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My Reminiscences of East Africa

General von Lettow-Vorbeck.

My Reminiscences
of East Africa

By General von Lettow-Vorbeck

With Portrait, 22 Maps and Sketch-Maps,
∷——∷——and 13 Drawings——∷——∷
By General von Lettow-Vorbeck’s Adjutant

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C.

PREFACE

IN all the German colonies, though but a few decades old, a life full of promise was discernible. We were beginning to understand the national value of our colonial possessions; settlers and capital were venturing in; industries and factories were beginning to flourish. Compared with that of other nations, the colonizing process of Germany had progressed peacefully and steadily, and the inhabitants had confidence in the justice of German administration. This development had barely commenced when it was destroyed by the world war. In spite of all tangible proofs to the contrary, an unjustifiable campaign of falsehood is being conducted in order to make the world believe that the Germans lacked colonizing talent and were cruel to the natives.

A small force, mainly composed of these very natives, opposed this development. Almost without any external means of coercion, even without immediate payment, this force, with its numerous native followers, faithfully followed its German leaders throughout the whole of the prolonged war against a more than hundredfold superiority. When the armistice came it was still fit to fight, and imbued with the best soldierly spirit. That is a fact which cannot be controverted, and is in itself a sufficient answer to the hostile mis-statements.

It has not been possible for me to give an exhaustive account of the operations of the German East African Protective Force. The existing material is insufficient, much has been lost, and even now I am unacquainted with various events, the actors in which have not yet returned home. My own records have for the most part been lost, and I had not the leisure to prepare a detailed description of the campaign in East Africa in addition to my other duties. My account is therefore necessarily incomplete. In the main I must rely upon my memory and on my personal experiences. Errors in detail are unavoidable.

But in spite of this, the following account may not be without value, nor perhaps without interest, since it shows how what is up to the present the greatest drama in our colonial history was enacted in the head of him who was destined to conduct the military side of it. I have endeavoured to set down my recollections of East Africa as they actually are, and thus at least to present what is subjectively correct.

CONTENTS

PART I

Events previous to the Arrival of the
South Africans

PART II

The Concentric Attack by Superior Forces
(From the arrival of the South African Troops to the loss of the Colony)

PART III

Fighting on Foreign Soil
(From the Crossing into Portuguese East Africa to the Armistice)

LIST OF MAPS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PART I

EVENTS PREVIOUS TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE SOUTH AFRICANS

My Reminiscences of East Africa

CHAPTER I
BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

WHEN I landed at Dar-es-Salaam in January, 1914, I hardly suspected the nature of the task that was to confront me in a few months’ time. But during the past ten years the universal war had more than once seemed so imminent that I was obliged seriously to consider whether the force under my command would be called upon to take any part in that conflict, and, if so, what its task might be. Owing to the position of the Colony and the weakness of the existing forces—the peace establishment was but little more than two thousand—we could only play a subsidiary part. I knew that the fate of the colonies, as of all other German possessions, would only be decided on the battlefields of Europe. To this decision every German, regardless of where he might be at the moment, must contribute his share. In the Colony also it was our duty, in case of universal war, to do all in our power for our country. The question was whether it was possible for us in our subsidiary theatre of war to exercise any influence on the great decision at home. Could we, with our small forces, prevent considerable numbers of the enemy from intervening in Europe, or in other more important theatres, or inflict on our enemies any loss of personnel or war material worth mentioning? At that time I answered this question in the affirmative. It is true, however, that I did not succeed in interesting all authorities in this idea to such an extent as to cause all preparations which a war of this kind rendered desirable to be carried out.

It was to be considered that hostile troops would allow themselves to be held only if we attacked, or at least threatened, the enemy at some really sensitive point. It was further to be remembered that, with the means available, protection of the Colony could not be ensured even by purely defensive tactics, since the total length of land frontier and coast-line was about equal to that of Germany. From these considerations it followed that it was necessary, not to split up our small available forces in local defence, but, on the contrary, to keep them together, to grip the enemy by the throat and force him to employ his forces for self-defence. If this idea could be successfully carried out, we should at the same time protect our coast and our infinitely long land frontier in the most effective manner.

In examining the question where to find a point so vital to the enemy as to afford us the prospect of a successful attack, or, at any rate, of a threat of such an attack, one thought at once of the frontier between German and British East Africa. Parallel with it, at a distance of a few marches, runs the main artery of the British territory, the Uganda Railway, an object which, with a length of quite 440 miles, was extremely difficult for the enemy to protect, and would, therefore, if effectively threatened, require a large part of his troops for the purpose.

Fig i. and iii. Kilima Njaro.
Fig. ii. German East Africa. The Central Railway.

On my first journey of reconnaissance and inspection, commenced in January, 1914, I went by sea from Dar-es-Salaam to Tanga, thence to Usambara, and then on into the country round Kilima Njaro and Meru Mountain. At Usambara I met an old friend whom I had known well since our military college days (Kriegschule), Captain von Prince (retired). He was an enthusiastic supporter of the idea that, in case of a war with England, we East Africans should not remain idle spectators, but should take a hand if there should be even a trace of a prospect of relieving the pressure in Europe. At the same time, he was in a position to inform me that in the Usambara country, round Kilima Njaro, and near Meru Mountain, Volunteer Rifle Corps were being formed, which in a short time would probably include all the Germans capable of bearing arms in these northern territories. In view of the density of the settlements in those parts, this was a fact of great importance. The main contingent of the three thousand Europeans whom we were able to enrol in the Protective Force during the course of the war was furnished from these very territories lying along the Usambara Railway. It was, indeed, difficult to introduce a workable military organization among these voluntary associations, and to make effective use of their abundant good will. Still, it was, on the whole, successfully arranged that all, even those not legally obliged to do so, should be ready in case of war to act under the orders of the Protective Force. The District Commissioners also manifested the greatest sympathy; but they also expressed the, unfortunately well-founded, doubt whether, in a universal war which could certainly cut us off completely from the home country and leave us to our own resources, such voluntary organizations would possess the requisite cohesion. The armament was also in a bad way; although almost every European possessed a useful sporting rifle, the variety of patterns and the consequent difficulty of ammunition supply had not yet been remedied. The proposals for arming these rifle clubs with a uniform military weapon were still pending, and remained undecided until the outbreak of war.

At Wilhelmstal I found a detachment of native police under an efficient sergeant-major, who came from Ditmarschen. Whereas the Protective Force proper was under the Commandant, the various police detachments were under the civil authorities, and so each District Commissioner had under his orders a detachment of one hundred to two hundred men, for the purpose of collecting taxes and supporting his authority. There prevailed a constant tendency to increase this police force more and more, to the detriment of the Protective Force. In this manner, alongside of the latter, a second force of the same strength had come into being which was in its very nature a travesty of a military organization, and could hardly be anything better. The District Commissioner, a civil official, often understood little of military matters, and handed over the training and command of his Police-Askari to a sergeant-major of police. The latter often worked zealously, with the old non-commissioned officer’s usual devotion to duty; but he seldom received any guidance from a military superior, since the police inspector, an officer, could only visit each district from time to time. So the Police-Askari often became slack, and lacked the strict discipline necessary to keep them fit for their duties, which demanded reliability. To this was added a further defect which ought to have been avoided. The police were partly recruited from the native N.C.O.’s of the Protective Force. The latter was thereby deprived of its best elements, who, after joining the police, lost their good military qualities. This, of course, did not obtain in all cases. But, generally speaking, it was the case that, in order to obtain a police force of inferior military value which in the circumstances could never be of any real use, the quality of the Protective Force was steadily impaired.

From New Moshi, the terminus of the Usambara Railway, I proceeded via Marangu, where an English planter lived and where I met the English Consul King, of Dar-es-Salaam, to the Kilima Njaro country, and thence to Arusha. Several German planters, some of them former officers, whom I visited at their estates during the march, assured me that the German settlers in those parts formed a valuable source of military power.

At that time I made the acquaintance of the charming estate of Commander Niemeyer (retired), whose wife entertained us with excellent home-grown coffee. Later on she rather hindered us on one occasion: when, during the war, her husband was in Engara-Nairobi Camp, north-west of Kilima Njaro, we had temporarily lent her a telephone, so that she could call up her husband. Immediately afterwards the whole telephone service stopped, and after a long, long search, we at last discovered that our kind former hostess had not switched off her instrument and displayed no intention of doing so.

Close by was the plantation of Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld (retired), who hospitably offered us a glass of very fine Moselle wine, and did so with a military tone like a word of command which even then characterized him as the energetic leader who was later to defend the mouth of the Rufiji River against a superior enemy with such stubbornness. Just short of Arusha we came to the coffee-plantation of my old brother-cadet Freiherr von Ledebur, where at table I met the charming old retired Lieutenant-Colonel Freiherr von Bock. We talked about the Volunteer Rifle Corps which were being formed near Meru Mountain, and I did not dream that a few months later this old gentleman of over sixty would be one of our toughest patrol leaders on the east side of Kilima Njaro, and would often with his few men, who were mostly recruits, successfully engage several companies of the enemy. His true chivalry and fatherly care soon won him the hearts of his black comrades, to such a degree that he was in their eyes the bravest of all Germans, and they clung to him with touching loyalty.

At Arusha the first inspection of a company of Askari was held. The spirit and discipline of the black unit revealed the admirable education they had received at the hands of my predecessor, Colonel Freiherr von Schleuntz; but, in accordance with the hitherto accepted principles of their employment, their training for fighting against an enemy with modern armament had been developed to a lesser degree. Like the majority of the Askari companies, this company was still armed with the old 1871 pattern rifle, using smoky powder. The opinion was widely held that for black troops this was more suitable than a modern rifle with smokeless powder, for they had hitherto never been employed against an opponent with modern armament, but only in native warfare, where the larger calibre is an advantage, while the disadvantage of smoke is of no consequence. After the outbreak of war, indeed, the enthusiastic supporters of the 1871 rifle changed their minds. Against an enemy provided with modern smokeless equipment the smoky rifle was, not only at the long ranges obtaining in the open plain, but also in bush-fighting, where the combatants are often but a few paces apart, decidedly inferior. The man using smokeless powder remains invisible, while the cloud of smoke betrays the enemy with rapidity and certainty, not only to the sharp eye of the native Askari, but even to the European accustomed to office work. Thus, at the beginning of the war, the greatest reward which could be earned by an Askari was to give him a modern captured rifle in place of his old smoky one.

In distributing the force by companies throughout the country it had been necessary to accept the disadvantage that in many cases it was impossible to employ them in large formations, or to train the senior officers in this respect. It was evident that in war the movement and leading in battle of forces greater than a company would be attended with great difficulty and friction. According to my view, the force had the double duty of preparing to meet an enemy from outside with modern armament, as well as a native enemy within our borders; their training for battle had therefore to take account of two distinct sets of conditions. The exercises in native warfare presented a spectacle which differed widely from our European inspections. At Arusha, on this occasion, the company marched through thick bush, the “Pori,” and was in native fashion surprised on the march. The enemy was represented by Meru warriors, who, arrayed in full war-dress, with spears and head-dress of ostrich feathers, remained concealed, and then at only a few paces distance fell upon the Safari, the column of route, with loud war cries. A fight at such close quarters, like the one in which Zelewski’s expedition had been overwhelmed in 1891 at Iringa, is decided at short range and in a very few minutes. The troops quickly rally round their leaders and rush the enemy. In accordance with this whole character of native warfare, careful and thorough musketry training in the modern sense had hitherto been unnecessary. It was, indeed, at a pretty low level, and it may interest the soldier to hear that in some companies the average at two hundred yards standing without rest barely attained Ring 3, and that only a few companies got beyond Ring 5. Neither did the nature of native warfare provide a sufficient inducement for thorough training with the machine gun. Fortunately, however, I soon discovered among all Europeans of the force a complete understanding of the importance of this arm, in particular in modern battle. In spite of this not particularly high standard of training, the results of field-firing, even at long ranges, were not unsatisfactory, and in this the Askari profited in a high degree by his sharp eyesight, which enabled him to observe his fire and correct his aim accordingly.

The journey was continued via Ufiome Mission, where the excellent Father Dürr was settled, to Kondoa-Irangi, Kilimatinde and back to Dar-es-Salaam. The impression left by this first inspection was that from a military point of view there was still a great deal to be done if we wished to be properly prepared in case the English should make war on us. Unfortunately I did not succeed in arousing sufficient interest in the matter on the part of the authorities. The ruling opinion was that we were on exceptionally good terms with the English, and that a war, if it came at all, was still in the distant future. Thus it happened that when war actually did break out but a few months later we were unprepared.

For me, a new-comer in East Africa, the journey had not only been of military interest. At Boma la Ngombe, a place between Moshi and Arusha, a number of old Askari had been settled by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Johannes; they were mainly engaged in cattle-dealing, and had become well-to-do. The news of my coming had preceded me, and the people appeared in full strength to greet me on my arrival. I had the impression that this was not a mere show of loyalty; the people not only told me enthusiastically of Germans under whom they had previously served, but after the outbreak of war, unasked and without the slightest pressure, they placed a large sum of money at our disposal to help the force. In that district I also saw the first Masai, who, in contrast to the majority of the East African tribes, are pure Hamites, and live in a special reservation. It may be mentioned that Merker, the best authority on the Masai,[1] considers them to be the original Jews. They possess to a marked degree the characteristics of the pure inhabitant of the prairie. Occasionally, one of these tall, slim, and very swift men acted as my guide on hunting expeditions; their vision and skill as trackers are astonishing. In addition, the Masai is intelligent, and, at any rate towards strangers, an extraordinary liar. He lives in closed villages of mud huts, and, like all nomads, wanders with his herds over the prairie. He seldom enlists in the force. In agriculture the Masai engages hardly at all, whereas among the other tribes this forms the chief occupation and is a necessary condition for close settlement. Thus the banana districts on the eastern slopes of Kilima Njaro support a native Wajagga population of some twenty-five thousand souls, and this number could easily be increased. The great wealth of cattle in the neighbourhood of Arusha, on the Masai prairie, and near Kondoa-Irangi, showed me that the tse-tse fly, the principal enemy of African cattle, is comparatively rare in those parts. As a comparison, I may state that the cattle in the single district of Arusha are estimated to be more numerous than in the whole of South-West Africa. At Kondoa-Irangi and Singida the people had come from a great distance, and had lined the road to greet me. No traveller who visits these countries can fail to observe that in the fertile, elevated interior there is room for the settlement of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. Here I would like to record an impression which I only obtained later, during the war. At times we passed through fertile districts which were completely forsaken by the inhabitants, but which were known not to have been occupied even in the previous year. They had simply moved away, had settled somewhere else in the abundantly available, empty and fertile country, and had there begun to cultivate fresh fields. If the country capable of cultivation were fully utilized, it would probably be possible to support in German East Africa, which has hitherto been inhabited by about eight millions only, a population barely less than that of Germany. An Englishman captured during the war at Mahenge remarked that it would be possible to make East Africa into a second India, and I think he was right. My experience in the war has confirmed my opinion that there exist many possibilities of economic development, of which we had hardly an inkling before the war.

At Singida I saw one of the stud-farms of the country. For breeding purposes there were two horse stallions, no mares, a few Muscat donkey stallions, and mainly country-bred donkey mares. Of the objects it was sought to attain I could get no clear idea; in any case, the crossing of horse stallions and donkey mares had produced no results. But the district is extraordinarily suitable for horse-breeding, and the Government Veterinary Officer Hiffmeister, who was stationed there, was very inclined to settle in the country as a private farmer and horse-breeder. Similar stud-farms existed at Kilimatinde, Iringa and Ubena. From Singida to Kilimatinde I followed the Mpondi River; the sportsman will be interested to know that this is the district in which the best buffaloes in East Africa are said to be found. A few days before I had successfully hunted buffalo, but I had not succeeded in getting a shot at a powerful bull, and so, as far as time permitted, I was out for buffalo. Besides a native boy, I had as trackers two excellent Askari of the Konda Company. As soon as I arrived in camp at the end of a march and dismounted from my mule, I would ask Kadunda, one of these Askari, who had done the march on foot, whether he was ready to hunt. He always agreed with the greatest enthusiasm, and away we went through the bush, which was sometimes so dense that one had to crawl under the branches in order to get through at all. For the European not yet accustomed to the African climate it is extraordinarily fatiguing to follow a trail through dense bush and high grass reaching over one’s head for hours on end in the blazing sun. The wounded buffalo is considered to be the most dangerous game in East Africa; he often charges at once with great determination. At Mpondi, a short time before, a wounded buffalo had attacked a hunter so suddenly that the latter did indeed find himself seated on its neck, but would hardly have escaped with his life unless at the critical moment his sun-helmet had fallen off. The animal then proceeded to attack the helmet, and the man managed to get a shot at its heart. From this and similar tales it will be understood that as the trail gets warmer and warmer, one’s excitement becomes intense and one’s senses more acute. But although I often heard the buffalo breathing only a few paces from me, the bush was so thick that I could not get a shot. I had already abandoned all hope of success and had marched off with my caravan for good and all, when at seven in the morning we crossed a perfectly fresh buffalo trail. At this point the forest was clearer, and the guides seemed keen to follow the tracks. So we let the caravan go on, and after four hours of exhausting tracking got a sight of the buffalo. In a clearing, at one hundred yards, I raised my rifle, but Kadunda would not allow it, and insisted on our stalking the quarry, which was passing us in quite open wood without undergrowth, up to within thirty yards. Luckily the bullet cut the main artery; the buffalo fell at once, and so any further possible developments of the episode were cut short. As often happens, we discovered in the animal’s body a bullet from a native gun. Besides this buffalo I had got a large number of antelope and gazelle of various kinds; lions we often heard, but never caught sight of.

On this march through the “Pori” I learned, to my astonishment, that even in the interior of Africa it is no easy matter to disappear without a trace. I had marched off without leaving word what road I intended to take. Suddenly, in the heart of the bush, a native met us on the march, and handed me the oversea mail. The fact is that in their interchange of information the inhabitants tell each other everything that happens in their vicinity. Calls, fire signals, and the signal drums serve to exchange and quickly spread all news. The incredible way in which the innumerable rumours spread abroad, with which I became acquainted later on, is mainly due to this communicativeness.

