THE ENEMY’S ADVANCE IN THE AREA OF THE NORTHERN RAILWAY
AFTER the trains had left Lembeni I handed over the command of all
the troops on the Northern Railway to Major Kraut. An independent
administrative service was also organized for them. Our railway journey
to Korogwe proved to us once more how closely the German population
of the Northern Territories were knit to the Force, and how they
appreciated its work. At every station the people had assembled,
sometimes from great distances; every one of them knew that our
departure from the Northern Territories was final, and that they
would fall into the enemy’s hands. In spite of this, their spirit was
gallant. A large part of the few remaining European provisions was
brought to us. The widow of the former Line-Commandant Kroeber, who had
recently been buried at Buiko, insisted on offering us the last bottles
of the stock in her cellar.
Major Kraut and Captain Schoenfeld accompanied me to Buiko, from where
we were able to view several portions of the ground which I thought
might become of importance in our future operations. These gentlemen
remained there in order to make more detailed personal reconnaissances.
From Korogwe our cars rapidly took us to Handeni, the head of the
light railway that had been laid from Mombo. On the way we caught up
our mounted companies, and the exclamation of the Civil Administrator
of Handeni: “Why, that’s the notorious poacher of Booyen,” showed me
once more that there were among our mounted troops men accustomed
to danger and sport, on whom I could rely in the troubles that were
to come. Handeni was the first collecting station for the stores
withdrawn from the north; Major von Stuemer, who had left his former
post at Bukoba in order to take charge of this line of communication,
which was for the moment the most important one, complained not a
little of the way in which the troops marching through had interfered
with the further dispatch of the stores. At Handeni, the seat of the
Civil Administration, where the supply routes from Morogoro, Korogwe
and Kondoa-Irangi met at the rail-head of the Mombo-Handeni line,
the war had called into being a European settlement that had almost
the appearance of a town. Lieutenant Horn, of the Navy, had built
cottages in the Norwegian style, which were quite charming to look at,
although at the moment the rain was rather against them. The interiors,
consisting for the most part of three rooms, were comfortably arranged
for the accommodation of Europeans. What was unpleasant was the
enormous number of rats, which often ran about on one when trying to
sleep at night. Captain von Kaltenborn, who had arrived in the second
store-ship which put into Ssudi Bay, reported himself to me here, and
was able to supplement the home news he had already transmitted in
writing by verbal accounts.
Proceeding the next day by car, we caught up a number of our
detachments on the march, and were able to remove at least some of the
various causes of friction between them. Telephonic communication was
rarely possible on account of earths caused by the heavy rain, and
breakages caused by columns of carriers, wagons and giraffes. It was
all the more important for me to traverse this area of breakdowns,
which cut me off from the troops and prevented my receiving reports as
quickly as possible. But that became increasingly difficult.
[Illustration: Fig. xi. Invasion of German East Africa by Belgian and
British columns, middle of 1916. Fig. xii. Retreat of German Main
Force, August, 1916.]
The rain came down harder and harder, and the roads became deeper
and deeper. At first there were only a few bad places, and twenty or
more carriers managed to get us through them by pulling and pushing.
The _niempara_ (headmen of carriers) went ahead, dancing and singing.
The whole crowd joined in with “_Amsigo_,” and “_Kabubi_, _kabubi_,”
and to the rhythm of these chants the work went on cheerily, and at
first easily enough. But on passing through Tulieni we found that the
rains had so swollen an otherwise quite shallow river, that during
the morning its torrential waters had completely carried away the
wagon bridge. We felled one of the big trees on the bank, but it was
not tall enough for its branches to form a firm holdfast on the far
side. It was three feet thick, but was carried away like a match. The
Adjutant, Lieutenant Mueller, tried to swim across, but was also swept
away, and landed again on the near bank. Now Captain Tafel tried, who
had recovered from his severe wound, and was now in charge of the
operations section at Headquarters. He reached the far side, and a few
natives who were good swimmers also succeeded in doing so. But we could
not manage to get a line across by swimming, and so there we were,
Captain Tafel without any clothes on the far side, and we on this one.
The prospect of having to wait for the river to fall was not enticing,
for I could not afford to waste one minute in reaching the head of
the marching troops. At last, late in the afternoon, a native said he
knew of a ford a little lower down. Even there it was not altogether a
simple matter to wade across, and took at least three-quarters of an
hour; we had to follow our guide carefully by a very devious route,
and work cautiously on from one shallow to the next. The water reached
our shoulders, and the current was so strong that we needed all our
strength to avoid falling. At last, in the dark, and with our clothes
thoroughly wet, we reached the far side, where we were met by three
mules and an escort of Askari sent back by a detachment which we had
luckily been able to reach by telephone.
