The Gold Coast Regiment in the East African campaign

•

THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT IN
THE EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

IN COURT AND KAMPONG.

STUDIES IN BROWN HUMANITY.

"SINCE THE BEGINNING."

IN A CORNER OF ASIA.

"BUSH-WHACKING."

A FREE-LANCE OF TO-DAY.

FURTHER INDIA.

"SALLY"— A STUDY.

SALEH — A SEQUEL.

HEROES OF EXILE.

MALAYAN MONOCHROMES.

THE FURTHER SIDE OF SILENCE.

GERMAN COLONIES: A PLEA FOR THE
NATIVE RACES.

H. Walker Barnett & Co.
LIEUT. -COL. R. A. DE B. ROSE, C.M.G., D.S.O.

Commanding the Gold Coast Regiment.

Frontispiece.

THE

GOLD COAST REGIMENT

IN THE EAST AFRICAN

CAMPAIGN

55C49

BY SIR HUGH CLIFFORD, K.C.M.G.

1

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

1920

PRODUCED IN ENGLAND.

All rights reserved

TO

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL R. A. DE B. ROSE,

C.M.G., D.S.O.,
AND TO THE

OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

AND MEN

OF THE

GOLD COAST REGIMENT OF THE WEST
AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE

- THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

IN ADMIRATION OF THEIR COURAGE, THEIR STEADFASTNESS AND THEIR

ACHIEVEMENTS, IN SYMPATHY WITH THEIR HEAVY LOSSES, AND IN

GRATITUDE FOR THE LUSTRE WHICH THEY SHED UPON THE

COLONY WHOSE NAME THEY BEAR

BY

THEIR SOMETIME GOVERNOR AND TITULAR
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

HUGH CLIFFORD.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAOK

I. THE VOYAGE TO AND ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA . . 1

n. THE ADVANCE ON THE DAH-ES-SALAAM — LAKE TANGAN-
YIKA BAILWAY 10

III. THE PASSAGE INTO THE ULUGURU MOUNTAINS — THE

BATTLES AT KIKIRUNGA HILL AND AT NKESSA . . 25

IV. IN THE KILWA AREA — GOLD COAST HILL ... 43

V. IN THE KILWA AREA — IN THE SOUTHERN VALLEY OF THE

LOWER BUFIJI 61

VI. IN THE KILWA AREA — MNASI AND BUMBO ... 78

VII. IN THE KILWA AREA — NARUNGOMBE .... 93

VIII. THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE .107

IX. THE ADVANCES TO MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA . . . 119

X. NAHUNGU AND MITONENO 134

XI. BUANGWA OHINI TO MNERO MISSION STATION . . .148

XII. LUKULEDI .161

XIII. EXPULSION OF VON LETTOW-VORBECK FROM GERMAN EAST

AFRICA 180

XIV. TRANSFER OF THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT TO PORTUGUESE

EAST AFRICA 197

XV. THE ADVANCE FROM PORT AMELIA TO MEZA . . . 211

XVI. THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO * . 232

XVII. THE ADVANCE FROM MEDO TO KORONJE AND MSALU . 260
XVIII. THE EXPULSION OF VON LETTOW-VORBECK FROM THE
NYASSA COMPANY'S TERRITORY AND THE BETURN OF

THE GOLD COAST BEGIMENT TO WEST AFRICA . . 268

viii CONTENTS

APPENDICES

PAGB

I. THE MOUNTED INFANTRY OF THE GOLD COAST BEGIMENT . 279
II, HONOURS AND DECORATIONS EARNED IN EAST AFRICA . . 286
III. STRENGTH OF THE BEGIMENT AND EXPEDITIONARY FORCE AT
VARIOUS PERIODS, AND DRAFTS DISPATCHED TO IT FROM

THE GOLD COAST 290

IV. LETTERS OF APPRECIATION FROM THE GENERAL OFFICER
COMMANDING PAMFORCE, AND FROM THE GOLD COAST
GOVERNMENT. RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL 292

INDEX . 295

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PACK

LiEUT.-CoL. R. A. DB B. HOSE, G.M.G., D.S.O. . Frontispiece

CAPT. J. F. P. BUTLEB, V.O., D.S.O .28

MAJOB G. SHAW, M.C., CAPT. E. G. WHEELEB, M.C., MAJOB H.

BEAD 92

GBOUP OP OFFICEBS 140

MEN IN MABCHING OBDEB . 160

THBEE NATIVE N.C.O.'s 230

2-95 BATTEBY 196

SEBGT. SANDOGO MOSHI, D.C.M 288

MAPS

PAGE

KIKIBUNGA HILL 27

GOLD COAST HILL 52

KlBATA AND NGABAMBI AREA 62

OPEBATIONB AGAINST MEDO facing 238

GENEBAL MAP OF THE EAST AFBICAN CAMPAIGN . end of volume

THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT

IN THE

EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER I

THE VOYAGE TO AND ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA

WHEN during the latter days of July, 1914, the
prospect of war with the German Empire became
imminent, the Gold Coast Regiment was rapidly
mobilized, and detachments took up pre-arranged
strategical positions on the borders of Togoland.
On the declaration of war on the 4th August, the
invasion of this German colony was promptly
undertaken; and the Regiment, which had been
joined at Lome, the capital of Togoland, by a
small party of Tirailleurs from Dahomey, pursued
the retreating enemy up the main line of railway
to Kamina — the site of a very large and important
German wireless installation — where, on the
28th August, he was forced to an unconditional
surrender.

On the 18th September Major-General Dobell,
who had been appointed to command the British
and French troops which were about to undertake
the invasion of the German Kameruns, arrived off
Lome ; and the bulk of the Gold Coast Regiment,

2 ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA

leaving two companies to occupy the conquered
territory in Togoland, and a small garrison in the
Gold Coast and Ashanti, joined this Expeditionary
Force.

In the Kameruns stiff fighting was experienced,
and it was not until the llth April, 1916, that the
Gold Coast Regiment returned to its cantonments
at Kumasi, after having been continuously upon
active service for a period of twenty months.

In Togoland and in the Kameruns alike the
Regiment had won for itself a high reputation
for courage and endurance; and the fine spirit
animating all ranks was strikingly displayed by the
enthusiasm with which the news that the force
was again required for active service overseas was
received, though at that time the men had enjoyed
only a very few weeks' rest in their cantonments
at Kumasi. Nor was this due to the courage
born of ignorance, for the Regiment had learned
from bitter experience the dangers and difficulties
of the type of fighting in which it was about once
more to take a part. The pursuit through bush
and scrub, or through wide expanses of high grass,
of a stubborn and crafty enemy is a task which, as
many British regiments have learned in places
spattered all up and down the tropics, imposes a
peculiar strain upon the nerves and upon the
endurance of the forces which engage in it. The
enemy, who alone knows his plans and his
objectives, and whose movements are designed to
avoid rather than to seek contact with his pursuers,
unless he can attack or sustain attack in circum-
stances specially favourable to himself, possesses
throughout the immense advantage of the initiative,

ADVANTAGES OF THE PURSUED 3

If he elect to retreat, the pursuer must plod after
him, whither he knows not, through country which
is not of his choice, and with the character of
which he has had no opportunity of rendering
himself familiar. If the enemy resolves to make a
stand, it is almost invariably in a position which he
has selected on account of the advantages which it
affords to him; and when in due course he has
been ejected from it, the pursuit through the
Unknown of an elusive and usually invisible enemy
begins ab novo, in circumstances which the apparent
success has done nothing material to improve.
These facts combine to render a campaign in the
bush a heart-breaking and nerve-racking experience,
even when the enemy is an undisciplined native
levy armed with more or less primitive weapons.
In the Kameruns, however, and to a much greater
degree in East Africa, the enemy was composed of
well-trained native soldiers, with a good stiffening
of Europeans ; he was armed with machine-guns
and magazine-rifles ; he was supplied with native
guides intimately acquainted with every yard of
the country; and he was led with extraordinary
skill and energy by German officers. It was bush-
fighting on a scale never hitherto experienced, with
all the advantages which such fighting confers upon
the pursued, and the corresponding disadvantages
inherent to the pursuit, exaggerated to an un-
precedented degree. Yet the men of the Gold
Coast Regiment, who in the Kameruns had already
had more than a taste of its quality, celebrated
the fact that they were once more to engage in
such a campaign with war dances and clamorous
rejoicings.

B

4 ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA

By the evening of the 5th July, 1916, the Gold
Coast Expeditionary Force had assembled at the
port of Sekondi. It consisted of four Double
Companies — A, B, G, and I — with a Pioneer
Company, and a Battery of two 2*95 guns, and 12
machine guns, and a number of carriers. Its
strength was 36 British officers, 15 British non-
commissioned officers, 11 native clerks, 980 native
rank and file, 177 specially trained carriers attached
to the battery and to the machine guns, 1 store-
man, 204 other carriers, and 4 officers of the Royal
Army Medical Corps — in all 1428 men — under the
Commanding Officer of the Gold Coast Regiment,
Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. de B. Rose, D.S.O.

The present writer, who at that time was
Governor of the Gold Coast Colony and its De-
pendencies— Ashanti and the Northern Territories
— had come round by sea from Accra to wish the
Regiment God-speed. On the evening of 5th July,
Colonel Rose and all the officers who could be
spared from duty, were entertained by me at a
banquet, given in the Court House, at which all
the leading officials and the most prominent
members of the European and African unofficial
community of Sekondi were present.

Officers and men, who at that time had been
fighting almost continuously since the 4th August,
1914, save for the brief rest which they had recently
enjoyed at Kumasi, presented on this occasion a
very smart and workmanlike appearance. They
were thoroughly well-equipped and thoroughly
seasoned troops, with achievements already to
their credit of a kind that had filled the Colony to
which they belonged with pride.

DEPARTURE FROM SEKONDI 5

By midday on the 6th July the embarkation
of this force with all its stores and equipment, on
board the transport ^Eneas, was completed. The
men were transported in lighters to the ship's side,
and thence were slung inboard in batches of half-
a-dozen or more in the sag of a canvas sail— a
rough and ready, but very effective, expedient,
which delighted the struggling groups of men as
the sling bore them aloft and deposited them,
screaming with laughter, in inextricable knots upon
the deck. At about 2 p.m. the transport got
under way, taking a southerly course at right
angles to the coast, which here runs east and west.
The phenomenon was witnessed by excited groups
of natives from the beach at Sekondi, for never
within living memory had any ship bearing their
countrymen steered a course that was not parallel to
the shore ; and when the vessel at last disappeared
below the skyline something like consternation
prevailed. It was as though she, and all aboard
her, had dropped suddenly into the depths of some
unknown abyss. Superstitious fears were further
stimulated by the fact that an eclipse of the sun
occurred on that day, and much discussion arose
among the men as to whether the omen should be
regarded as of favourable or of evil portent.

The voyage round the southern extremity of
the African continent, and up the east coast to the
neighbourhood of Mombassa, was uneventful. The
^Eneas called at the Cape and at Durban. At the
latter place the whole of the Regiment was allowed
ashore, and was taken en masse to see the " movies,"
a new experience which astonished and delighted
them. They were also paraded, inspected, and

6 ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA

addressed by the Mayor — a stimulating ordeal
which, however, in the popular estimation took a
second place when compared with the miracles
beheld at the cinematograph. Cold weather was
met with when rounding the Cape, but the men
appeared to feel it very little ; and the force was in
fine fettle when, on the 26th July, the ^Eneas
arrived at Kilindini, the port of Mombassa, after
a journey that had occupied exactly three weeks.

Kilindini is a land-locked harbour, and the town,
which is a somewhat incongruous modern adjunct
to ancient and picturesque Mombassa, consists
mainly of sheds, warehouses, and wharfs.

Disembarkation was effected by lighters, which
were towed alongside a jetty, and here a stroke of
ill-luck greeted the Regiment at the outset of its
career in East Africa. For weeks not a drop of
rain had fallen at Kilindini, but now, when the
disembarkation was in full swing, a sudden tornado
blew up from the sea, bringing a downpour by
which officers and men were speedily soaked to the
skin. There was no alternative, however, but to
carry on, and drenched and rather woe-begone, the
force was presently landed. Two trains were
awaiting the Regiment at a point distant about a
couple of hundred yards from the jetty; but the
day being a Sunday, the Sabbatarian principles of
the local porters, which may have owed their
inspiration either to indolence or to piety, forbade
the natives of Kilindini to engage in servile
work. In pouring rain, therefore, the men set to,
and in a creditably short time all the baggage,
stores, and equipment had been transferred from
the lighters to the railway waggons ; and at

THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS 7

4 p.m. the first train started upon its journey
up-country. This train consisted of passenger
carriages, but that which followed it some six hours
later was mainly made up of covered trucks. The
men, with the steam rising in clouds from their
brown knitted jerseys, were packed in batches of
ten into the carriages and trucks ; and in this
fashion the journey up the main line toward
Nairobi was begun.