After returning to Dar-es-Salaam from the first journey of inspection, I immediately made arrangements for re-arming three more companies; up to date only three companies had been equipped with modern rifles. It subsequently became a factor of the greatest importance that, at any rate, these arms, with the necessary ammunition, reached the Colony just in time for the outbreak of war.

During a tour of inspection in April to Lindi, where I saw the Third Field Company, I fell into a rocky hole and got water on the knee so that I could not start my next long journey till the end of May. Although the Central Railway was open for public traffic only as far as Tabora, the construction had proceeded so far that I could reach Kigoma (on Lake Tanganyika) by rail, and was thus already enabled to acquire a superficial knowledge of this important means of communication which connected our coast directly with the Lake and the rich countries bordering on it, and indirectly with the Congo basin. At Kigoma the steamer Coetzen was still building, and to reach Bismarckburg I made use of the small steamer Hedwig von Wissman. At Baudouinville, in the Congo Territory, I paid a short visit to the Bishop of the White Fathers, without suspecting how soon we would be at war with that country. The wonderful church would be an ornament to any of our towns. It had been built by the Fathers themselves and the interior was decorated with rich carvings. Extensive, splendid orchards surround the station. The plague of lions must, however, be very great; the Fathers told me that a short time before a lion had one night jumped the wall into the court and killed an ox.

Our reception was very friendly, and we were made welcome with a glass of fine Algerian wine. We were also well received at Mwasyl Mission Station in German territory, where there were also White Fathers, mostly Belgians. During the war, however, we captured correspondence which proved that the French missionaries, who also lived at stations in the Tanganyika country, by no means confined themselves to spreading Christianity but intentionally carried on a national propaganda as well. One missionary’s letter defines the difference between a missionnaire catholique and a missionnaire français, remarking that the latter is bound, in addition to spreading the Christian faith, to carry on French national propaganda. It is well known that this national propaganda is a work from which the German missionaries generally refrained.

These missions, which are naturally to be found in the densely populated and well-cultivated countries, exercise a remarkable influence on the education of the natives. The missionary is mostly the only permanently settled white man; he becomes well acquainted with the country and people, and wins their confidence. The missions have deserved extremely well by introducing European handicrafts; everywhere one finds carpenters’ shops, shoemakers’ shops and brickworks.

My later tours disclosed that the extremely fertile country around Langenburg and Ssonga, where there are many wheatfields (the density of population is indicated even on the map by the numerous mission stations), was protected by only one company, which was not even connected by a direct wire. A telegram could only reach Langenburg from Dar-es-Salaam by the English line through South Africa. The communication by heliograph from Iringa to Langenburg was too unreliable to be considered an efficient substitute. It may be mentioned that in that country the natives have not only been educated up to agriculture by the Missions and by the German Administration, but that considerable native industries have been indigenous there for a long time past. Where iron occurs one finds numerous forges, the bellows being made in the primitive manner out of hides and perforated branches. Very beautiful are the native weavers’ products; basket-work is also done here as almost everywhere else in the Colony, and the work not only shows good taste, but is so close that the natives use wickerwork cups for drinking. The large herds owned by a few European farmers suffered, owing to the poorly developed communications, from the difficulty of reaching a market; this is especially the case with Mbeya Farm, between Lake Nyassa and Tanganyika.

I camped at Mbosi Mission, and the local missionary, Bachmann, who had known the country and the people intimately for many years past, told me that a striking change was taking place in the views of the natives. Foreign Arabs and Swahili were appearing in the country, and were telling the people that the Germans would soon be going, and that the English would take possession of the land; that was in June, 1914.

The continuation of my journey to Iringa brought me to the places where the great chief Kwawa had defied the Germans in the early days, and at Rugeno some of the many assembled natives were able to relate to me what they had witnessed of the annihilation of Zelewski’s expedition on the spot.

In the short period of peace-work that was vouchsafed to me, my endeavours to obtain a thorough grip of all my duties in East Africa could not produce results sufficient to secure me great personal authority among Africans of long standing. I was still considered a raw hand. All the same, my career in the service had prepared me to some extent for the work that Fate had in store for me.

It was probably about the time when, as a cadet who had been transplanted at an early age from my home in Pomerania, I was studying Cæsar’s Gallic War, that the German Fatherland was presented by Bismarck with its first colonies. In the year 1899-1900, when employed on the General Staff, I studied our own colonies as well as many foreign ones. During the troubles in China (1900-1901) I made the acquaintance, both officially and socially, of all the contingents engaged with us in East Asia, particularly the English. The Herero and Hottentot Rebellion in South-West Africa (1904-1906) introduced me to the peculiarities of bush warfare. At that time I gained abundant personal experience, not only of natives, but also of Boers, both on the Staff of General von Botha and as an independent Company and Detachment Commander. The excellent qualities of this Low German race, that had for generations made its home on the African veld, commanded my respect. That the Boers would later take a decisive—and in a sense tragic—part in anglicizing the German part of Africa I never dreamt.

In 1906, in South-West Africa, I was wounded. This brought me to Cape Town, so that I also acquired a superficial knowledge of Cape Colony. On my return journey I also touched at the future scene of my work, German East Africa, for the first time.

Later, my position as Commander of the Marine Battalion at Wilhelmshaven afforded me an insight into the inner life of our thriving and growing navy, which was so closely connected with German work overseas. I took part in exercises and cruises on large and small ships, in naval manœuvres, and in a visit by the Fleet to Norway, during which new views of general and military life continually presented themselves.

Even after my return to the Army the alternation between regimental and staff employment afforded me much inducement and opportunity for comparison. In this manner my development had rendered me capable of rapidly accommodating myself to new conditions. Grateful as I was for every expansion of my horizon, I owe the best of all to the Army at home, in which I had the privilege, under the guidance of admirable commanders, of learning to know the spirit of military life and true discipline, a spirit which was then properly understood.

CHAPTER II
THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR

EARLY in August, 1914, when on my way via the heliograph station of Kidodi towards Kilossa, a special messenger brought me a telegram from the Governor, to say I was to return immediately to Dar-es-Salaam; and on the following day I received the news that His Majesty had ordered mobilization, but that the state of war did not extend to the overseas possessions. A telegram from the Secretary of State of the Imperial Colonial Office called upon us to reassure the settlers.

In contrast to this a wireless message from the Admiralty Staff mentioned England also among our probable enemies.

At Kilossa I managed to catch a goods train, and so arrived at Dar-es-Salaam on the 3rd August. Here everyone was busy: the declaration of war had arrived in the middle of the preparations for a big exhibition, in the programme of which was included the ceremonial opening of the Tanganyika Railway; numerous Germans had come on a visit to Dar-es-Salaam and were now unable to get away. In order to assist in the preparations for the exhibition, Captain von Hammerstein, commanding the 6th Field Company in Ujiru, had also arrived there, and it was very fortunate that I was able at once to employ this energetic officer, who not only shared my views, but to whom I was also cordially attached, for the work of mobilization.

The question which immediately forced itself upon us was whether, in the now obviously imminent universal war in which England would almost certainly join, the Colony would remain neutral or not. As I have already explained, I considered it to be our military object to detain enemy, that is English forces if it could by any means be accomplished. This, however, was impossible if we remained neutral. In that case the situation would be that we, who did not command the sea, would have to remain inactive, with a force which, though small at the moment, had behind it a loyal, very efficient population of eight millions suitable for military service. England, on the other hand, would have no need to employ a single man in East Africa on our account; it would be able to take away the very last fit Askari, after providing for internal security, for employment in other theatres more important than East Africa. It would, therefore, obviously have been an advantage for England if any agreement had existed which condemned us to neutrality. But this was not the case: the Congo Act, which deals with the Equatorial territories, only says that in case of conflict between two of the Powers concerned, a third Power may offer its good services as a mediator. But as far as I know this step was not taken by any Power. We were therefore not obliged to restrict our operations out of regard for any agreement. From a military point of view it was a disadvantage, not for us, but for England, if war occurred in East Africa. The fact that we were not obliged to remain neutral enabled us to make use of our favourable coast as a base and refuge for the German cruiser operations in the Indian Ocean. But, above all, we were able, with our few thousand men, to contain throughout the whole duration of the war an enormously superior force of the enemy.

At the outbreak of war the Protective Force consisted of 216 Europeans (from whom a part must be deducted as on leave) and 2,540 Askari; there were, further, in the Police Force, 45 Europeans and 2,154 Askari; these were later increased by the ships’ company of the Königsberg (which had put to sea), 322 men, and of the Möve, 102 men. The total numbers enrolled in the Force during the war were about 3,000 Europeans and 11,000 Askari.

These figures include all non-combatants, such as those employed on police duty, medical personnel, supply and maintenance services, etc. How many milliards it cost to try and crush our diminutive force the English themselves will presumably some day tell us. We, on the other hand, could probably have continued the war for years to come.

For the hostile strengths no authentic figures are at my disposal; I quote from the statements of English officers and Press reports, and they must bear the responsibility for them. According to them over 130 Generals took the field against us, the total strength of the hostile troops was about 300,000, the losses in European and Indian dead amounted to 20,000; horses and mules, 140,000. These numbers, especially those of the General Officers, seem even to me rather exaggerated; I can therefore only repeat that they are taken from English sources. In any event, however, their losses were very considerable; and considering that the number of black soldiers who were killed or died is not given, the total number of enemy dead can hardly be under 60,000.

We should have been compelled, if a cruiser had sought shelter in our harbours, to refuse to admit her, by reason of our neutrality, whereas the favourable position and coastal development of East Africa made it the natural hiding-place in cruiser warfare in the Indian Ocean. As regards the agreements laid down in the Congo Act, it should be borne in mind what it would have meant for our Navy if our colonies had been declared neutral.

At Dar-es-Salaam it was very interesting during those days of tension to watch the proceedings of the English Consul King. He was to be seen everywhere, either in the Officers’ Club at a game of bridge, or at the Post Office where our telegrams were handed in. The standing orders of the English Expeditionary Force, which were subsequently captured at Tanga, and which were mainly based on King’s reports, showed how active this man had been in the time before the war, and how excellently he was informed as to the internal conditions in our Colony. His judgment on relevant matters extended so far that he even compared the relative fighting value of the Europeans in different districts, and credited those of Dar-es-Salaam with little “stomach for fighting.” To be honest, it must be admitted that in the case of a large number of the Germans in that place (and even of the local Government authorities) it actually did take some time before they were imbued with that warlike spirit without which the fulfilment of our task was simply impossible.

Very difficult was the position of the coast towns, which were inhabited by numerous Europeans (among them many women and children), and which were of course exposed to bombardment by English men-of-war at any minute. The Governor maintained that such a bombardment must be avoided under all circumstances. According to an ordinance, which certainly did not contemplate the case of foreign war, the supreme military power in the Colony was in the hands of the Governor, and communication with home having ceased, it was anyhow physically impossible to get this altered. So I was obliged to make the best of this, from a military point of view, very serious difficulty and to reckon with the possibility that, if the Governor’s instructions were faithfully executed, Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga for instance, the termini of our railways and the obvious bases for hostile operations from the coast towards the interior, would fall into the enemy’s hands without a struggle.

My view was that we would best protect our colony by threatening the enemy in his own territory. We could very effectively tackle him at a sensitive point, the Uganda Railway, and one might almost say that the numerous German settlers in the country traversed by our Northern Railway (Tanga-Moshi) were already deployed for this object. The Governor, however, did not agree with the proposal I had already previously put forward in case of war, namely, to concentrate our forces in the North near Kilima Njaro. But, in order to act at all, it was obviously necessary to collect our troops, who were scattered all over the country. As this could not be effected in the Kilima Njaro country, as I wished, the concentration took place on the heights of Pugu, a day’s march west of Dar-es-Salaam. At this place the Dar-es-Salaam Company met those from Kilimatinde, Tabora, Ujiji, Usambara and Kissendji, which came partly by march routes and partly by rail. The Police, who, in accordance with the scanty preparations already made, were to join the Protective Force immediately, were in part, at any rate, placed at my disposal, a number of old Askari were called up, and in this way four new companies (No.’s 15 to 18) were at once formed. The German Reservists were mobilized as required, and each company was brought up to an establishment of about 16 Europeans, 160 Askari and 2 machine guns.

In some cases difficulties occurred in calling the Europeans to the colours. By mistake, the crews of a few ships of the East African Line, lying in the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam, were informed, in response to their application, by the Officer in Command at the Railway Station, that there was no room for them in the Protective Force. Then, at the suggestion of the Governor’s representative, a declaration was submitted to them, according to which they were to engage in writing to remain neutral during the war. Later on the men saw that this constituted an offence against the law relating to liability for service, and their own sound feeling was opposed to it. They appealed to me, setting forth the circumstances; I had had no inkling of these proceedings, and fortunately, as the declaration had not yet fallen into the hands of the enemy, the intended decision could be reserved.

The number of carriers allotted to each company varied, and may have averaged about 250. The stores of arms, ammunition and other war-material, which were lying unprotected in the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam, were distributed among various places in the interior along the railway, where depots were established. The training of the troops was at once vigorously proceeded with, and even then we realized the value of rendering our head-dress unrecognizable by means of grass and leaves, a measure proposed by a practical Company Commander, Captain Tafel. The question of course was whether we, with our Askari, would be able to fight modern troops; it was denied by many an experienced hand. But from what I had seen during the revolt in South-West Africa, from 1904 to 1906, I believed that courage and military efficiency could be awakened in the East African native also, who belongs to that same great family, the Bantu, as the Herero. That certainly was a proof; but the matter was greatly simplified by the fact that there was no possible alternative.

All questions of organization, which are usually carefully prepared and considered in time of peace, had now to be dealt with and decided on the spur of the moment. One of them was the extraordinarily important one of establishing a service of subsistence and a complete system of supply from the rear. The main point was to consider, in the first place, the main roads, which were also important in a military sense. Which roads might these be? It was immediately found how disadvantageous was the absence of railway communication between the Central and Usambara Railways. In time of peace, communication had been effected by sea between Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga; this was now impossible. Obviously the importance of a military use of the lines had not been thought of. As a substitute, we had to develop a road between Morogoro and Korogwe, on the Northern Railway. The second road ran past the western side of the Masai Reservation, from Dodoma via Kondoa-Irangi, and Ufiome to Arusha, and the third from the rich district of Tabora, the capital of the Wanyamwesi country, to Muansa, on Lake Victoria, into the country of the Wassukume, who were recognized even by Consul King as the most important of our tribes. This road was also valuable because by it we could draw on the rice crops of Lake Victoria as well as on the abundant stocks of cattle. Other roads connected Kilossa with the rich territory of Mahenge, Iringa, and even Langenburg, which last provided us with a large part of our requirements in wheat flour.

The provisional organization of the supply system having been fixed in broad and general outline, it was not possible for the details of its development to be worked out at Headquarters. Someone had to be found whose past military career rendered him capable of working the system, not only from the administrative point of view, but also in accordance with the sometimes very urgent military requirements, and of adapting it to them. Major-General Wahle, a retired officer, who happened to have arrived on the 2nd August, on a visit to his son, and to see the Dar-es-Salaam Exhibition, at once placed himself at the disposal of the Force, and at my request took charge of the Lines of Communication. His task was particularly difficult, because where there were no railways, the bulk of the work had to be performed by native carriers. I have at my disposal no figures showing the total number of carriers employed for the service of the troops, and it is very difficult to arrive at it at all definitely. It included men who only carried the loads from one place to another before the permanent carriers took them over, but I am sure I do not exaggerate in saying that, on the whole, hundreds of thousands of carriers worked for the troops; and all of them had to be fed and medically looked after.

Of our many other difficulties one of a special nature may here be mentioned. The peace-time existence of the Europeans in tropical colonies had, even for reasons of health, accustomed them to a certain degree of comfort. When on safari (a journey) in East Africa, it is generally impossible to buy European food; but few Europeans had learnt to live on the vegetable products supplied by the natives or by Nature. Shelter is rarely to be had. Against mosquitos it is, however, imperative to protect oneself. So the white official or soldier seldom travelled with less than eleven carriers, who, besides his tent, camp-bed and clothing, also carried a considerable quantity of food. Such large numbers of carriers were, however, impossible for a force which was to be mobile. Another difficulty was that nearly every Askari had a boy. With these simple people, whose predilection for their ancient traditions and customs is further confirmed by Islam, and who are besides very proud and vain, it is particularly difficult to interfere with such Dusturis (customs). In individual cases it was not always easy for a Company Commander to find the happy mean.

In the tropical warfare which was before us medical care is one of the most important factors. Generally speaking, the native is in a great measure immune against malaria, and it does not often happen that an Askari gets really ill with it; some tribes, however, like the Wajagga, on Kilima Njaro, who inhabit elevated, non-malarial districts, and are therefore not immune from early youth, suffer severely from malaria as soon as they come down to the plains. From the evening until well into the morning mechanical protection against the malaria mosquito (anopheles), by means of a mosquito net, was strictly enforced for every European. For many months I slept on the ground, and even then the mosquito-net afforded me a high degree of protection; even so I had malaria ten times, for in the field it is not always possible to employ preventive measures to the extent that is desirable from a hygienic point of view. In our endeavour to attach a medical officer to every company we received most welcome assistance from the fact that there was a considerable number of them on Lake Tanganyika, and in the Southern territories on the Rovuma, who had come out to study and combat sleeping-sickness.

The work entailed by all this business of mobilization not only kept us going day and night, but also the native telephonist at Pugu, and it was extraordinary to see the skill with which the black man worked his instrument, both there and elsewhere. His great technical talent proved of the greatest value to us. Of difficulties there was, of course, an infinity. During the early days it happened that cattle coming from the country north of Tabora for the civilian population at Dar-es-Salaam met other cattle going in the opposite direction to feed the troops. To this day I feel something of a physical shock when I think of a collision at Pugu, between a train laden with the finest show cattle going at full speed, and another one, which nearly produced a serious reduction in the personnel required for working out our mobilization scheme.

Our place of concentration at Pugu is some twelve miles inland from Dar-es-Salaam. Our camp was situated on the slopes of the Pugu Mountains. The forest is extremely thick, and the country densely covered by plantations of natives and Europeans. In spite of its somewhat elevated position, Pugu is quite in the hot coastal area, and although in August we were still in the cold season, the temperature was still what we describe as “tropical;” it is that oppressive, somewhat damp heat, which makes long marches so exhausting for the European. At that time we had tents for the Europeans and a camp-bed with the inevitable mosquito net for everyone, so that in this respect there were no difficulties. In case of sickness we had established a provisional field hospital in the neighbouring Wichmann Plantations. Our horses did not suffer unduly. But one after another all our animals went down with tse-tse. In camp it was not possible to provide them, as we could at Dar-es-Salaam, with tse-tse proof stables, fitted with wire gauze similar to fly-proof windows.

