitude. On this occasion Corporal Bila Busanga especially distinguished himself by his steadiness and courage, and by the admirable manner in which he kept the men together. As it was, the attack was beaten off at the end of an hour; a perimeter camp was formed; and the night passed without further incident.

Considering the character of the fighting, and the confusion caused at dusk and in the darkness by the enemy’s attack upon the left flank, the casualties sustained by the Regiment on this day were light. They amounted to 1 soldier and 2 carriers killed, 21 men wounded, of whom 1 shortly afterwards died, and 13 carriers wounded.

Patrols sent out at dawn on the 28th September reported that, as usual, the enemy had retired during the night; and Pori Hill was forthwith occupied by a patrol of the Gold Coast Regiment under Captain McElligott, and Nahungu Hill by the 2nd Battalion of the King’s African Rifles. The rest of No. 1 Column moved forward and occupied the ground between Nahungu Hill and the river.

Two officers’ patrols of the Gold Coast Regiment were sent out, one along the road to the west, and one along the north, or left, bank of the river. The former reported that a gun had been retired by that route.