While daylight lasted the way led mostly
through open grass country apparently very
sparsely inhabited, which was succeeded later by
what looked like dense thorn-jungle, and the
junction at Voi was reached by the first train at
about midnight. From this point the military
authorities had constructed a loop-line, which runs
in a south-westerly direction through the mountain
range, of which on the north-west Kilima-Njaro is
the studendous culmination, until it effects a
junction with the German railway from Tanga to
Moschi at a point some twenty miles south of the
last-named place. At dawn, therefore, the men of
the Regiment, shivering for their skins, looked out
upon wide expanses of mountain scenery — a vast
sweep of hillsides, rounded summits and undula-
tions, covered with short grass, and strewn with
gigantic boulders of rock. In the distance Kilima-
Njaro was frequently visible, with its crest covered
by perpetual snow. The line ran from Voi to the
junction with the Tanga-Moschi railway at heights
varying from 6000 to 9000 feet ; and the men of
the Gold Coast Regiment, who are accustomed to
regard 60° F. as registering a temperature which is
almost unbearably cold, and who were still damp

8 ARRIVAL IN EAST AFRICA

from the drenching they had received at Kilindini,
suffered seriously from the low temperature. The
fact that nearly half of them were accommodated in
trucks, which though roofed had only half walls,
rendered the exposure all the more severe. A few
halts were allowed in order to enable the men to
stretch their legs ; but time did not admit of much
cooking being done, and for the most part the, to
them, unnatural foods of bully beef and biscuit,
and draughts of ice-cold water, were all that they
had to restore the natural heat of their bodies. It
was an extremely trying experience for troops
recruited in the Tropics, and many cases of
pneumonia subsequently resulted, not a few of
which proved fatal.

From the junction the trains bearing the
Regiment proceeded eastward down the captured
German railway, in the direction of the sea and
Tanga, to Ngombezi, which is distant some forty
miles from that terminus. Here they arrived on
the 29th July, having been joined on the preceding
day by Captain H. C. C. de la Poer, as special
service officer. Captain de la Poer had long been
resident in East Africa, possessed much local
knowledge, and spoke Swahili fluently. Ngombezi
is situated at a height of some 2000 feet above sea-
level ; and on detraining, the Regiment went into
temporary camp, the officers and men bivouacking
under shelters fashioned from blankets and water-
proof sheets.

On the 30th July the Regiment was inspected
by General Edwards, the Inspector-General of
Communications. The service kit of the Force
consists of a green knitted forage cap, a khaki

THE FIRST SPRIG OF LAUREL 9

blouse, shorts and putties of the same material,
with the leather sandals which are known in West
Africa as chuplies. The men of the Regiment, all
of whom at this period were recruited from the
people of the far interior which lies to the north-
ward of Ashanti, are for the most part sturdy,
thick-set fellows, with rather blunt but not pro-
nouncedly negroid features, which show traces in
some instances of a slight admixture of Arab blood.
They are at once strong and active. They possess
great pluck and endurance and are very amenable
to discipline ; and their fidelity to, and confidence
in, their officers have become a by- word. For the
rest they are as tough and business-like looking a
body of men as any judge of good fighting material
need desire to see.

General Edwards, at the end of his inspection,
expressed himself very much struck by the physique
of the men, and by their smart and soldierlike
appearance. He emphasized the fact that no other
unit which he had inspected had arrived in the
country so well and efficiently equipped — a fact
which caused great satisfaction on the " Home
Front " in the Gold Coast when his opinion was
duly repeated to the Colonial Government ; and he
forthwith wired to the Commander-in- Chief re-
porting that the Regiment was fit to take the field
immediately.

This was the first sprig of laurel won by the
Corps after its arrival in East Africa. It was des-
tined in the course of the long campaign upon which
it was about to embark to garner others wherefrom
to fashion the substantial crown which it eventually
brought back in triumph to the Gold Coast.

CHAPTER II

THE ADVANCE ON THE DAR-ES-SALAAM — LAKE
TANGANYIKA RAILWAY

THE military situation, at the moment when the
Gold Coast Regiment received its orders to take
the field, was approximately as follows. Tanga,
the coast terminus of the more northerly of the
two German railways, had fallen some time before,
and the whole line from Moschi to the sea was now
in the hands of the British. A column of Indian
troops was moving down the coast with Sandani
at the mouth of the Wami river, Bagamoyo at the
mouth of the Kingani, and Dar-es-Salaam, the
terminus of the principal railway, as its successive
objectives. The enemy had been driven, not only
away from the Tanga-Moschi railway, but to the
south of the Pangani-Handeni-Kondoa-Irangi
road ; and General Smuts had established General
Headquarters on the left bank of the Lukigura
River, which falls into the Wami on its left bank at
a point distant some sixty miles from its mouth.

The Commander-in-Chief had with him here
the First Division under Major-General Hoskyns,
consisting of the 1st and 2nd East African
Brigades under the command respectively of
Brigadier-General Sheppard and Brigadier- General
Hannyngton. With the exception of a machine-
gun detachment of the Loyal North Lancashire

10

MILITARY SITUATION 11

Regiment, which was attached to the 2nd East
African Infantry Brigade, both these brigades were
composed of Indian troops. The Gold Coast
Regiment was about to join up with the 25th
Royal Fusiliers, and with it to form the Divisional
Reserve.

On the right, the Second Division, which was
composed of South African Infantry and mounted
troops, under Major- General Van der Venter, had
its advanced base at Kondoa-Irangi and for its
objective Dadoma, on the main railway which runs
from Dar-es- Salaam to Kigome, near Ujiji, on Lake
Tanganyika.

Between the Second Division and General
Smuts' troops, a force composed of South African
mounted men, under the command of Brigadier-
General Brits, was operating independently, with
Kilossa on the railway as its objective. It was
General Smuts' intention to attack the railway with
the First Division at Morogoro, a mission station,
which lies not quite fifty miles due east of Kilossa.

It had not yet been found possible to establish
a main base at Tanga; and at the moment all
supplies were being landed at Kilindini, and were
conveyed thence, by the railway route which the
Regiment had followed, to Korogwe on the Tanga-
Moschi line. An advanced base had been formed
at Handeni, five-and-thirty miles to the south-east
of Korogwe ; and for six weeks General Smuts had
been compelled to remain inactive in his camp on
the Lukigura River, while sufficient stores, etc.,
were being accumulated to render a further and
continuous advance possible.

His plan, as will be seen by the disposition of

12 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

his forces, was to attack the main German railway
line, as nearly as possible simultaneously, at Dar-
es-Salaam on the coast, at Morogoro, at Kilossa
and at Dadoma. This would have the effect of
depriving the enemy of the use of the line and of
driving him to the south of it ; after which an
attempt would be made to expel him from the
country north of the Rufiji River.

The Regiment had been inspected by General
Edwards on the 30th July, and on the 4th August,
leaving the Depot Company to establish itself at
Korogwe, they left their temporary camp at Ngo-
mbezi and began their march to Msiha, the head-
quarters of the First Division on the banks of the
Lukigura. It was now that their troubles began,
and the nine days of that march live in the memory
of officers and men as perhaps the most trying
period of the whole campaign.

Though the altitude was not great, the climate
was cool even at midday ; but while the Europeans
belonging to the force found it wonderfully
bracing, the men missed the genial warmth of their
native land, and at night suffered greatly from
the cold.

The line of march led along an unmetalled
track, over which motor-lorries had been ploughing
their way for weeks, and the surface had been
reduced to a fine powder some six to eight inches
in depth. The constant passage of lorries, and
now the first-line transport of the Regiment—
which consisted of mule-carts and of the carriers
who had accompanied the force from the Gold
Coast — and the plodding feet of the men on the

TRIALS OF THE MARCH 13

march stirred up this loose deposit into a dense fog
of a dull-red hue. As the day advanced, each man
became plastered with particles of this fine red dust,
which seemed to possess peculiarly penetrating pro-
perties, till one and all resembled so many figures
fashioned from terra cotta. Eyes, nostrils and
mouths became filled with this stuff, occasioning
acute thirst ; but the way was waterless, save for
a few foul holes half filled with brackish water.

The lot of the rear-guard was the hardest, for
the second-line transport, locally supplied to the
Regiment, consisted of South African ox- wagons,
each of which was drawn by a team of sixteen
oxen driven by Cape boys. The imported cattle
had many of them become infected by trypanosomce,
and not a few were literally on their last legs. The
exigencies of the situation, however, rendered it
necessary for these luckless brutes to be driven as
long as they could stand ; but progress was in-
credibly slow, and frequent halts were occasioned
to unyoke some miserable ox, which had fallen
never to rise again, and thereafter to rearrange his
yoke-fellows. At the best, as they crept forward,
the floundering wagons with their straining teams
churned the dust into impenetrable, ruddy clouds,
which, mingling with the fog already caused by
the passage of the infantry, well-nigh smothered
the men who formed the rear-guard. Though the
actual length of each day's march was fairly short,
the last man rarely reached the camping-place
until long after dark.

The physical trials to which the rank and file
were exposed — the choking dust, the raging thirst
which it occasioned, the inadequate supply of

14 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

brackish water, met with at long intervals, which
seemed powerless to appease even when it did not
aggravate their sufferings, the nauseating stench
arising from the putrifying carcases of dead horses,
mules and oxen, with which the line of march was
thickly strewn, the bitterly cold nights, and the
ominous way in which man after man succumbed
to pneumonia — were rendered almost unbearable
by reason of the superstitious fears by which the
men were haunted. The memory of that long
railway journey, which half of them had made
in open trucks, through the freezing cold of the
nights and early mornings high up in the moun-
tains, was still fresh in their minds. They had
seen many of their comrades suddenly stricken
by pneumonia — to them a by no means familiar
disease — and killed thereby after a few days or
hours of painful struggle for life. Now they found
themselves in an unknown land, separated from
their homes by immeasurable distances, with wide
expanses of sour scrub spreading around them,
and holding for them no promise of finality ; while
day after day, they plodded, parched and choking,
along that interminable road, saw their fellows
succumb at every halting-place, and learned pre-
sently to believe that the water with its salt-taste,
which was alone available to allay their thirst, and
of which they could never obtain enough, was a
poisoned draught that was killing them. This
was a devil's country to which their officers had
brought them — a land of evil spirits out of which
they could never' hope again to win their way.
The Europeans — officers and non-commissioned
officers alike — sought ceaselessly to cheer and

THE REACTION 15

hearten-up their men ; but for the first time in
the memory of any of them, their efforts met
with no response. The men had become un-
recognizable. Usually the most cheerful and
light-hearted of mankind, they wore now a sullen,
hang- dog air. They were sulky, suspicious and
resentful. For the first time in the history of
the Regiment their confidence in their officers —
which to these men has become a religion — had
been strained almost to the breaking-point. And
their officers knew it. " You could not get a grin
out of them at any price," said one who had seen
his men in many a tight place, and had never
known them to show even a passing sign of dis-
couragement or depression ; and when you cannot
conjure a grin out of the gnarled features of a man
of the Gold Coast Regiment, something very like
the Trump of Doom has sounded for him.

The Regiment, after resting on the 8th August
at Handeni, and drawing a fresh supply of rations,
pushed on for another four days to Mahazi, where
it duly reported its arrival to the headquarters of
the First Division.

The front had now been reached, the enemy
was close at hand, and there was a river of running
water to delight the hearts of the parched and
dust-coated men. The reaction was immediate.
There was no lack of grins now ; and these found
their reflections in the faces of a band of anxious
officers, as they listened to the cheerful babble
resounding from their new encampment. It is a
music that is discordant enough at times, but now
it was more than welcome after the sullen silence
of suspicion and distrust that had brooded over

16 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

the camp and the line of march for more than a
week.

On the 13th August the Regiment moved
forward on the road to Turiani. The country
in which they found themselves was no longer
grey or powdered red with dust, but actually
green, though it was still, for the most part,
covered by waist-high scrub and grass, and the
folds of the undulating plain rendered any ex-
tended view impossible. The proximity of the
enemy, as is usual in warfare of this type, was
more certain than his whereabouts, and all mili-
tary precautions were henceforth taken during the
day's march to Turiani, and during the subsequent
advance.

On the 15th August the Regiment moved
to Chasi, and on the 16th August, after working
all day at the construction of two bridges, the
camp was advanced to Kwevi Lombo, near the
Makindu River, and established at about 11 p.m.

On the 17th August the Regiment received
orders to move forward in the early afternoon
to Dakawa, where fighting had been in progress
all day. The men, resting in camp after their
hard day and late night, had listened all the
morning, like a pack of terriers quivering with
excitement, to the familiar sounds of machine-gun
and rifle-fire ; and after a march of four and a half
hours they reached Dakawa at 7 p.m. Here
General Smuts had established his headquarters,
and Colonel Rose personally reported to him the
arrival of the Regiment. General Smuts ordered
the Regiment to sit down and rest until the rising
of the moon, and then to proceed to a ford two

MARCH TO THE NGERE-NGERE 17

and a half miles west of the main road. At dawn,
if the enemy was still in position, they were to
cross the river and join General Enslin's Brigade,
which belonged to the force operating indepen-
dently under Major-General Brits.

These orders were duly carried out, the Regi-
ment being guided to the ford by the celebrated
scout, Lieutenant Pretorius, a way for the infantry
having been beaten down through the tough high
grass by a body of South African mounted men.
This movement was carried out by the Regiment
with the least avoidable noise. The enemy, how-
ever, becoming aware that the ford was occupied,
drew off during the night; and next morning,
therefore, the Regiment returned to its own divi-
sion, and camped near a broken bridge over the
Mkundi River, a left affluent of the Wami. Here
it remained until the 23rd August, when it moved
forward eight and a half miles to Kimamba, and
thence, on the 24th August, to a camp on the
banks of the Ngere-Ngere, a small stream which
falls into the Ruwu on its left bank a few miles
above Mafisa.

This latter day's march calls for a word of
description. The Regiment, which was now act-
ing as part of the reserve to the 2nd East
African Brigade, marched last of the fighting
troops, with the heavy transport and the actual
rear-guard still further behind it. The country
traversed was a flat plain broken by frequent un-
dulations, and grown upon by shortish grass,
brittle and wilted by the sun. Mean-looking trees
were spattered all over the plain, but were usually
wide enough apart to permit of the easy passage ot

18 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

armoured motor-cars. Of these a number, under
the charge of naval officers, accompanied the
marching men, scudding up and down the column
and searching the country in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the line of march, much as a dog
hunts on all sides of a path along which its owner
is walking. Occasionally, a deep donga would be
met with, which could not be negotiated by a
motor-car ; and then the marching men would
turn to with their picks and shovels, fill in a
section of the dried-up watercourse, and so fashion
a temporary road across it which enabled the cars
to pass. This was accomplished over and over
again with great ease and rapidity; and for the
rest, the country presented no serious obstacle to
the use of these armoured vehicles.

