IN THE KILWA AREA—NARUNGOMBE
General Beves was now preparing to take the offensive, his plan being to
divide his force into three columns which, working southward, but
describing segments of a circle on the west and on the east, might
perhaps get in behind the enemy and contrive to envelope him. As usual
the difficulties of maintaining sufficient supplies of provisions,
ammunition and water obtruded themselves from the outset; but the force
was well equipped with motor transport, and it was hoped that, by
cutting tracks eight feet wide through the bush, a passage might be made
for these vehicles in the rear of the advancing columns.
In order to deceive the enemy as to the main line of his advance,
Colonel Orr decided to make a feint along the road past Lingaula Ridge
due south of the camp at Rumbo, and this duty he assigned to a company
of the Gold Coast Regiment. Colonel Shaw selected B Company for the
purpose; and when at 10 p.m. on the 4th July the Regiment left Rumbo
with the No. 1 Column, B Company, under the command of Lieutenant Eglon,
remained behind at Linguala Ridge.
There was an eclipse of the moon on the night selected for the start,
and the darkness was intense, and it was not till noon on the 5th July
that Beaumont’s Post was reached. No. 1 Column, which was commanded by
Colonel Orr, consisted of the Gold Coast Regiment, the 33rd Punjabis,
the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles, the
famous Indian Mountain Battery from Derajat, which goes by the name of
the “D. M. B.,” and the 8th South African Infantry, which joined the
Gold Coast Regiment at Beaumont’s Post. No. 1 Column was to make the
sweep southward on the left of the advance. No. 2 Column was composed of
the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 3rd Regiment of the King’s African
Rifles, the 7th South African Infantry, and the 27th Mountain Battery,
under the command of Colonel Grant. Its sweep was to be made on the
right of the advance. A third column was operating still further to the
left of No. 1 Column. This column consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the
3rd King’s African Rifles, and the 40th Pathans. On the day before the
engagement at Narungombe it was reinforced by one and a half companies
of the 8th South African Infantry from No. 1 Column. No. 3 Column was
under the command of Colonel Taylor. The 129th Baluchis were in reserve
at Makangaga.
No. 1 Column left Beaumont’s Post at 7 p.m. on the 5th July for Ukuli,
and at midnight the men bivouacked in column of route. At dawn the march
was resumed, and at 4 p.m. the Gold Coast Regiment took over the
advanced guard from the King’s African Rifles, who had been heavily
engaged all day, and had succeeded in dislodging the enemy from a
prepared position.
As soon as this relief had been affected, the Pioneer Company advanced
and engaged the enemy’s rear-guard, which it found some 300 yards up the
road, and which it drove back to a distance of about a mile. Here the
Pioneer Company bivouacked, remaining all night in its advanced position
as outpost company, the rest of the Regiment rejoining No. 1 Column in
camp. One man was killed and one wounded in the advance by the Pioneer
Company.
On the 7th July, the Gold Coast Regiment marched as advanced guard to
the column which was now heading in the direction of Ngomania. This
place was occupied by the Regiment, after encountering slight
resistance, and the rear-guard of the column came into camp there at
about 3 p.m.
On this day, however, No. 2 Column had a serious engagement with the
enemy in which many casualties were sustained on both sides.
On the 8th July, the Gold Coast Regiment, which had received orders to
march to Mnindi, there to join up with No. 2 Column, left Ngomania at
4.30 a.m. It was accompanied by a section of the D.M.B., and the little
force marched to Makangaga—the scene of Lieutenant Kinley’s
exploit—where at 9 p.m. it bivouacked for the night.
Meanwhile B Company, which had been left behind at Lingaula Ridge under
the command of Lieutenant Eglon, had carried out the duty entrusted to
it with great dash and brilliancy. On the 7th July Lieutenant Eglon,
pushing southward down the road from his camp at Lingaula Ridge, found
no less than three companies of Germans in front of him, and promptly
attacked. Though the enemy hopelessly outnumbered the men under his
command, Lieutenant Eglon managed to drive them from three successive
positions, making as great a display of B Company as possible, and
evidently impressing the Germans with the idea that they were about to
be attacked in force. During these operations Lieutenant Scott was
seriously wounded, Sergeant Awudu Arigungu, who had had long service
both with the Northern Nigeria Regiment and with the Gold Coast
Regiment, was killed, and eight other men of B Company were wounded.
Having effected his purpose, Lieutenant Eglon, in accordance with his
instructions, fell back to Lingaula Ridge, and on the 9th July rejoined
the Regiment at Makangaga.
