BOTHA'S CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2643, 14 December 1915, Page 8

BOTHA'S CAMPAIGN

TAKING OF GERMAN S.W, AFRICA

AN INTERESTING STORY

Sergeant A. W. Stuekev, :l New Zealauder, and brother of Jlr. J)'. G. A. Stuckey, inspector of Schools, tells a personal story of the capture of German South-West Alrica by the forces ol the Union under General Botha. Sergeant Stuckey, formerly a resident ol Levin (Mtuiaualu), left New Zealand with the Eighth Contingent for South •"ilea, and lias since lived the greater part of liis time there. He \vrts engaged in the wattle-hark industry before the war, but as Germany was the oliief market for bark, the bottom fell out of it when war broke out. Kitchener had advised all Britishers 111 South Africa to remain in tlie country and to assist in the taking of German SouthWest Alrica before thinking of serving elsewhere with the forces of tlia Empire. "I he trouble began, ls said Sergeant Stuckey, "with the Gorman invasion 011 the south-west corner of their territory,' and a force of about 3000, under .Mantz and Beyers, was dispatched to meet them. Everyone knows what occurred. They ' both turned traitors. Beyers was' drowned in tho Vaal Hiver, when making his escape, and Maritz was taken prisoner. Before this, however, they had betrayed part of their forces to the Germans, and these were taken prisoners, and sent away up country. Subsequently De Wet was caught and underwent his trial, and so the uprising within the Union was nicely nipped in the bud within three mouths.

"By, January of tho present year everything was ready for an attack on German South-West Africa. An army division of 60,000 men had been mustered, and General Botha elected to lead it personally. The response to tho call was fine, Botha's own people taking service just as freely as the Britishers" The division was split into two sections. General Brits, in charge of the northern naif, landed at AValfisch Bay (a British pert, which had been seized by tiis Germans), whilst the southern 'half, under Botha, landed at Ltideritz Bay, both being the ports from which there'was railway communication to the interior. Botha met with little resistance until lie got to Gibcon, where the Germans mado a stand, aiid were beaten, whilst wo had about 150 casualties ao determined stand was mado by the Germans at Swakopmnnd (the German port on the Bay), but there was a bit of a scrap at Nonidas, about twelve miles out,' and again at Jakelswater, where the fortunes of the day went distinctly against the Germans, who retreated north to Karibib, poisoning the wells, and blowing up the railway lines and bridges as they went.

About Poisoning Wells,

t A good deal lias been said about tlie • poisoning of the wells by the Germans, - I'! 11 , , cann °t agree that they were 1 ulamablc jh the matter. They were f being hotly, pressed by a largo force . threatening them with extinction in a f droughty, thirst-ridden countrv, so ii : was only natural that they should seek j to postpone their end by depriving uj of our water supplies. Mind you. tliere , was nothing secret in the methods tiiey . employed. They made the water impossible to drink, not by subtly uitro- : c ueing an invisible-poison. No „ n<; drank the water —it was obviously bo- | iouled by steep-dip or something' with i a strong carbolic odour, and was milky . white 111 appearance. It was no worse an act, if. as bad, as blowing up an enemy reservoir. It certainly gave us a great deal of trouble. The wells were usually about 14ft. in diameter . and 50ft. to GOft. deep, cut through hard shale, so that when we found the water in one poisoned we could not <*Gt | "'ork and dig another. Wt had°to empty it as well as we could, and when it was filled again we bad to empty it once more, but as a rule it was drinkable on the third filling. "Water is a first necessity in this country—one can do with a few mouthfuls of food per day and last for a fortnight, but the pangs of thirst are worse. There woro iiy pests and enteric fever also to bo combated on that advance. The Germans had two bomb-dropping aeroplanes, which also hampered our advance. They flew at a great height, and caused much excitement, but fortunately the bombs kept dropping wido of the mark, except on a few occasions, when the horses 'were the principal victims. We were visited about three times a_ week by these machines, and always in the early morning. They came from the direction of Karibib -.nil "Windhuk, and in the clear atmosphere wo could hear them ten minutes to a quarter of an hour before they got near, and thus had time to spread out and wriggle into the sand as far as possible, to dodge flying splinters from the bombs, which did not always explode in the soft surface. The Capital Surrenders, The two-railways from the coast penetrate over 200 miles inland, and then meet one another by a lino that traverses the territory north and south inside the coastal sand belt —a dreary hopeless waste of sand dunes and basaltic rock. It was Botha's plan to' junction at Windhoek, the capital, where hp hoped to bring about a final and l completo surrender. The two forccs did meet then:, and the place was taken possession of without the enemy making any stand to speak of, but instead ot surrendering they retreated north across the bush veldt. -Then there was a spell for six weeks or two jnonths, during which' we consolidated our positions along the railway lines by erecting and manning block-houses to keep open our lines of communication with the coast, and to await further equipment and supplies. Big Enveloping Movement. "When these came to hand a new and very important movement was initiated. General Brits, with a force of about 700 men, including 300 mounted infantry and 25 motor machine guns, wore ordered to make a- detour from Oamaruru, through a vast tract of unknown country, in order to got to Nunnitone (a strong German fort on the shores of Lake Etosha, where stores were held), and so cut off the retreat i I northwards of German forces, whilst Botha's force chased them up from the south. This involved' a drive of between GSO and 700 miles through coun- : try that no one knew anything about. ! • It proved to bo dry bush veldt country "that was fairly easy for the motor, but j the horses all gave up or died about ] half way on account of the heat and i drought. We took as many men as wo < could on the cars (staunch little Stan- 1 dards), and had a rare old picnic clias- ] ing t'lie Gorman patrols and catching ' them, for it was necessary that our movements should not bccome known, j In this wo were entirely successful. ( We did the 70!) miles in fourteen days, ] and took Nuniutone (a fort designed on t old feudal lines, with walls eight feet t thick, and l hattlenicnted tops). As soon i! as we opened fire on the place trouble began within the walls, for no sooner ? did we commence tho assault without j "than some 200 prisoners witnin attacked „ and overcame their German guard, and t when the gates ware opened to admit' s ns all tho Germans there (about 250) i wero prisoners. ' li Surrender at Last. " "Having secured them all, we lost no 3 time in pushing on to the water-holes t and rifees soutli of the !akq ivhqre ivqj_r