CHAPTER III
THE FIRST ACTIONS

IN this Manner We Were Fully Employed in the Camp at Pugu, when, on the morning of the 8th August, we heard heavy artillery fire from the direction of Dar-es-Salaam. According to reports which soon reached us, it emanated from two English light cruisers, Astræa and Pegasus, who were aiming at the wireless tower. This tower had been erected in this exposed position because on the coast it could reach further out to sea; it was of importance to us because the high-power station at Tabora was not yet finished, and the two smaller ones at Muansa and Bukoba were of only local use. The tower was not hit by the English, but blown up by us, from a rather excessive fear of its falling into the enemy’s hands. A short time later an observation officer reported that the enemy was apparently preparing to land at Konduchi, a day’s march north of Dar-es-Salaam. The formation of the coast rendered it not unlikely. I therefore immediately ordered the seven companies of Askari[2] available to march off, so as to seize the favourable opportunity of surprising the enemy in the act of landing.

Before they marched off I had a conversation at Pugu Station with the Governor, Dr. Schnee, who was passing through by train to Morogoro. He seemed quite surprised by the English hostilities, and entirely agreed with my proposal to attack them at Konduchi. On the way there I met two gentlemen belonging to the Government at Dar-es-Salaam, who showed me a document dealing with negotiations for surrendering Dar-es-Salaam to the English. As the Governor had said nothing to me about it, and I was also rather in a hurry, I only glanced superficially at it. It did not occur to me that this might be any kind of agreement drawn up with the consent of the Governor. But when, during the night, the force had reached a mountain ten miles north of Dar-es-Salaam, and on the next morning we obtained a view of the harbour and the English cruisers lying off it, it became clear that the report of an attempted landing at Konduchi was a mistake. We were able to establish the fact that the English ships had communicated with the shore, and now it did appear to me probable that negotiations with the enemy had taken place. I now advanced on the town, and, as I could not but fear that in the confusion of the moment a disadvantageous agreement might be concluded at Dar-es-Salaam, I sent Captain Tafel on ahead. He was to announce that I was taking over the executive power, and that negotiations with the enemy must be conducted through me alone. It was only from Captain Tafel that I learned that by order of the Governor negotiations for surrender had actually taken place. My intervention was not approved by the Governor, in whose hands, according to a Protective Force Ordinance intended to meet quite different conditions, supreme military power was actually placed. For the moment this had no practical consequences. Only a few English Marines had landed, and had already gone on board again. But for a soldier it was not inspiring to find that here, under the very eyes of a thousand good troops, an agreement had been concluded which forbade us to undertake any hostile act in Dar-es-Salaam, while the enemy was not so bound, and that we had received no information of a step of such great military importance.

The Königsberg had already put to sea from Dar-es-Salaam several days before, and the surveying vessel Möve, which was in harbour, had been blown up by us on the 9th August. This brought the land forces a valuable military increase, as the captain of the Möve, Lieut.-Commander Zimmer, now came under my orders. Lieutenant Horn at once proceeded with a few seamen to Kigoma, where he manned and armed the small steamer Hedwig von Wissmann. On Lake Tanganyika he chased the Belgian steamer Delcommune, which he surprised and shot to pieces after a few days, thereby securing to us the extremely important command of the lake. The ability rapidly to transfer troops from the Central Railway towards Bismarckburg or Usambara depended entirely upon unimpeded transport on Tanganyika, and played a part in the later course of the operations.

In the north of the Colony, the 1st Company at Arusha had been reinforced by the 13th Company, coming by rapid marches from Kondoa, and by another company formed at Moshi from Police Askari. Further, a large part of the Europeans of the northern districts had combined to form a detachment under Captain von Prince. Most of those troops were in the neighbourhood of Moshi. Taveta, which lies to the eastward, in English territory, was held by the enemy, who thereby secured a valuable sally-port against our European settlements in the north; it was, therefore, an urgent matter for us to capture this important point without delay. It took considerable time before we were able to set the force in motion for this purpose. Many people believed that on the strength of the Congo Act we were bound to remain neutral, and naturally had little confidence in the instructions they received from the new Commandant. It was not until the 15th August that the weakly-held place was taken. The course of the fight proved that the force still required much further training to render it fit to carry out combined operations in unison in the dense bush. In this area the command was assumed by Major Kraut, who happened to be in the north-eastern frontier district for the purpose of frontier delimitations. During the next few days the holder of the supreme military power was successfully persuaded to agree to moving the bulk of our forces to the Northern Railway. Simple as was this movement in itself, under the conditions then existing, it required considerable preparations. There were few Germans to be found who were so well acquainted with the whole country between Dar-es-Salaam and Morogoro on one side, and Tanga and Mombo on the other, that they could give reliable information about roads and conditions of subsistence. It was necessary to send out reconnaissance officers in order to determine the roads on which a suitable quantity of supplies could be found. But we could not afford to await the results of all these reconnaissances; the marches had to be begun. According to European ideas the country was sparsely populated; and on the existing maps the only notes as to water and food showed whether the supplies available would suffice for bodies of a strength equal to a company at most. Without preparation one could therefore hardly put more than one company on each road without distribution in depth; the training and skill in the collection of supplies which the force had acquired by the end of the war were at that time non-existent. Taking it all round, it came to this, that the march and supply of a single company in the conditions there prevailing required about the same consideration as would a division in Germany. It was also necessary in this move to take into account the risk arising from the fact that companies would for a prolonged period be out of reach of orders. The only telegraphic communication between the Central Railway and the north ran close along the coast, and could therefore be interrupted whenever the enemy intended to do so.

However, the Director of the Postal Service, Rothe, and Secretary Krüger displayed such adaptability in meeting the wishes of the troops, and such energy in starting work on the new line Morogoro-Handeni-Korogwe, and, under the pressure of circumstances, temporarily overcame the normal torpor of the Tropics with such success, that the line was completed in only a few weeks. Owing to the destructiveness of the termites (white ants) it is the rule in time of peace to employ iron telegraph poles, which, owing to the prevalence of giraffe in this particular district, have to be very tall and carry very heavy conductors. In the first instance, however, the construction in this case had to be of a provisional nature, and this, and the use of cable, caused continual breakdowns and repairs.

In the meantime I received reports of the advance of small hostile detachments at Jassini, two marches north of Tanga, and this confirmed me in the belief that the enemy intended to land in that district, and would then rapidly advance into the interior along the Northern Railway. Consequently, the various companies had marched off from different points on the line Dar-es-Salaam-Mpapua, and were for the most part converging on Handeni, while some were directed on other points on the line Tanga-Korogwe, when I was called up on the telephone at Pugu on the afternoon of August 23rd, by Lieutenant von Chappuis, who was encamped at Bagamoyo with the 17th Field Company. He reported that an English light cruiser was lying off Bagamoyo, and had called upon the local Civil Administrator to destroy the telegraph station, threatening to bombard the place in case of refusal. I ordered him to assume control of the executive and to prevent a hostile landing by force of arms. A boat from the man-of-war that attempted to land under the white flag was therefore sent back, and the place was bombarded in consequence, to the great amusement of the company and the native inhabitants, since the enemy scored practically no hits.

At the end of August, Headquarters moved by rail to Kirnamba, near Morogoro. On the way, General von Wahle, who was directing the service on the Lines of Communication from Morogoro, wished me the best of luck in the decisive action which we expected in the neighbourhood of Handeni, and to which his son was also proceeding. From there Headquarters travelled on towards Handeni in two requisitioned motors. After about twenty miles we had to leave them, as the improvement of this road had not been completed beyond that point. Captain von Hammerstein and I went on on bicycles, and gradually caught up the companies on the march. The anticipated landing of the enemy did not take place, and early in September we reached Korogwe. In the meantime an English cruiser had appeared at Tanga and towed away some lighters lying there.

Our next duty was to organize the supply and transport services in the north. Captain Schmid, who had until then directed them as Field Intendant, had become sick, and it was difficult to find a suitable successor. Fortunately we discovered one in Captain Feilke, of the Landwehr, who had for many years directed the Prince Albrecht Plantations in Usambara, a man of great experience. He was at the time in the vicinity of Tanga, and had placed himself at the disposal of the force. He had formerly been Adjutant of the 8th Jäger Battalion, was fifty-two years of age, a man of much knowledge of the world and a skilful officer; he thus combined in the happiest manner the military knowledge and business talent necessary for the difficult post of Intendant. He came immediately, and we drove to New Moshi together. There I met Captain Kraut. On Kilima Njaro preparations had been made for guerilla warfare by establishing supply depots, our patrols were pushing beyond Taveta towards the British Uganda Railway, and numerous minor encounters had already taken place. At that time, however, the force lacked the experience necessary for carrying out distant patrols like those which at a later stage led so successfully to interruptions of the line. The first patrols had arrived at the Uganda Railway in a half-starved condition and had been captured. From New Moshi I went to Himo Camp, where Captain von Prince was holding a fortified position. He accompanied me to Taveta, which was held by an advanced post under an officer. Now we could discuss on the spot the problem of transferring the main body of the Northern Force to Taveta. The local native population was very numerous and placed entire confidence in the European administrators appointed by the force: they continued to sell their products in the market, and our mutual relationship was completely satisfactory.

Directly war broke out the fear of a native rising had been expressed in many quarters. Along the Central Railway there were wild rumours about a revolt of the Wahehe—the warlike tribe who had so long defied German authority in the Iringa country—and around Kilima Njaro a rising of the Wajagga was feared. The authorities also thought that the large number of black labourers on the European settlements in the north were unreliable on account of difficulties of subsistence. But none of these fears turned out to be justified. Later, a very intelligent captured Belgian Askari told me outright: “You know quite well that the natives always side with the stronger party,” and an English Masai admitted frankly: “It is all the same to us whether the English or the Germans are our masters.”

General Map of the Campaign in East Africa.
—— Track of the German Main Force. 1916-1918.

The Fallen.
(From a drawing by General von Lettow-Vorbeck’s Adjutant.)

It was not till later, after the enemy had penetrated the country, that the native became a real danger to us: and then it was, indeed, very great. The native has a fine sense of the transfer of real power from one hand to the other.

After returning for a short time to Korogwe, Headquarters moved to New Moshi, and shortly afterwards to Taveta. Three companies who had reached the Northern Railway from the Central Railway were concentrated at Tanga, the remaining five were moved into the Kilima Njaro country. At Dar-es-Salaam there remained for the moment only Captain von Kornatzki with the newly-formed 18th Field Company.

During the following period several enterprises were carried out by flying columns, of the strength of one company each, the intention being to drive away the hostile detachments who were reported to be guarding the watering-places in the adjoining English territory, to inflict losses upon them, and so to open the way for our patrols to operate against the Uganda and Magad Railway. Thus, at the end of September, Captain Schulz had marched with his company from Kilima Njaro down the Tsavo River to the Uganda Railway, where he had met an enemy detachment of several companies, who had probably been concentrated by means of the railway. North of Kilima Njaro Captain Tafel had with his company and a detachment of fifty Europeans pursued a column of English Horse, but had then been attacked by the latter in his camp in the dense bush on Engito Mountain. This was the first serious engagement fought by our Askari in the north. Although the enemy consisted of English and Boer farmers, who were therefore good horsemen and good shots, our Askari attacked them with the bayonet with such dash, that out of a strength of eighty Europeans some twenty dead were left behind, and their total casualties may therefore be estimated at half their number.

In the same way the expeditions undertaken by Captain Baumstark, who commanded the three companies at Tanga, led to fighting in the frontier districts between Jassini and Mombasa. An equally important object of all these enterprises was to secure the most indispensable information about this theatre of operations, as it had not been reconnoitred in time of peace, and the conditions as to water-supply and cultivation were unknown to us. In this manner we gradually obtained a clear idea of the country and its inhabitants. Along the coast the English frontier district was well settled and highly cultivated. Further inland it is a dry desert covered with thorn scrub and partly with thick bush. Out of the desert rise a number of mountain ranges, which often attain the character of steep masses of rock. The troops were quartered in several fortified camps east of Kilima Njaro, but, owing to the difficulty of communication from Taveta, Headquarters were moved back to Moshi. Later, when the Director of the Field Postal Service arrived, and I asked him what he thought of the line between Moshi and Taveta, he could only describe it as “pretty.” The insulators were made from knocked off bottle-necks, fastened to poles or branches of trees, the wire had been taken from the fences of the plantations. But the breakdowns really were so frequent that the great volume of reports and information in connection with the working of Headquarters could not have been carried on this line for a prolonged period.

Since the outbreak of war our communication with the outside world had been to all intents and purposes cut off; at first, indeed, we did pick up wireless messages from Kamina (in Togo), and then occasionally, under favourable weather conditions, from Nauen (Germany); but otherwise we had to depend for fresh news on picking up enemy wireless messages, or on obtaining possession of enemy mails or other papers.

CHAPTER IV
THE NOVEMBER ACTIONS AT TANGA

CAPTURED English newspapers stated that it would be particularly painful to Germany to lose her beloved colonies, its “little chicks,” and that German East Africa was the most valuable mouthful. Captured mails spoke of an impending attack by an Indian expeditionary force of 10,000 men, and, as I had from general considerations always expected a hostile attack on a large scale in the neighbourhood of Tanga, I went there at the end of October, drove all over the country in a car I had brought with me, and discussed the matter on the spot with Captain Adler, commanding the 17th Company, and with District Commissioner Auracher. I was pleased to find that the latter was of my opinion that, in the event of Tanga being seriously threatened, the prime necessity would be unity of action, and I assured him that I would, of course, undertake the responsibility for any consequences that might ensue. This was particularly important for the reason that, according to the Governor’s instructions, a bombardment of Tanga was to be avoided under all circumstances. Opinions as to what should be done or left undone in any given case might therefore differ very widely.

On the 2nd November, a few days after my return to New Moshi, a wire from Tanga informed me that fourteen hostile transports and two cruisers had appeared off the place. They demanded unconditional surrender of the town; the negotiations were protracted, as District Commissioner Auracher, who had gone on board, pointed out that he must obtain special instructions, and prevented the threatened bombardment by remarking that Tanga was an open and undefended place. Captain Baumstark, who was with two companies in the frontier district north of Tanga, was at once moved off towards Tanga. Similarly the two companies of Europeans and the Askari companies were moved by forced marches from near Taveta and Kilima Njaro to New Moshi. Two lorries which were employed on supply work between New Moshi and Taveta rendered valuable service in this move. My intention to collect all available troops as rapidly as possible, to meet the obviously impending landing at Tanga, could only be executed, in spite of the long marches expected of the troops, if the Northern Railway exerted its capacity to the utmost limit, and this, with only eight locomotives, was asking a great deal. The railway is a narrow gauge line of 190 miles, on which, in a fully-loaded train of 24 to 32 axles, only one company could be carried with complete baggage, or two companies without either baggage or carriers. That the transport of the troops could be carried out at all is entirely due to the willingness of all those connected with it—I specially mention Railway Commissary Kröber, who had been called up to the Force as a 2nd Lieutenant, and the traffic director Kühlwein—who at Tanga conducted the trains up on to the actual battlefield under fire. As early as the 2nd November the troops actually at New Moshi, one and a half companies, were pushed off by train, followed on the morning of the 3rd by Headquarters and another company. Three other companies followed later. Similarly, all the smaller detachments employed on railway protection duty were moved to Tanga. The spirit of the departing troops was magnificent, but this may have been due, not so much to the fact that the Askari clearly understood the gravity of the situation, as that for him a trip in a railway train is at all times a great delight.

Fig. iv. Battle of Tanga. Fig. v. The Northern Railway.

Headquarters reached Korogwe in the evening of the 3rd November. I went to the hospital that had been established there and talked to the wounded who had come in from the action at Tanga on the 3rd. One of them, Lieutenant Merensky, of the Landwehr, reported to me that on the 2nd November, outpost and patrol encounters had taken place near Ras-Kasone, and that on the 3rd the enemy, apparently several thousand strong, who had landed at Ras-Kasone, had attacked the 17th Company east of Tanga. The latter, reinforced by the Europeans and Police Askari from Tanga under Lieutenant Auracher, had withstood the attack until the first one and a half companies coming from New Moshi joined in, rushing at once to attack the left flank of the enemy and driving him back. Lieutenant Merensky had the impression that the enemy was completely defeated, and that the attack was unlikely to be repeated. The telegrams coming in piecemeal during the railway journey had not afforded me a clear idea of the situation, when at 3 a.m. on the 4th November, Headquarters left the railway four miles west of Tanga, where we met Captain Baumstark. He had formed a different estimate of the situation, and believed that, owing to the great superiority of the enemy, Tanga could not be held against another attack. He had, therefore, on the evening of the 3rd November, collected his own two companies coming from the north, and the troops who had that day been in action at Tanga, at a point four miles west of the town, leaving patrols only in the place itself.

Whether Tanga was held by the enemy or not was not certain. Strong officers’ patrols were at once pushed forward beyond Tanga towards Ras-Kasone. Luckily Headquarters had brought a few bicycles, and so, in order to satisfy myself quickly by personal observation, I was able to go off at once with Captain von Hammerstein and Volunteer Dr. Dessel to the railway station at Tanga, where I found an advanced post of the 6th Field Company. They, however, could give no accurate information about the enemy, and so I rode on through the empty streets of the town. It was completely deserted, and the white houses of the Europeans reflected the brilliant rays of the moon into the streets which we traversed. So we reached the harbour at the further edge of the town. Tanga was therefore clear of the enemy. A quarter of a mile out lay the transports, a blaze of lights, and full of noise: there was no doubt that the landing was about to commence at once. I much regretted that our artillery—we had two guns of 1873 pattern—was not yet up. Here, in the brilliant moonlight, at such close range, their effect would have been annihilating, the hostile cruisers notwithstanding.