From this place No. 2 Column cut across country, almost due west, to
Kirongo, on the main Liwale-Kilwa road, leaving Makangaga at 6.30 a.m.
on the 10th July, Colonel Shaw commanding the column on the march.
Kirongo was reached at 1.30 p.m.; and on the following morning at 6 a.m.
the column pushed on five miles to some water-holes in the dried-up bed
of a stream called Kirongo-Ware, where it camped at 1.30 p.m. On this
day Colonel Ridgeway assumed the command of No. 2 Column.
At 6 a.m. on the 12th July No. 2 Column resumed its march down the track
leading in a south-easterly direction to Kilageli, and at 10 a.m. its
patrols came into touch with enemy scouts, with whom a few shots were
exchanged. An enemy camp at Kilageli, ahead of the column, was located
and bombarded by the D.M.B., and the column deployed and occupied this
camp without resistance at about 4 p.m. Here the column rested for the
night, and on the 13th July at 1.30 p.m. it continued its advance, and
at sundown reached Minokwe, which lies four miles further along the road
south by west of Kilageli. At 4 a.m. on the 14th July, the column again
moved forward in the direction of an enemy position some six miles to
the west of Mtanduala, from the advanced trenches of which a hot fire
was opened upon it. The D.M.B. came into action and shelled the enemy
position, and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the King’s African Rifles
and the 7th South African Infantry joined in the fight, in which the
Gold Coast Regiment also engaged at about 11 a.m. The enemy, fighting a
rear-guard action, retired, and two hours later the engagement came to
an end. The casualties were few, and the column bivouacked for the night
in the prepared position from which the Germans had been ejected.
On the 15th July, the column marched in a south-westerly direction to
Kihendye and thence to Rungo, a few shots being exchanged during the day
between the King’s African Rifles and enemy scouts. The former lost one
man killed and three wounded.
During this day the work of cutting a path, designed for the use of
motor-lorries, across country and through the thick, tall grass began,
two companies of the Gold Coast Regiment being sent forward for this
purpose; and during the whole of the next two days this work was
continued. It was a very toilsome job, hacking an eight-foot track
through elephant-grass and occasional patches of thorn-thicket, with a
merciless sun smiting down from above, with nought to breathe save the
stuffy overheated and used-up air peculiar to big grass patches in the
tropics, with only a few dry biscuits for food, and a constant,
agonising insufficiency of water. The men stuck to it manfully, but one
poor fellow died during the day of exhaustion and heat-apoplexy; and in
the end this vast expenditure of labour was all in vain. The track had
been cut on a compass-bearing, but the only surveys in existence were
very roughly approximate, and the path through the grass was eventually
brought to a standstill by encountering a steep cliff up which no
motor-lorry could conceivably find a way. A little further on, a large
main road which runs north and south was struck, and No. 2 Column
presently found itself in junction with No. 1 Column, which had advanced
down this road to Kipondira. Here the Gold Coast Regiment was
retransferred to No. 1 Column.
On the 18th July No. 1 Column left Kipondira at 10 a.m., the Gold Coast
Regiment being stationed towards the rear of the force, which was in
action with the enemy until about 2.30 p.m., when the Germans retired,
and the column camped for the night at Kihumburu. Two miles further down
the road from this place the main body of the enemy operating in this
part of the country had taken up a strongly entrenched position at
Narungombe. The plan for his envelopment had miscarried, as was almost
certain to befall in a country such as that through which the columns
were operating, where movements of troops were inevitably slow, where
difficulties hampered supply, where scarcity of water presented a
constant menace to the very existence of the forces in the field, and
where a few scouts, used with even a modicum of skill, could easily keep
the enemy informed of the direction which any hostile unit was taking.
No. 3 Column had carried out the task entrusted to it very successfully,
for the wide sweeping movement which it had made had enabled it to cut
in behind the enemy, who was in occupation of a scarp at Mikikama, where
he would have presented a formidable barrier to the advance of No. 1
Column. This was a service of considerable importance; but now all three
columns, though their convergence in front of Narungombe had not been
intended, were assembled in the vicinity of the main road a few miles to
the north of that place. This well illustrates the extreme difficulty of
concerted operations when carried out in thick bush or high grass, as
soon as ever the roads or paths running through it are quitted.
