Captain Methven, who had already earned a Military Cross on the Western Front, was awarded a bar to that decoration for the gallant service he had rendered from the time he occupied Liwinda Ravine on the 9th August to the 18th October, when he was repeatedly but happily not fatally wounded, in that death-trap on the Mission Hill at Lukuledi.
CHAPTER XIII
EXPULSION OF VON LETTOW-VORBECK FROM
GERMAN EAST AFRICA
On the 19th October patrols sent out at dawn reported that the enemy had retired. The 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles accordingly occupied the mission boma and the church, while the remainder of No. 1 Column camped on the crest of the hill to the north, overlooking the valley of the Lukuledi, from which on the preceding day Captain Methven had caught his first view of the mission buildings. Before this move was made, I Company of the Gold Coast Regiment was dispatched to occupy a ridge to the north-east of the camp in which the Regiment had passed the night; and from here a strong officer’s patrol was sent out along the road which runs in an easterly direction from Lukuledi to Chikukwe. At 3 p.m. a detachment of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd King’s African Rifles took over this post from I Company; and at 6 p.m. the patrol along the Chikukwe road returned and reported that it had obtained touch with the enemy at a point about four miles down the road.
During the day the Battery rejoined the Gold Coast Regiment, and the 129th Baluchis rejoined No. 1 Column.
On the 20th October the enemy delivered an attack in force upon the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles, who were in occupation of the Mission Hill. This attack was the result of certain rapid movements that von Lettow-Vorbeck had made during the past few days, which are of sufficient importance to warrant some detailed description.
As we have seen, he had last been heard of at Ruwanga, a point some sixteen miles north-east of Ruponda; and on the arrival of No. 1 Column at the Mission Station of Mnero, it had been confidently anticipated that he would take energetic steps to defend his food depôts at Ruponda. Instead, leaving perhaps three companies with six machine-guns to resist the British advance at Lukuledi, he marched rapidly eastward, and joined forces with the troops which were opposing “Linforce” near Mtama, on the Lindi-Massassi road. He here fought two severely contested actions with “Linforce,” at Njengao and at Mahiwa, which places are only two or three miles apart, the former being about four miles further down the Linda road than Mtama. The brunt in both these engagements was borne by the Nigerians and by General O’Grady’s Brigade, which was mainly composed of battalions of the King’s African Rifles, who succeeded in inflicting unusually heavy losses on von Lettow-Vorbeck’s forces, but themselves suffered even more serious casualties. It was estimated at the time, that the enemy lost 800 men killed and wounded, and that the British loss was approximately 2000.
Satisfied that he had now done enough temporarily to paralyse the advance of “Linforce,” von Lettow-Vorbeck forthwith set off post-haste down the main road in the direction of Massassi, taking with him four of the companies which had been in action with the Nigerians both at Njengao and at Mahiwa. Pushing on very rapidly to Chigugu, he left two companies there, and picked up three fresh ones which had been in action at Lukuledi on the 18th October.
His plan was to approach the last-named place from the south with the men under his command, advancing from the direction of Massassi, while the two companies which he had left at Chigugu simultaneously attacked the left flank of the British from the east. These concerted movements were timed to be executed on the morning of the 20th October.
On that day the 1st Battalion of the 3rd King’s African Rifles, supported by the 25th Cavalry, had orders to advance toward Massassi, and it had actually set forth upon its march when it suddenly found itself confronted by von Lettow-Vorbeck’s five companies, with which were two guns. The King’s African Rifles took up a position south of the church, which completely dominated the German attack, and though the bulk of the 25th Cavalry failed to support them, they, in the fight which ensued, not only inflicted heavy losses upon the enemy but caused him to abandon two of his machine-guns, and took from him also a number of prisoners.
It is worth noting that during the British attack upon the Mission Hill at Lukuledi, on the 18th October, care had been exercised to avoid shelling the church. Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s gunners were hampered by no corresponding scruples, and one of their first acts was to bring the tall spire down with a crash.