From Natovi Lieutenant Clarke, with a patrol of thirty rifles, had been sent out to try to intercept an enemy foraging party, and on the following day Captain Leslie-Smith and fifty men had been left at Namarika, when the rest of the Regiment advanced eight miles along the road to Manambiri. On the 29th March patrols under Lieutenant Chaundler and Lieutenant Beech were sent out, the first along the main road as far as Kitambo, distant four miles from Manambiri, and the other along the Nicoque-Medo road, which branches off to the north-west from the latter place. Neither of these parties found any traces of the enemy, and Lieutenant Clarke’s report, when he reached Manambiri the same afternoon, was similarly negative. During the night, however, shots were exchanged between an enemy patrol and an outpost furnished by the 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles.
On the 30th March Lieutenant Chaundler again patrolled to Kitambo, but found that an enemy camp, which had been established just beyond that village, was deserted. During the day Manambiri camp, which by now had become a mere mud-hole, was rearranged, an endeavour being made to pitch it upon higher ground.
On the 2nd April, an enemy patrol having fired upon a party of sappers and miners near Namarika at about 7 a.m., Lieutenant Bisshopp with fifty rifles was sent out to try to intercept him, marching through the bush on a compass-bearing for a distance of eight miles. It was a toilsome and comfortless task, cutting and forcing a way through dripping-wet bush, but it led to no result.
On the 5th April Captain Harman patrolled along the main road to Medo with half of I Company, and reached Namaaka, which is distant about four miles from Manambiri. From Namaaka he sent out a small party which engaged an enemy patrol, composed of about thirty men and two machine-guns, which retired before it, though two men of I Company were wounded.
On the 7th April the Headquarters of the Gold Coast Regiment, with A and I Companies, advanced to Namaaka. This place was reached without incident, but two miles further on the advanced guard came up against a party of the enemy, about fifty strong with two machine-guns. A fight ensued which lasted for about two hours, in the course of which one man of the advanced guard was killed, and five men, two machine-gun carriers and four carriers belonging to the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps were wounded. The enemy was driven back to a position behind a large swamp, from which it would have been very difficult to eject him unless he could be outflanked. The advanced guard was not strong enough to attempt this, and it accordingly fell back upon the main body. A patrol was then sent round the north side of the swamp, only to find that the enemy had retired.
On the 8th April, half of I Company, under Captain Webber, was sent forward in the direction of Medo, and came into touch with the enemy at a place about half a mile beyond the position behind the swamp which the latter had evacuated on the preceding evening. As usual, the first intimation received on this occasion of the proximity of the enemy was a volley fired from cover, the men forming the advanced point being shot down. This accomplished, the enemy blew his bugles and sounded the charge. It had been previously arranged that, in the event of a fight developing, the supporting section, under Lieutenant Bisshopp, should move to the side of the road upon which the enemy appeared to be the more numerous, in order to support the leading section, which was under the command of Lieutenant Clarke. As the enemy came on, the shouting and cheering which accompanied his charge indicated that he was strongest on the left of the road, so Lieutenant Bisshopp with his party pushed forward in that direction at the double, receiving a volley in partial enfilade from the Askari who were engaging Lieutenant Clarke’s section, and whose onset had already been almost stopped by the latter. As Lieutenant Bisshopp’s section continued at the double, they presently met the enemy, who were also delivering an attack upon Lieutenant Clarke’s flank; whereupon the Askari faced about and bolted. Many of them were wearing the green caps which are part of the service kit of the men of the Gold Coast Regiment, and so confused at all times is fighting in the bush, that one of Lieutenant Bisshopp’s party, seeing his officers aiming at a retreating Askari, pulled his rifle down, crying out that the fugitive was one of their own corps. The next moment, this soldier fell, shot through the ankle, ejaculating many and bitter things about the manners and morals of the “Germani.” I Company then attacked and drove the enemy down the road for several miles, and the other half of I Company having been sent forward to reinforce, a strong post was established about two miles west of Namaaka, with a picket thrown out a mile ahead of it. On this day I Company lost three men killed and five men wounded.
In the afternoon the rest of the column arrived at Namaaka, and on the 9th April it went forward through I Company’s post, the 4th King’s African Rifles being the advanced guard. The enemy were driven back about four miles further down the road, and the column camped for the night at a point to which the name of Rock Camp was given, on account of a large isolated bluff which was situated near to it on the northern side of the road.
From Rock Camp Lieutenant Reid was sent out to try to locate the road to Kimone toward the south, and Lieutenant Cumming took out a patrol in a north-easterly direction to the Montepuez River, which falls into the sea about forty-five miles north of Port Amelia, and on the right bank of which Medo is situated.
This place was now the immediate objective of “Pamforce,” the enemy being believed to have occupied it in some strength, and to have accumulated there a considerable quantity of supplies.
General Edwards and his Staff reached Rock Camp at 7.30 a.m. on the 10th April, and at 1.30 p.m. the Gold Coast Regiment moved out towards Medo, which was distant about seven miles.