On the 15th April “Rosecol” left the camp at Medo, and began to advance down the road in the direction of Mwalia. The 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African rifles formed the advanced guard, the Gold Coast Regiment being in reserve. The former’s advanced points were attacked, as usual, and the Battalion engaged a small enemy rear-guard, the progress made during the day amounting to only four and a half miles. From this time onward, the Gold Coast Regiment and the 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles took it in turns to lead the advance, and each was preceded at a short distance by an advanced detachment consisting of 300 rifles with the usual complement of machine and Lewis guns, and two Stokes guns of the Gold Coast Regiment. This leading detachment had points thrown out ahead on each side of the road and a line of skirmishers deployed behind them, the remainder of the detachment advancing in open order on both sides of the road, with connecting files between them and the main body in their rear.
On the 16th April the advanced detachment was supplied by A Company and two sections of I Company, under the command of Major Shaw. During the day small engagements were fought with an enemy rear-guard, consisting of one company, but the Stokes guns proved very useful and effective, the enemy being shelled out of successive positions from which, but for these guns, it would have cost much delay and probably many casualties to eject him. As it was, only two men of the Regiment and one Sierra Leone carrier were wounded. The column camped at 2 p.m., Major Shaw’s detachment[detachment] digging itself in about a mile further down the road.
On the 17th April the 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles furnished the advanced detachment, that regiment being at the head of the column, with the Gold Coast Regiment following in reserve. During the afternoon the King’s African Rifles became heavily engaged with the enemy, who had been reinforced and was now opposing the advance with three companies and six machine-guns. The road here ran through elephant grass nine feet in height, and it was found impossible to locate the enemy’s positions. On the other hand, the King’s African Rifles had dug themselves in across the road, the lie of which was accurately known to the Germans, and the former consequently sustained many casualties. The 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles was a newly raised force, largely composed of recruits, and the ordeal of being fired upon by an invisible enemy, against whom no effective retaliation was possible, was very severe. However, they held on, and in the afternoon A Company was sent forward to reinforce them. This company and the two Stokes gun-teams, which had been with the 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles all day, sustained 28 casualties before dark, losing 3 men and 1 battery gun-carrier killed, and 13 men, 6 battery gun-carriers and 5 Sierra Leone carriers wounded.
Next morning the Gold Coast Regiment took over from the King’s African Rifles the position which the latter had occupied during the night, and was directed to hold the enemy in front while a strong detachment from “Kartucol” attempted a wide flanking movement on the right. Captain Duck with thirty rifles was sent forward from the position held by the Regiment to get in touch with the enemy in order to give the flanking detachment an objective. He speedily found and engaged the enemy, whereupon the rest of “Kartucol” advanced through the Gold Coast Regiment and joined in the fight. The enemy, however, had once again reduced his rear-guard to a single company, and on the 19th April “Kartucol” continued the advance, “Rosecol” following in the rear. On the following day the two columns were to have exchanged places, but the rations expected from the rear arrived so late on the night of the 19th April that this arrangement could not be carried out. The delay had been caused by the convoy being attacked by the enemy near Rock Camp. The officer commanding this convoy was killed, and much confusion was wrought by the ambush, though the carriers and their escort contrived to get through with the loss of a few bags of mails. There were many Europeans in camp who would far more willingly have foregone their dinners. In a captured diary Kohl was subsequently found complaining with disgust that the mails taken on this occasion contained no information concerning the progress of the war in Europe, and mainly consisted of “love to dear Jack.”
"Kartucol," therefore, continued the advance and occupied Mwalia, while “Rosecol” camped for the night at Kalima, about four miles short of that place. The distance from Medo to Mwalia is not quite five-and-twenty miles. The column had left Medo on the 15th April and “Kartucol” had reached Mwalia on the 20th April, the average daily progress being therefore little more than four miles.
On the 21st April “Rosecol” remained in camp at Kalima, where it was joined by General Edwards and his staff. “Kartucol” during the day was shelled by the enemy, and on the 22nd April it moved forward and occupied an enemy position two miles in front of the camp at Mwalia. Both columns remained in these positions until the 26th April, when “Rosecol” moved forward and occupied Makuku, about twelve miles down the road, “Kartucol,” which had preceded it, having advanced three miles further to a place called Mbalama. At Makuku the main road, hitherto followed, which leads from Mtuge to Lusinje, is crossed by another which runs south-west to Koronje; and Mbalama is situated some three miles down this latter track.
On the 27th April “Rosecol” advanced through “Kartucol,” and marched down the road towards Koronje, with Nanungu, some forty miles further to the west and slightly south of the former place, as its ultimate objective. The advanced detachment, under Major Shaw, consisted of the Pioneer Company and A Company of the Gold Coast Regiment with two Stokes guns. A small party of the enemy was engaged and driven back; “Rosecol” camped for the night about four miles west of Mbalama.
Next day, 28th April, the advance was continued, being led this time by the 4th Battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles, two Stokes guns of the Gold Coast Regiment, as usual, accompanying the advanced detachment. About six miles were covered during the day, and as “Rosecol” was forming camp at about 3.30 p.m., patrols from the advanced detachment came into touch with the enemy, and Lieutenant McEvoy was wounded in the hand by a stray bullet, and a trumpeter belonging to the Stokes Gun Battery was killed.
On the 29th April the enemy was found to have abandoned the positions which he had occupied the night before; and at 7 a.m. the advanced detachment, consisting of half I and B Companies with two of the Gold Coast Stokes guns, advanced, the rest of “Rosecol” following half an hour later. Major Shaw, who was, as usual, in command of the advanced detachment, came into contact with the enemy at about 10.30 a.m., and thereafter the latter fought an intermittent rear-guard action—a series of harassing ambushes—until 4.30 p.m., when camps were formed for the night, Major Shaw’s men occupying a position about a mile in advance of the rest of the column. In the course of the day only two men of the Gold Coast Regiment were wounded, the Stokes guns once more proving very useful in dislodging the enemy from successive positions.