Africa

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 77, 3 April 1915, Page 6

Africa

M, *J. ;s>.]■ S 1: ■’* - f OCCUPATION OF AUS.

UNION FORCES UNOPPOSED.

United Press Association. (Received 8.20 a.m.) Capetown, April 2. The Union aGcnpied Aus unr: C, ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. h : » ■-y (Received 1.10 p.m.) Capetown, April 2. ,* The Union forces occupied an important centre ate*-Apa % dh the extrem- ' ity of the desert, - from which point operations will be The German force- Ails because their flank’s line of retreat to Keetmanshoop was threatened,' and there were indications of concentrating to prevent the cutting off in detail. • They abandoned an entrenched position at HasnUr,- -north-east of Reitfontein, which the Union forces occupied. I .

■A DEATH TRAP. A correspondent writing fiom Caps-; town udder date,|^hr^w^irf s^|'>lP The south-western force, operating from Luderit/Jjucht, will have to cover about 140 miles before it reaches Keetmansboop.-H The first place ■ ofany importance that it will reach isAns. Aiid to arrive here a veritable death-trap Verein’s Pass, must be negotiated: The Jackals‘Mountains run hefOi and a little to the south-east of Aus is Eabub, a German mounted infantry station. Verein’s Pass goes through the Tsirub Mountains, a long chain of "mountains running north to south about # miles Trom the coast. Aus 'is a. German military remount eamp, ahd also a large police training depot. To here from the coast the main road runs parallel to the railway; it then ‘branches off tb.< Belthanien, a German mission station, where a company of armed Hottentots is 1 stationed. These natives remained loyal dur-

- ing Marengo’s and are allowed tq carry arms. They ‘make good scouts, but their physique is vex’y inferior. From the mission station KeOtmanshoop is only 50 miles. Keetmanshoop, isi the headquarters of the inilitary st&’tioiied in the Ger-

Jibtithern territory, Great Namaqualttnd. ’lt was formerly the home of the Hottentot chief Zeib, and was named after Commissioner Keetman,

(president of the Rheiuish Mission x Society. There is a Fupken-tele-station here. Tliis is a kind Of wireless telegraphy which is movable, corfipact, and easy of transport. It has a radius ,of about 750 miles. There is a of mounted infantry, a division of Hottentots. The >is situate at the foot; of the Kuniah Mountains, and is hy other ranges of high, flat-topped hills. It is exceedingly well fortified, and as a military station ranks second to Windhoek, the capital. ’lt is the terminus -of the 3ft. 6in; -gauge railway, from Euderitzbucht,'the only standard gauge line in the territory. It was built with the intehition of linking up with Kimberley, in order to capture the Rhodesian carrying trade. It runs through sand dunes and lava koppies,

and is laid on a permanent way raised

about a:-foot above the surrounding waste. The dunes are constantly shifting! and the. line has to he watched opnfctaually lest it disappear under the point, jseveral hundred yards of the track Have been lost under 20 or 00 . feet of sand, and a.deviation of the line .has become, necessary.,