The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1916. THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGNS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2666, 11 January 1916, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1916. THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGNS

General, Smith-Dorrien, who was recently appointed to tho supreme command of the British forces operating in East Africa, seems to be making preparations for an offensive movement on a largo scale. A cablegram which we publish in another column refers to a great review at Johannesburg of a flfew South African force raised for a special purpose. We are not expressly told what that purpose is, but it is stated that the Union troops are to form part of General SmithDorrien's army. The natural inference is that they will take part in the_ East African Campaign. The Union of South Africa- has already done good service for the Empire by the conquest of German SouthWesfc Africa.' Geneiul Botha did his work thoroughly. He made no mistakes. _ He had to frustrate the machinations of the enemy within his own country before carrying the war across the border. Having restored peace at home bv a few masterly strokes he was able to devote his undivided attention to his plan of conquest. His victorious troops entered 'Windhoek on May 12, and on July 9 the capture of 300,000 square miles of German territory was' completed. From the point of view of the British Empire this campaign was one of tho most satisfactory episodes of the year 1915. General Smuts was fully justified in claiming that, besides being a notable ..'military'success, it "marks in a manner which history will record for all time the first achievement 'of the United South African nation, in which both races have combined all their best and most virile characteristics, and have lent themselves resolutely, often at the cost of much personal sacrifice, to overcome extraordinary difficulties and dangers in order to attain an important national object." Since the conquest of German South-West Africa a general election has taken place in the Union. The' Imperialists won a decisive political victorv, wheh shows that Botha 'has the great mass of the people behind,him. This has greatly strengthened his hands, and has given him a. mandate to continue his war policy. It was announced some time ago that the Union was making preparations for an invasion of German East Africa. Tho time for action is now at hand. On this occasion General Botha himself is not going to take the field. The Union troops are to be commanded by General Smuts, who played a prominent part in the conquest of German South-West Africa, According to a personal impression which appeared in the Times, General Smuts is not a man whose qualities make an irresistible appeal to the public, but those who know him well appreciate his value at this critical moment. "liis exceptional intellect, his unflagging power of work, his devotion to his leader, and his personal courage luivc combined to make, him the right-hand mau of tho Prime Minister, to whom ho is almost indispensable." ■ At present two of the German colonies in Africa have been completely conquored, namely, South-West Africa and Togoland. East Africa and the Cameroons are still resisting in a very stubborn manner; but owing to Britain's sea- power they cannot hope to _ obtain _any_ reinforcements, and their position i 3 growing more desperate every day. Six months ago tho most important parts of the Cameroons were in the hands of the British and French, and the German garrison had been driven back into the hinterland. A few ' c |fiys ago a cablegram was published giving a-n account of another British success in this theatre of war. It was a hard-won victory, which reflected great credit ° n . Nigerian troops... In East Africa the Germans have been holding their own, and the fighting has gone on with varying fortune. Up to the present thj campaign has been largely a matter of raiding and bush fighting, in which native troops are extensively used. Our forces met with a reverse at Jassin in January last. The summer campaign was in the main confined to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and the borders of Nyassaland and North-eastern Rhodesia. Later on a nuraber of skirmishes took place in the country lying between the German frontier and the Uganda railway. In June, a German force, numbering about > 400, was defeated at Bukoba, and about the same time a sharp encounter occurred on the Khodesian border. A letter from an officer serving near the Victoria Nyanza gives a gopd idea of the nature of tho fighting which has been going on for I months past.

If ever the Devil had a hand in the making of a country (he writes), this is the one he took, most interest in, 1 faLcyj while the country we aTe supposed to be trying to take is rather worse, if possible. To begin with, it's about 'the size of Prance, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland in one. This puddle—ono of many—is tho size of Scotland, ami one is frequently out of sight of land while steaming over it for hours at a time. Every known form of insect, and some peculiar to it alone, swarm on and round it. Tsetse fly and sleeping sickness, nine kinds of fever, each worse than the one before, revel in tho district —in addition to hippo and crocs, which prevent bathing on the beaches. In the intervals of shooting, or trying to shoot, Germans,. 1 get a little game shootin"— if possible, on their gamo preserves. Poaching, when one doesn't know if one is going to be poached oneself, is Teal sport. Another officer, after describing an encounter in which a German patrol fell into a trap, writes: — An affair of this sort would hardly bo mentioned in Flanders or tho Dardanelles, but the bush in this part of the world makes it so vory difficult to got an opportunity of really knocking the Boches about, that whenever we do manage to bring it off, even on 'a small scale, it heartens us all up, and helps to keep our tails wagging. As I write comes news that we have caught another party coming to blow up the railway. Good ( business. It has long been evident that German East Africa cannot be conquered by guerrilla warfare. A thoroughly organised campaign on a large scale is obviously necessary. The time is now opportune, and the task has been entrusted to General Smith-Doriuen. The South Africans will .probably form the backbone of his army, and they arc jnst the sort of men for the work they will be called upon to do. It is impossible to say how long the campaign will last. It is sure to.be an arduous one. The conquest of German East Africa will probably prove a more difficult undertaking than the West African operations, but the Empire will share General Sjiuts's confidence that it will be earned through successfully.