THE FLAG IN GERMAN AFRICA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3976, 8 July 1915, Page 3

THE FLAG IN GERMAN AFRICA.

DRIEST REGION IN TH E WORLD.

CAMPED IN BURNING SAND

A correspondent of the London “Express” writing from Swakoprnond, gives .the. following picture of British operations in German SoiithAVcst Africa.-

Picture an eternity of glaring white sand, an endless vista of glistening monotony, duue upon dune rolling smoothly away to a shimmering horizon, mile upon mile of ,a dazzling glare which sears the eyes and distorts the vision until the mind grows weary and is tricked into creating fantastic images of white houses and green trees bordering on cool, sunlit lakes. North, south, and eat the view is the same, and on the west rolls the Atlantic Ocean. Such is Walfisch Bay, recently retaken from the Germans l>y the Union forces.

The “settlement” comprises a few ramshackle shanties, clustering around a still more ramshackle jetty; a mile or so further north is the whaling'station, which represents the only possible excuse the place can put forward for its existence. The sole natural advantage which Walfisch Bay possesses is its harbor—a broad and perfectly sheltered bay, into which last Christmas Day several large transports, with their protecting cruisers, came to anchor. Since that date the hay lias hold more shipping than during tlie whole of its previous history, and the sand dunes of Walfisch Bay Have re-echoed with the hum of human activity and the tramp of many feet. “NO GERMANS TO fc’LAY.”

The colonial lads who landed first came in for a good deal of hardship and hard work. There was unlimited sand for defence purposes, and rightgood use the authorities made of it. Whiter was scarce, and had to he landed from the ships at first, but the engineers got the condenser into working order. Unfortunately it was not too meticulous in performing' its proper functions, and, as a consequence, the drinking water had a decidedly salty taste. However, the men put up cheer fully with all the little drawbacks, typifying their difficulties in a humorously mournful little ditty, which should be sung to the tune of “On the Road to Mandalay,” and which runs somewhat as follows:

“On tlm sands of Walfisch Bay, It’s fatigue work every day, There’s lighters and there’s coaling, And many rails to lav. On the sands of Walfisch Ray. There are now no Huns to slay; And the biscuits are killing the dogfish, On the sands of Walfish Bav."

In fact, as the snug implies, the real lly in the ointment was the fact of there being “no Huns to slay.” One or two stragglers' were winged, but the lack of enemy in any numbers was remarkable. In fact, any follow who had seen a German considered himsell quite a hero. Even when we came round and occupied their pot port, <>l Swnkopmund it was the same; not a

Hun was to be sen 1 Three or four fellows were blown up by a land mine near the. town, but that was the only opposition we experienced. The place was- absolutely deserted.

.GERMAN i LOBBY. It was not until two or three da vs later that wo discovered a few occupants in the form of an occasional tabby cat who insinuated himself into the lines and promptly made friends with the cook. In due course the town was formally annexed, and the Old Flag run up. And a remarkably nice little town it is. What strikes one most particularly is its cleanliness and general air of well-being. Neat, shop-lined -streets run at rightangles through the length and breadth of the town, which boasts of two fine hospitals—the delight of our medical authorities- —two churches, a handsome railway station, and a really good landing pier, equipped with a most elaborate system of electricallydriven travelling cranes and hauling a pp'j. ratus, A 1 together, Swak opm mid gives one the impression of .having been a pet hobby of the German Government, for millions of pounds have been spent in endeavoring to convert, a sandy waste of open seashore into a presentable port. In contrast to its less pretentious neighbor, WaMseh Bay, it possesses no natural advantages whatever, save perhaps the fact of its being situated at the mouth of the often waterless river Swakop. In accordance with the principles of the Huns in Europe, the Germans out here poisoned all the water supplies, employing in the task a traditional Teuton thoroughness, hut a few days’ hard thinking by the engineers, and harder fatigue by the “footsloggers, served to remedy that evil. Little happened during the first few weeks of our occupation of Swakopmurid. The enemy were for the first week or two well in evidence on the sky line, and even ventured to within a few hundred yards of the town, hut only a few skirmishes took place, in which we lost four men and captured several of the enemy.

110 IN THE SHADE

We have now moved somewhat further into the desert, and in this waste of sand —which is considered the driest region in the world —-a football match is being energetically contested by the Marions units. Imagine a loothall match played in the middle of the desert, with the thermometer hovering around bursting point, the touchlme marked out by crowds ot cheering sympathisers; one team wearing their ordinary khaki shirts and shorts, and the other decked out in German .jerseys of a variety of designs and a wealth of lurid hues. During the last two days a redhot wind has been blowing from the interior. Its breath is like the blast from an open furnace, and converts the atmosphere into a very inferno ot blinding, choking sand, "which fills eyes, oars, nose, and mouth, and penetrates everywhere, bringing in its wake a swarm of crawling, fiym g, biting borfors, which make life hardly bearable. Luckily, the powers that he served out tents to the men the pievious day, but the first 'great gustcarried half of them a way. _ X The only thing to he done is to fasten up the tent all ronmr, and lie and gasp all daV in a temperature which at 6 o’clock at night registers HOcleg. in the shade. But the heat does not materially af-

fect the spirits of our men. .\7V Thomas Atkins is much the same the world over, whether sweltering through the heat of the desert or battling in ilood-soaked Flanders, and England will have no cause to he ashamed of her sons across the sea. nor of the work they are doing.