August, in East Africa, is of course the height
of the dry season, and in all tropical regions of this
continent the dry season means a fierce heat, beat-
ing down during all the hours of daylight upon a
parched and thirsty earth, and refracted from the
wilted vegetation with an almost equal intensity.
It means that every stream has run dry, and that
even many of the larger rivers have shrunken into
mere runnels. It means that sun-dried grass and
scrub and the very leaves upon the trees have
become brittle and inflammable as tinder ; and that
the bush fires, for the most part self-generated, —
such as those which of old so greatly affrighted
Hanno and his Carthaginian mariners on the West
Coast of Africa — are ubiquitous, — are columns of
smoke by day and pillars of fire by night. Any
sudden change of wind at this season of the year
may cause the traveller to be unexpectedly con-

A BUSH-FIRE 19

fronted by a wall of flame, raging almost colourless
in the fierce sunlight, advancing on a wide front
with innumerable explosions like the rattle of
musketry, and with a rapidity which is apt to
prove highly embarrassing.

During this day's march the natural heat was
intensified by these constant conflagrations, above
which the agitated air danced in a visible haze, and
from which there came a breath like that from
a furnace, bearing in all directions innumerable
charred and blackened fragments of vegetation.
Through this heated atmosphere the marching
troops plodded doggedly onward, parched with
thirst, and playing an eternal game of hide and
seek with the attacking bush-fires. Many narrow
escapes occurred, and the first-line transport of the
Gold Coast Regiment was once fairly caught, the
casualties including 6 oxen, an army transport
cart, 2 wagons, 10,800 rounds of small arm
ammunition, 20 picks, 42 shovels, one rifle, some
private kit, and a quantity of rations, all of which
were burned to a cinder. Eighteen other oxen
were so badly burned that they had to be
slaughtered, their meat being issued as rations to
the Divisional Reserve.

Another element besides fire, however, seemed
to conspire this day against the advancing force ;
for the exact position of the Ngere-Ngere could
not be located, and when the Regiment arrived at
the place where it was to bivouac for the night,
there was no water to be found hi its vicinity.
Water had, however, been discovered some miles
further on, and carts were dispatched to fetch it.
Darkness V already fallen, and the outlook was

20 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

sufficiently depressing ; but an officer of the Gold
Coast Regiment, who happened to push his way
into a patch of thick bush adjoining the camping-
place, quite accidentally discovered the river by the
simple process of pitching headlong into it. The
Ngere-Ngere is a very winding stream, and though
its neighbourhood was indicated by a belt of thick
bush, the greenness of which could only be due to
the proximity of water, the leading troops had
missed this point on the road, to which the river
happened to approach to within a distance of a few
yards, and owing to an abrupt bend, which the bed
of the stream takes at this place, the nearest point
at which its banks were again struck was about
a mile distant.

At once the glad tidings were given, and the
men speedily obtained all the water they required.
The Gold Coast Regiment had bivouacked for the
night near the scene of its discovery ; but though
a start had been made that morning at 5.30 a.m.,
it was a late hour before the last troops struggled
into camp.

Shortly after the Dar-es-Salaam railway had
been crossed at Massambassi by the main force,
B Company was placed at the disposal of Colonel
O'Grady — an officer of the Indian Army, who had
won for himself in the Himalayas a great reputation
as an Alpine climber— and proceeded with him
and a remnant of the East African Mounted Rifles
into a clump of fertile, well-watered and hilly
country, which was comparatively thickly popu-
lated, and where a number of German foraging-
parties were believed to be at work. The tracks
leading through these hills were wide enough for

ROADS OF BARE-FOOTED FOLK 21

two to march abreast, but after the manner of
native paths all the tropics over, they took no
account of gradients, but led straight up each
precipitous ascent till the summit was reached,
and thence plunged down the opposite slope to
encounter a fresh rise when the valley level was
reached. It is inevitable that all paths in hilly
country, which are made by folk who habitually go
bare-footed, should deal with ascents and declivities
in this switchback fashion; for roads scarped out
of the hill's face, unless they are constructed on
scientific engineering principles, are speedily worn
away by the annual torrential rains. This renders
them agonising to men who do not use boots, for
though the act of walking on the side of the foot
is uncomfortable enough even for men who are
well shod, it is excruciating to those who go bare-
footed ; and in their estimation any strain on the
lungs and on the back-sinews, which the constant
climbing and descent of hills entail, is preferable
to this much more painful means of progression.

Through these hills went Colonel O'Grady, the
handful of white men composing the detachment
of the East African Mounted Rifles — some dozen
survivors of that gallant corps which had seen such
hard times and had done such splendid work during
the earlier phases of the campaign — and B Com-
pany of the Gold Coast Regiment. The valleys
were thickly planted with native food-stuffs of all
descriptions, including such luxuries as sugar-cane
bananas, etc. ; and eggs and fowls were also obtain-
able in moderate quantities. Patrols were sent out
in all directions at once, to forage for the little
force and thoroughly to search the surrounding

22 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

country for German forage-parties. One of these
— a body of eleven Germans, genially intoxicated
to a man on native beer, and quite incapable of
resistance — was brought in by the East African
Mounted Rifles, and a few Askari,1 who were also
engaged in foraging, were captured by B Company.
When this group of hills had been thoroughly
searched, Colonel O'Grady released B Company,
which at once rejoined the Regiment. The latter,
meanwhile, had been following in the track of
B Company, and at daybreak on the 3rd September,
the whole corps entered the mission station at
Matombo.

These mission stations are a feature of erstwhile
German East Africa. They are, for the most part,
charmingly situated, generally upon the crest of
a hill, whence a magnificent view of the surround-
ing country can be obtained. They consist, as a
rule, of one or more substantially built two-storeyed
buildings constructed of mud, or of locally made
bricks, lime-washed, and roofed with red tiles,
which are also manufactured on the spot. The
church, which usually flanks them, is built of rough
blocks of stone, as is that at Matombo, or of bricks
or mud, as the case may be ; and it is often sur-
mounted by a tapering, red-tiled spire. The
eminences upon which these stations have been
established, and the land around their feet, are set
with gardens, groves of fruit trees, and patches of
cultivation, all of which obviously owe their
existence to European initiative and supervision.

The native congregations ordinarily occupy a
number of scattered hovels — built much further

1 Askari = Native soldier.

A HUN PHYSICIAN 23

apart from one another than is the native habit
in West Africa — thatched with grass, and placed
at a respectful distance from the buildings occupied
by the missionaries. The latter in German East
Africa, unlike their prototypes on the West Coast,
apparently did not welcome the too close proximity
of their proselytes.

The mission buildings at Matombo were found
to contain a number of Germans, who were
supposed to be too old for active service, and a
good many of their women and children. The
church, which had been converted into a hospital,
was full of German sick and wounded, who had
been left in charge of a medical man of their own
nationality. This interesting individual was allowed
to continue his ministrations, and it was always
believed — whether rightly or wrongly it is im-
possible to say — that he subsequently made use of
the liberty thus accorded to him to signal the
movements of the Regiment to his compatriots
posted in the Uluguru mountains, the entrances to
which the British were now engaged in forcing.

The whole of this hilly area was thickly
populated by people clothed only in a kind of
kilt made of grass, who, though many of them had
been impressed by the Germans to serve as carriers,
appeared to take no very close interest in the
movements of either of the opposed forces. The
Uluguru mountains were their home — the only
world they knew; and these hapless folk had no
alternative, therefore, but to remain where they
were, watching with the philosophical resignation so
characteristic of a tropical population this strife of
gods or devils which had temporarily transformed

24 ADVANCES ON THE RAILWAY

the quiet countryside into an inferno. It was only
occasionally that their equanimity was ruffled for a
space by the chance explosion of a shell in close
proximity to their dwellings.

General Smuts' drive had so far proved success-
ful, and the Germans, fighting a more or less
continuous rear-guard action, but offering no very
stubborn or prolonged resistance at any given
point, had been forced back, first on to the line of
the Dar-es-Salaam-Lake Tanganyika railway, and
then across it into the mountainous country which
lies between the railway and the low-lying valley
of the Rufiji River.

The Gold Coast Regiment had itself crossed the
railway line at a point some miles to the east of
Morogoro, and had thence penetrated into the hilly
country to the south for a distance of some fifteen
miles, camping on Sunday, the 3rd September,
in the neighbourhood of the mission station at
Matomba. This place is situated on the northern
edge of the Uluguru Mountains — highlands which
occupy an area measuring approximately a hundred
miles square — out of which it was now the task of
the First Division to endeavour to drive the enemy,
who had sought refuge in them.

It was on the 4th September, 1916 — the day on

which the mission station at Matomba was quitted

—that the Gold Coast Regiment was fated, for the

first time, to take a more active part in the East

African campaign.

CHAPTER III

THE PASSAGE INTO THE ULUGURU MOUNTAINS —
THE BATTLES AT KIKIRUNGA HILL AND AT
NKESSA

THE task which the First Division had before it
was to force a passage into the Uluguru Moun-
tains, the main entrances to which the enemy was
preparing stoutly to defend. The principal high-
way lay some distance to the east of the Matomba
mission-station, and here the main battle was in
progress ; but commanding the road, along which
the Gold Coast Regiment marched when it moved
out of its camp at Matomba, the enemy had oc-
cupied a very strong position, and was using
Kikirunga Hill — a sugar-loaf-shaped mountain
crowned with a clump of trees and underwood,
rising clear above its fellows to a height of
perhaps 3000 feet — as an observation point. The
Regiment was ordered to expel him, if possible,
from this hill,

At 7 a.m. on the 4th September the Regiment
moved out of camp, and about two hours later
the enemy opened fire with a couple of howitzers,
upon the road a little ahead of the marching
troops. No casualties were inflicted, but the Re-
giment was halted, moved off the road, and took
up a sheltered position on the right side of it, in
a gut between two hills.

25

26 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

Captain Jack Butler, V.C., D.S.O.— who had
won both these distinctions while serving with the
Gold Coast Regiment in the Kameruns — was then
sent forward with the Pioneer Company to recon-
noitre the enemy's position.

Captain Butler and his men advanced up the
road, which climbed steeply, with many windings
and sinuosities, towards the head of the pass-
leading into the Uluguru Mountains — which was
situated near the foot of the hills of which, on the
left side of the road, Kikirunga is the culminating
point. This road ran, from the spot where the
Regiment was halted, up a sharp ascent and along
a narrow valley, on either side of which kopjes of
gradually increasing height rose at frequent in-
tervals. The first of these, situated about a mile
and a half from his starting-point, and lying to the
left of the road, was occupied by Captain Butler
and the Pioneer Company, and a picket was sent
out to take up a position at a spot where, a little
further on, the road took a deep U-shaped bend
toward the left.

From the kopje occupied by the Pioneers a
general view of the enemy's position could be
obtained. On the left front, about a mile away
as the crow flies, Kikirunga arose skyward from
the huddle of lower hills in which it has its base,
and from one of the slopes of these, somewhat
to the right of the peak, an enemy machine-gun
opened fire upon the position which Butler had
occupied. The beginning of the U-shaped bend
which the road took to the left lay beneath and
slightly to the right of Butler's kopje ; and on
the far side of this loop, where the road, which

28 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

throughout ran between an avenue of mango trees,
wound back towards the right, another kopje, about
a hundred feet higher than that upon which the
Pioneers were posted, ran steeply upward to a
crest which was held by the enemy, and from
which presently another machine-gun also opened
fire.

The road, still climbing steeply, wound round
the foot of this kopje, and between a succession of
similar hills ; and from the right of it a big clump
of mountains, some 2500 feet above valley-level,
rose in a great mass of grassy and boulder-strewn
slopes. All these hillsides were covered with
shaggy, sun-dried grass about two feet in height,
broken by many outcrops of rock, a few trees and
patches of scrub, with little copses and spinneys in
the valley-hollows between hill and hill. In the
middle distance a great dome-shaped peak, some
miles further away than Kikirunga, rose majes-
tically, dominating the landscape and presenting
a wide facet of precipitous grey cliff to the eye of
the observer. The view obtained from the kopje
which Butler had occupied was a splendid example
of tropical mountain scenery ; but from the stand-
point of the leader of an attacking force its strength
was even more impressive than its beauty. The
enemy had had ample time in which to choose his
ground, and he had availed himself to the full of
his opportunity.

It was not till nearly five o'clock in the after-
noon, however, that the Pioneer Company became
heavily engaged; and Captain Butler presently
went forward to the picket which he had placed
near the bend of the road to see how things fared

CAPT. J. F. P. BUTLER, V.C., D.S.O.

60th Eifles.

Bassano, Ld.

To face p. 28.

DEATH OF CAPT. BUTLER 29

with them. It was while he was lying here on
the road beside his men that he and several of
the picket were wounded by a sudden burst of
machine-gun fire from the kopje immediately in
front of him. In all, twelve men of the Pioneers
were wounded during the afternoon, but the Com-
pany held firm, and maintained its hold upon the
kopje which Butler had occupied. Late in the
afternoon B Company, under the command of
Captain Shaw, was sent forward to reinforce the
Pioneers, and to make good the ground which had
been won. This was successfully accomplished,
the wounded were evacuated to the rear, and the
men dug themselves in, and dossed down for the
night in the excavations they had made.