thought CflloiK'l Fiiuicke (in t'hiii»o or the Uermans) would be sure to malio liis stand, owinj; to tho advantage a number of ridges offered for defensive purposes. Botha had (seized the watcr-holcis at Otavi (1(J() miles to the south), ami we got to the ridges liist, so I'Yancko and his men were fairly trapped. When ho got a wireless from his own people to sa.y that .N'muuloiio had been taken, lie could not believe it, but when it was confirmed lie saw that his position was hopeless, and siin-i'iideroil at Tsumeb, in tho Otavifontein district. An Uncouth Cub. "There were between 5000 and 6000 Germans in Colonel Franeke's force. The civilian and fanning sections were allowed to return to their ordinary avocations, but tho rest were interned under a strong guard. Colonel Francke was as sulky as a bear, and very uncouth in his manner after the surrender. In a decidedly ungentlcinanly manner no declined to treat with liollia personally at first, and asked them to send a soldier to speak to liini, and that to a man with so fine a military career like Botha!"

Sergt. .Stuckey states that the country between Oamaruru and Nunmtone abounded with wild game of all kinds, South African deer, zebras, ostriches, etc., so that the expedition was full of excitement and interest. At present tho captured territory (a great many times as large as New Zealand) is held by an army of occupation numbering about 12,000. The new country was a very promising ono for stock-raising inside tho sand beJt, and there we r e some very good farms already there. General Botha, after the surrender, personallv thanked every member of tho Motor Machine-Gun Company, whose entirely successful enveloping movement hail been such an important factor in shortening the campaign, and General Brits was highly complimented as leader of this section of tho northern expedition. South Africa Secure. "Thoro is no need to. worrv about South Africa. Tho loyalty of tiie South Africans was the higgost shock the Germans ever got They believed that tho Boer and Hollander would rise as one man and fight for Germany, but Botha, Smuts, and other leaders >are men of honour, and wero prepared jiot only to die on England's side, but to fight for- her. To prove that the Germans fully believed, that there would bo a general rising against British rule, equipment and munitions for 30,000 men were found in the fort «t Nnmutono and Otair, ready to be distributed to tho friends of Germany. There would always be a small discontented minority such as that now headed by Hc-rtzog, but the future is quite sale,' as proved by the result oi the late general elections. ' The old Boer burgher might still cherish some bitterness, but the young Boer is a Britisher, and it will not be many years before all enmity will be swept away.

Ud till the time tho section arrived at Oamarurii (the jumping-off place for the hi? expedition). Serieant Stuckey was the only New Zealander in the force, but there a Bieiit. Snow, an old friend, turned iro, and, strange to say, he hailed freni Levin, in New Zealand —Sergeant Stuckey's home town.