We continued our journey the whole night through in pouring rain, and
had several times to ride for hours at a time with the water up to our
saddles, or to wade with it up to our necks; but at last, still in
the night, we reached the great bridge over the Wami, which had been
put up during the war. That, too, was almost entirely carried away,
but part was left, so that we were able to clamber across and reach
the light railway leading to Kimamba Station. This line, like that
from Mombo to Handeni, had been constructed during the war and was
worked by man-power. In their endeavour to do the job really well, the
good people took several curves rather too fast, and the trucks, with
everything on them—including us—repeatedly flew off into the ditch
alongside, or beyond it. At any rate, we had had enough and to spare of
this journey by water by the time we arrived in the early morning at
Kimamba. Vice-Sergeant-Major[4] Rehfeld, who was stationed there and
had been called to the Colours, received us most kindly. As there was a
clothing depot at Kimamba, we were, at any rate, able to obtain Askari
clothing to change into. When the remainder of Headquarters would turn
up with our kits it was, of course, impossible to say.
After discussing the situation with the Governor, who had come to
Kimamba for the purpose, I went next day to Dodoma. On the Central
Railway, quick working under war conditions, which in the north had
become everyone’s second nature, had hardly been heard of. Captain von
Kornatzky’s detachment, which had arrived at Dodoma shortly before us,
had some difficulty in obtaining supplies, although Dodoma was on the
railway, and could be supplied quickly. I got in touch by telephone
with Captain Klinghardt, who had occupied the heights of Burungi, one
day’s march south of Kondoa-Irangi, and on the next morning, with a few
officers of Headquarters, I rode off to see him. The road lay through
uninhabited bush-desert; it had been made during the war, its trace was
governed by the need for easy construction, and it touched settlements
but seldom. The Ugogo country is distinguished for its great wealth
of cattle. The inhabitants belong to the nomad tribes, who copy the
customs of the Masai, and are, therefore, often called Masai-apes.
We met many ox-wagons in which German and Boer farmers, with their
families, were driving from the country around Meru Mountain to Kondoa.
It was a scene, so well known in South-West Africa, of comfortable
“trekking,” in these vehicles so eminently suited to the conditions of
the veld.
The supply service of Klinghardt’s Detachment was not yet in working
order; we camped that night in the first of the small posts on the
line of communication. It was evident that the work of transport and
supply would have to be greatly increased if it was to maintain the
large number of troops now being pushed forward in the direction of
Kondoa-Irangi. There was another difficulty: up to date the various
Field Intendants had not been physically equal to the enormous demands
which the whole field of the work of maintenance made upon the head
of the service. Captain Schmid, of the Landwehr, had very soon been
succeeded by Captain Feilke, of the Landwehr, he again by Captain
Freiherr von Ledebur, of the Reserve, and this officer by Captain
Richter, retired, an elderly gentleman. The latter, unfortunately, had
just now, at the commencement of an important fresh operation, reached
the limit of his strength. Major Stuemer, retired, who had been working
on the line of communication at Handeni, had been obliged to take over
his duties, but had not yet had time to become thoroughly at home in
them.
By the evening of the following day we had completed our journey of
four marches, and reached Captain Klinghardt at the Burungi Mountains.
The detachments coming from the country of the Northern Railway were
following on behind us, and some days were bound to elapse before
they would all have arrived; so we had the opportunity of making
extensive reconnaissances. Here we had the great good fortune to make
the acquaintance of a perfectly new and excellent map. The District
Commissioner of Kondoa-Irangi had, when leaving his district, given
it with other things to a _yumbe_ (chief), who lived on the Burungi
Mountains, to take care of. It was in his possession that we found this
valuable property, the secrecy of which had thus remained intact.
Patrols of mounted English Europeans often came near our positions,
and it was known that stronger mounted forces were behind them. But
where they were was not known. Some reports stated that they were in
Kondoa-Irangi; others said south of that place, and others again placed
them on the road leading from Kondoa-Irangi to Saranda. An important
factor was that there were considerable native plantations at Burungi,
so that supplies were plentiful. It was, therefore, not necessary to
wait until the transport of supplies from Dodoma was in full swing.