We then rode on towards Ras-Kasone, left our bicycles in the German Government Hospital, and went on foot to the beach, close to which, right in front of us, lay an English cruiser. On the way back, at the hospital, we were challenged, apparently by an Indian sentry—we did not understand the language—but saw nothing. We got on our cycles again and rode back. Day began to break, and on our left we heard the first shots. This was the officers’ patrol under 2nd Lieutenant Bergmann, of the 6th Field Company, who had met hostile patrols west of Ras-Kasone. One of my cyclists now brought Captain Baumstark the order to advance at once with all the troops to Tanga Station. For the manner in which I proposed to fight the action, which was now to be expected with certainty, the nature of the country was one of the decisive factors. In the north, the houses of the European town at the harbour provided cover from view, and therefore also from the fire of the cruisers close by. The town was surrounded by continuous cocoanut and rubber plantations, which extended almost to Ras-Kasone, and in which, besides the native town, a few native patches of cultivation were scattered about. Undergrowth occurred along a few points and the ground was absolutely flat. It was probable that the enemy, whether he landed at Ras-Kasone only, or simultaneously at several points, such as Mwambani, for instance, would press upon our south, or right, wing. Here, to the south of Tanga, the ground afforded us also the prospect of greater power of manœuvre. I decided to meet the attack, which I expected with certainty, on the eastern edge of Tanga, and to echelon strong reserves behind our right wing for a counter-attack against the enemy’s flank.

In allotting the various duties it was necessary to consider the peculiarities of the different units. At that time each company had different characteristics, according to its composition and its state of training. The good 6th Field Company, which had in time of peace received a careful training at Ujiji with both rifle and machine-gun, was ordered to hold the eastern edge of Tanga on a broad front. On its right rear, outside Tanga, was echeloned Baumstark’s battalion, consisting of the 16th and 17th Companies, formed from the Police, and several small units amalgamated into one company. To the right rear again, on the telegraph-road Tanga-Pangani, I kept three good companies at my own disposal, the 7th and 8th Rifle Companies, with three machine-guns, composed of Europeans, and the 13th Field Company with its four machine-guns. Headquarters remained for the present on the Tanga-Pangani road and connected up to the telegraph line there. The 4th and 9th Field Companies and the two field guns (Captain Hering’s Battery) were still on the way, and the time of their arrival was uncertain. So the situation remained essentially until the afternoon. In the hot sun of the Coast area we suffered not a little from thirst, but quenched it with the milk of the young cocoanuts. There were other drinks as well in Tanga at that time; we still had wine and soda-water. Master-butcher Grabow even brought the troops hot sausages.

The proceedings on board the hostile ships were kept under constant close observation. We saw every boat that left them, and its load. I estimated the total troops landed up to midday at 6,000. But even on this too low estimate I had to ask myself whether I dared risk a decisive engagement with my thousand rifles. For various reasons I decided that I would do so. It was too important to prevent the enemy from gaining a firm footing in Tanga. Otherwise we should abandon to him the best base for operations against the Northern territories; in his advance the Northern Railway would afford him an admirable line of communication, and he would be enabled continually to surprise us by bringing up and pushing forward fresh troops and stores. Then it was certain that we would be unable to hold the Northern Railway any longer and that we would be obliged to abandon our hitherto so successful method of warfare. Against these all-important practical reasons, limited considerations such as the Governor’s order to avoid a bombardment of Tanga under all circumstances could not prevail.

A few circumstances there were that favoured us. For one thing, from personal experience in East Asia, I knew the clumsiness with which English troops were moved and led in battle, and it was certain that in the very close and completely unknown country in which the enemy would find himself directly he landed, these difficulties would grow to infinity. The slightest disorder was bound to have far-reaching consequences. With my troops, of whom the Europeans were well acquainted with the country round Tanga, while the Askari were at home in the bush, I had a reasonable prospect of taking advantage of the enemy’s weak points by skilful and rapid manœuvre.

On the other hand, if the affair miscarried, it would be a bad business. Already my method of waging active war had met with disapproval. If on top of that we were to suffer a severe defeat the confidence of the troops would probably be gone, and it was certain that my superiors would place insuperable difficulties in the way of my exercising command. My decision was not easy, and as if the military situation alone did not render it difficult enough, it was made unnecessarily harder by the fact that the regulations did not allow sufficient freedom to the responsible commander. But there was nothing for it: to gain all we must risk all.

The same morning I personally ordered Captain von Prince to move into Tanga with his two companies of Europeans, so that, in case of an attack on the Askari Company holding the eastern edge of the place, he could intervene rapidly without orders. I had already begun to doubt whether the enemy would attack at all on the 4th November, when at 3 p.m. an Askari reported to me in his simple, smart way: “Adui tayari.” (The enemy is ready.) Those two short words I shall never forget. The next moment the rifle fire opened along the whole front, and one could only judge of the rapid development and the ebb and flow of the action from the direction of the firing. One heard the fire draw in from the eastern edge of the town to the middle: so the 6th Company had been driven back at this point. The enemy, with odds twenty to one in his favour, had penetrated close up to the station and into the town. Captain von Prince had immediately rushed up his two companies of Europeans and at once prevailed upon the brave Askari to stand and then to advance once more. The British North Lancashire Regiment, consisting only of long-service Europeans, 800 strong, was driven back with heavy losses, and the houses captured by the Indian Brigade (Kashmir Rifles), who were advancing between that regiment and the beach, were re-taken in stubborn street-fighting. But on the south side of Tanga Captain Baumstark had also brought his companies into action on the front, and after about one hour’s fighting I observed the Askari at this point retiring through the palm-trees to the Tanga-Pangani road. The European members of Headquarters at once ran there and stopped them. To this day I can see the fiery and determined Captain von Hammerstein, full of fury, throwing an empty bottle at the head of a retreating Askari. After all, they were for the most part young companies, only just formed, who were fighting at this point, and they had been staggered by the intensity of the enemy’s fire. But when we Europeans got in front of them and laughed at them they quickly recovered themselves and saw that every bullet did not hit. But on the whole the pressure on our front was so strong that I thought I could not delay the decision any longer and must start my counter-stroke. For this I had now but one company available, but it was the good 13th Field Company. The 4th Company, whose arrival I was most anxiously awaiting every minute, had not yet arrived.

The course of the action up till now had shown that the enemy’s front, of which the flank was unprotected, did not reach further south than the right wing of our own. Here, therefore, the counter-stroke must prove annihilating, and no witness will forget the moment when the machine-guns of the 13th Company opened a continuous fire at this point and completely reversed the situation. The whole front jumped up and dashed forward with enthusiastic cheers. In the meantime the 4th Company had arrived; although, in consequence of a misunderstanding, it did not prolong the outer flank of the 13th, but pushed in between the latter and our front, still it did take an effective part in the battle before dark. In wild disorder the enemy fled in dense masses, and our machine-guns, converging on them from front and flanks, mowed down whole companies to the last man. Several Askari came in beaming with delight with several captured English rifles on their backs and an Indian prisoner in each hand. The handcuffs, however, which we found in their possession for use with German prisoners, were not used on them by any of us.

At this time, in the dense forest, all units, and in many instances friend and foe, were mixed up together, everybody was shouting at once in all sorts of languages, darkness was rapidly setting in; it is only necessary to conjure up this scene in imagination in order to understand how it was that the pursuit which I set in motion failed completely. I had been stationed on the right wing, and had quickly despatched such units as were within reach at the moment to push with energy towards Ras-Kasone. Then I had gone to the left wing. There I found hardly any of our people at all; it was not till some time afterwards, in the night, that I heard the sound of the nailed boots of a party of Askari. I was glad at last to have a force in hand, but was somewhat disappointed to find it was a detachment of the right wing, under 2nd Lieutenant Langen, who had missed the way to Ras-Kasone and had thus got on to our left wing. But even these difficulties were not all. In some inexplicable way the troops imagined a Headquarter order had been issued that they were to return to their old camp west of Tanga. Only during the course of the night, at Tanga Railway Station, did it become clear to me that nearly all the companies had marched off for that destination. Of course they were ordered to return at once. But unfortunately this caused so much delay that it was impossible to bring Hering’s Battery, which had arrived later, into action by moonlight against the ships.

The troops, whose great exhaustion was quite comprehensible, did not get back to Tanga until the morning of the 5th November, and occupied essentially the same position as the day before. It was not now advisable to advance with all our forces against the enemy, who was re-embarking at Ras-Kasone, as the country there was entirely open, and commanded by the cruisers lying in its immediate vicinity. All the same, the strong patrols and individual companies, who advanced towards Ras-Kasone, in order to harass the enemy, succeeded in surprising him by machine-gun fire directed on various detachments, a few boats, and even the decks of the cruiser lying close to the hospital. During the day, the impression that the enemy had suffered a tremendous defeat grew stronger and stronger. It is true, the full extent of his losses did not become known to us all at once; but the many places where hundreds and hundreds of dead were piled up in heaps, and the smell of putrefaction which the tropical sun brought out all over the district, gave us some indication. Very cautiously we estimated the killed at about 800, but I believe this number to be far too low. A senior English officer, who had accurate knowledge of the details, told me later, on the occasion of an action in which he stated the English casualties to have been 1,500, that the losses at Tanga had been considerably greater. I now think that even 2,000 is too low an estimate. Even greater was the enemy’s loss in moral. He almost began to believe in spirits and spooks; years afterwards I was asked by English officers whether we had used trained bees at Tanga, but I may now perhaps betray the fact that at the decisive moment all the machine-guns of one of our companies were put out of action by these same “trained bees,” so that we suffered from this new “training” quite as much as the English.

The enemy felt himself completely defeated, and he was. His troops had fled in wild confusion and thrown themselves head over heels into the lighters. The possibility of renewing the attack was not even considered. From prisoners’ statements and captured official English documents it was ascertained that the whole Anglo-Indian Expeditionary Force of 8,000 men had been thus decisively beaten by our force of little more than 1,000 men. Not till the evening did we realize the magnitude of this victory, when an English officer, Captain Meinertshagen, came under a flag of truce to negotiate with Captain von Hammerstein, my representative, for the handing over of the wounded. Captain von Hammerstein proceeded to the hospital, which was full of severely wounded English officers, and in my name agreed to their being removed by the English on giving their word of honour not to fight against us again in this war.

The booty in arms enabled us to re-arm more than three companies with modern weapons, for which the sixteen machine-guns were particularly welcome. The moral of the force and its confidence in its leaders had enormously increased, and at one blow I was delivered from a great part of the difficulties which so greatly impeded the conduct of operations. The continuous fire of the ships’ guns, which the closeness of the country had rendered ineffective, had lost its terrors for our brave blacks. The quantity of stores captured was also considerable; besides 600,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition the enemy had left behind the whole of his telephone gear and such quantities of clothing and equipment that we were able to meet all our requirements, especially in warm coats and blankets, for at least a year. Our own losses, painful though they were, were numerically insignificant. About fifteen (?) Europeans, among them the splendid Captain von Prince, and fifty-four (?) Askari and machine-gun carriers, had fallen. The Europeans were buried in a worthy warriors’ grave in the shade of a fine Buyu tree, where a simple memorial tablet is inscribed with their names. The work of clearing up the battlefield and burying the dead meant several days of most strenuous work for the whole force, as the streets were literally strewn with dead and badly wounded. In unknown tongues they begged for help which, with the best will in the world, could not always be accorded at once.

At our main dressing station, in Tanga itself, our male and female nursing personnel had conscientiously cared for friend and foe even under the fire of the heavy guns of the ships. As recently as the evening of the 4th November I had been to see the wounded. I little thought that Lieutenant Schottstaedt, who was sitting there on a chair with a severe wound in the chest, had but a few minutes to live. The English Lieutenant Cook, of the 101st Indian Grenadiers, lay there with a bad gun-shot wound in the leg. This bright young officer, who had fallen into our hands in the hottest part of the fight on the Indian left wing, maintained his cheerfulness in spite of his wound. With the bulk of the other wounded, he was treated for nine months in the Field Hospital at Korogwe by our best surgeon, Stabsarzt Dr. Müller. He was already walking about once more, when an unfortunate fall on the stairs caused his death.

The fighting at Tanga was the first occasion on which heavy demands were made on our arrangements for the care of the wounded. For this purpose, hospitals had been established at Korogwe and at various other points on the Northern Railway, to which the sick could be taken by rail without being transferred from one method of transport to another. No special hospital arrangements of a permanent nature had been made for transport, but we never had any difficulty in improvising what was necessary.

In spite of their undoubted defeat at Tanga it was probable that British determination would not accept this decision as final. Even after his defeat the enemy was still several times as strong as we were, and would not improbably attempt another landing elsewhere. But a cycle ride on the 6th November to Mansa Bay, in the North, convinced me that the hostile ships had run in there only for the purpose of attending to their wounded and burying their dead and had no intention of landing. And the ships actually did steam off towards Zanzibar soon after. At that time it was interesting to me to visit our Government Hospital near Ras-Kasone, which had in the meantime been evacuated by the English wounded released on parole. Among others I saw here two German officers who had been wounded at Tanga on the 3rd November, and others who had been wounded in an earlier action; from the hospital they had been able to observe events behind the English front on the 4th November, the day when the principal fighting took place. With the greatest excitement they had watched the landing at Ras-Kasone and the advance on Tanga; in the afternoon they had heard the opening of our decisive machine-gun fire and the bombardment by the ships’ guns, and had then witnessed the wild flight of the enemy close by the hospital. The numerous shells that had fallen near the hospital had fortunately done no damage. Quite early on the 5th November they had suddenly heard guns firing again, this time from the direction of Tanga; they realized that they must be German guns. They were in fact our two 1873 pattern field-guns, which, though too late to deal with the English transports by moonlight, had at least managed to secure a few hits after daybreak. A prolonged fire for effect was now unfortunately impossible, as the smoke disclosed the positions of the guns at once and drew the fire of the ships.

In the meantime it had become evident that the attack at Tanga was not an isolated enterprise, but had been intended to form part of a simultaneous operation on a large scale. Suddenly in the morning mist, on the 3rd November, English troops appeared north-west of Kilima Njaro, at Longido Mountain, which was held by Captain Kraut with three Companies of Askari and a Mounted Company of Europeans. Just as orders reached Longido Mountain by heliograph directing Captain Kraut to move off to Moshi, the first shell arrived. The enemy, about 1,000 strong, had ascended the great mountain, which lies by itself in the open plain, at several points, being guided by Masai, who called out to the outposts: “We belong to Captain Kraut’s men.” But our three Field Companies deployed rapidly and succeeded in working round the enemy detachment in the rocky ground and quickly repelled them. A hostile detachment of mounted Europeans who became visible in the plain at the foot of the mountain, and apparently intended to ascend it from the south, or to act against our communications, was fired upon with effect and quickly driven off.

Probably in connection with these events on the Northern Railway, hostile enterprises took place on Lake Victoria. At the end of October numerous Waganda warriors had penetrated from the North into the Bukoba district. To meet this menace, a force of 570 rifles, 4 machine-guns, and 2 guns left Muanza on the 31st October on board the small steamer Muanza, with 2 tugs and 10 dhows (boats). Soon after the landing these transports were attacked by English steamers, but got back to Muanza without damage. An English attempt to land at Kayense, north of Muanza, broke down under the fire of our detachment posted there.

Thus, at the beginning of November we were confronted with a concentric attack on our Colony, planned on a large scale. Its failure made everyone expect that we would be able to hold our own as long as the home country could do so. But such scanty information as we could get from there gave us confidence. At the time of the action at Tanga we had, indeed, not heard the name of Hindenburg; but on the other hand we knew nothing of our reverse on the Marne, and were still buoyed up by the impression created by our victorious invasion of France.

CHAPTER V
AWAITING FURTHER EVENTS

THE danger threatening the Kilima Njaro country appeared to me to be by itself a sufficient reason for rapidly moving the troops back to the vicinity of New Moshi after the decisive success of Tanga, which in any event could not be further exploited. The joy of the Northern settlers, who, it should be noted, had furnished the bulk of the Europeans who fought at Tanga, was indescribable. The first train, which carried the European Company, returned to New Moshi bedecked with flowers. I myself had still enough to do at Tanga, and did not follow the troops to New Moshi for several days, where Headquarters was reopened. Shortage of personnel prevented us from having separate people for each duty. Officers of Headquarters had sometimes in an emergency to act as riflemen or cyclists, the Intendant occasionally did duty as an orderly, the clerk went into action with a rifle and acted as orderly in battle. The work was greatly facilitated by the fact that the railway station, constructed on European lines, afforded us accommodation which, in spite of being rather small, enabled us to settle most matters affecting the Staff only by word of mouth. We had good telephone and telegraph installations, and were situated centrally as the telephone and road systems, which we had either made or perfected, and which led out in both directions towards Tanga, Taveta, East Kilima Njaro, West Kilima Njaro and Longido, as well as to Arusha. Sometimes the work would go on for a week at a time almost as in peace, although the volume of work to be dealt with was greater. But although hardly anybody at Headquarters was either trained or prepared for his functions, harmonious and successful co-operation was secured. It was based upon the best spirit, devotion to the cause, and the support of good comradeship.

I myself went by car—for we had made a motor-road right up to Longido Mountain—to the Engare-Nairobi (cold river), a small stream rising on the northern slopes of Kilima Njaro, and flowing between it and Longido through the prairie in a north-westerly direction. In this country a number of Boer families were settled on farms. Kraut’s detachment had moved their camp there, as their supplies, if they had remained on Longido Mountain, would have had to make a two-days’ march across the prairie, where they could not be protected, and were, therefore, too uncertain. I satisfied myself that there was at this time no opportunity for any enterprises north of Kilima Njaro, and returned to New Moshi. The distance from New Moshi, where we collected a large proportion of the supplies coming from Usambara and the country further south by rail to Taveta, is thirty miles. Although we had available only a few motors, namely, three cars and three lorries all told, they were in the circumstances a considerable help. The road being well made, the three-ton lorries could do the trip out and back in one day in dry weather. As carriers took at least four days for the same journey a calculation showed that one lorry could do the work of six hundred carriers, who required subsistence in addition. The principle, later maintained by the English, of replacing carriers and pack-animals by mechanical transport, is further supported by the fact that men and animals suffered severely from tropical diseases, whereas mosquitos are powerless against automobiles. We, however, could not derive full benefit from this advantage, since we had so few motors. Even in this period, which, as far as transport was concerned, was one of quiet and regularity, we had constantly to fall back upon carriers. To this day I remember the joy of the Intendant when a column of six hundred Wassukuma carriers arrived at New Moshi from about Muanza; they brought rice, which was urgently needed, from Lake Victoria, via Kondoa-Irangi to Kilima Njaro. If one remembers that this march required at least thirty days, that the carrier needs one kg. (two lbs.) of food a day, and that his maximum load is twenty-five kg. (fifty-five lbs.), it is clear that these marches have to be arranged with great care and directed through well populated and fertile districts if this method of transport is to be of any value. If, in spite of these disadvantages, carrier transport had to be resorted to on a large scale, it only shows up the supply-difficulties we had to contend with. The Intendant, Captain Feilke, was, however, a past master in handling the men and looking after them. The carriers felt that they were well cared for, and the word “Kommando,” which some of them took as a personal name, became quite common. I myself was able, by means of the motors, to carry out many reconnaissances and inspections of the troops. I could reach Taveta, to which place some of the troops from Tanga returned, in two hours from New Moshi; this would otherwise have taken four days; later on I drove in one day from New Moshi to the Engare-Nairobi, round the west side of the whole of Meru Mountain, and back to New Moshi, a journey which could hardly have been accomplished with carriers in less than ten days.