Captain Butler died that evening of the wounds
which he had sustained during the afternoon. A
young officer possessed of at once a charming and
forceful personality, of an absolutely fearless dis-
position and of more than ordinary ability, Captain
Butler, V.C., D.S.O., had won for himself a con-
spicuous place in the Gold Coast Regiment, and
had earned the devotion and affection of the men
in a very special degree. His death, in this the
first action in which the Regiment had been en-
gaged since its arrival in East Africa, was felt to
be a specially malignant stroke of ill-fortune, and
was mourned as a personal loss by his comrades
of all ranks.

During the night, orders were sent to Captain
Shaw, who was now commanding the advanced
companies, to push forward at the earliest oppor-
tunity. This he did at dawn, creeping in the
darkness to the point of the road where Captain

30 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

Butler had been wounded, and thence up the grassy
hill to the road above it. Here the charge was
sounded, and the men with fixed bayonets rushed
up the kopje, which was captured after a few shots
had been fired. In this charge Acting- Sergeant
Bukari of B Company displayed conspicuous
bravery, which was subsequently rewarded by a
second Distinguished Conduct Medal. This fine
soldier was promoted to non-commissioned rank
on the field, and awarded a D.C.M. for conspicuous
gallantry when fighting in the Kameruns. Now,
in this his first fight in East Africa, he again won
that coveted distinction ; but his subsequent history
was a sad one. Evacuated to the rear suffering
from only a slight wound which, during the long
journey to the base at Korogwe, on the Tanga-
Moschi railway, was allowed to become septic, he
died in hospital before ever he had learned of the
second reward which his dash and courage had
earned for him.

During the rest of the day the force under
Captain Shaw's command continued to fight its
way from kopje to kopje up the road, the Pioneers
under Lieutenant Bray and B Company under
Captain Shaw alternately advancing under the
protection of the other's fire. In this manner,
by evening, a point distant about 400 yards from
the head of the pass was reached and secured.

Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regi-
ment of the King's African Rifles was advancing
up the northern slope of the big clump of moun-
tains, which have been described as rising on the
right side of the pass. As soon as this was observed,
a gun of the Gold Coast Regiment was brought

MAKING PROGRESS 31

into action to assist the advance of the newcomers.
The enemy was heavily shelled, but owing to the
commanding positions which he occupied, it was
not found possible to push home the infantry
attack, the King's African Rifles not having yet
won possession of the crest of the mountains.
None the less, considerable progress was made
during the day, and B Company succeeded in
capturing the highest point of the spur round
which the road ran.

At dusk on the 5th September Captain Wheeler
with A Company relieved B Company, and took
over from it the ground which it had won, B Com-
pany forthwith going into reserve. During the
day, moreover, Major Goodwin made a recon-
naissance with half of I and half of G Company
for the purpose of finding out whether a flanking
party could be sent over the hills to join up with
the King's African Rifles. He was able to report
that this could be accomplished.

During the night of the 5th-6th September,
the enemy received reinforcements, and shortly
after dawn he opened a violent machine-gun fire
upon the advanced positions occupied by the Gold
Coast Regiment. Two guns of the Battery were
brought up, and all the commanding heights held
by the enemy were heavily shelled by them, assisted -
by two guns belonging to the 5th South African
Battery. By noon the enemy's fire slackened, and
the King's African Rifles began to make their
presence felt on the summit of the mountains to
the right of the pass, which they had now succeeded
in occupying. G Company, under the command
of Captain Poyntz, had been sent early in the

32 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

morning to join up with the King's African Rifles
by the path discovered the day before by Major
Goodwin, and this junction was effected by about
2 p.m. An hour later the enemy's fire ceased, and
by 4 p.m. Kikirunga Hill, the capture of which
was the task that had been set to the Gold Coast
Regiment, was duly occupied.

The casualties during this two and a half days
of fighting numbered 42 in all, including Captain
Butler and 6 rank and file killed, 3 men dangerously,
13 severely, and 19 slightly wounded. Among the
latter was Colour-Sergeant Beattie. The doctors
and their staff of stretcher bearers, etc., had a
heavy time during these few days, as they not only
attended to the wounded and evacuated them to
the rear under fire, but also conveyed all the more
serious cases back to the mission station at
Matombo.

On the side of the enemy the casualties suffered
were difficult to ascertain, but he lost three
Germans and three native soldiers killed, ahd
there were numerous signs of considerable damage
having been inflicted upon him, while a number of
rifles and some ammunition were picked up in the
positions from which he had retired. In the type
of warfare in which the Regiment was now engaged,
however, it almost invariably happens that the
fugitive force is able to inflict more casualties upon
its pursuers than it is likely itself to sustain. As
has already been observed, it enjoys the advantage
which the selection of the ground confers, and can
always occupy positions from which it can do the
greatest damage to an advancing enemy with a
minimum of risk to itself. It is also able to break

GOOD WORK BY THE REGIMENT 33

off an engagement at the precise moment that best
suits its convenience and advantage ; and the
possession of machine-guns further enables it to
fight a delaying rear-guard action, and to mask the
fact of its retirement, to the very last moment. It
rarely happens in fighting of this class that the
holding of a given position is a matter of any
special importance to a fugitive force. The latter
therefore hold it as long as it pays to do so, and
thereafter can abandon it without danger or em-
barrassment, as soon as its defence threatens to
become inconvenient. The pursuing force, on the
other hand, has only one course open to it — to
attack the enemy whenever and wherever he can
be found, to inflict upon him as much injury as
circumstances permit, but above all, to keep him
on the move and to allow him as little rest and
peace as possible. It is an expensive business, and
it becomes increasingly difficult as lines of supply
and communication progressively extend. It is,
however, the only method whereby bush-fighting
can be efficiently prosecuted; and expense and
difficulty are qualities inseparable from this kind of
warfare.

The following telegram was received by Colonel
Rose from Brigadier-General Hannyngton, com-
manding the 2nd East African Brigade, on the
evening of the 6th September : —

" Please tell your Regiment that I think they
all worked splendidly to-day, and I wish to thank
them for their good work."

On the 7th September, while the King's African
Rifles advanced, the Gold Coast Regiment rested

34 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

and reorganized. On the 8th September, however,
it pushed forward along the road which it had
opened for itself under the lee of Kikirunga Hill,
and made its way vid Kassanga into the heart of
the Uluguru mountains. These are a clump of
high hills, covered with grass and patches of scrub,
and strewn with boulders, and the road was scarped
out of the hillsides, with a steep slope running
skyward on the one hand, and a khudd — over the
edge of which, from time to time, a transport mule
toppled — falling away no less steeply on the other.
The view of the marching men was for the most
part confined to the grassy slope on one side of
them, to the valley tilted steeply downward on the
other, and across it to the rolling, boulder-strewn
hills, smothered in long shaggy grass, green or sun-
dried, with the blue of a tropical sky arching over-
head. No signs of life were visible, save an
occasional deserted village, composed of scattered
mud huts, with grass roofs in the last stages of
decay and dilapidation ; but from the vantage
ground all about them the marching men could,
of course, be seen from many miles away.

On the 8th September the Regiment caught up
with the King's African Rifles, which had dispersed
a small party of the enemy. On the 9th September
the former, which was still leading the advance,
surprised and scattered the 22nd German Company
at a place called Donho ; and that night, after a
very hard day's marching the Gold Coast Regiment
camped at Kiringezi at about 4.45 p.m. On the
10th September the Regiment came out upon the
main road which connects Tulo and Kissaki, and a
stray German Askari was killed by the men of

TAKING UP POSITIONS 35

G Company, who also captured a few rifles. The
2nd East African Brigade was found to be some
five miles ahead, and in the afternoon the Regiment
overtook it, and once more joined the reserve.

The advance troops had succeeded in keeping
more or less constant touch with the enemy, and
as he now showed a disposition to make yet
another stand, A and B companies, under Major
Goodwin, were sent off at 4 p.m. on the llth
September to reinforce and prolong the extreme
right of the British line, which was being held by
the King's African Rifles. Meanwhile half of 1
Company had been sent to the eastern or extreme
left of the line in order to form an escort to the
Machine Gun Company of the Loyal North Lanca-
shire Regiment. Just before dark half of G Com-
pany received orders to advance and take up a
position on the left of half I Company. At 8 a.m.
on the 12th September further orders were received,
and the rest of the Regiment — viz., the Pioneer
Company, half of I Company and the Battery —
moved up the road toward Nkessa and held itself
in readiness to reinforce the left. This the Pioneer
Company and half I Company did at 11 a.m., the
former taking up a position on the extreme left of
the line ; and shortly afterwards the Battery ad-
vanced to a point immediately in the rear of these
companies.

At 2.30 p.m, an advance from the left in a
generally south - south - westerly direction was
ordered, and the Pioneer Company and half I
Company pushed forward to a distance of from
500 to 600 yards, when they were held up by the
enemy who were strongly posted in a village ahead

D

36 KTKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

of them. Here the men dug themselves in.
Captain Poyntz, who was in command, held on to
this position for some time, but he was eventually
compelled to retire, as he found that all touch with
the company on his right had been lost, and as he
heard heavy firing from his right rear, he feared
that his detachment might be surrounded and
cut off.

Meanwhile, G Company, under Captain Mac-
pherson, had barely advanced a hundred yards
before it was forced to halt, a very heavy fire being
opened upon it from a salient in the enemy's line
on the right flank. The fire was so close and
continuous that one gun of the Battery had to be
retired ; and when, subsequent to the action, the
grass was burned off and the true position revealed,
it was found that the contending forces had here
been within fifty or sixty yards of one another.

The enemy's position was astride of the Tulo
road, to which his trenches and rifle-pits ran at
right angles for a distance of about four and a half
to five miles, his extreme right being thrown
slightly forward in the neighbourhood of the
village against which the Pioneer Company and
half I Company, under Captain Poyntz, had ad-
vanced. The country was for the most part grass
and thick scrub, with trees interspersed among
them ; but in the centre of his position on the side
of the road opposite the British left, where a patch
of young cotton trees afforded him excellent cover,
he had pushed forward the salient of which mention
has been made above.

Orders were sent to Captain Poyntz to fall
back ; but his own appreciation of the situation

A FIGHT IN THICK GRASS 37

had already shown him that retirement was
necessary, and he presently lined up alongside
G Company, which maintained its position.

Reinforcements were asked for by telephone,
and a reply was received from Brigade Head-
quarters that the 29th Punjabis were being sent
up by a road which had recently been constructed
to a neighbouring water-supply. A later telephone
message stated that the 29th would advance to the
relief of the Gold Coast Regiment via the main
road.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, A and B Com-
panies had been sent by Major Goodwin to occupy
a position on the extreme right of the British line,
with the King's African Rifles on their left. At
8.45 a.m. a brisk action began, but the advance
achieved was slow. By 1.30 p.m., however, two
hills overlooking Nkessa had been occupied. The
edge of this village opposite to A and B Companies
was strongly held by the enemy, and though the
fight continued while daylight lasted, no further
advance was made. At 6 p.m., therefore, outpost
positions were taken up for the night, and the men
slept in the rifle-pits which they had dug. Inter-
mittent firing continued during the night.

On Wednesday, 13th September, patrols were
sent out at dawn, and it was eventually established
that the enemy had retired from the positions
which he had held overnight. A company, under
Captain Wheeler, was sent from Major Goodwin's
force on the right to rejoin the Regiment on the
left of the line ; and early in the morning the half
of I Company, which had been with the guns
of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, was

38 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

relieved by the 29th Punjabis, and rejoined the
other half of the Company, which was posted
between the Pioneer Company on the extreme left
and G Company.

The Regiment then advanced, the Pioneers
entering the village which they had attacked the
day before, without opposition, where they were
later joined by I Company. G Company, which
had to advance through very dense elephant grass,
lost touch with the rest of the force, as can so
easily happen in country of this description, and
communication with it was not re-established until
the afternoon.

From the village which the Pioneers had occu-
pied, patrols were sent out to locate the river, and
this accomplished, the Pioneers, leaving I Company
in occupation of the village, crossed the stream,
which was only a few feet in width, and advanced
in the direction of Nkessa, holding both banks.
At first only a few snipers were encountered, but
eventually the enemy was found to be in occupa-
tion of a position, with his left resting on a village
on the river's bank, and his right thrown slightly
forward. The enemy promptly attacked, and
Captain Poyntz retired the Pioneers about 200
yards, and having dug himself in, held on to his
rifle-pits for the rest of the day. At about 1.30 p.m.
one section of A Company, which had been sent to
reinforce the Pioneers, came up on their left on
the southern side of the stream ; and an hour and
a half later I Company with two machine-guns
and the Battery came into action and bombarded
the villages held by the enemy on the left and
right fronts.

NKESSA OCCUPIED 39

At 4 p.m. an advance was ordered, and after
an hour's fighting, B Company and three sections
of A Company reinforced the left of the Regiment,
and, night coming on, were halted and dug them-
selves in. The thick elephant grass in which these
operations were conducted rendered the exact loca-
tion of the enemy's position a matter of great diffi-
culty during the whole of this day.

On the morning of the 14th September, the
enemy was found to have once more evacuated his
positions, and the Gold Coast Regiment, having
been relieved by the King's African Rifles, marched
into Nkessa, where the brigade camp had already
been formed.

The casualties sustained by the Regiment be-
tween the llth and the 13th September numbered
four killed and thirty-three wounded, including
Captain Greene, Lieutenant Bray, Colour-Sergeant
May, and Lieutenant Arnold. The last named
died in Tulo hospital on the 16th September of
the wounds which he had received on the 12th
September. Lieutenant Isaacs, who had been sent
forward to reconnoitre, stumbled into an enemy
patrol, and was captured.

