CONQUEST OF GERMAN EAST AFRICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 219, 5 June 1918, Page 5

CONQUEST OF GERMAN EAST AFRICA

STORY OF THE FINAL ROUND-UP

VAN DEVENTER'S CAMPAIGN

[Published by authority of the War Office, and circulated by the Royal Colonial Institute. |

General van Dcventer took over the command in East Africa on May 29. 1817. it t.tafc'.tiiuo the enemy's forces 11 were.in Iwoi main bodies. Tho-West-ern force, commanded by Tafel, was based on Mahenge. It consisted of between 2000 and 3000 men. and held the country to a radius of about 70 miles to the west, north nnd east of Mahenge, with a strong detachment at Likuju, fifty miles from Songea, or. the SongeaLiwalo Road. The Eastern (and main) German force was in the coastal area, facing our troops at Kilwa and Lindin. Its strength was between four and. live thousand, 1 and included the pick of Von Lettow Vorbeclt's troops,' under the ili- • reot command of the German Oommand-er-in-Chief. In addition tc tho above, there were two important, detachments. One, of four or five companies under Von Stuemer, had invaded Portuguese East ' Africa, and was exploiting tho rich Mwembe area lying between the Lujenda Biver and Lake Nyassn. The other, of 600 men under , Naumann, which was more a raiding force than a (detachment, has succeeded in evading our pnrsuing troops and crossing the Central Railway east of Tabora; it was now moving northwards. Our own troops were disposed as follows:—At Lindi ono brigade, under General (yGrady; between ICilwa and -Moll oro, and holding the country for thirty to forty miles inland, two colnmns, under General Hannyngton; oir-the Rufiji, at Kibambawe, the Nigerian Brigade (less rno battalion), under General Cunliffe;

pursuing Naumann, the equivalent of a prigade, with an equal number of our Belgian Allies; two battalions were at Iringa, and a small centrfil reserve at Morogoro; General Northey's force held a line from TJbena to..Songoa/ while a detachment consisting. of' a battalion of the King's African Rifles, was pressing northwards from Fort Johnston, in Nyasaland, against Von Stnemer.

Wild and Inhospitable Country. The country now held by the enemy Has, for the most part, wild and Inhospitable; means of communication wero practically non-existent; and i even the netter-known places, such as Liwalo and Maesassi, were, from a military point of view more geographical expressions. It thorefore became obvious to me (says General van Doveutcr in his.dispatch)_ at n very , early stage, that our true objectives in tho coming campaign must bo the enemy forccs in the field, and that the completion of the conquest of German East Africa could only be brought, about by hard hitting, and plenty of it. The campaign promised to be one of considerable difficulty. The enemy still occupied a territory over 300 miles pquare. and had tho immonse advantages of interior lines. : FromMahengo to Liwalo was merely a seven-day march for his Western force, but the transfer of a British force from Mahengo to Ivilwa or Lindi,. whence alone Liwale could' be reached, would havo taken, as inanv' weeks. The country was admirably suited to defence and to rearguard tac 7 , tics. The enemy's askaris wero now all" veterans, and, fighting in their native bush, backed by tho numerous and wellhandled German machine-guns, were Worthy opponents for,the best troops. Enemy Played for Time. It was evident that the enemy's chief object was to play for time; to keep the net from, closing on him. ana to hold out in German East Africa, if possible, till the next wet season, hoping that ,the rains would then\preveut our maintaining tho long lino- of communication that would 'be necessary before wa brought him to bay,. Taking all the above factors into consideration I decided to mako my main' advance_ from Hiljva and Lindi; to opernte against the enemy in the Mahenge j area from both Dodoma and ICilossa, and I to nse General Northey'e forces to assist in the, Mahenge operations to clear Von Stnemer out of Portuguese Bast Africa, and finally to advance towards Liwale. from Songea. . By tho'end of June General Northey's force had advanced to Mwembe. the Kilwa force had captured Kimamba Hill, and the Lindi force was operating to tho cast of Mandawa. " I had a meeting at Dodoma on Jume. 18 with Colonel Huyghe, tho Belgian Com-mander-in-Chief, and we agreed that the force engaged in pursuing Naumann was too large, .that a smaller force could be given more mobility, and that this should be homogeneous. It was therefore decided that the Belgian troops should take over the Naumann operations from June 25. '