The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles, who
had borne the brunt of this day’s fighting, had rendered a tremendous
service to the columns by expelling the Germans from a water-hole at
Kihumburu, and thus making it available for the troops. It was evident,
however, that the supply so obtained was quite insufficient for the
needs of the force for more than a very limited space of time; and it
thus became a matter of vital importance that the enemy should be
dislodged from the very strong position which he had taken up at
Narungombe, where a much larger set of water-holes was known to exist.
Orders were accordingly given for an attack to be delivered upon
Narungombe early on the following morning.
The position which the enemy had prepared and occupied consisted of a
series of breastworks some two and a half feet in height, built of earth
stoutly faced with sticks driven deep into the ground and bound together
with lianas, with a number of small redoubts and strongly constructed
machine-gun emplacements, and a specially strong defensive post for the
accommodation of the high command. These works, drawn along the upper
slopes of two hills, between which the high-road passes, extended in an
irregular but continuous line, with many slight protrusions and
salients, for a distance of two and a half miles. The defensive position
was particularly strong at the left extremity of the enemy’s line. From
the British camp at Kihumburu the main road runs due south and almost
straight to the centre of the German position, dipping into a valley a
few hundred yards in advance of the British camp, and thereafter rising
gradually in a long glacis to the hills upon which the enemy was
entrenched. The country hereabouts is undulating, and covered throughout
with high grass, and patches of thorn-scrub set fairly thickly with
rather mean-looking trees; but immediately in advance of the enemy’s
position, the grass had been cut, leaving stalks about two feet six in
height, for a distance of some three hundred yards, and thus depriving
the attacking force of any cover. The enemy had four companies in the
firing-line, with four more companies in reserve, which, however,
arrived too late to take part in the battle. He had two guns of about
2·95 calibre and at least six machine-guns; but above all, he had, as
usual, been able to select his own defensive position, and could rely
upon making the task of his ejectment an extremely expensive
undertaking.
On Thursday, the 19th July, the British advance began at 6 a.m., No. 1
Column leading with the Gold Coast Regiment in the centre. It had been
reported that no enemy post existed at a point nearer than 1000 yards
along the road from the British camp; but before the Regiment had
traversed 300 yards, and while they were still in column of route, fire
was opened upon them, and two men were killed and three wounded ere ever
they had time to deploy. An advance in extended order through high grass
is necessarily a rather slow operation, and while the Gold Coast
Regiment was working forward, one company of the 2nd Battalion of the
King’s African Rifles was sent forward out of reserve, and in order to
protect the Regiment’s advance, occupied a ridge on their right flank
which lay to the south-west of the British camp,
At 8.15 a.m. the advance-guard of the Regiment became heavily engaged,
Lieutenant Eglon having led B Company to within a short distance of the
enemy’s well-entrenched and strongly held position. Here this gallant
young officer, who had done so well a few days earlier when attacking
from Lingaula Ridge, was killed, and B Company suffered many casualties.
Colonel Shaw had taken up an advanced position along the road behind a
mound, from which he was able throughout the day closely to observe the
operations he was conducting; and he now sent I Company to prolong the
line on the right of the attack. A few minutes later the Pioneer Company
was also sent forward to prolong the right; and at 9.30 a.m. the 33rd
Punjabis, who had been held in reserve, were also sent yet further to
prolong the right, while the 7th South African Infantry deployed on the
left of the Gold Coast Regiment.
At this juncture orders were given for No. 3 Column to attempt a wide
turning movement on the right of the enemy’s position, the 3rd Battalion
of the 3rd King’s African Rifles and the 40th Pathans leading the
advance, with certain water-holes as their objective. No. 2 Column was
ordered at the same time to carry out a similar turning movement on the
left. At 10.30 a.m. these troops began to get into position, and at noon
No. 3 Column became heavily engaged. The 3rd Battalion of the 3rd King’s
African Rifles and the 40th Pathans had been pushed forward, without any
preliminary scouting, into a valley on the British left, where they
presently came under a devastating rifle and machine-gun fire from both
forces. By this time the enemy’s fire had grown intense along the whole
line; and the 8th South African Infantry, the bulk of whom still formed
part of No. 1 Column and occupied ground on the left of the Gold Coast
Regiment, attempted to advance, but were enfiladed by machine-gun and
rifle fire from salients in the enemy’s line. They maintained their
position for a while, but the troops upon their left failed to make
good, and the grass all round them was set on fire by the British
shells.
This failure on the left placed the Gold Coast Regiment in a highly
perilous position, as its flank was now completely in the air. Moreover,
by this time, the grass was well alight along the whole of the front.