On the 19th September the Battalion moved to
a spot on the banks of the Mgeta River, where a
camp was formed. The Mgeta is a branch of the
Ruwu, which falls into the sea at Bagamoyo, oppo-
site to the southern extremity of the island of
Zanzibar. Here the patrols and outposts of the
Regiment were in frequent touch with the enemy,
and a good many casualties were sustained ; and
on the 22nd September the Battalion returned to
the brigade camp at Nkessa. On the 30th the

40 KIKIHUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

Regiment moved to a new outpost camp, between
the Mgeta and Nkessa; and while here a section
of I Company, under Lieutenant Berry, was sent
out to demolish a wooden bridge over the Mgeta.
Just as the work was nearing completion, this
small force was suddenly fired upon by an enemy
patrol posted in thick bush, while many of the
men were standing waist-deep in the stream, five
soldiers being killed and four wounded.

The following day the Battalion, having been
relieved by the 130th Baluchis, was moved to Tulo,
whence a couple of days later it was sent back to
Nkessa, an attack upon that place being antici-
pated. Here the outposts had frequent casual en-
counters with the enemy, and on the 16th October
two different patrols found mines on the Kissaki
road, which had been laid as a trap for troops
advancing by that route. These were constructed
by embedding a four-inch shell in the earth at the
depth of a few feet, with a friction-tube attached
to one end of a plank, the other end of which
slanted upward to just below the surface of the
road. This plank, at a spot about one-third of its
total length, measuring from the shell, was sup-
ported upon a fulcrum in such a manner that,
when any weight was imposed upon the portion
near the surface, the lower end jacked up and
caused the shell to explode.

On the 17th October the Battalion was once
more moved to Tulo, where it remained until the
7th November, upon which date the Second Brigade
broke camp and began a march to the coast at
Dar-es-Salaam. The way led to the banks of the
Ruwu River, of which the Mgete is a right affluent,

MARCH TO DAR-ES-SALAAM 41

and from Magogoni, the point at which the stream
was struck, down its valley to Mafisa. The country
traversed — a green and fertile valley, dipping gently
toward the coast — was perhaps the most attractive
area seen by the Regiment in the lowlands of East
Africa during the course of the whole campaign.
The rivers, of course, were shrunken to their lowest
levels, and many of the tributary streams were
dried up ; but water was obtainable along the whole
line of march, and in spite of the tropical heat,
which increased in intensity as the coast was ap-
proached, the nine days occupied by the journey
to Dar-es-Salaam were less trying than were most
of the marches undertaken by the Regiment
during this campaign.

At Mafisa the main road, which runs from
Kidugato on the railway to Dar-es-Salaam, was
struck ; and here the valley of the Ruwu was
quitted, the Brigade marching in an easterly direc-
tion, almost parallel to the railway, which was struck
in its turn at Kisserawe on the 15th November.
Although this line had now been for some time
in the hands of the British, so much damage had
been wrought to it that it was not yet open to
traffic ; and the Brigade, to which the Regiment was
still attached, accordingly continued its march to
Dar-es-Salaam by road. The last-named place was
reached on the 17th November, and the Regiment
forthwith embarked on the steam transport Ingoma,
the men, with their baggage, stores, etc., and a
number of carriers being conveyed from the land-
ing stage to the ship's side in lighters. All were
got on board by 6.30 p.m., and a rather comfortless
night was spent, the Ingoma being crowded to the

42 KIKIRUNGA HILL AND NKESSA

gunwales with the men of the Regiment, their
carriers and details belonging to other units. Very
early in the morning of the 18th November the
ship got under way, and set off on her two-
hundred-mile journey down the coast to Kilwa
Kisiwani.

CHAPTER IV

IN THE KILWA AREA — GOLD COAST HILL

THE reason for the transfer of the Gold Coast
Regiment, from the region lying to the north of
the Rufiji to a scene of operations situated to the
southward of that river, can be explained in a few
words.

The enemy having been driven, in the course
of the 1916 campaign, first across the Dar-es-
Salaam-Lake Tanganyika railway, and thereafter
through the hilly country to the south of that
line to the southernmost fringe of the Uluguru
Mountains, it was the object of the British com-
mand to confine him, if possible, to the lowlying
valley of the Rufiji during the coming wet season.
He, on the other hand, it was thought, would try
to establish his winter quarters in some convenient
spot on the southern side of the valley, and it was
believed that two of the places which he had
selected for this purpose were the mission stations
of Kibata and Mtumbei Juu, which are charmingly
situated among the group of mountains that rises
from the plain within a mile or two of the sea-
shore between the Rufiji and Matandu rivers. In
order to frustrate any such intention, Brigadier-
General Hannyngton had been dispatched some
weeks earlier to conduct the operations in the area

43

44 GOLD COAST HILL

above described, and it was for the purpose of
acting as a reserve to General Hannyngton's Force
that the Gold Coast Regiment was now being
dispatched to Kilwa Kisiwani. Another factor in
the situation was the great difficulty which the
supply of the troops operating to the north of the
Rufiji would present during the rainy season. It
had become evident that their number must be
reduced, and that even when this had been effected
so far as safety allowed, the maintenance of the
remainder, in a country which ere long would
become water-logged, would be no easily solved
problem.

The Regiment arrived at Kilwa Kisiwani on
the 19th November, and disembarking during the
afternoon, marched to Mpara, where it encamped.
Here on the following day the Battalion was
joined by the Depot Company, which had hitherto
remained at Korogwe, on the Tanga-Moschi Rail-
way under Major Read ; but owing to the
difficulties of transport, its stores did not arrive
with it. On the 24th November the Regiment
marched up the coast, along a sandy track within
sight of the sea, to a camp situated four miles to
the west of Bliss Hill near Kilwa. Arrangements
were made for forming a Depot Company and
store accommodation at Mpara as a regimental
base, and G Company was broken up, the men
composing it being posted to other companies.

On the 25th November the Regiment began its
march along the road which leads in a westerly
direction from Kilwa to Chemera, but owing to
the late arrival of the transport- carriers and water-

A THIRSTY MARCH 45

carts a start was not made until the afternoon.
The Regiment halted for the night in the bush,
six miles from their starting-point and a like
distance from Ngeri-geri, about six miles down
the road ; and on the following day it moved on to
a camp about two and a half miles to the east of
Mitole.

The line of march this day led across a villain-
ous arid flat, covered with mean and dusty scrub
and coarse rank grass, wilted and sun-dried. There
was not an atom of shade to be found during the
whole day's march; the heat from on high was
great, and was vied with in intensity by the heat
refracted from the ground ; and across this weary
expanse officers and men plodded painfully, ankle-
deep in the sandy surface of the road, and racked
with unappeasable thirst. In spite of the assur-
ance given to the Regiment that water would be
procurable along the route, not a drop was to be
obtained until the camp was reached late in the
afternoon. The Gold Coast soldier is a toughish
fellow, and as a rule is not greatly affected by
extremes of heat. Like all Africans, however, he
is blessed with very open pores, and an insufficient
supply of drinking-water hits him peculiarly hard.
On this day no less than forty men fell out, and
sank exhausted on the line of march, and it would
have gone hard with them had not some motor-
drivers hurried to the rear and returned, after an
absence of some hours, with a supply of water.
Many of these exhausted men did not get into
camp until the following day, and all of them,
together with eight officers — for they, too, were
" foot-slogging it " with their men — had forthwith

46 GOLD COAST HILL

to be sent to hospital as the result of this one day's
march.

None the less, on the 27th November, the
Regiment shifted camp to a spot lying three miles
to the west of Mitole ; and on the following day
it moved on to Chemera, where it relieved the
2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles. As soon as this had been effected,
1 Company with 2 officers, 1 British non-com-
missioned officer and 182 rank and file, marched
off to Namaranje to occupy an outpost position at
that place.

The strength of the Regiment at this time was
already very considerably reduced, as the break-
ing up of G Company and the distribution of its
personnel among the remaining Companies indi-
cated. The field-state on November 28th — the
day upon which the Regiment went into camp at
Chemera — showed that only 19 British officers
were present, as against the 36 who had started
from Sekondi at the beginning of the preceding
July, and that during the intervening period, the
number of British non-commissioned officers had
been reduced from 15 to 10, and that of the rank
and file from 980 to 715. The principal battle
casualties have been noted in the course of this
narrative, but much greater havoc had been
wrought to the personnel of the force by ill-health
occasioned by exposure, over-exertion, bad food,
and water insufficient in quantity and often vile
in quality.

It was hoped that on its arrival at Chemera a
period of rest would be enjoyed by the Regiment,
but before it had been in camp a week word was

A TEMPORARY RIVER 47

received that a force composed of a battalion of
the King's African Rifles and the 129th Baluchis,
which was in occupation of the mission station at
Kibata, was being very hard pressed by the enemy,
and ran some risk of being surrounded.

On the 9th December, therefore, the Regiment
left Chemera and marched in a northerly direc-
tion to Mtumbei Chini, and thence on the 10th
December to Kitambi at the foot of the moun-
tains, in the heart of which the mission stations of
Mtumbei Juu and Kibata are situated. It should
be noted that the words " chini " and "juu,"
which will be found so frequently to occur in
place-names in East Africa, signify respectively
"low" and "high." Thus "Mtumbei Chini"
means " Mtumbei on the Plain," and " Mtumbei
Juu " means " Mtumbei on the Hill."

A mile from Kitambi a river was met, through
which the advanced guard, under the command
of Captain Harman, had to wade with the water
up to their necks. The officer commanding the
rear-guard reported that when he crossed it, the
river was only knee-deep ; while Captain A. J. R.
O'Brien, R.A.M.C., who passed the same place
next morning, found no river at all, but only a
partially dried-up river-bed— rather an interesting
instance of the eccentricities of tropical water-
courses. They, indeed, can rarely be relied upon
for very long together, either to furnish drinking-
water or to refrain from impeding transport.

From Kitambi onward only mule-transport
and head-carriers could be used, the path up which
the Regiment was climbing being at once too
narrow and too steep for the passage of motors.

48 GOLD COAST HILL

The precipitous track was difficult for the men,
and still more difficult for the pack-animals ; and
though the distance from Kitambi to Mtumbei
Juu mission station was only eight miles, the mule
transport took three-and-twenty hours to make the
journey, and in the course of the day three mules
were lost by falling over precipices.

The position at Kibata mission*station — which
lies a few miles to the east and slightly to the north
of Mtumbei Juu, and is separated; from it by a fairly
deep valley — was approximately as follows at the
time when the Gold Coast Regiment arrived at
the latter station. One battalion of the King's
African Rifles and the 129th Baluchis had occu-
pied Kibata, which is situated upon a prominent
hill surrounded by an amphitheatre of command-
ing mountains, and this force had forthwith be-
come the object of very severe bombardment.
The Germans had brought up one of the 4'1 naval
guns, rescued by them from the Koenigsberg, and
having placed it in a position on the other side of
the mountains at some spot slightly to the north-
west of Kibata, were shelling the mission station
heavily. They evidently had an excellent obser-
vation point concealed somewhere on the sur-
rounding mountains, for they were making very
good practice ; and the enemy had also established
himself upon the slopes overlooking Kibata in a
roughly semicircular position, with his left to the
east and his right to the west of the mission station.
A ridge, which runs parallel upon the east to the
hill upon which the mission station stands had
been occupied by the garrison ; and it was from this
point alone that they were able in any degree to

SITUATION AT KIBATA 49

retaliate upon the attacking force. For the rest,
the King's African Rifles and the Baluchis, who
had no means of locating the position of the
4-1 gun, and who, even if they had done so,
possessed no artillery with which to make an
adequate reply to its fire, could only endure the
punishment they were receiving with such patience
as they might command. The position, in fact,
was rapidly becoming untenable ; and on the after
noon of the 13th December General Hannyngton
made a careful examination of the ground from a
height in the neighbourhood of Mtumbei Juu,
and decided to attempt to turn the enemy's right
flank.

Between Mtumbei Juu and Kibata, at a point
near the base of the valley which divides the hill
upon which the mission station stands from that
occupied by the Kibata mission buildings, a hill
slopes upward in a long spur, trending in a
northerly direction. Its surface, covered with
grass and strewn with outcrops of rock, is broken
by many minor crests, till the summit is reached
at its most northerly extremity. Near the top a
spur juts out to the east and south, shaped some-
what like the flapper of a seal, its slopes separated
from the main hill by a semicircular valley. The
crest, on which there are a few trees but no cover
of any kind, to-day bears the name of Gold Coast
Hill. The outlying spur is called Banda Hill.
From a point near Mtumbei Juu mission station
and almost directly to the north of it, a ridge of
mountains runs first north and later with a curve
to the east overlooking and commanding Gold
Coast Hill. It was General Hannyngton's hope

50 GOLD COAST HILL

that if the latter could be captured while this ridge
still remained unoccupied, it would be possible
thence to get round behind the enemy and so to
outflank his right. The task of capturing this hill
was assigned by him to the Gold Coast Regiment.

Accordingly, at 6 a.m. on the 14th December,
B Company, under Captain Shaw, was sent forward
along the mountain track which connects Mtumbei
Juu with Kibata, to get into touch with the force
at Kibata, which a day or two earlier had been
reinforced by another battalion of the King's
African Rifles, and which was now under the
command of General O'Grady. He reported that
the road between the two missions was open, and
at dusk the rest of the Battalion moved along the
road for a distance of two to two and a half miles,
and there camped for the night.