The success at Tanga called forth and revived the determination to resist all over the Colony.

At Morogoro, on the 26th November, the Inspector of Lines of Communication, Major-General Wahle, succeeded in obtaining the Governor’s consent to the defence of Dar-es-Salaam in case of attack. As luck would have it, this consent was given just in time. On the 28th, two men-of-war, a transport and a tug, appeared off Dar-es-Salaam, and demanded to inspect our ships lying in the harbour. Among others, there was the Tabora, of the German East African Line, which had been converted into a hospital-ship. As the English had on a previous occasion declared that they did not consider themselves bound by any agreement about Dar-es-Salaam, fresh negotiations would have been necessary every time we wanted to escape a threatened bombardment. Thus an endless screw was created. I now wired that the entry into the harbour of a pinnace, demanded by the English, was to be resisted by force of arms. Unfortunately, however, it had been conceded by the German civil authority, against my opinion, and the Senior Officer present at Dar-es-Salaam felt himself bound. The English, however, came in, not with the one pinnace which had been agreed to, but with several small vessels, and then proceeded to carry out demolitions on board the Tabora, and even took some of her crew prisoners. This made it only too evident, even to those who had hitherto been doubtful, how misplaced our previous compliance had been. Captain von Kornatzky was just in time to open effective machine-gun fire on the small English vessels as they passed out by the narrow English harbour entrance. Unfortunately, on this occasion, one of the German prisoners was also hit. The necessary defensive measures had simply not been adopted in time. This is a small example of the dangers and disadvantages that arise when, in time of war, the military commander is constantly interfered with in his decisions, and in the execution of operations which are in the nature of things inevitable.

And, after all, the subsequent bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam did no harm worth mentioning, for the damage done to a few houses can hardly be considered as serious.

During the time of comparatively sedentary warfare at New Moshi the material side of life was also pleasant. The Europeans, who mostly belonged to the settler community of the northern territories, provided most of their subsistence themselves; abundant supplies of rice, wheat-flour, bananas, pineapples, European fruit, coffee and potatoes, came in from the plantations. Sugar was provided by the numerous factories, and our principal supply of salt came from the Gottorp salt works, on the Central Railway, between Tabora and Lake Tanganyika. Many plantations devoted themselves entirely to supplying the troops, and, owing to the abundant labour available this change in production caused no difficulties. But the transport system had also to work at high pressure. The great road leading from Kimamba to Mombo and Korogwe, on the Northern Railway, was continuously improved, so as to carry the transport of the products from the area of the Tanganyika Railway and further South, to the North. On this line alone at least eight thousand carriers were continuously employed. It soon proved to be practical not to make the carriers do the whole distance of a hundred and ninety miles, but to distribute them on different stages. This made it possible to quarter them permanently and to look after their health. Experts in hygiene travelled up and down the road, and did what was humanly possible for the health of the carriers, especially against dysentery and typhoid. In this manner we established along this very frequented route permanent carrier-camps a day’s march apart, in which the men were accommodated at first in extemporized huts, which were later properly completed. Camp discipline was strictly regulated. In order to provide also for the many Europeans passing through, small houses with concrete floors were put up; and individuals were enabled to subsist on the supplies held on the line of communication, without having to burden themselves with provisions to last for a prolonged period, as is customary on journeys in Africa. The work on this line of supply was the object of constant attention. Both Europeans and natives had still to learn how to ensure the co-operation of such masses of men, and to understand the importance of order and discipline in the working of the transport for the health of all concerned.

At New Moshi Station both telephone and telegraph were working day and night. Where the whole organization had to be improvised friction was not altogether unavoidable. All the members of Headquarters were extraordinarily hard-worked. But we did have bright intervals during the strenuous work. The abundance of creature comforts enjoyed by the Europeans in the North was shared by us at Headquarters. We were literally spoilt by the number of gifts sent us by private individuals. If one of us travelled on the Northern Railway, on which in time of peace it was difficult to obtain a little food for love or money, he was now cared for by someone at almost every station. I remember when Lieut. Freiherr von Schroetter returned to New Moshi, very famished, after carrying out some very exhausting patrols in the country north of Erok Mountain. After having, according to normal ideas, been thoroughly well fed from seven o’clock till eleven, he shyly asked if he might have some supper. The next morning he started on fourteen days’ leave to his plantation in Usambara, in order to recuperate and attend to his business. After breakfast we gave him coffee, bread, butter and meat, to take with him in the train, and had warned the various railway stations to look after this completely famished patroller. So, after half an hour, the station guard at Kahe offered him another breakfast, at Lembeni the charming wife of the Station Commandant had baked him a cake, and at Lame he was looked after by the commander of the local Recruit Depot, Sergt.-Major Reinhardt. At Makanya the guard, Planter Baroy, who belonged to the country, brought him home-made chocolate and bullocks’ hearts—a fruit the size of a melon—at Buiko the hospitable traffic manager of the Northern Railway, Kuehlwein, who had so often entertained us in passing through, had prepared him a delicate meal. At Mombo, where the supplies from the Usambara Mountains were collected, and where we had established most of our workshops, our protégé was met by Warrant Officer Meyer, of the Navy, with a sustaining supper. But then we got a telegram: “Please do not order any more, I can’t eat any more.”

Although this continuous feeding shows a spirit of sympathetic chaff at the expense of the starving subaltern, it also proves, better than any theoretical dissertations, how intimately all classes of the population of the northern districts worked in with the troops, and how they tried to anticipate our every wish. This co-operation continued as long as the troops remained in the North.

Whenever duty gave us a chance we arranged for change and recuperation. On Sundays we often went out together near New Moshi for a cheery day’s shooting. Both carriers and Askari soon picked up their business as beaters, and drove the game towards us in exemplary order, with loud shouts of “Huyu, huyu:” “There he is.” For variety of game the country provided more than one would be likely to find anywhere in Europe: hare, various dwarf antelopes, guinea-fowl, several relatives of the partridge, duck, bush-buck, water-buck, lynx, several kinds of wild boar, small kudu, jackal and many other kinds of game abounded. Once, I remember, to my astonishment, a lion silently appeared fifteen paces in front of me. Unfortunately I had my gun in my hand, and before I could put up my rifle, which was on my knees, he had as silently disappeared. In the teeming Kilima Njaro country, and even more east of Taveta, our shooting expeditions provided a welcome increase to our meat supply. But in the main this depended on the cattle which the Masai brought us from the Kilima Njaro and Meru country, but which also came from far away near Lake Victoria.

CHAPTER VI
FURTHER HEAVY FIGHTING IN THE NORTH-EAST

BY the time we kept Christmas in the Mission Church at New Moshi, and afterwards in our mess in the Railway Station, the military situation north of Tanga had become sufficiently acute to indicate that decisive events in this quarter were probable. During the last days of December, our patrols, who in that district were on British territory, had been gradually pushed back, and had concentrated south of Jassini, on German territory. The combined force amounted to two companies and a corps of some two hundred Arabs. The enemy had obviously been reinforced, and occupied the buildings of the German plantation of Jassini. It looked as though he intended to push gradually forward along the coast to Tanga, securing the occupied country by a system of block-houses. In order to investigate matters on the spot, I travelled early in January with Capt. von Hammerstein to Tanga, and thence by car to Capt. Adler’s camp at Mwurnoni, using the newly-completed coast road to the north, a distance of thirty-eight miles. Lieut. Bleeck, of the Reserve, whose numerous successful patrols in that country rendered him particularly suitable for the purpose, accompanied me on my reconnaissance, from which I learned that the country for miles round Jassini consisted principally of a cocoanut plantation belonging to the German East African Company, which was also planted with sisal, a species of agave with sharp thorns. This sisal, which formed a dense undergrowth among the palms, was in many places so interlaced that one could only force one’s way through by enduring a quantity of very unpleasant pricks. It is, of course, always difficult to make plans for an action in country so totally unknown to one without the aid of a map, and relying only on the reports of patrols. In this case we got over the difficulty as Lieut. Schaefer, of the Reserve, who had been called to the colours, had for years held the post of Assistant on this plantation, and could therefore furnish exact information. A tolerably accurate sketch was prepared, and the battle-names allotted to various localities were entered on it. The general situation appeared to be that Jassini was an advanced post, and that the main body of the enemy was in fortified camps further north. It was to be assumed that an attack on the advanced post of Jassini would entice the main body to leave its camps and fight in the open (sic!). My plan was to take advantage of this possibility. In order to engage the enemy while hurrying from his places of assembly to the assistance of the advanced post, in favourable tactical conditions, I intended to place my troops in readiness on his probable lines of advance, in such a manner that he would have to run up against them.

In this closely-settled country supply presented no difficulty, and the necessary carriers could be provided by the numerous European plantations. So the companies ordered up by telegraph from New Moshi had only to be accompanied by their machine-gun and ammunition carriers, a considerable advantage in arranging for their railway journey. This was accomplished rapidly and without friction, thanks to the proved capacity of the Commandant of the Line, Lieutenant Kroeber, retired, of the Landwehr, and the understanding and consuming zeal with which the whole personnel of the railway bore the unavoidable strain without a murmur.

By the 16th January the companies from New Moshi had detrained a couple of miles west of Tanga, and at once marched off towards Jassini, as well as the troops from Tanga, for the immediate protection of which only one company was left behind. On the evening of the 17th January the force of nine companies, with two guns, was assembled at Totohown plantation, seven miles south of Jassini, and orders for the attack were issued for the following morning. Major Kepler, with two companies, was directed to attack the village of Jassini, working round by the right, and Captain Adler, with two more companies, had a similar task on the left. To the north-west, on the road from Semanya, was posted the Arab corps. Captain Otto, with the 9th Company, advanced frontally by the main road on Jassini, followed immediately by Headquarters and the main body, consisting of the European Company, three Askari Companies, and two guns. The marches were so arranged that the attacks on Jassini should take place simultaneously at daybreak, and that all columns should mutually support each other by pushing on with energy. Even before daybreak the first shots fell in the vicinity of Kepler’s column, a few minutes later firing began in front of us with Otto’s column, and then became general. It was impossible in the endless dense palm forest to obtain an even approximate idea of what was really happening. We were, however, already so close up to the hostile position at Jassini, that the enemy seemed to be surprised, in spite of his excellent intelligence service. This supposition was afterwards, in part at least, confirmed. Of our rapid concentration south of Jassini, and our immediate attack with such strong forces, the enemy had actually had no idea.

Otto’s column quickly drove back an entrenched post in its front, and Headquarters now made a circuit to the left through the forest, where first one, and then two more companies, were put in so as to outflank Jassini. What seemed curious was that in this move we came under a very well-aimed fire at short range, possibly no more than 200 yards; and it was not till much later that we learned that the enemy had not only a weak post in Jassini, but that four companies of Indians were also established there in a strongly constructed and excellently concealed fort. Suddenly Captain von Hammerstein, who was walking behind me, collapsed; he had been shot in the abdomen. Deeply as this affected me, at the moment I had to leave my badly-wounded comrade in the hands of the doctor. A few days later the death of this excellent officer tore a gap in the ranks of our Staff which was hard to fill.

The fighting had become very hot. Two companies, although their commanders, Lieuts. Gerlich and Spalding, had fallen had quickly captured the fortified buildings of Jassini by a brilliant charge, and had now established themselves close in front of the enemy’s position. Soon the intervention of the enemy’s main force made itself felt. From the direction of Wanga, in the north-east, strong hostile columns arrived and suddenly appeared close in front of our companies, lying close to the fortifications of Jassini. The enemy made three strong attacks at this point and was each time repulsed. Hostile columns also arrived from the north and north-west. Against that from the west the Arab corps had done badly; the day before many of them had urgently demanded their discharge. Now, when they were to lie in ambush on the enemy’s road of advance, the tension became too great for them. Instead of surprising the enemy by an annihilating fire, they fired blindly into the air and then bolted. But luckily these hostile columns then came on Captain Adler’s two companies, and were repulsed with slaughter. Up till then the whole action had been in the nature of an energetic assault; even the last reserve, the European Company, had, at its urgent request, been sent into action. Towards noon the fighting had everywhere become stationary before the strong defences of the enemy. We had, as a matter of fact, no means of making a sufficient impression on them, and even our field-guns, which we placed in position at two hundred yards, produced no decisive effect. The heat was insupportable, and, as at Tanga, everyone quenched his thirst with young cocoanuts. I myself went with Lieut. Bleeck to the right wing, to find out how things were going with Major Kepler’s column. At that time I had not yet obtained a clear idea of the enemy’s defences, and so, on the sands of a clear and open creek, which was then dry, we again came under a very well-aimed fire. From a distance of five hundred yards the bullets fell close to us, and the spurts of sand they threw up made correction easy. The sand was so deep and the heat so great that one could only run, or even walk quickly, for a few paces at a time. Most of the time we had to walk slowly across the open and bear the unpleasant fire as best we could. Fortunately it did no serious harm, although one bullet through my hat and another through my arm showed that it was well meant. On the way back from the right wing our thirst and exhaustion were so great that several gentlemen, who were usually by no means on bad terms with each other, had a serious difference of opinion about a cocoanut, although it would not have been difficult to get more from the countless trees all round us.

Headquarters had now returned to the Totohown-Jassini road. Along this ran a light railway for the work of the plantation, the wagons of which were now continuously employed in taking wounded back to Totohown, where a hospital had been established in the European buildings. Ammunition—of which the Askari carried about 150 rounds—began to run short, and reports from the firing line that they could not hold on longer became more frequent. Slightly wounded who had been tied up and a mass of stragglers collected at Headquarters, whole platoons had completely lost themselves, or had for other reasons left the places assigned to them. All these men were collected and reorganized, and thus a fresh reserve was made available. The ammunition in the machine-gun belts was to a great extent expended, and fresh supplies came up from Totohown by the light railway. The belt-filling machines were fixed to the palm-trees and kept incessantly at work. It was evident that we had already suffered considerable casualties. A few wished to break off the action, as there seemed no prospect of capturing the enemy’s defences. But the thought of the unpleasant situation of the enemy, shut up in his works, without water, and having to carry on all the occupations of daily existence in a confined space, in a burning sun and under hostile fire, made it appear that if we only held on with determination we might yet achieve success. The afternoon and night passed in incessant fighting; as is always the case in such critical situations, all sorts of rumours arose. It was said that the garrison of the enemy’s works consisted of South African Europeans, who were excellent marksmen; some people even declared they had understood their speech perfectly. It was indeed still very difficult to form a clear idea. My orderly, Ombasha (Lance-Corporal) Rayabu, at once volunteered to make a close reconnaissance, crawled close up to the enemy’s line, and was killed there. The native, who is at all times easily excitable, was doubly so in this critical situation at night, and I frequently had to take the men severely to task for firing blindly into the air.

Early on the 19th January the fire broke out again with the greatest intensity. The enemy, who was surrounded on all sides, made a sortie, which failed, and soon after hoisted the white flag. Four Indian companies, with European officers and N.C.O.’s, fell into our hands. We all remarked the warlike pride with which our Askari regarded the enemy; I never thought our black fellows could look so distinguished.

Both friend and foe had been in an unpleasant situation, and were near the end of their nervous strength. That is usually the case with any soldier who takes his duty seriously. But the Askari now learned that one must overcome one’s own feelings in order to obtain the superior moral force necessary for victory.

I estimated the enemy’s casualties at 700 at least; the captured documents gave a clear indication of his strength, which was more than double our own. According to them, General Tighe, commanding the troops in British East Africa, who had landed a short time before at Wanga, had more than twenty companies assembled at and near Jassini, most of whom had come by march route along the coast from the direction of Mombasa. They were to push forward towards Tanga.

With the aid of the mechanical transport and the rickshaws, which worked between the Field Hospital at Totohown and Tanga, the wounded were moved from Jassini to the hospitals on the Northern Railway quite easily in a few days. These rickshaws, small spring-carts (like dog-carts), drawn by one man, which take the place of cabs at Tanga, had been requisitioned for carrying wounded by the Senior Medical Officer. The enemy had withdrawn into his fortified camps north of the frontier, and a fresh attack on them did not seem to me very promising. We immediately commenced patrol operations, as a support to which we left a detachment of a few companies at Jassini; the bulk of the troops was moved off again to the Kilima Njaro country. On the march to the entraining station on the Northern Railway the troops passed through Amboni Plantation. There the inhabitants of Tanga had voluntarily provided food and refreshments; and after the tremendous exertions entailed by the expedition to Jassini, with its continuous forced marches, the exhausting heat, and the uninterrupted fighting by day and night, the sulphur-laden Sigi stream was soon alive with white and black bathers. All our toil was forgotten, and our spirits rose to the highest pitch on receiving at this very moment, after a rather long interval, another wireless message from home. It indicated that news of the fighting at Tanga had probably just reached Germany, and contained His Majesty’s appreciation of the success we had gained there.

CHAPTER VII
GUERILLA WARFARE AND FURTHER PREPARATIONS

DOCUMENTS which we captured later proved by figures that the enemy moved troops from Lake Victoria towards Kilima Njaro. So the battle actually did relieve other, far distant theatres. This observation bore out the original contention that the best protection of the whole territory consisted in taking a firm hold of the enemy at one point. Whether the remainder of the Colony was also locally protected with energy was not as important. All the same, I was greatly rejoiced when in February, 1915, the Governor was persuaded to issue the order that the coast towns were to be defended if threatened by the enemy. The successes obtained hitherto had demonstrated that this local defence was not hopeless, even against the fire of ships’ guns.