During July good progress was made by all tho forces, and the effect of these operations on the Western front was clearly shown by the way in which the enemy withdrew 'his forces from other points in order to strengthen tho Ma- , lenge area. To the north he began to fall back to the line of the Ruiaha.River, while further east he weakened his, forces at HadabVending the bulk of them to reinforce his troops on the west.' The advance at Kilwa began on July 5 with a converging movement of Nos. 1 and 2 columns of the Kilwa force against ■ the enemy positions round Mnindi? on tho Mtshakama Road, while No. 3 column moved simultaneously from Wungwi, on

the western 6hore of Kishvani Harbour, towards Nambanditi. .A successful attack on Narungombe. completed the clearing of tho Kiturika Hills, which had been an arduous task for) tho. troops engaged. The effective fighting strength of the Kilwa force had been greatly depleted by malaria , and other sickness, and rest and reinforcements were necessary before tho advance could be resumed- „ , Naumann's Force Surrenders. Meanwhile Naumann's force was being hunted, prisoners being taken from it at intervals, until the main body was forced to surrender at Luita Hill on October 1, with fourteen German whites, besides the commander, 155 Askaris, and many porters. The remaining party of Naur mann's force had meanwhile continued to niove west to Lake Eyassi, where it halted. This patty was of small strength, and on Ocfo'ier 2 surrendered to a detachment of King's African Eifles, sent from Aruscha. Three whites and . fiftythree Askaris were made prisoners. Thus ended a remarkable raid. The .force which carried it out was composed of first-class Askaris, wed led/ It started under Wintgens from Gurabiro, sixty miles north-west of Songea, in tho beginning of February. .New Langenburg and Bismarcksbwg wore threatened in turn; the force then turned northwards and passed through Itunda, leaving the German Commander in our hands there; kick. Naumann succeeded, and crossed the Central Railway east of Tabora on May 27, marching north.- .Repulsed at Mkalama, and prevented, from breaking westwards, Naumann went north again; heavily engaged tho Belgians at Ikoma; after which he moved westwards towards the Magadi Lake, then south to Kondoa Irangi, near which place he narrowly esoaped capture. After threatening Handeni, he was next heard of near Moshi. Finding our troops ready for him there,, he doubled back on his tracks, recrossed tho Kondoa Irangi-Handeni Road, and was finally brought to bay. Such a raid could perhaps only have been carried out in a country like German East Africa, where bush is often so thick that two considerable forces may pass within a mile, unaware of each others presonco; and where a ruthless leader of a fiinall foroe can nearly always live on tho country. The Main Advance. By the middle of September tho situiv tion was ripe for tho main advance. My plan was-to make a combined movement southwards from tho Kilwa area, and southwards from Lindi, engaging the enemy wherovor met with. By Novorn- . ber 8 tho two forces effected a junction, and on November 15 No. 2 column and tho Nigerian Brigade entered Chnvata after only slight opposition, and accepted the surrender of ninety-eight German white and 425 Askaris, including siok. Seventy-one European, twenty-eight Indian, and twenty-two African prisoners, of k war were also xeteafl&d* No, 3 column con-

tinued to press forward, and was sharply engaged towards evening with the enemy rearguard. Reports indicated that Von Lettow Vorbeck was making for tho Revuma, mul thonco intended to go westwards to gain touch with Tafel's force. As a matter of foot ho crossed the Rovuma at Ngomano on November 25 and 26. and escaped up tho Lujenda into Portuguese territory. An attempt by tho Portuguese garrison at Ngomano to delay this movement was not successful. On tho other hand it now became evident that owing to the speed of our movements Von Lettow Vorbeck had failed to effect his junction with Tafel. The latter was apparently unaware that his commander had abandoned .the Makondo Plateau and Newala, and had therefore decided to leave the Bangalla and move east towards Newala. • Further Surrenders—and the End. On November 27 .a party of 37 Germans, 178 Aekaris, und about 1100 natives name in and surrendered to the post at Luatala and intelligence pointed to the remainder.of Tafel's force having, moved down.-tho Mwiti River and crossed the Robuma. No., 1 column'was accordingly ordered to return to Bangalla on November 28 to intercept, him, but in the evening a message was received from Tafel stating that he intended a cessation of hostilities. A meeting was arranged, nnd at midday on November 28 Tafel •surrendered unconditionally, with 19 officers (including Schonfeld, Lincke, and Aumann), 92 other, Europeans, over 1200 Askaris, and some 2200 other natives. With the surrender'of Tafel and the retreat into Portuguese East Africa of Von Lettow Vorbeck with the remnant of his forces (approximately 50 officers, 250 other 'Europeans, 1500-1800 Askaris), the campaign in German East Africa came to an end, and tho last German colony was conquered after a resistance which had been prolonged until nine-tenths of the enemy's white and black personnel Had. either been'killed or had fallen into our hands. Raiding bands might still tccross the border, but could scarcely hope again to wage organised war in German East Africa.