At dawn on the 15th December, the disposition
of the Regiment was as follows : —

The main body lay encamped about two miles
along the Mtumbei Juu-Kibata road, with an out-
post line, consisting of 50 rifles and one machine-
gun, of B Company, under Captain Kelton,
thrown out about a mile to the east. Captain
Wheeler, with half A Company and one machine-
gun, was posted on a line immediately in front
of the main body, with a picket on the main road,
and another on Harman's Kopje — a small hill to
the north-west of the camp. The other half of
A Company, under Captain Harman, with one
machine-gun, was in occupation of a hill about 1000
yards north of Harman's Kopje, with an outpost
on a small hill to the left of a path which led to
Kibata, and another picket some 600 yards along

CAPTAIN POYNTZ'S ADVANCE 51

this path at its point of junction with a track
leading west.

At 5 a.m. the Pioneer Company, under the
command of Captain Poyntz, moved forward out
of camp, and three-quarters of an hour later,
Captain Biddulph, at the head of the advanced
guard, passed the post which was being held by
half A Company, under Captain Harman, and
came under fire from the outlying spur on the
right which bears the name of Banda Hill.
Captain Biddulph was dangerously wounded, and
Lieutenant Duncan was killed ; and the vanguard
then withdrew to the main body, while the Battery
came into action from a hill to the north of
Harman's Kopje, loosing off a dozen rounds across
the valley at Banda Hill, whence the enemy's fire
had come.

At about 8 a.m. Captain Poyntz continued his
advance, and working round the small hills on the
left of the main road, reached Gold Coast Hill, the
summit of which was the main objective of the
Force, at about 11 a.m. During this advance he
encountered no further opposition, though he occu-
pied Banda Hill and another eminence situated
somewhat to the north-west of it, and left small
detachments to hold each of these points.

While this advance was in progress, the enemy
brought his big naval gun into action, shelling very
heavily the main road, behind the hill whence the
Battery had opened fire. During this bombard-
ment, one of his shells pitched almost at the feet
of Colonel Rose, who was sitting under the lee of
the hill with the Adjutant, Captain Pye, by his
side, and with an orderly standing near. Both

E

Scale of Yards
400 200 0 400 . 800

1200

1 I I I

HEAVY CASUALTIES 53

Captain Pye and the orderly were killed instantly,
and Colonel Rose was flung backward from this
seat to a considerable distance, but was otherwise
unharmed.

At one o'clock a heavy counter-attack began
on Gold Coast Hill, and upon a small ridge in
advance of that position, which was held by
Lieutenant Shields with 30 rifles and one machine-
gun ; and the violent shell, howitzer, rifle and
machine-gun fire concentrated upon these points
quickly caused many casualties.

By this time the remaining companies of the
Regiment, under the command of Major Goodwin,
were in reserve upon Banda Hill, and upon the
hill to the north-west of it, which had originally
been occupied by Captain Poyntz in the course of
his advance; and half of A Company, led by
Captain Wheeler, was sent forward in support of
the Pioneers. They were shortly followed by
Lieutenant Piggott with one of B Company's
machine-guns, who took up a position on the
right flank of the crest of Gold Coast Hill.
Lieutenant Piggott was almost immediately
wounded, but he contrived none the less to con-
tinue in the firing-line.

At 2.30 p.m. Captain Poyntz was dangerously,
and Captain Wheeler severely wounded, leaving
Captain Harman — who had himself been slightly
wounded — alone to command the main position,
with Lieutenant Shields and Lieutenant Piggott,
the one on the ridge in advance, the other on the
right flank of the crest of the hill.

Shortly afterwards Lieutenant Kinley with one
machine-gun and Lieutenant Taylor with the rest

54 GOLD COAST HILL

of A Company came up in support ; but Lieutenant
Taylor was severely wounded almost at the moment
of his arrival on the crest of the hill.

About 3 p.m. the enemy again opened heavy
shell fire upon Gold Coast Hill, once more causing
many casualties ; and Major Goodwin went forward
with the remainder of the reserves — about 50 rifles
of B Company, under Captain Shaw — who took
up a position to the right of Lieutenant Piggott's
machine-gun post.

For two and a half more hours the Gold Coast
Regiment clung to the position which it had
occupied, and in which it had sustained such heavy
and continuous losses since 11 o'clock in the
morning ; but at 5.30 p.m. the 40th Pathans began
to relieve it. The relief was effected without
serious loss just before darkness fell, and the Gold
Coast Regiment took up outpost positions for the
night between the hill, which ever since has been
known by its name, and the main road from
Mtumbei Juu to Kibata.

It was estimated that the enemy fired 180 high
explosive shells from his naval gun from the time
the hill was occupied until dark ; and the men
were throughout terribly exposed, as the concen-
tration of his rifle and machine-gun and occasional
howitzer fire was such that they were unable to
dig themselves in. Effective retaliation was im-
possible, yet the behaviour of the men throughout
the day was magnificent. Those who were in
occupation of the hill clung to it during more
than six hours with dogged resolution. Those wh<
successively advanced to their support, moved
forward with alacrity, and never showed a trac<

FINE BEHAVIOUR UNDER FIRE 55

of wavering or hesitation. It was about as severe
a test as any to which a body of native troops
could be subjected, but the Regiment passed
splendidly through the ordeal, the severity of
which may be judged from the following casualty
list.

During this rday — December 15th, 1916 — the
Regiment sustained no less than 140 casualties.
It lost 2 officers killed and 7 wounded; 1
British non-commissioned officer wounded ; 26
soldiers killed and 87 wounded; and 5 gun and
ammunition carriers killed and 12 wounded, —
approximately 15 per cent, of the men engaged,
and nearly 50 per cent, of the officers.

On the 16th December the Regiment remained
in camp reorganizing its shattered forces ; on the
17th and 18th December it was held in reserve ;
and though during the 17th detachments were
moved forward in support of the 40th Pathans,
who had been retired from Gold Coast Hill to the
kopjes near its foot, they did not come into action.
On that day, too, Captain Kelton, with 75 rank
and file of B Company, were sent back to Kitambi.
On the 19th December the Regiment was with-
drawn, and went into camp at the foot of Mtumbei
Juu Mission Hill. On the 21st of December the
Regiment took up positions upon a roughly semi-
circular ridge on the left of the road to Kibata and
lying to the north-east of the mission, and here it
remained for some days, occasionally using the
Battery to support the 40th Pathans on Harman's
Kopje, and sending out patrols, some of which
had slight brushes with the enemy. On the 24th
Captain Kelton, Captain D'Amico, R.A.M.C.,

56 GOLD COAST HILL

Lieutenant Percy, Colour- Sergeant Beattie, and
78 rank and file, with other details, rejoined the
Regiment from Kitambi ; and on this day intelli-
gence was received that Military Crosses had been
awarded to Captain Shaw and to Captain A. J. R.
O'Brien of the West African Medical Staff, which
they had earned at Kikirunga Hill.

On the 27th December Captain Kelton, with
80 rank and file, took over Harman's Kopje from
the 40th Pathans, and on the 29th December, a
German camp having been located on the northern
slope of Gold Coast Hill, the Battery opened fire
upon it at 11 a.m., but found the target beyond
its range. The enemy replied, and quickly found
the position of the Battery, which Captain Foley
at once removed to another prepared position.
This movement had hardly been completed ere a
shell burst within seven feet from the spot which
had been vacated only a few moments earlier — a
striking illustration of the excellence of the enemy's
observation and of the accuracy of his fire.

At 9 a.m. on this day Captain Wray arrived in
camp with welcome reinforcements from Kumasi
and a party of Volunteers from Accra in the Gold
Coast. These reinforcements consisted of 160
men of D Company, who were all Fulanis, and 90
Jaundis, who had originally been recruited in the
Kameruns, under Captain Wray and Lieutenant
Downer, 150 men of the Gold Coast Volunteers
under Captain Hellis, and 200 Sierra Leone carriers.

At 1.35 p.m. Captain Biddulph died from the
wounds which he had received, when in command
of the advanced guard, early in the morning of the
15th December.

THE REGIMENT REINFORCED 57

On the 29th the reinforcements were paraded
and allocated to the various companies; and on
the following day General Hannyngton held a
parade of details from all companies that could
be spared from the firing-line, and decorated 3926
Regimental Sergeant -Major Manasara Kanjaga,
4388 Battery Sergeant-Major Bukari Moshi, and
Sergeant Palpukah Grumah with Distinguished
Conduct Medals which had been awarded to them
for services rendered in the Kamerun Campaign.

The strength of the Regiment on the 31st
December, 1916, after the reinforcements above
mentioned had been received, amounted to 19
officers, 14 British non-commissioned officers, 10
clerks and dressers, 860 rank and file, 444 gun,
ammunition, and transport carriers, 34 servants,
and 48 stretcher-bearers, making a total of 1429
officers and men of all ranks.

During the first week of January, 1917, the
Regiment continued to occupy the ridge to the
north-west of the Mtumbei Juu mission station,
and on the left of the road leading to Kibata,
sending out frequent patrols, which collected some
useful information, and came on more than one
occasion into touch with the enemy. The latter,
meanwhile, had sustained a fairly severe check at
the hands of General O'Grady's force, which,
from the ridge occupied by it to the eastward of
the Kibata mission station, had delivered a very
successful night attack upon the extreme left of
the enemy's position.

On the 8th January, information having been
received that large bodies of the enemy had left
and were leaving the area by the road to Mwengei

58 GOLD COAST HILL

village over the hills directly to the north of
Kibata — Colonel Rose decided to make a recon-
naissance in force in order to try to reach this
road, and to retake Gold Coast Hill. At an early
hour of the day, therefore, he proceeded with 250
rifles from A and B Company, with the Battery
and with the 24th Mountain Battery, along the
high ridge overlooking Gold Coast Hill, of which
mention has already been made, starting from the
north-westerly extremity of the ridge which the
Regiment had been holding. Owing, however, to
the extremely difficult character of the country
through which his way led, he was not able to
reach a suitable place from which to begin opera-
tions until late in the afternoon.

At 6.30 on the following morning Major Good-
win began to push forward along the ridge which
commanded Gold Coast Hill from the north-west.
No opposition was met with, and a patrol which
was sent out to reconnoitre Gold Coast Hill re-
ported that it had been evacuated by the enemy.
This was later confirmed by Lieutenant Downer,
who had reached Gold Coast Hill by the old route
from Harman's Kopje, which the Regiment had
followed on the 15th December.

Other patrols were sent forward and reached
the Mwengei road, effecting a junction with the
2nd King's African Rifles and the 129th Baluchis,
who had been operating from Kibata. The fact of
the enemy's retreat was now established, the whole
area being clear of hostile forces ; but the day being
far advanced, Colonel Rose camped for the night at
One-Stick Hill, so named from a conspicuous white
palm-tree on its crest, in a position of extraordinary

MAJOR VON BOMPKIN 59

strength which had been established by the Ger-
mans, and from which it was obvious most of the
heavy howitzer, rifle, and machine-gun fire poured
upon Gold Coast Hill on the 15th December had
come.

On the 10th January the reconnoitring party
returned to Regimental Headquarters via Gold
Coast Hill and the main road from Kibata to
Mtumbei Juu Mission, while active patrolling of
the Kibata- Mwengei road began.

On this day word was received that Captain
Poyntz had been awarded the Military Cross,
Colour-Sergeant Campbell the Distinguished Con-
duct Medal, and Lance- Corporal Sully Ibadan the
Military Medal for their meritorious services in
the engagement on the 15th December.

During the next few days points of strategic
importance were occupied, and patrols were sent
out in various directions. By one of these, which
was furnished by the 40th Pathans, two white
German prisoners were brought in, one of whom
was a certain Major von Bompkin, and the other
a gunner from the Koenigsberg, decorated with the
Iron Cross. Major von Bompkin had been second-
in-command to von Lettow-Vorbeck, but after the
British had forced their way into the Uluguru
Mountains at the beginning of the preceding Sep-
tember, he had headed a deputation to the German
Commander-in-Chief, representing to him that
enough had been done for honour, and that further
resistance was useless and a mere waste of human
lives. Von Lettow-Vorbeck's reply was forthwith
to degrade him to the rank of a mere patrol
commander ; and at the time of his capture

60 GOLD COAST HILL

von Bompkin was in charge of a party of only six
men. He had apparently taken the harsh treat-
ment meted out to him in a fine soldierly spirit,
and as a patrol leader had shown great daring and
enterprise. For instance, on one occasion he had
passed the greater part of the night in the middle
of the camp occupied by the 40th Pathans, shelter-
ing himself from the rain in the officers' latrine.
At dawn he had run into a very sleepy officer of
the regiment, who failed to recognize him as an
enemy in the uncertain light, and he had thereafter
made good his retreat, carrying with him the
detailed information of which he had come in
search.

On the 20th January the Regiment moved
down the mountain by the main road to Kitambi,
Colonel Rose returning to Mtumbei Juu mission
station in the afternoon. He came back to Kitambi
on the following day with the staff of the 3rd East
African Brigade, to the command of which he
had been temporarily appointed ; and on the 22nd
January he left for Ngarambi Chini, a place situated
some twenty miles due west of Kibata. Major
Goodwin took over the command of the Gold
Coast Regiment with effect from the 21st January.

CHAPTER V

IN THE KILWA AREA — IN THE SOUTHERN VALLEY
OF THE LOWER RUFIJI

ON the 26th January, 1917, the Regiment, under
the command of Major Goodwin, left Kitambi for
Ngarambi Chini, and reached its destination next
day, after camping for the night on the road at
Namatwe, a spot distant fourteen and a half miles
from the former place. From this point the roads
in the neighbourhood were regularly patrolled ; and
on the 31st January the Regiment moved to
Kiyombo — a place some six miles north of
Ngarambi Chini — where the brigade camp was
established. From the 29th January to the 6th
February A and B Companies were detached from
the Regiment, and were stationed first at Nam-
burage and later at a place on the banks of the
Tjugomya River, to which the name of Greene's
Post was given. From all these points, the work
of patrolling the roads in the vicinity was regularly
carried out ; and on the 3rd February Lieutenant
Shields, with Colour-Sergeant Nelson, 50 rank
and file and 1 machine-gun, were sent out on
this duty from Njimbwe, where the Pioneer Com-
pany was then on a detached post, along the road
leading to Utete. It should be noted that the
Utete here mentioned is not the largish town on
the right bank of the Rufiji River which bears that

61

62 KIBATA AND NGARAMBI AREA

< cQ

GEORGE BILLIARD SHIELDS 63

name, but a much smaller place situated about
eleven miles north of Kiyombo.