Although the attack carried out at Jassini with nine companies had been completely successful, it showed that such heavy losses as we also had suffered could only be borne in exceptional cases. We had to economize our forces in order to last out a long war. Of the regular officers, Major Kepler, Lieuts. Spalding and Gerlich, Second-Lieuts. Kaufmann and Erdmann were killed; Captain von Hammerstein had died of his wound. The loss of these professional soldiers—about one seventh of the regular officers present—could not be replaced.

The expenditure of 200,000 rounds also proved that with the means at my disposal I could at the most fight three more actions of this nature. The need to strike great blows only quite exceptionally, and to restrict myself principally to guerilla warfare, was evidently imperative.

The guiding principle of constantly operating against the Uganda Railway could, however, be resumed, as here it was in any case impossible to act with larger forces. For it was necessary to make marches of several days’ duration through the great, waterless and thinly populated desert, which provided little sustenance beyond occasional game. Not only food, but water had to be carried. This alone limited the size of the force to be employed. Such expeditions through districts providing neither water nor food require a degree of experience on the part of the troops which could not possibly exist at that stage of the war. A company even was too large a force to send across this desert, and if, after several days of marching, it really had reached some point on the railway, it would have had to come back again, because it could not be supplied. However, these conditions improved as the troops became better trained, and as our knowledge of the country, which was at first mainly terra incognita, increased.

So there was nothing for it but to seek to attain our object by means of small detachments, or patrols. To these patrols we afterwards attached the greatest importance. Starting from the Engare-Nairobi, small detachments of eight to ten men, Europeans and Askaris, rode round the rear of the enemy’s camps, which had been pushed up as far as the Longido, and attacked their communications. They made use of telephones we had captured at Tanga, tapping in on the English telephone-lines; then they waited for large or small hostile detachments or columns of ox-wagons to pass. From their ambush they opened fire on the enemy at thirty yards’ range, captured prisoners and booty, and then disappeared again in the boundless desert. Thus, at that time, we captured rifles, ammunition, and war material of all kinds. One of these patrols had observed near Erok Mountain that the enemy sent his riding-horses to water at a certain time. Ten of our horsemen at once started out, and, after a two days’ ride through the desert, camped close to the enemy. Six men went back with the horses; the four others each took a saddle, and crept at a distance of a few paces past the enemy’s sentries close up to the watering-place, which lay behind the camp. An English soldier was driving the horses, when suddenly two men of our patrol confronted him out of the bush and covering him with their rifles ordered “Hands up!” In his surprise he dropped his clay pipe out of his mouth. At once he was asked: “Where are the missing four horses?” for our conscientious patrol had noticed that there were only fifty-seven, whereas the day before they had counted sixty-one! These four needed light treatment and had been left in camp. The leading horse and a few others were quickly saddled, mounted, and off they went at a gallop round the enemy’s camp towards the German lines. Even in the captured Englishman, who had to take part in this safari on a bare horse, without much comfort, the innate sporting instinct of his nation came out. With great humour he shouted: “I should just like to see my Captain’s face now!” and when the animals had arrived safely in the German camp he remarked: “It was a damned good piece of work.”

This capture, increased by a number of other horses and mules we had picked up, enabled us to form a second mounted company. We now had two mounted companies, composed of Askari and Europeans mixed, an organization which proved successful. They provided us with the means of sweeping the extensive desert north of Kilima Njaro with strong patrols who went out for several days at a time; they penetrated even as far as the Uganda and Magad Railways, destroyed bridges, surprised guards posted on the railways, mined the permanent way and carried out raids of all kinds on the land communications between the railways and the enemy’s camps. In these enterprises our own people did not get off scot free. One patrol had brilliantly surprised two companies of Indians by rifle fire, but had then lost their horses, which had been left behind in hiding, by the fire of the enemy; they had to make their way back across the desert on foot, which took four days, and they had no food. Luckily they found milk and cattle in a Masai kraal, and later on saved themselves from starvation by killing an elephant. But success whetted the spirit of adventure, and the requests to be sent on patrol, mounted or on foot, increased.

The patrols that went out from the Kilima Njaro in a more easterly direction were of a different character. They had to work on foot through the dense bush for days on end. The patrols sent out to destroy the railway were mostly weak: one or two Europeans, two to four Askari, and five to seven carriers. They had to worm their way through the enemy’s pickets and were often betrayed by native scouts. In spite of this they mostly reached their objective and were sometimes away for more than a fortnight. For such a small party a bit of game or a small quantity of booty afforded a considerable reserve of rations. But the fatigue and thirst in the burning sun were so great that several men died of thirst, and even Europeans drank urine. It was a bad business when anyone fell ill or was wounded, with the best will in the world it was often impossible to bring him along. To carry a severely wounded man from the Uganda Railway right across the desert to the German camps, as was occasionally done, is a tremendous performance. Even the blacks understood that, and cases did occur in which a wounded Askari, well knowing that he was lost without hope, and a prey to the numerous lions, did not complain when he had to be left in the bush, but of his own accord gave his comrades his rifle and ammunition, so that they at least might be saved.

The working of these patrols became more and more perfect. Knowledge of the desert improved, and in addition to patrols for destruction and intelligence work, we developed a system of fighting patrols. The latter, consisting of twenty to thirty Askari, or even more, and sometimes equipped with one or two machine-guns, went out to look for the enemy and inflict losses upon him. In the thick bush the combatants came upon each other at such close quarters and so unexpectedly, that our Askari sometimes literally jumped over their prone adversaries and so got behind them again. The influence of these expeditions on the self-reliance and enterprise of both Europeans and natives was so great that it would be difficult to find a force imbued with a better spirit. Some disadvantages were, however, unavoidable. In particular, our small supply of ammunition did not enable us to attain such a degree of marksmanship as to enable us, when we did get the enemy in an unfavourable situation, completely to destroy him. In technical matters we were also busy. Skilled artificers and armourers were constantly engaged with the factory engineers in the manufacture of suitable apparatus for blowing up the railways. Some of these appliances fired according as they were set, either at once, or after a certain number of wheels had passed over them. With the latter arrangement we hoped to destroy the engines, even if the English tried to protect them by pushing one or two trucks filled with sand in front of them. There was abundance of dynamite to be had on the plantations, but the demolition charges captured at Tanga were much more effective.

We occasionally got German newspapers, but we had had no private mails for a long time. On the 12th February, 1915, I was sitting at dinner in the Railway Station at New Moshi, when I got a letter from Germany. It was from my sister, who wrote to say she had already repeatedly informed me of the death of my brother, who had been killed on the Western Front at Libramont on the 22nd August, 1914.

In April, 1915, we were surprised by the news of the arrival of a store-ship. When entering Mansa Bay, north of Tanga, she was chased and fired at by an English cruiser, and her captain had to run her aground. Although during the ensuing weeks we salved almost the whole of the valuable cargo, we found that unfortunately the cartridges had suffered severely from the sea-water. The powder and caps deteriorated more and more, and so the number of miss-fires increased. There was nothing for it but to break up the whole of the ammunition, clean the powder, and replace some of the caps by new ones. Luckily there were caps in the Colony, though of a different pattern; but for months all the Askari and carriers we could lay hands on were employed at Moshi from morning till night making ammunition. The serviceable cartridges we had left were kept exclusively for the machine-guns; of the re-made ammunition, that which gave about 20 per cent. of miss-fires was kept for action, while that giving a higher percentage was used for practice.

The arrival of the store-ship aroused tremendous enthusiasm, since it proved that communication between ourselves and home still existed. All of us listened with eagerness to the stories of the Captain, Lieutenant Christiansen, when he arrived at my Headquarters at New Moshi after his wound was healed. The terrific fighting at home, the spirit of self-sacrifice and boundless enterprise which inspired the deeds of the German troops, awakened a response in our hearts. Many who had been despondent now took courage once more, since they learned that what appears impossible can be achieved if effort is sustained by determination.

Another means of raising the spirit of the force was by promotion. Generally speaking, I could only make promotions to non-commissioned rank, and within the commissioned ranks; but the grant of a commission, which would in many cases have been well-deserved, was beyond my power. Each case was very carefully considered, so as to determine whether really good work had been done. In this way unmerited promotions, which ruin the spirit of the troops, were avoided. On the whole, however, we had to cultivate the moral factors less by rewards than by other means. Decorations for war service were practically unknown among us. It was not personal ambition to which we appealed; we sought to arouse and maintain a real sense of duty dictated by patriotism, and an evergrowing feeling of comradeship. Perhaps it was the very fact that this lasting and pure motive remained unsoiled by any other purpose that inspired Europeans and Askari with that endurance and energy which the Protective Force manifested until the end.

In the Kilima Njaro country the English were not inactive. From Oldorobo Mountain, seven and a half miles east of Taveta, which was held by a German detached post under an officer, an attack by two Indian Companies was reported by telephone one morning. Thereupon Captain Koehl and the Austrian Lieutenant Freiherr von Unterrichter at once marched off from Taveta; the two companies had become immobilized on the steep slopes of the mountain, and our people attacked them on both flanks with such vigour that they fled, leaving about twenty dead behind, while one machine-gun and 70,000 rounds fell into our hands. Other hostile expeditions were undertaken along the Tsavo River to the north-east side of Kilima Njaro; they were based on Mzima Camp on the Tsavo, which was strongly fortified and held by several companies. The patrol encounters that took place north-east of Kilima Njaro all ended in our favour; even the young Askari of the Rombo Detachment, which had a strength of sixty and was named after the mission on the Eastern Kilima Njaro, had unbounded faith in their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel von Bock, who was over sixty years old. I remember a wounded man who came from him to New Moshi, with a report for me, and refused to be attended to so as to lose no time in getting back to his commanding officer. In several fights, when the enemy occasionally amounted to two companies, these young troops were victorious, and it is a significant fact that among the English all manner of tales were current about these actions. The British Commander-in-Chief sent me a written complaint, saying that a German woman was taking part in them, and perpetrating inhuman cruelties, an idea which was, of course, without any foundation, and merely served to show the degree of nerves with which the enemy authorities had become afflicted.

Notwithstanding the great amount of booty taken at Tanga, it was evident that, as the war seemed likely to be prolonged, the stocks in the Colony would become exhausted. The natives at New Moshi began all of a sudden to wear silk: this was by no means a sign of special extravagance: the stocks of cotton clothing in the Indian shops were simply coming to an end. We had seriously to think of starting manufactures ourselves, in order to convert the abundant raw material into finished products. A curious existence now developed, reminding one of the industry of the Swiss family Robinson. Cotton fields existed in plenty. Popular books were hunted up, giving information about the forgotten arts of hand spinning and weaving; white and black women took to spinning by hand; at the missions and in private workshops spinning-wheels and looms were built. In this manner, in a short time, the first useful piece of cotton cloth was produced. After various trials, the most suitable dye was obtained from the root of a tree called Ndaa, which imparted a brownish-yellow colour, very inconspicuous both in the grass and in the bush, and therefore specially suitable for uniforms. The rubber gathered by the planters was vulcanized with sulphur, and we succeeded in producing efficient tyres for motors and bicycles. At Morogoro a few planters successfully produced a motor-fuel from cocos, known as trebol, which was like benzol, and was employed in the automobiles. As in former times, candles were made out of tallow and wax, both by private persons and by the troops, and also soap. Then again, the numerous factories on the plantations in the northern territories and on the Tanganyika Railway were adapted to produce various means of subsistence.

A particularly important item was the provision of foot-wear. The raw material was obtained from the plentiful skins of cattle and game; tanning materials from the mangroves on the coast. In peace time the missions had already made good boots; their activity was now further developed, while the troops also established tanneries and shoemakers’ shops on a larger scale. It is true some little time elapsed before the authorities complied with the urgent and inevitable demands of the troops in an adequate manner, and, in particular, before they placed at our disposal the buffalo-hides necessary for making sole-leather. So the old historic fight for the cow-hide revived again, mutatis mutandis, in East Africa. The first boots made in any quantity were turned out at Tanga. Although at first their shape needed improving, they at any rate protected the feet of our white and black troops when marching and patrolling in the thorn bush of the Pori. For the thorns that fall to the ground bore into the feet again and again. All the small beginnings of food-stuff production that had already existed on the plantations in time of peace were galvanized into more extensive activity by the war, and by the need of subsisting large masses. On several farms in the Kilima Njaro country butter and excellent cheese were produced in great quantities, and the slaughter-houses round about Wilhelmstal could hardly keep up with the demands for sausages and other smoked meats.

It was to be anticipated that quinine, which was so important for the health of the Europeans, would soon become exhausted, and that our requirements could not be met by capture alone. So it was a matter of great importance that we succeeded in producing good quinine tablets at the Amani Biological Institute in Usambara out of bark obtained in the North.

The provision of proper communications for ox-wagons and motors involved the construction of permanent bridges. Engineer Rentell, who had been called to the colours, built an arched bridge of stone and concrete, with a heavy pier, over the Kikafu torrent, west of New Moshi. During the rains, particularly in April, no wooden structure would have withstood the masses of water coming down the steep river-bed, which was nearly 70 feet deep.

These examples will suffice to show the stimulating influence of the war and its requirements on the economic life of the Colony.

The organization of the Force was also constantly improved. By transferring Europeans from the Rifle Companies, when they were numerous, to the Askari Companies, the losses of Europeans in the latter were made good; Askari were enrolled in the European Companies. In this way the Field and Rifle Companies became more similar in their composition, which during the course of 1915 became identical. At Muansa, Kigoma, Bismarckburg, Lindi, Langenburg, and elsewhere, small bodies of troops had been formed under various designations, of the existence of which in most cases Headquarters only became aware after a considerable time. These units were also gradually expanded into companies; in this way, during 1915, the number of Field Companies gradually rose to 30, that of the Rifle Companies to 10, and that of other units of company strength to about 20. The maximum total attained was thus about 60 companies. Owing to the limited number of suitable Europeans and of reliable Askari N.C.O.’s, it was not advisable still further to increase the number of companies: it would only have meant the creation of units without cohesion. In order, however, to increase the number of combatants the establishment of the companies was raised from 160 to 200, and the companies were allowed to enrol supernumerary Askari. To some extent the companies trained their own recruits; but the great bulk of Askari reinforcements came from the Recruit Depots established in the populous districts of Tabora, Muansa and the Northern Railway, which also provided for local security and order. But owing to the great number of newly-raised companies the depots could not furnish enough men to bring them all up to their establishment of 200. The maximum strength attained by the end of 1915 was 2,998 Europeans and 11,300 Askari, including Naval personnel, administrative staffs, hospitals and field postal service.

How necessary were all these military preparations was proved by the news received at the end of June, 1915, that General Botha was coming to the East African theatre from South Africa with 15,000 Boers. That this information was highly probably correct had to be assumed from the outset. The scanty wireless messages and other communications about events in the outside world were yet enough to indicate that our affairs in South-West Africa were going badly, and that the British troops employed there would probably become available for other purposes in the immediate future.

CHAPTER VIII
AWAITING THE GREAT OFFENSIVE. ENERGETIC USE OF THE TIME AVAILABLE

AT first, it is true, the anticipated intervention of the South Africans did not seem to be materializing; the English were evidently trying to subdue us with their own forces, without their assistance. In July, 1915, they attacked the Colony at several points. East of Lake Victoria large bodies of Masai, organized and led by Englishmen, and said to number many thousands, invaded the country of the German Wassukuma, which was rich in cattle. However, in the matter of cattle-lifting the Wassukuma stood no joking; they gave our weak detachments every assistance, defeated the Masai, recaptured the stolen cattle, and, as a proof that they had “spoken the truth,” laid out the heads of ninety-six Masai in front of our police station.

Against the main body of our force in the Kilima Njaro country the enemy advanced in considerable strength. In order, on the one hand, to ensure effective protection of the Usambara Railway, and the rich plantations through which it passes, and, on the other, to shorten the distance the patrols had to go to reach the Uganda Railway, a detachment of three companies had been pushed out from Taveta to Mbuyuni, a long day’s march east of Taveta. Another day’s march to the east was the well-fortified and strongly-held English camp of Makatan, on the main road leading from Moshi, by Taveta, Mbuyuni, Makatan, and Bura, to Voi, on the Uganda Railway. Vague rumours had led us to surmise that an attack on a fairly large scale in the direction of Kilima Njaro was to be expected from about Voi. On the 14th July a hostile brigade, under General Malleson, appeared in the desert of Makatan, which is generally covered with fairly open thorn-bush. The fire of a field battery, which opened on the trenches of our Askari, was fairly ineffective, but the enemy’s superiority of seven to one was so considerable that our position became critical. Hostile European horsemen got round the left wing of our own; however, our line was held by the 10th Field Company, which had distinguished itself in the fighting near Longido Mountain, under Lieutenant Steinhäuser, of the Landwehr, and it is a credit to this officer, who was unfortunately killed later, that he held on, although our mounted troops fell back past his flank. Just at the critical moment, Lieutenant von Lewinsky, who was also killed later, immediately marched off to the scene of action, arrived with a patrol, and took this dangerous flank attack in rear. The English troops, consisting of natives, mixed with Europeans and Indians, had very gallantly attacked our front, over ground affording very little cover. The failure of the English flank attack, however, set the seal on their defeat. At New Moshi Station I was kept accurately informed of the progress of the action, and thus, although at a distance, I shared in all the excitement from the unfavourable period at the beginning until complete success was assured.

This success, together with the considerable booty, still further increased the spirit of adventure among both Europeans and Askari. The experience and skill that had by now been acquired enabled us henceforth to prosecute our plan of sending out a continuous succession of fighting and demolition patrols. I do not think I exaggerate in assuming that at least twenty English railway trains were destroyed, or, at least, considerably damaged. Picked up photographs and our own observation confirmed the supposition that a railway was actually being built from Voi to Makatan, which, being so easily accessible to us, and so important, formed a glorious objective for our patrols. The construction of this military line proved that an attack with large forces was in preparation, and that it was to be directed on this particular part of the Kilima Njaro country. The anticipated intervention of the South Africans was therefore imminent. It was important to encourage the enemy in this intention, in order that the South Africans should really come, and that in the greatest strength possible, and thus be diverted from other and more important theatres of war. With the greatest energy, therefore, we continued our enterprises against the Uganda Railway, which, owing to the circumstances, had still to be mainly carried out by patrols, and could only exceptionally be undertaken by a force as large as a company.