The troops were more independent of the line of communication than
hitherto, and could draw the bulk of their subsistence from the
country. As soon as the rear detachments had closed up the advance
on Kondoa was started. South of that place we met only fairly strong
mounted protective detachments, who were quickly driven back, and
at the beginning of May, without any serious fighting, we obtained
possession of the great heights which lie four miles in front of Kondoa
village.
We had brought with us two naval guns, one 3·5-inch and one 4-inch,
on travelling carriages, and at once got them into action. From our
dominating position they bombarded, apparently with good effect, the
enemy’s camps south of Kondoa. The tents were at once struck. We
could see the enemy hard at work entrenching his positions, and his
vehicles hurrying away towards Kondoa. Several patrol encounters went
in our favour, and small hostile posts, that had been left out in
various places, were quickly driven in. From the south—that is, from
behind us—we saw a mounted patrol riding towards our positions. As
our mounted patrols were also out, I thought at first that they were
Germans. But soon the regular carriage of their carbines in the buckets
proved that they were English. They evidently had no idea of our
presence. They were allowed to approach quite close, and at the short
range they lost about half their number. From what we had hitherto
observed, it seemed probable that the enemy in our front was evacuating
his positions. On the 9th May, 1916, I decided, if this expectation
proved correct, immediately to take possession of the low hills now
held by the enemy. The conditions did not favour an attack, as our
advance was sure to be observed, and a surprise assault was out of the
question. But without surprise the attempt to capture the occupied
position by assault had no hope of success; the enemy was sufficiently
entrenched on the small hills, and the latter completely commanded the
ground over which the attack would have to be pushed home, and which
could only be traversed slowly owing to the low thorn-bush and the
numerous rocks.
I was with the companies that were following the advanced patrols;
the latter reported, shortly before dark, that the hills were
unoccupied. So our companies proceeded, and the commanders ordered up
the baggage in order to settle down for the night. I myself went to
the Headquarters Camp, which had remained on the big hills a little
further back. I tried to relieve my great exhaustion with a cup of
coffee and a little rum; but, knowing that I had no more orders to
issue, I soon fell fast asleep. Next to my sleeping place was the
3·5-inch gun. Towards eleven p.m. I was awakened by remarks made by
Lieutenant Wunderlich, of the Navy, who was in command of the gun; he
could not make out the frequent flashes he saw in the direction of the
enemy. Neither, at first, was I quite certain about them. But soon
there could be no doubt that these flashes, which became more and more
frequent, were caused by rifles and machine guns. When the wind shifted
the sound of the fighting became clearly audible. Contrary to all our
expectations, therefore, a stiff fight was taking place in our front,
but owing to the great distance, and the bushy and rocky country that
would have to be traversed, I did not think I could engage the reserves
I still had in hand with any prospect of success. It would take hours
to obtain even the very roughest idea of the situation, and the moon
would be up for barely an hour more. For well or ill, therefore, I had
to leave the fight in front to take its course.
Our companies had, indeed, found the high ground, which had been
examined by the patrols, to be clear of the enemy; but immediately
in rear of it was another rise, and on this was the enemy, in an
entrenched position, which our companies ran up against. In the close
country and the darkness no general survey of the situation was
possible, and connection between the various units was lost. Our Askari
established themselves in front of the enemy, and Captain Lincke,
who had assumed command after Lieutenant-Colonel von Bock had been
severely wounded and Captain von Kornatzky had been killed, came to the
conclusion that, although he could remain where he was, he would, after
daybreak, be obliged to abandon all hope of being able to move, on
account of the dominating fire of the enemy. As, therefore, no success
appeared attainable, he cautiously broke off the action while it was
still dark, and fell back on the position he had started from. The
enemy, consisting mainly of the 11th South African Infantry Regiment,
had fought well, and had repeatedly brought effective machine-gun fire
to bear on our companies. Considering the small number of rifles that
actually took part in the fight—about four hundred—our casualties,
amounting to about fifty killed and wounded, must be considered heavy.
During the following days we also proceeded to take possession of the
high hills lying further to the eastward, and drove off the mounted
detachments working in the foreground, inflicting quite unpleasant
casualties on them. It happened several times that out of parties of
about twenty men, none, or only a few, got away, and in the foreground
also a whole series of encounters ended in our favour. The heights held
by us afforded an extensive view, and with good glasses we several
times observed columns of hostile troops and wagons approaching
Kondoa from the north, and then turning east and disappearing into
the mountains. Our patrols, whom we sent far away to the enemy’s
rear, reported considerable bodies marching from about Arusha in the
direction of Kondoa-Irangi.