The patrol under Lieutenant Shields had orders
to meet a patrol of the King's African Rifles from
Kiwambi at a point some nine miles from Njimbwe,
but he had proceeded along the road leading to
Utete for a distance of only about a mile and a
half when the advance point sent back to report
that they had seen a group of about ten German
Askari on the eastern or right side of the track.
It was a favourite trick of the Germans at this
time to dress themselves and their native soldiers
in kit belonging to the British which had fallen
into their hands, and thus to occasion confusion as
to who was friend and who was foe. The country
through which Lieutenant Shields was patrolling
was for the most part of a fairly open character,
though it was covered with rank grass, set pretty
thickly with trees, and studded here and there with
patches of underwood. The party of the enemy
had only been glimpsed for a moment, but as
Lieutenant Shields went forward at once, followed
or accompanied by Colour - Sergeant Nelson, a
white man, dressed like an officer of the King's
African Rifles, appeared at a little distance ahead
of the advance point, crying out in English, " Don't
fire ! we are K. A.R.'s." Lieutenant Shields, who
was very short-sighted, taken in by this treacherous
ruse, bade his men not fire, and the enemy, who
appear to have been about 200 strong with many
Europeans among them, thereupon poured a volley
into the patrol from the bush at very short range.
This was followed by the blowing of bugles and an
assault. Lieutenant Shields and Colour-Sergeant

64 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUFI.TI

Nelson were both shot, as also was the corporal in
charge of the machine-gun while trying to bring
his piece into action. A German who attempted
to approach Shields as he lay on the ground was
shot by a man of the Gold Coast Regiment, and
the rest of the machine-gun team managed to get
their gun away safely. The patrol, however, had
to retire in disorder, and in addition to the casualties
already enumerated 8 rank and file were missing
and were afterwards ascertained to have been killed,
while 2 stretcher-bearers were wounded, and 1
machine-gun carrier, 1 transport-carrier and 2
stretcher-bearers were also missing. The patrol
further lost 3 boxes of small-arm ammunition, 6
machine-gun belts, 2 stretchers and a medical
haversack.

It was Lieutenant Shields, it will be remem-
bered, who held the advanced post on the ridge
beyond the summit of Gold Coast Hill during
those soul-searching hours between 11 a.m. and
dusk on the 15th December. It seemed a tragedy
that this gallant young officer, who had come un-
scathed through the ordeal of that day, and who
had earned for himself a high reputation for cool-
ness and courage, should lose his life in the paltry
wayside ambush above described.

George Hilliard Shields was at the outbreak of
war a member of the Education Department of
the Gold Coast, and held the post of headmaster
of the Government Boys' School at Accra. He
had earlier filled a scholastic post in Raffles'
Institute at Singapore : and in the Gold Coast
he distinguished himself by passing the very
difficult interpreter's examination in the Ga

PATROL SKIRMISHES'" 65

language. Like so many Gold Coast civilians,
Mr. Shields early volunteered for active service,
but it was not found possible to release him from
civil employment until the Regiment was ordered
to East Africa in the middle of 1916. He will
long be remembered in Accra for the excellent and
manly influence which he exerted over the boys
who were under his tutelage.

At 1.30 p.m. a standing patrol was sent forward
to the Kibega River on the Unguara road, where it
entrenched itself. Shortly afterwards a small
enemy patrol appeared on the road to the south of
this post and was fired upon. The men composing
it bolted into the bush, their porters dropping their
loads, which turned out to be part of the small-
arms ammunition lost by Lieutenant Shields
earlier in the day. Later in the afternoon the
enemy returned and, supported by three maxims,
attacked the post. The patrol of the Regiment
held on for a while, but finding itself outnumbered,
retired through the bush to the camp at Njimbwe,
losing one man.

On the 4th February, the Regiment left the
camp at Kiyombo and moved forward to Njimbwe,
which lies about five miles to the north, where the
40th Pathans presently joined them ; and from
here, as usual, small patrols were daily sent out
along the roads in the neighbourhood.

On the 5th February the Pioneer Company
and the Battery left Njimbwe at 5.30 a.m., in the
midst of a terriific thunderstorm, for the purpose
of supporting the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regi-
ment of the King's African Rifles, who were about
to deliver an attack upon two German camps, both

66 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUFIJI

of which overlooked the Ngarambi-Utete road.
They came in contact with an enemy post, which
was quickly dislodged, and they subsequently
joined up with the King's African Rifles, only to
learn that the elusive enemy had abandoned his
camps.

The detachment camped for the night with the
King's African Rifles at the junction of the road
to Utete with another track ; and as a token that
the dry season was now fairly over, heavy rain fell
with melancholy persistency during all the hours
of darkness. The men, of course, had no shelter
save such as they had been able to improvise for
themselves on the preceding evening ; and there
are, perhaps, few more dreary or depressing ex-
periences than that of lying out all night under
the relentless beat of a steady tropical downpour.
The cold felt has little in common with the brisk,
keen cold of a frosty day or that met with at a
high altitude; but it has certain raw and pene-
trating properties, and the discomfort becomes
hourly more acute, while at every moment the
puddles suck and squelch beneath you, and fresh
streams of colder water flow in from unexpected
directions to chill you to the bone.

At 8 a.m. on the following morning — February
6th — the detachment left its comfortless bivouac,
and marched and waded back to Njimbwe over a
shockingly bad track, which the heavy rain of the
night before had reduced to a quagmire and in
places had flooded to a depth of two feet. The
detachment had hardly got into camp when some
carriers, who had been out searching for fuel, ran
in with the news that the enemy was approaching.

AN ENEMY ATTACK 67

An attack quickly followed, the enemy taking up
a line from south-east to west, and approaching in
places to within 200 yards of the camp. The
surprise was complete, and some of the men of
the 40th Pathans, who were outside the perimeter
when the attack began, were unfortunately injured
by their own machine-gun fire. The enemy, how-
ever, was not in any great strength, and he had
evidently not realized that he was attacking so
large a force. When he discovered the situation
he drew off somewhat hastily, and was hotly
pursued for over a mile. Only a few of the
attacking force were seen, but among them an
European was observed wearing a King's African
Rifles hat and flash, and two Askari, one with a
turban and one with the green knitted cap which
is part of the service kit of the men of the Gold
Coast Regiment. The casualties sustained by the
latter were 1 man killed, 3 wounded, 1 gun-carrier
and 5 transport-carriers wounded, and 1 Gold
Coast Volunteer missing, of whom nothing was
ever subsequently heard. The 40th Pathans lost
6 men killed and 18 wounded, while the known
enemy losses were 10 men wounded, including
1 European. Immediately after this incident,
Captain Harman took out a patrol to repair the
telephone-line, which had been cut, while for some
time previously it had been frequently tapped by
the enemy.

The next few days were occupied in patrolling
the roads in the neighbourhood of the camp ; and
on the 9th February the bodies of Lieutenant
Shields, Colour-Sergeant Nelson, and of eight
soldiers, who had been killed on the Utete road

68 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUPIJI

on the 3rd February, were discovered. A burial
party was sent out, and the bodies of Lieutenant
Shields and Colour-Sergeant Nelson were brought
back to the camp, where the burial service was
read by the Rev. Captain Nicholl, and Holy
Communion was celebrated.

For some weeks past the men of the Regiment
had been suffering very acutely from lack of
sufficient food. Not only was the supply inade-
quate, but much of the stuff sent up had to be
condemned as quite unfit for human consumption.
Many of the men were terribly emaciated, and
some eighty of them were subsequently sent to
hospital suffering from starvation. Had the Regi-
ment not had the good fortune to find a few food
plots planted with cassava, things would have been
even worse than they were. The officers would
have fared no better had not some of them chanced
to possess a slender stock of European provisions,
which they shared in common ; but the officers of
a neighbouring mess had to live for weeks upon
nothing but mealie porridge, which they consumed
at frequent intervals throughout the day, as they
found it impossible to eat at a sitting enough of
this filling but unsatisfying stuff to allay their
hunger for more than a few hours.

The discipline of the men of the Gold Coast
Regiment under this prolonged and trying ordeal
was beyond all praise. They had followed their
white officers across the sea to this unknown land,
where they had endured cold such as they had
never dreamed of, where they had been grilled by
the sun and parched by unappeasable thirst. They
had plodded manfully up hill and down dale, across

CAMP AT NJIMBWE 69

barren, arid flats, and had waded through a water-
logged country. Whenever and wherever they
had met the enemy they had fought him like the
fine soldiers they are, until the saying, "The
green caps never go back," had passed into a
proverb in the German camp. Now in the heart
of a dismal swamp, they were slowly but surely
starving. Yet never once did they murmur or
blame their officers.

During the next fortnight the Regiment re-
mained in the camp at Njimbwe, sending out
patrols, some of which had difficulty in preventing
themselves from being cut off by the suddenly
deepening swamps, when a more than usually
heavy downpour flooded the low-lying land ; squab-
bling with enemy forage-parties for possession of
the rare patches of cassava ; taking an occasional
prisoner ; and sustaining a few attacks upon its
outposts, During one of the latter incidents, on
Valentine's Day, Machine-gun Corporal Tinbela
Busanga behaved with great gallantry, working
his gun, after he had been badly wounded in the
arm, until he was too faint with loss of blood
to carry on. On this day, though the enemy was
driven off without difficulty, two men of B Com-
pany were wounded. On another occasion, a patrol
of six men, under Corporal Amandu Fulani 4, was
ambushed and killed to a man, though not until
they had made a hard fight of it. Amandu Fulani,
who was a very smart and gallant young soldier,
had been orderly to the Governor at Accra, but
when D Company was ordered to East Africa,
he insisted upon accompanying "his brothers."
When his body was found, it had been stripped

70 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUFIJI

of his uniform, but a gunshot wound in the abdo-
men had been bound up with his kamar-band.
Though the enemy had removed his casualties,
there were abundant signs that the little patrol
had sold their lives dearly.

And during all this time the entry in the War
Diary of the Regiment, " Half Rations," sounds
its reiterated and despairing note.

On the 23rd February the Gold Coast Regi-
ment moved out of Njimbwe camp at daybreak,
marched to Ngarambi Chini, which was reached at
2 p.m., and where an hour's halt was called. The
march was continued till 6 p.m., at which time
Namatewa was reached. The distance traversed
was a good twenty miles, which at any time is a
tough bit of work for a body of marching men,
but though a few swamps were met with the road
was drier than might have been expected. None
the less, the men, in their then half-famished con-
dition, arrived very tired, and were glad to find
that the Pioneer Company, which had gone on in
advance, had got a comfortable camp ready for
their reception, and had succeeded in finding
excellent water. This latter feat had been per-
formed, not for the first time, by Corporal Musa
Fra-Fra, a native of the North-Eastern Province
of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast.
This man seemed to possess some strange instinct
which enabled him unerringly to discover water if
such were to be obtained anywhere by digging or
otherwise ; and though he obstinately refused
to reveal his secret or to show any one how to
perform similar miracles, frequent use was made
of his strange faculty by the officers of the

PROMOTION OF COLONEL ROSE 71

Pioneer Company during the campaign in East
Africa.

From this point the Regiment inarched by
fairly easy stages to Kitambi, at the foot of the
hills, to Mtumbei Chini, Chemera, and Mitole,
where it arrived on the 27th February, and went
into camp to reorganize and recuperate. The men
had richly earned a period of rest, for they had
been continuously on the march or on active
service ever since their arrival at Kilindini, in
British East Africa, exactly seven months earlier.

Colonel R. A. de B. Rose, D.S.O., who had
actively commanded the Regiment ever since the
end of August, 1914, who had served with it
throughout the Kameruns campaign before bring-
ing it to East Africa, and who since January 20th
had been in command of a column, was made a
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel with effect from the
1st January, 1917, to the great satisfaction of the
officers and men.