Closer acquaintance with the desert country between the Uganda Railway and the Anglo-German border had revealed the fact, that of the various mountain groups rising abruptly out of the plain, the Kasigao was well watered and moderately populous. Being only from twelve to twenty miles from the Uganda Railway, Kasigao Mountain was bound to afford a favourably situated base for patrol work. The patrol of Lieut. Freiherr Grote had already made a surprise attack on the small Anglo-Indian camp situated half-way up its slopes. The riflemen of Grote’s patrol had worked round the camp, which was surrounded by a stone wall, and fired into it with effect from the dominating part of the mountain. Very soon the white flag appeared, and an English officer and some thirty Indians surrendered. A part of the enemy had succeeded in getting away to the mountain and fired on the patrol as it marched off. It was then we suffered our only casualties, consisting of a few wounded, among whom was a German corporal of the Medical Corps. We had also, on one occasion, surprised the enemy’s post on Kasigao Mountain by the fire of a 2.4-inch gun.

Towards the end of 1915, the enemy having in the meantime shifted his camp on Kasigao Mountain, we attacked him once more. During the night a German fighting patrol, under Lieutenant von Ruckteschell, had ascended the mountain in nine hours, and arrived rather exhausted near the enemy’s work. A second patrol, under Lieutenant Freiherr Grote, which was co-operating with Ruckteschell’s, had been somewhat delayed by the sickness and exhaustion of its commander. Lieutenant von Ruckteschell sent a reliable old coloured N.C.O. to the enemy to demand surrender. He observed that our Askari was cordially welcomed by the enemy; he had found a number of good friends among the English Askari. But, in spite of all friendliness, the enemy refused to surrender. Our situation was critical, in consequence of exhaustion and want of food. If anything was to be done at all, it must be done at once. Fortunately, the enemy in their entrenchments did not withstand our machine-gun fire and the assault which immediately followed it; they were destroyed, and a large number of them were killed in their flight by falling from the steep cliffs. The booty included abundant supplies, also clothing and valuable camp equipment.

The feeling of comradeship which our Askari had for us Germans, and which was tremendously developed by the numerous expeditions undertaken together, led on this occasion to a curious incident. After climbing Kasigao Mountain by night, among rocks and thorn-bushes, an Askari noticed that Lieutenant von Ruckteschell was bleeding from a scratch on his face. He at once took his sock, which he had probably not changed for six days, and wiped the “Bwana Lieutenant’s” face with it, anticipating the somewhat surprised question with the remark: “That is a custom of war; one only does it to one’s friends.”

In order to study the situation on the spot and to push on the attacks on Kasigao, I had gone by rail to Same, thence by car to Sonya Mission, and then either by cycle or on foot in the direction of the mountain to the German border, where a company was encamped at a water-hole. From there we had fair communication to Kasigao by heliograph, and we were thus enabled to make good the success we had gained there. Troops were at once pushed up, so that until the arrival of the South Africans the mountain was held by several companies. It was, indeed, decidedly difficult to keep them supplied; for although the German frontier territory west of Kasigao was fertile, it could not permanently support a force which with carriers amounted to about one thousand.

I then drove in the car round the South Pare Mountains, on a road that had been made in time of peace. The construction of this road had been dropped on account of expense, and for years the heaps of metal had been lying unused at the roadside. The culverts—consisting of pipes passing under the road—were to a great extent in good order. But little work was needed to make this road suitable for supply by lorry. Supplies were sent from near Buiko on the Northern Railway by lorry to Sonya, and thence to Kasigao by carriers. The telephone line was already under construction as far as the frontier, and was completed in a few days’ time. From then on patrols pushing out from Kasigao had several encounters with detachments of the enemy, and did some damage to the Uganda Railway. But the ruggedness of the country and the dense thorn-bush made movement so difficult that by the time the South Africans arrived, we had not derived full benefit from Kasigao as a base for patrols. However, the continual menace to the railway had, at any rate, obliged the enemy to take extensive measures for its protection. Wide clearings had been made along it, of which the outer edges had been closed by thick zarebas (abattis of thorns). Every couple of miles there were strong block-houses, or entrenchments with obstacles, from which the line was constantly patrolled. Mobile supports, of the strength of a company or more, were held in readiness, so that, whenever the railway was reported to be in danger, they could at once go off by special train. In addition, protective detachments were pushed out in our direction, who tried to cut off our patrols on their way back on receiving reports from spies or from observation posts on the high ground. We also identified English camps on the high ground south-east of Kasigao, as far as the coast, and also in the settled country along the coast. They also received attention from our patrols and raiders. Our constant endeavour was to injure the enemy, to force him to adopt protective measures, and thus to contain his forces here, in the district of the Uganda Railway.

While thus establishing points of support for our fighting patrols from the coast to Mbuyuni (on the Taveta-Voi road), we worked in the same sense further north. The enemy’s camp at Mzima, on the upper Tsavo River, and its communications, which followed that river, were frequently the objective of our expeditions, even of fairly large detachments. On one occasion Captain Augar, with the 13th Company, was surprised south-west of Mzima Camp in thick bush by three European companies of the newly-arrived 2nd Rhodesian Regiment. The enemy attacked from several directions, but being still inexperienced in bush fighting, failed to secure concerted action. So our Askari Company was able first to overthrow one part of the enemy’s forces, and then by quickness and resolution to defeat the other, which had appeared behind it.

Further north, also, there was some fighting in the bush which went in our favour; we worked with whole companies and inflicted painful losses on the enemy, who was often in greater force. North of the Engare Len the 3rd Field Company from Lindi worked with special energy, and sent its fighting patrols out as far as the Uganda Railway. The mere fact that we were now able to make raids with forces amounting to a company and more in the midst of a desert devoid of supplies, and in many places waterless, shows the enormous progress the force had made in this type of guerilla warfare. The European had learned that a great many things that are very desirable when travelling in the Tropics simply have to be dispensed with on patrol in war, and that one can at a pinch get on for a time with only a single carrier-load. The patrols also had to avoid camping in such a way as to betray themselves, and as far as possible to carry food ready prepared. But if food had to be cooked, this was particularly dangerous in the evening or morning; the leader had to select a concealed spot, and invariably shift his camp after cooking before going to rest. Complete hygienic protection was incompatible with the conditions of patrol duty. A number of cases of malaria invariably occurred among the members of a patrol after its return. But as, in spite of the continual damage done to the enemy, patrol duty only required comparatively few men, only a part of the companies had to be kept in the front line. After a few weeks each company was withdrawn to rest camps in healthy regions, European and Askari were able to recover from their tremendous exertions, and their training and discipline could be restored.

Towards the end of 1915 the shortage of water at Mbuyuni Camp had become so serious, and supply so difficult, that only a post was left there, the detachment itself being withdrawn to the westward to the vicinity of Oldorobo Mountain. Meanwhile, the enemy’s camp at Makatan grew steadily larger. A frequent train service was maintained to it, and one could clearly see a big clearing being made to the west for the prolongation of the railway. Our fighting patrols had, indeed, many opportunities of inflicting losses on the enemy while at work, or protecting his working parties, but the line continued to make progress towards the west.

It was necessary to consider the possibility of the country through which the Northern Railway passed soon falling into the hands of the enemy. Steps had, therefore, to be taken to safeguard the military stores in that district in time. Where railways were available this was, of course, not difficult; but the further transport by land needed much preparation. The bulk of our stocks of ammunition, clothing and medical stores was at New Moshi and Mombo. It was evident that we would be unable to carry away the factories, or parts of them, by land; they must, therefore, be made use of and kept working for as long as possible where they were. Assuming the enemy would attack from the north, our evacuation would obviously be towards the south, and not only the preparations, but the movement itself, must be started without loss of time—that is, as early as August, 1915.

The Commandant of the Line, Lieutenant Kroeber, retired, therefore, in an able manner, collected light-railway material from the plantations, and built a line from Mombo to Handeni, at the rate of about two kilometres (one and a quarter miles) per day. The trucks were also brought from the plantations, and after mature consideration, man draught was decided on in preference to locomotives. Thus our stores were moved from the north by rail, complete, and in time, to Handeni. From there to Kimamba, on the Central Railway, we principally used carriers, except for a few wagons. It was, after all, necessary not to hurry the movement unduly, for, in spite of all the visible preparations for a hostile attack on the Kilima Njaro country, I still thought it possible that the main force of the enemy, or at least a considerable proportion of it, would not operate there, but in the Bagamoyo-Dar-es-Salaam area.

At the end of 1915 the enemy was pushing his rail-head further and further westward, and Major Kraut, who was opposing him, reinforced his position on Oldorobo Mountain with three companies and two light guns. This mountain rises from the flat thorn desert near the main road, seven and a half miles east of Taveta, and dominates the country for a great distance all round. Entrenchments and numerous dummy works had been made, part being cut out of the rock, and formed an almost impregnable fort. The disadvantage of the position was the complete lack of water. A planter who had been called to the Colours, Lieutenant Matuschka, of the Reserve, was an expert water finder; at Taveta he had discovered excellent wells; but on Oldorobo no water was found, although at the points he indicated we dug down more than one hundred feet. Water had therefore to be taken from Taveta on small donkey-carts to Oldorobo, where it was collected in barrels. This carriage of water was an extraordinary strain on our transport. Strangely enough, it did not occur to the enemy to interfere with it, and thus render Oldorobo Mountain untenable. Instead of that, basing himself on his railway, he pushed up to within about three miles of the mountain, where he established strongly fortified camps. We had been unable to prevent this, as, owing to difficulties of water and transport, larger forces could only move away from Taveta for short periods. The enemy obtained his water supply by means of a long pipe-line, which came from the springs in the Bura Mountains. The destruction of the enemy’s reservoir by patrols under Lieutenant von S’Antenecai, of the Reserve, only caused him temporary inconvenience.

At this time, also, the first hostile aeroplanes appeared, and bombed our positions on Oldorobo Mountain, and at Taveta and later even New Moshi. On the 27th January one of these airmen, while on his way back from Oldorobo, was successfully fired on and brought down by our advanced infantry. The English had told the natives that this aeroplane was a new “Munga” (God); but now that this new Munga had been brought down and captured by us, it rather increased our prestige than otherwise.

CHAPTER IX
THE SUBSIDIARY THEATRES OF WAR. GUERILLA WARFARE ASHORE AND AFLOAT UNTIL NEW YEAR, 1916

WHILE employing the bulk of the Protective Force in the regions on the Northern Railway we could not afford entirely to denude the remainder of the Colony. In the interior it was essential to remain undisputed master of the natives, in order, if necessary, to enforce the growing demands for carriers, agriculture, supplies, and all manner of work. Accordingly, the 12th Company remained at Mahenge, and the 2nd at Iringa. In addition to their other duties both of them acted as large depots, serving to fill vacancies at the front, and providing the machinery for raising new units.

The commanders of detachments on the frontiers, who were far away from Headquarters and beyond the reach of the telegraph, rightly endeavoured to anticipate the enemy and to attack him in his own territory. Owing to the lack of communications on our side this fighting resolved itself into a series of local operations, which were quite independent of each other. It was different with the enemy, who clearly endeavoured to establish a proper relationship between his main operations and the subsidiary enterprises at other points on the frontier.

In October, 1914, before the fighting at Tanga, Captain Zimmer reported from Kigoma that there were about 2,000 men on the Belgian frontier; and Captain Braunschweig sent word from Muansa that at Kisumu on Lake Victoria there were also strong hostile forces, about two companies at Kisii, and more troops at Karungu. According to independent native reports, Indian troops landed at Mombasa in October and were then transported towards Voi. In the Bukoba District English troops crossed the Kagera, and the sub-station at Umbulu reported that the enemy was invading the Ssonyo country. Obviously these movements were preparatory to the operations which were to be co-ordinated with the great attack on Tanga in November, 1914.

Fig. vi. Subsidiary Actions up to August, 1916.

The means of intercommunication in the Colony were not sufficiently developed to enable us rapidly to concentrate our main force, first against one and then against another of these hostile detachments deploying along the frontier. We had, therefore, to adhere to the fundamental idea of our plan, of vigorously attacking the enemy opposed to us in the area of the Northern Railway and on the Uganda Railway, and of thus indirectly relieving the other points where operations were in progress. Of necessity, however, these subsidiary points had occasionally to be reinforced. Thus, in September, 1914, Captains Falkenstein and Aumann, with portions of the 2nd Company, had moved from Iringa and Ubena into the Langenburg District. In March, 1915, the 26th Field Company was pushed up from Dar-es-Salaam via Tabora to Muansa. In April, 1915, hostile concentration in the Mara Triangle (east of Lake Victoria) and at Bismarckburg caused us to waste much time in moving troops up from Dar-es-Salaam via Muansa to the Mara Triangle, and via Kigoma to Bismarckburg. The latter move was particularly delayed on Lake Tanganyika owing to the slow progress being made on the steamer Götzen, which was building at Kigoma.

At first, the enemy’s attacks were principally directed against the coast.

At the commencement of the war our light cruiser Königsberg had left the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam and had, on the 29th September, surprised and destroyed the English cruiser Pegasus at Zanzibar. Then several large enemy cruisers had arrived and industriously looked for the Königsberg. On the 19th October, at Lindi, a pinnace steamed up to the steamer Praesident, of the East African Line, which was concealed in the Lukuledi river. The local Defence Force raised at Lindi, and the Reinforcement Company, were at the moment away under Captain Augar, to repel a landing expected at Mikindani, so that nothing could be undertaken against the pinnace.

It was not till the 29th July, 1915, that several whalers went up the Lukuledi and blew up the Praesident.

After successful cruises in the Indian Ocean the Königsberg had concealed herself in the Rufiji river, but her whereabouts had become known to the enemy. The mouth of the river forms an intricate delta, the view being obstructed by the dense bush with which the islands are overgrown. The various river-mouths were defended by the “Delta” Detachment, under Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld; this detachment consisted of Naval ratings, European reservists, and Askari, and its strength was about 150 rifles, a few light guns, and a few machine guns. The enemy made many attempts to enter the river-mouths with light craft, but was invariably repulsed with severe loss. The Adjutant, a small steamer which the English had taken as a good prize, and armed, was recaptured on one occasion, and was used thenceforward by us as an auxiliary man-of-war on Lake Tanganyika. Some English aircraft had also come to grief in the Rufiji delta. A blockship, which the English had sunk in the most northerly of the river-mouths, did not close the fairway. The frequent bombardments by ships’ guns, which he had no means of opposing, Lieut.-Commander Schoenfeld defeated by the skilful design of his positions, and by shifting them in time. Early in July, 1915, the English had brought to the Rufiji two shallow-draught gun-boats, armed with heavy guns. On the 6th July they made the first attack with four cruisers and other armed vessels, and two river gun-boats. The enemy bombarded the Königsberg, which was at anchor in the river with aeroplane observation. The attack was beaten off, but when it was repeated on the 11th July, the Königsberg suffered severely. The gun-detachments were put out of action. The severely wounded captain had the breech-blocks thrown overboard and the ship blown up. The loss of the Königsberg, though sad in itself, had at least this advantage for the campaign on land, that the whole crew and the valuable stores were now at the disposal of the Protective Force.

Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld, who was in command on land at the Rufiji delta, at once set himself with great forethought to raise the parts of the guns that had been thrown overboard. Under his supervision the ten guns of the Königsberg were completely salved and got ready for action again; five were mounted at Dar-es-Salaam, two each at Tanga and Kigoma, and one at Muansa. For their transport he made use of several vehicles constructed for heavy loads which were found on a neighbouring plantation. In their concealed positions on land these guns rendered excellent service, and as far as I know not one of them was damaged on this service, although they were often bombarded by the enemy’s vessels.

On the 26th September, by night, the steamer Wami was taken out of the Rufiji to Dar-es-Salaam.

At the end of August several boats came to Lindi from Mozambique with men belonging to the steamer Ziethen, in order to join the Force.

On the 10th January, 1915, about 300 Indian and black troops with machine guns landed on the island of Mafia. Our police detachment, three Europeans, fifteen Askari, and eleven recruits, opposed them bravely for six hours, but surrendered when their commander, Lieutenant Schiller of the Reserve, was severely wounded, who had been maintaining a well-aimed fire on the enemy from a mango tree. The English held Mafia with a few hundred men, and also established posts of observation on the smaller islands in the vicinity.

It was apparently from here that the work of rousing the natives against us was undertaken. On the night of the 29th-30th July, 1915, we captured a dhow at Kisija carrying propaganda papers.

The events at Dar-es-Salaam, where, on the 22nd October, the captain of an English cruiser declined to be bound by any agreement, have already been discussed.

On the outbreak of hostilities an aeroplane, which had been sent to Dar-es-Salaam for the Exhibition, was taken into use, but was destroyed by an accident at Dar-es-Salaam on the 15th November, when Lieutenant Henneberger lost his life.

At Tanga things had been quiet since the big battle of November, 1914. On the 13th March, 1915, a ship went ashore on a reef, but got off again on the spring-tide. We at once began salving 200 tons of coal which had been thrown overboard.

Several rows of mines which had been made on the spot, and could be fired from the shore, proved ineffective, and it was found later that they had become unserviceable.

On the 15th August, 1915, the Hyacinth and four guard-boats appeared off Tanga. Our two 2·4-inch guns were quickly moved from their rest-camp at Gombezi to Tanga, and with one light gun from Tanga, took an effective part on the 19th August, when the Hyacinth reappeared with two gun-boats and six whalers, destroyed the steamer Markgraf and bombarded Tanga. One gun-boat was hit twice, the whalers, of which one steamed away with a list,[3] four times.

Bombardments of the coast towns were constantly taking place. On the 20th March a man-of-war bombarded Lindi, when its demand for the surrender of the troops posted there was refused. Similarly, the country south of Pangani was bombarded on the 1st April, the island of Kwale on the 12th, and the Rufiji delta on the night of the 23rd-24th.