The English had at once taken over the civil administration at Kondoa,
and had cleverly ordered the _yumbi_ (chiefs) to come to that place and
given them instructions. Among other things, they imposed on them the
duty of reporting the movements of German troops. It was, therefore,
often advantageous for our patrols to pretend to be English while in
enemy country. The differences in uniform were not great, and the
prolonged period of active service had further diminished them; uniform
coats were often not worn at all, but only blouse-like shirts, and the
little cloth badges which the English wore on their sun-helmets were
not conspicuous. The difference in armament had often disappeared, as
some of the Germans carried English rifles.
On the whole, the enemy in Kondoa did not seem to be in great strength
as yet; but, even if successful, our attack would have to be made
over open ground against defences which with our few guns we could
not sufficiently neutralize. The certainty of suffering considerable
and irreplaceable losses decided me to refrain from a general attack,
and instead to damage the enemy by continuing the minor enterprises,
which had hitherto proved so advantageous. Our artillery—the two
mountain guns and two field howitzers, which had come out in the second
store-ship, had also arrived—fired upon such favourable targets as
presented themselves. The buildings of Kondoa-Irangi, where General van
Deventer had arrived, were also fired at occasionally by our four-inch
gun. To the west of our main force, on the Saranda-Kondoa-Irangi
road, our newly-raised 2nd Rifle Company had had several successful
engagements with portions of the 4th South African Horse, and had
gradually forced them back to the neighbourhood of Kondoa-Irangi.
The enemy now grew continually stronger. Early in June he also shelled
us at long range, about thirteen thousand yards, with heavy guns of
about four-inch and five-inch calibre. His observation and fire-control
were worthy of all respect; anyhow, on the 13th June his shell soon
fell with great accuracy in our Headquarters camp. I stopped my work
which I had commenced under cover of a grass roof, and took cover a
little to one side behind a slab of rock. No sooner had the orderly
officer, Lieutenant Boell, also reached the spot, than a shell burst
close above us, wounded Lieutenant Boell severely in the thigh, and
myself and a few other Europeans slightly. Otherwise the fire of the
enemy’s artillery did us hardly any material damage, but it was a
nuisance, all the same, to have his heavy shell pitching into our camp
every now and then.
We dispensed with the heavy work which the provision of good protection
against fire would have entailed, as the whole strength of our people
was required for patrols and outposts, and for collecting supplies. As
far as the eye could reach, the whole country was covered by native
cultivation. The principal crop—which formed the main supply of the
troops—was _mtema_, a kind of millet, which was just ripening. Most
of the natives had run away; the supplies from Dodoma had been unable
to keep up with us, and so our subsistence depended almost entirely on
the stuff which the foraging-parties of the companies were able to
bring in. In the hot sun the sheaves quickly dried on the rocks. All
the companies were busy making flour, either by grinding the threshed
grain between stones, or by stamping it into meal with poles in vessels
of hard wood, called _kinos_. The Europeans at that time could still
get wheat flour, which came up on the line of communication. The bread
we made before Kondoa out of a mixture of wheat flour and native flour
was of really excellent quality. Besides _mtema_ and other grains there
were also sugar-cane, _muhogo_ (a plant with a pleasant-tasting, edible
root), yams, various kinds of peas, and other native produce, besides
sufficient cattle. In this extremely rich Kondoa country the troops
could obtain a variety of food in abundance.
The enemy’s extension from Kondoa to the east drew our attention also
to this hitherto little-known country. Captain Schulz was sent there
with several companies, and found it to be an extraordinarily difficult
and densely-wooded mountain district, interspersed with settlements
of great fertility. A whole series of actions, in which one or more
of our companies were engaged, and which resulted in severe loss to
the enemy, now took place in this district. A strong hostile force
tried to penetrate between the companies of Schulz’s Detachment and
ourselves, probably with the intention of cutting off the detachment.
But this attempt failed completely. Our troops pressed forward against
this force from both sides and repulsed it. The old _Effendi_ (native
officer), Yuma Mursal, acted with great skill on this occasion; he
lay in ambush at a water-place, and fired at the English, who came
there for water, with good effect; according to his observation, six
of them were killed. During this period of fighting at Kondoa-Irangi
the enemy’s battle casualties gradually mounted up to a considerable
figure. If we add to them his losses by sickness, due to the youth
of his white troops, who were not used to the Tropics, and were
extraordinarily careless about precautions against tropical diseases,
the total losses incurred by him during the Kondoa-Irangi period can
hardly have been less than one thousand Europeans.