The men, however, were steady as a rock, and showed no signs of giving
way as had the South African and Indian troops on their immediate left.
As for the blazing grass, that was a phenomenon to which they had all
their lives been accustomed, and they manfully stamped the flames out,
in spite of the heavy fire to which they were exposed, and stolidly
resumed the fight. On the left of the line, where the danger was most
imminent, Colour-Sergeant Campbell very specially distinguished himself,
and did much to encourage and confirm the spirit of the men, only too
many of whose officers were already _hors-de-combat_. He fought his
machine-gun until practically all its team had fallen, and in the end
brought it safely out of action.
Meantime the right flank had advanced 800 yards, but at 3.30 p.m. they
were strongly counterattacked by the enemy, and two platoons of the 2nd
Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles were sent to
prolong the right and to get into touch with No. 2 Column, which so far
had failed to make its appearance. And all this time the enemy
maintained from his defences an intense and relentless fire.
A general advance had been arranged to take place at 2.30 p.m., but the
position on the left had by that time become so critical that the
movement could not be carried out at the hour fixed; and at 4 p.m.
orders were sent to the Gold Coast Regiment not to attempt any further
advance. These orders arrived too late, and the Gold Coast Companies on
the right, with the 33rd Punjabis and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
Regiment of the King’s African Rifles, charged and took certain of the
enemy’s trenches, but were unable to hold on owing to their left being
unsupported and to their ammunition running short. They were accordingly
retired, but only to a distance of 100 yards from the enemy’s trenches,
where they dug themselves in and held on. The 2nd Battalion of the
King’s African Rifles remained on the enemy’s flank in a patch of thick
bush, and succeeded thence in getting into touch with No. 2 Column.
Darkness was now falling, and the Gold Coast Regiment and the troops on
its right bivouacked for the night in the rifle-pits which they had dug
for themselves.
Meanwhile, the troops on the left had again been led forward into action
by Major Hill of the South African Infantry and by the Commander of the
Stokes Battery, thus reconsolidating the line on the left of the Gold
Coast Regiment.
At dawn on the following day it was found that the enemy had evacuated
his position. He had effected his object, and had made the attacking
force pay a heavy price for the possession of the water-holes of
Narungombe. Now, before he could be enveloped or cut off, he beat a
hasty retreat toward the south. The position from which he had inflicted
so much damage upon his pursuers had served its purpose, and he had
nothing more to gain by attempting longer to hold it.
The casualties suffered by the Gold Coast Regiment, having regard to its
strength at this time, were very heavy. Of the greatly reduced _cadre_
of officers and of British non-commissioned officers, Lieutenant Eglon
was killed, Captain A. J. R. O’Brien, M.C., of the West African Medical
Staff, was severely wounded, as also were Captain Leslie-Smith,
Colour-Sergeant Baverstock and another colour-sergeant. Lieutenant Bray
was slightly wounded. B Company lost its sergeant-major—Awudu Bakano—a
very fine soldier, and of the rank and file, 37 were killed and 114 were
wounded. The total casualties were thus 158 out of about 790 men
engaged, or 20 per cent. of the whole combatant strength of the corps.
Never had the men of the Gold Coast Regiment shown more grit than on
this day at Narungombe. They went into action early in the morning of
the 19th July after having been marching and fighting, or painfully
cutting paths through the bush and high grass—labouring practically
without cessation—since the evening of the 4th of that month. They were
hotly engaged with the enemy during the whole day, exposed to a fierce
sun, with very poor cover, with little to eat and with less to drink,
and were exposed throughout to gun, rifle and machine-gun fire, mostly
at fairly short range, from 8 a.m. to nightfall. In addition to the
enemy, they had constantly to fight the blazing grass, which rendered
their position more and more exposed; yet these Africans never wavered,
but continued stubbornly to hold their positions, though more than one
company had been robbed of all its European leaders and was being
commanded solely by its native non-commissioned officers. When towards
the end of the day, they had occupied the enemy’s trenches on the right,
and running short of ammunition and being unsupported on their left,
were unable to hold on, they retired only a hundred yards in obedience
to orders and with perfect steadiness, and from their new position
forthwith resumed the fight. It would be difficult to devise a test more
searching that could be applied to native troops, and the triumphant
manner in which on this occasion the “green caps” maintained their
reputation as men who “never go back” is a striking proof of the
Regiment’s high quality as a fighting unit.
For the services rendered by him while in command of the Regiment on
this day, Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw was subsequently awarded a bar to the
Military Cross which he had already earned.