For some months past hostile patrols had been visiting the Ssonyo country, between Kilima Njaro and Lake Victoria, and the natives seemed inclined to become truculent. As a result of their treachery, Sergeant-Major Bast, who was sent there with a patrol, was ambushed on the 17th November, 1914, and lost his life with five Askari. The District Commissioner of Arusha, Lieutenant Kaempfe of the Reserve, who had been called up, undertook a punitive expedition which reduced the Ssonyo people to submission.

It was not until July, 1915, that any further patrol encounters took place in this country; in one of them twenty-two hostile armed natives were killed. At the end of September and early October, 1915, Lieutenant Buechsel’s mounted patrol spent several weeks in Ssonyo and in the English territory without meeting the enemy, as an English post, which had evidently been warned, had made off.

On Lake Victoria the 7th Company at Bukoba and the 14th Company at Muansa could communicate with each other by wireless. The command of the Lake was undisputedly in the hands of the English, as they had on it at least seven large steamers. But in spite of this our small steamer Muansa and other smaller vessels were able to maintain great freedom of movement. While the Resident at Bukoba, Major von Stuemer, protected the frontier with his police and with auxiliaries furnished by friendly sultans, Captain Bock von Wülfingen had marched with the main body of the 7th Company from Bukoba to Muansa. From here he marched early in September, 1914, with a detachment composed of parts of the 7th and 14th Companies, Wassakuma recruits, and auxiliaries, along the eastern shore of Lake Victoria to the north, in the direction of the Uganda Railway. On the 12th September he drove back a hostile detachment at Kisii, beyond the border, but on hearing of the approach of other forces of the enemy he withdrew again to the south. After that the frontier east of Lake Victoria was only defended by weak detachments.

Warfare near Lake Victoria was for us very difficult; there was always the danger that the enemy might land at Muansa, or some other place on the south shore, seize Usukuma and threaten Tabora, the historic capital of the country. If, however, our troops remained near Muansa, the country round Bukoba, and therefore also Ruanda, would be in danger. The best results in this area were to be expected from active operations under a united command. But the execution of this idea was not quite easy either, for Major von Stuemer, who was the most obvious officer to be entrusted with it, was tied by his work as Resident to the Bukoba District, while that of Muansa was the more important of the two.

At the end of October, 1914, an attempt to take back part of the troops in boats from Muansa to Bukoba had been frustrated by the appearance of armed English ships at the former place. Apparently the enemy had deciphered our wireless messages and taken steps accordingly. On the 31st October a force of 570 rifles, 2 guns and 4 machine guns, left Muansa for the relief of Bukoba on board the steamer Muansa, 2 tugs and 10 dhows, but was scattered the same morning by hostile steamers which suddenly appeared; they were, however, collected again at Muansa without loss soon afterwards. On the same day the English tried to land at Kayense, north of Muansa, but were prevented; a few days later, the English steamer Sybil was found on shore at Mayita and destroyed.

On the 20th November, in a twelve-hours’ action, Stuemer’s detachment repulsed the English troops who had penetrated into German territory, north of Bukoba, and defeated them again, on the 7th December, at Kifumbiro, after they had crossed the Kagera river. On the 5th December, the English bombarded Shirarti from the Lake, without success, and Bukoba on the 6th.

Minor encounters between patrols constantly took place east and west of Lake Victoria. On the 8th January the enemy attempted a more ambitious operation; he bombarded Shirarti from the Lake with six guns and with machine guns, and landed two companies of Indians as well as a considerable number of mounted Europeans. Lieutenant von Haxthausen, who had only 22 rifles, gave way before this superior force after fighting 3-1/2 hours. The enemy’s strength was increased during the next few days to 300 Europeans and 700 Indians. On the 17th January, von Haxthausen defeated 70 Europeans and 150 Askari with 2 machine guns on the frontier, and on the 30th January the enemy left Shirarti and embarked for Karungu. I believe this withdrawal was a result of the severe defeat sustained by the enemy at Jassini on the 18th. He considered it desirable to re-concentrate his forces nearer the Uganda Railway, where they would be more readily available.

On the west side of the Lake, Captain von Bock surprised a hostile post of 40 men north of Kifumbiro and drove it off with a loss of 17 killed.

On the 6th March, 1915, English vessels had attacked the steamer Muansa in Rugesi Passage. Muansa had sprung a leak and went ashore close to the land. The enemy attempted to tow her off, but was prevented by our fire, so that we were able, the next day, to salve the steamer and get her away to Muansa, where she was repaired. The difficulty of moving troops by water between Muansa and Bukoba rendered the continuation of the single command unworkable; the officers commanding the two Districts were therefore placed directly under Headquarters.

The English attempted to land at Mori Bay on the 4th March, at Ukerewe on the 7th, and at Musoma on the 9th; all these attempts were defeated by our posts. At the same time, several patrol encounters occurred near Shirarti, in which the commander, Lieutenant Recke, was killed, and our patrols were dispersed. On the 9th March, Lieutenant von Haxthausen, with 100 Europeans and Askari, defeated an enemy many times his superior at Maika Mountain; the enemy withdrew after having 17 whites and a considerable number of Askari killed. On our side, one European and 10 Askari were killed, 2 Europeans and 25 Askari wounded, while one wounded European was taken prisoner. Besides the 26th Field Company already mentioned, Muansa was reinforced by 100 Askari from Bukoba District, who arrived on the 6th April.

Early in April a few places on the eastern shore were again bombarded from the Lake; at the same time some Masai made an invasion east of the lake, killed a missionary and several natives, and looted cattle. In the middle of April, Captain Braunschweig left Muansa with 110 Europeans, 430 Askari, 2 machine guns, and 2 guns, for the Mara Triangle, and reinforced Lieutenant von Haxthausen. Over 500 rifles remained at Muansa.

On the 4th May, in Mara Bay, an English steamer was hit three times by a ’73 pattern field-gun, which apparently prevented a landing. On the 12th May 300 men landed at Mayita; but they steamed off again on the 18th June, towing the wreck of the Sybil with them. By the 20th May the enemy, who had 900 men there, had also evacuated the Mara Triangle, and entrenched himself on several mountains beyond the frontier. Bombardments of the shore took place frequently at that time.

Since early December, 1914, Major von Stuemer had held a very extended position on the Kagera. Gradually the enemy, who was estimated at about 300 men, became more active. He seemed to be collecting material for crossing the Kagera, and his ships appeared more frequently in Sango Bay.

On the night of the 4th-5th June, on the Shirarti frontier, Becker’s post of 10 men was surrounded by 10 Europeans and 50 Indians of the 98th Regiment. An armed steamer also took part. But the enemy was beaten, losing 2 Europeans and 5 Askari killed.

I may here mention that the enemy’s armed scouts used poisoned arrows on the Shirarti frontier also.

On the 21st June the English, with a force of 800 Europeans 400 Askari, 300 Indians, 3 guns and 8 machine guns, and supported by the fire of the armed steamers, attacked Bukoba. Our garrison of little more than 200 rifles evacuated the place after two days of fighting. The enemy plundered it, destroyed the wireless tower, and left again on the 24th towards Kissumu. He had suffered severely, admitting 10 Europeans killed and 22 wounded. The Germans had, however, observed that a steamer had left with about 150 dead and wounded on board. On our side 2 Europeans, 5 Askari, and 7 auxiliaries had been killed, 4 Europeans and 30 coloured men wounded, and we also lost the gun.

Of the events of the ensuing period it may be remarked that Bukoba was bombarded without result on the 18th July. In Mpororo a great chief went over to the English.

On the 12th September one of the Königsberg’s four-inch guns arrived at Muansa, where we had in process of time raised five new companies among the Wassukuma people.

It seemed as though the enemy were rather holding back at Bukoba, and moving troops from there to Kissenyi. On the 29th October the English attacked with some one hundred rifles, machine guns, a gun, and a trench mortar, but were repulsed, apparently with heavy casualties. Hostile attacks on the lower Kagera on the 4th and 5th December were also unsuccessful. Several detachments of the enemy invaded the Karagwe country. The command at Bukoba was taken over by Captain Gudovius, hitherto District Commissioner in Tangarei, who marched off from Tabora on the 21st December, and was followed by the newly-raised 7th Reserve Company as a reinforcement for Bukoba.

In Ruanda the energetic measures adopted by the President, Captain Wintgens, produced good results. On the 24th September he surprised the island of Ijvi in Lake Kivu, and captured the Belgian post stationed there, and its steel boat. Another steel boat had been captured by Lieutenant Wunderlich, of the Navy, who had moved to Lake Kivu with some men of the Moewe, where he had requisitioned a motor-boat. On the 4th October, Wintgens, with his Police Askari, some auxiliaries, and a few men of the Moewe, drove back several companies of Belgians north of Kissenyi, inflicting heavy casualties on them. After some minor engagements, Captain Wintgens then inflicted a partial defeat on the superior Belgian force of seventeen hundred men and six guns, north of Kissenyi, on the 20th and 30th November, and again on the 2nd December, 1914. Near Lake Tshahafi he drove out an English post. One Englishman and twenty Askari were killed; we had two Askari killed and one European severely wounded.

After that, in February, 1915, several minor actions were fought near Kissenyi and on the frontier. On the 28th May, Lieutenant Lang, commanding the small garrison of Kissenyi, beat off the Belgians, who had seven hundred men and two machine guns. The enemy sustained heavy losses; we had one European killed.

In June, 1915, it was said that over two thousand Belgian Askari, with nine guns, and five hundred English Askari were concentrated near Lake Kivu, the fact that the Belgian Commander-in-Chief, Tombeur, went to Lake Kivu makes this information appear probable. On the 21st June the Belgians attacked Kissenyi with nine hundred men, two machine guns and two guns, but were repulsed. On the 5th July they again attacked the place by night with four hundred men, and suffered severe losses. On the 3rd August Kissenyi was ineffectively bombarded by artillery and machine guns. In consequence of the crushing superiority of the enemy, the 26th Field Company was transferred from Muansa to Kissenyi.

Immediately after the arrival of this company at Kissenyi, on the 31st August, Captain Wintgens defeated the Belgian outposts, of whom ten Askari were killed. On September 2nd he took by storm a position held by one hundred and fifty Askari, with three guns and one machine gun. During the next few weeks minor actions were fought every day. On the 3rd October an attack on Kissenyi by two hundred and fifty Askari with a machine gun was repulsed, and fourteen casualties were observed among the enemy. After that, possibly in consequence of the action at Luwungi on the 27th September, considerable forces of the enemy were discovered to have marched off for the south.

On the 22nd October another Belgian detached post of three hundred Askari, with two guns and two machine guns, was surprised, when the enemy had ten Askari killed. On the 26th November the Ruanda Detachment, with one platoon of the 7th Company, which had arrived from Bukoba, in all three hundred and twenty rifles, four machine guns and one 1.45-inch gun, drove the enemy, numbering two hundred, out of a fortified position, when he lost two Europeans and seventy Askari killed, five Askari prisoners, and many wounded. We had one European and three Askari killed, four Europeans, five Askari and one auxiliary wounded. On the 21st December the enemy once more attacked Kissenyi with one thousand Askari, two machine guns and eight guns, including four modern 2.75-inch howitzers. He left behind twenty-one dead Askari, three were captured, wounded, and many wounded were carried away. Our force of three hundred and fifty rifles, four machine guns and two guns, had three Askari killed, one European and one Askari severely wounded.

On the 12th January, 1916, Captain Wintgens surprised a Belgian column north of Kissenyi, killing eleven Belgian Askari. On the 27th January Captain Klinghardt, with three companies, beat off an attack on the Kissenyi position made by two thousand Belgian Askari with hand grenades and twelve guns, inflicting severe casualties on them.

In the Russissi country there were also numerous engagements. Successful minor actions between German patrols and Congo troops had taken place on the 10th and 13th October, 1914, at Changugu, on the 21st and 22nd at Chiwitoke, and on the 24th at Kajagga.

On the 12th January, 1915, Captain Schimmer attacked a Belgian camp at Luwungi, but the intended surprise was unsuccessful. Captain Zimmer and three Askari were killed and five wounded.

Then, on the 16th, 17th and 20th March small patrol skirmishes took place, and on the 20th May a Belgian post was surprised. There was thus incessant fighting, which continued in June and July. In August the enemy seemed to be increasing his forces in that region. The command on the Russissi was now taken over by Captain Schulz; the forces we had there now consisted of four field companies, part of the crew of the Moewe, and the Urundi Detachment, which about equalled one company. There were also two light guns there. On the 27th September Captain Schulz attacked Luwungi, when we were able to establish that the enemy lost fifty-four Askari killed, and we also counted seventy-one Askari hit. So the enemy’s losses amounted to about two hundred, as confirmed by native reports received later. We had four Europeans and twenty Askari killed, nine Europeans and thirty-four Askari wounded.

Owing to the nature of the country and the relative strengths, we were unable to achieve a decisive success on the Russissi. Only the Urundi Detachment and one field company were, therefore, left there; two companies left on the 18th and 19th December, 1915, to join Captain Wintgens in Ruanda; three others moved to the Central Railway.

On the 19th October the enemy met the 14th Reserve Company, and although outnumbering it by two to one, lost twenty Askari, while we had three Askari killed and twelve wounded. Although the Belgian main camp, which reliable natives reported to contain two thousand Askari, was so near, it was possible to reduce the troops on the Russissi in favour of other districts, since on both sides the conditions seemed unfavourable for an offensive. The Urundi Detachment and the 14th Reserve Company remained on the Russissi under Major von Langenn.

On Lake Tanganyika, at the beginning of the war, Captain Zimmer had collected about one hundred men of the Moewe, and in Usambara, about one hundred Askari; in addition, he had a few Europeans who were called up in Kigoma, also some one hundred Askari belonging to the posts in Urundi and from Ruanda (Wintgens)—all told, about four hundred rifles.

On the 22nd August, 1914, Lieutenant Horn, of the Moewe, commanding the small armed steamer Hedwig von Wissmann, fought a successful action against the Belgian steamer Delcommune. The captain of the Moewe, Lieutenant-Commander Zimmer, had gone to Kigoma with his crew, after destroying his ship, which had been blown up in August, 1914. The steamer Kingani, which had also been transported to the same place by rail from Dar-es-Salaam, and several smaller craft on Lake Tanganyika, were then armed and put in commission by Lieutenant-Commander Zimmer. He also mounted a 3·5-inch naval gun on a raft and bombarded a number of Belgian stations on the shore. He strongly fortified Kigoma itself, and developed it into a base for naval warfare on Lake Tanganyika.

On the 20th November, 1914, the Bismarckburg Detachment (half company), co-operating with the small armed steamers Hedwig von Wissmann and Kingani, drove off a Belgian company in the bay west of Bismarckburg, captured four ·43-inch machine guns and over ninety miles of telegraph wire, which was used to continue the line Kilossa-Iringa up to New Langenburg, a work which was, from a military point of view, extremely urgent.

Early in October attempts were made to complete the destruction of the Belgian steamer Delcommune, which was lying at Baraka, on the Congo shore, but without success. After bombarding her once more on the 23rd October, Captain Zimmer looked upon her as permanently out of action. On the 27th February, 1915, the crew of the Hedwig von Wissmann surprised a Belgian post at Tombwe, and captured its machine gun. One Belgian officer and ten Askari were killed, one severely wounded Belgian officer and one Englishman were captured. We had one Askari killed, one European mortally wounded, one Askari severely wounded.

In March, 1915, the Belgians made arrests on a large scale in Ubwari, the inhabitants of which had shown themselves friendly to us, and hanged a number of people.

According to wireless messages which we took in, several Belgian whale-boats were got ready on Lake Tanganyika during June, and work was being carried on on a new Belgian steamer, the Baron Dhanis. On our side the steamer Goetzen was completed on the 9th June, 1915, and taken over by the Force. She rendered good service in effecting movements of troops on Lake Tanganyika.

The Police at Bismarckburg, under Lieutenant Haun of the Reserve, the capable administrator of the Baziots, had joined the Protective Force. Several skirmishes took place in hostile territory, and in this district also the enemy was, on the whole, kept successfully at a distance.

It was not till early in February, 1915, that several hundred hostile Askari invaded Abercorn, and some of them penetrated to near Mwasge Mission, but then retired.

Then, in the middle of March, Lieutenant Haun’s force was surprised in camp at Mount Kito by an Anglo-Belgian detachment. The Commander was severely wounded and taken prisoner, and several Askari were killed. Lieutenant Aumann, with a force subsequently formed into a company, was detached from Captain Falkenstein, and covered the German border in the neighbourhood of Mbozi, where, in February, 1915, detachments several hundred strong had frequently invaded German territory; at the end of March an unknown number of Europeans were reported in Karonga, while at Fife and other places on the frontier there were some eight hundred men. So the enemy appeared to be preparing to attack. He was patrolling as far as the country near Itaka, and early in April it was reported that Kituta, at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, had been entrenched by the Belgians. Major von Langenn, who, after recovering from his severe wound—he had lost an eye—was working on the Russissi river, was entrusted with the conduct of operations in the well-known Bismarckburg-Langenburg country. Besides the 5th Field Company, which he had formerly commanded, and which was stationed at Ipyana and in the Mbozi country, he was also given the Bismarckburg Detachment, strength about one company, and three companies which were brought up from Dar-es-Salaam and Kigoma. During their passage to Bismarckburg on the Lake successful actions were fought east of that place by our patrols against hostile raiding parties of fifty to two hundred and fifty men.

Native Women.
(From a drawing by General von Lettow-Vorbeck’s Adjutant.)

Natives bringing food.
(From a drawing by General von Lettow-Vorbeck’s Adjutant.)

By the 7th May, 1915, Major von Langenn had assembled four companies at Mwasge; a Belgian detachment stationed in front of him withdrew. On the 23rd May Lieutenant von Delschitz’s patrol drove off a Belgian company, of which two Europeans and six Askari were killed. On the 24th orders were sent to Langenn to move with three companies to New Langenburg to meet the attack which was reported to be impending in that quarter. General Wahle took over the command in the Bismarckburg area. The latter arrived at Kigoma on the 6th June, and collected at Bismarckburg the Bismarckburg Detachment, now re-formed as the 29th Field Company, as well as the 24th Field Company and a half-company of Europeans brought up from Dar-es-Salaam.

On the 28th June General Wahle attacked Jericho Farm with two and a half companies, but broke off the engagement on realizing that this fortified position could not be taken without artillery. We had three Europeans and four Askari killed, two Europeans and twenty-two Askari wounded. General Wahle was reinforced by two companies from Langenburg.