This pause in the Regiment's activities, though
it was not destined to prove of any long duration,
may be taken as providing a convenient oppor-
tunity briefly to review the general military situation
as it stood at the end of the wet season of 1917.
The rains in the lower valley of the Rufiji River
began this year early in February, and in the
ordinary course they might be expected to last
until late in May, the commencement of the dry
season in tropical East Africa usually synchroniz-
ing more or less accurately with the breaking of
the south-west monsoon upon the shores of Ceylon
on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

72 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUFIJI

As we have seen, the drive from north to
south, which had been begun in earnest in the
preceding August, and for participation in which
the Gold Coast Regiment had arrived just in time,
had had the effect of expelling the enemy first
from the country between the Tanga-Moschi and
the Dar-es-Salaam-Lake Tanganyika railways,
and later from the country between the last-named
line and the Rufiji. Once across this river, a
further retreat to the south became for the enemy
almost a necessity ; and when he found that he
could not establish his winter headquarters in the
highlands about Kibata mission station, he seems
to have broken his forces up into comparatively
small parties, and while keeping in touch with the
troops on the southern side of the Rufiji, who were
under General Hannyngton's command, to have
worked steadily south, living on the country as far
as possible, and gradually making his way out of
the water-logged areas amid which he had been
overtaken by the break-up of the dry weather
early in February.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck, the German Commander-
in-Chief, who throughout was the living soul of the
resistance offered to the British, was not a man
who believed in doing things by halves, and when
he found that the valley of the Rufiji was unten-
able, he established his main headquarters nearly
two hundred miles further to the south of that
river, at a place lying within thirty-five miles of
the Rovuma, which is the boundary between erst-
while German and Portuguese East Africa. The
spot chosen was the mission station at Massassi,
which is pleasantly situated at a height of 1500 feet

INFLUENCE OF SEA-POWER 73

above sea-level, and is a point at which the prin-
cipal roads running through the south-eastern
portion of the territory cross one another. The
main road from the port of Lindi, which runs in a
south-westerly direction to Makotschera on the
Rovuna, and there effects a junction with the
main road which skirts the northern bank of that
river from Sassaware to its mouth, crosses at Mas-
sassi the main road from Newala on the south-
east, which runs in a north-westerly direction to
Li wale, and thence almost due north to the Rufiji
River at Mikesse. From Li wale, moreover, another
main road runs in a north-easterly direction to the
sea at Kilwa Kivinje, and west by south to Songea
— itself a point of junction of an elaborate road-
system — and thence due west to Wiedhafen on
the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Even in this campaign, it should be noted, the
influence of British sea-power made itself felt, for
though some supplies are known to have reached
the enemy in spite of the naval blockade, the
command of the sea had enabled General Han-
nyngton's force to be slipped in behind the
retreating Germans via Kilwa, and had shown
to von Lettow-Vorbeck the danger he ran of
being cut off or surrounded by troops rapidly
transported by sea to some spot south of the
scene of his land operations. Apart from the
commanding position which Massassi occupied
as 'the key-point of the main lines of communi-
cation by land in this part of the country, and
from its convenient proximity to the German-
Portuguese boundary, its selection as von Lettow-
Vorbeck's main headquarters during the 1917

74 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER RUFIJI

campaign was probably due to the fact that it
could not easily be outflanked by troops conveyed
further to the south by sea. With his main head-
quarters established at this point, moreover, and
with all the principal highways in this part of the
country at his immediate disposal, he could freely
raid the districts to the north in which the scat-
tered British forces were strongly established, and
could occupy and hold, as long as it paid him to
occupy and hold them, points of vantage such
as Liwale, which could conveniently be used as
his advance bases.

The German troops must have suffered con-
siderably during the months immediately following
their expulsion from the country north of the
Rufiji, though it is doubtful whether they were
called upon to endure a greater measure of physical
discomfort or more acute starvation than that which
fell to the lot of the Gold Coast Regiment and
the 40th Pathans in their water-logged camp at
Njimbwe, or to that of the Nigerian Brigade —
which had now arrived in East Africa — and which,
while holding with other troops the northern bank
of the Rufiji during all that dismal rainy season,
went lamentably short of everything save water,
of which there was always an odious superfluity.

The fidelity of the German native soldiers at
this period, and the fact that so few of them
voluntarily surrendered to the British, have been
quoted in certain ill-informed quarters as providing
a striking testimony to the affection which the
Germans are alleged to have inspired in the native
population of East Africa. Subscription to any
such opinion argues a complete misunderstanding

THE GERMAN ASKARI 75

of the military system which the Germans erected
in their African colonies. It had for its basic
principle the establishment among the native popu-
lation of an isolated caste, whose members were
not only allowed, but were actively encouraged, to
assert their superiority over the rest of the in-
habitants of the country, who, where a soldier was
concerned, ceased to have any rights of person or
of property, and could look for no redress when it
was an Askari who had maltreated them. It will
be remembered that in the German mind, as it
was revealed to a disgusted world in August and
September, 1914, there existed a strange confusion
of thought, which drew no distinction between fear
of physical violence and the respect inspired by
noble qualities. Thus it was openly declared by
the German High Command that the organized
bestialities practised in Belgium would cause the
whole world "to respect the German soldier." It
was this characteristic confusion of ideas which
led the Germans in their African colonies to seek
to inspire the native population with a proper spirit
of " respect " for their white rulers, by placing every
ruffian who wore the Kaiser's uniform above the
law, and by bestowing upon him a free hand in
so far as the treatment of the rest of the native
population was concerned. An example may be
cited, which is drawn from the personal knowledge
of the present writer. In September, 1913, a
German native soldier in the employment of the
Togoland Government shot an old woman — a
British subject — for an unwitting breach of quaran-
tine regulations, and having shot her, proceeded to
club her to death with the butt-end of his rifle

76 IN THE VALLEY OF LOWER TIUFIJI

Protests were duly made to the then Governor of
Togoland, Duke Adolf Freidrich of Mecklenburg,
and assurances were given that suitable notice had
been taken of the incident. Yet when the British
occupied Lome, the capital of Togoland, less than
a year later, the culprit was found not even to have
been sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

During the earlier part of the campaign, and
as far as possible up to the very end, everything
was done to mark the superiority of the Askari
over the rest of African mankind. They were
provided with carriers who were, to all intents and
purposes, their bondsmen and body-servants, their
very rifles being carried for the soldiers when on
the line of march and at a secure distance from
the enemy. For their use a commando of women,
under military escort, was marched about the
country — a luxury with which the German officers
also were for the most part plentifully provided ;
and, in fact, no stone was left unturned to impress
upon the men themselves and upon the rest of the
native population that the Askari were a Chosen
People in whose presence no dog must presume
to bark.

The inevitable effect of this system was that
the hand of every civilian native throughout the
German colonies in Africa was against the Askari,
and when war broke out these native soldiers were
unable, even if they had been willing to risk so
hazardous an experiment, to melt back into the
native population from whom they had been com-
pletely differentiated and isolated, and whose un-
dying hatred they had earned in good measure,
shaken together, pressed down, and running over.

CAPTURED ASKARI 77

Their only safety lay in holding together, and in
maintaining as long as possible the tottering mili-
tary system to which they owed alike their past
privileges and their present imminent danger of
death at the hands of an enemy, or of still worse
things if they fell into the clutches of their outraged
countrymen. Toward the end of 1916 a number
of captured Askari were sent back to British East
Africa, and were there incorporated in a battalion
of the King's African Rifles. The reputation
which they there won for themselves is instructive
— excellent on parade, but a most violent and
undisciplined crew when off duty, who in their
relations with the native population respected the
laws neither of God nor of man.

It was due to the German system, it is true,
that the Askari remained faithful to their white
masters, but the reasons which inspired this fidelity
are to the last degree discreditable to Germany
and to her conception of the manner in which an
European nation should " co-operate in the work
of civilization " 1 among a primitive people in a
distant land.

1 It was a British Prime Minister who declared, speaking during
the early eighties of the nineteenth century, that if Germany desired
colonies, " Great Britain would welcome her co-operation in the work of
civilization."

CHAPTER VI

IN THE KILWA AREA — MNASI AND RUMBO

DURING the month of March, 1917, the main
body of the Regiment lay in camp at Mitole,
undergoing company training, and sending out
frequent small patrols along the roads in the neigh-
bourhood. The Depot Company still remained
at Mpara, between Kilwa Kivinje and Kilwa Kisi-
wani, the latter being the port at which the
Regiment had landed when it was transported
south by sea from Dar-es- Salaam in the preceding
November. B Company was dispatched to hold
a post at a place variously called Kirongo and
Nivanga, which lies almost due west from Mnasi
a few miles up a track that leads from the main
Kilwa Kivinje-Liwale road, to Njijo, whence the
main road from Kilwa Kivinje runs northward to
Kitambi. A post consisting of one officer and
twenty men of the Pioneer Company was also
established at Nigeri-geri, near the junction of the
main roads from Kitambi and Liwale, and on
March 26th the whole company was sent there.
On the 25th March the post at Nivanga, which
was protecting a party working on the Chemera
road, was attacked by an enemy patrol, which was
driven off without difficulty, but two men of
A Company were wounded.

78

AFFAIR AT MAKANGAGA 79

On the 3rd April, the Regiment left Mitole,
and marching across country along a vile track
till the main highway leading from Kilwa Kivinje
to Liwale was encountered, reached Mnasi on the
following day, and proceeded to establish a camp
there. Mnasi lies on the main road above men-
tioned and is distant about three-and-twenty miles
from Kilwa Kivinje. Here two wells, dug by
the Germans and cased with brick, were found,
but they contained no water. B Company was
separated from the rest of the Regiment at this
time, being still stationed at Kirongo.

Very early in the morning of April llth, a
bush native came into camp and reported that
another native, who had come into Makangaga
from the south on the preceding evening, had
brought word that the enemy was at Likawage,
rather more than thirty miles I to the south of
Mnasi, and that two companies, over two hundred
strong, were marching down the road to that place.
Makangaga lies south-east of Mnasi and is distant
barely four miles from that place. Accordingly
Lieutenant Kinley, with seventy-five rank and file
and one machine-gun, was at once dispatched to
make an attempt to ambush the advancing enemy.

This little band proceeded up the road to
Makangaga, and passing through that village,
sought some point of vantage from whence to
attack the enemy as he marched down the road.
For once men of the Gold Coast Regiment, whose
patrols had so often been harassed by an elusive
and invisible enemy, were to have a chance of
subjecting a German force to a similarly unpalatable
experience.

80 MNASI AND RUMBO

The country, however, was for the most part a
dead flat, broken only by gentle undulations, and
now, toward the end of the rains, it was covered
with a new growth of tall grass, very thick and
lush. In these circumstances, it was not possible
to find any spot which actually overlooked the
road and was at the same time securely concealed
from the observation of the enemy's advanced
points. Lieutenant Kinley, however, took careful
note of the lie of the land, and led his little force
into the high grass, where he drew it up in as
compact a line as possible in a position parallel to
the highway, and distant some sixty or seventy
yards from it. Here the machine-gun was set up,
and the men, breathless with expectation and
excitement, lay down and waited.

Presently the sound of a large body of men
marching down the road became audible ; and
Lieutenant Kinley, reserving his fire until he
judged that the main body of the enemy was
in his immediate front, let the Germans have it
with rifle and machine-gun for all his little force
was worth. An indescribable uproar ensued, while
enemy bullets whistled in every direction above
the heads of Kinley's men ; and presently it became
obvious that the Germans were rushing into the
long grass upon a wide front to counter-attack
their assailants.

Fearing to be enveloped by the greatly superior
force which he had had the hardihood to ambush,
Lieutenant Kinley ceased fire, rapidly moved his
men to the rear and toward one of the enemy's
flanks, and from thence repeated his former tactics.
Another wild hooroosh was the result, and for

LIEUTENANT KTNLEY'S ACTION 81

perhaps a quarter of an hour, the Germans and the
little band of Gold Coasters played an exciting
game of hide and seek, each being completely
hidden from the other by the ten-foot screen of
grass, and being compelled to trust purely to the
sounds that reached them to determine the direc-
tion of their fire. At the end of that time a luck-
less band of Germans, composed of Europeans and
natives, wandered into view, walking along a path
within a few yards of a spot in which Lieutenant
Kinley and his breathless men were lying. Very
few of the enemy survived this encounter; and
Lieutenant Kinley considering that he had now
done as much damage as he would be able to effect
without running too great a risk of himself being
enveloped and cut off, extricated his small force
with considerable skill, and led it back to the camp
at Mnasi.

In this brilliant little encounter six men of the
Gold Coast Regiment were killed, six were wounded,
and one fell into the hands of the enemy. The
latter lost three white men and fifteen Askari
killed, and over thirty wounded; and the Gold
Coast Regiment, remembering the fate of Lieu-
tenant Shields and Colour-Sergeant Nelson and
their men, had the satisfaction of feeling that, to
use the phrase of the officers' mess, " they had got
back some of their own."

On the 13th April the enemy sent in a flag of
truce, and restored to the Gold Coast Regiment
four of the men who had been wounded during
Lieutenant Kinley 's action on the llth April.
The bearer of the flag of truce admitted the heavy
losses which the enemy had sustained on that

82 MNASI AND RUMBO

occasion. For his daring little exploit, Lieutenant
Kinley was recommended by Colonel Rose, who
was still commanding the 3rd East African Brigade,
for a Distinguished Service Order.

On the 15th April, the Regiment made a nine
hours' march over a villainous track to Migeri-geri,
which is situated on the main road thirteen and
a half miles from Kilwa, where a new camp was
established ; and on the 17th of April Lieutenant
Beech with a patrol of fifty rank and file and one
machine-gun marched along the Mnasi road to
investigate the cutting of the telegraph wire. He
met a patrol of B Company, with whom was the
agent of the Intelligence Department, and they
shortly afterwards had a brush with an enemy
patrol, B Company losing one man killed and one
wounded ; but the enemy was driven off and the
telegraph line repaired.

On the same day, Captain Foley with the
Battery and an escort of thirty rank and file of
A Company, joined a force, commanded by the
Colonel of the 40th Pathans, which was operating
in the direction of Mnasi ; the Gold Coast Regi-
ment took over the outposts hitherto held by the
Pathans ; Captain Greene and the Pioneer Com-
pany joined the Regiment in camp ; and at 7 p.m.
a cable party was sent out to restore communica-
tion with the Officer Commanding the Pathans
at Rumbo, a place about five miles south by east
of Migeri-geri.

On the following day the Battery and its escort,
under the command of Captain Foley, came in for
a pretty hot engagement at Rumbo, where they
were in action with the 40th Pathans and 150 men

THE 40TH PATHANS 83

of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the
King's African Rifles. It was the 40th Pathans,
it will be remembered, who took over Gold Coast
Hill from the Regiment at dusk on the 15th
December, and throughout the campaign they
had fought with steadfastness and courage. Their
casualties, both in the field and from sickness, had
been very severe, however, and their numerical
strength had recently been made up by large
drafts of raw recruits from India, the bulk of
whom were not drawn from the strata of the
population which, in the past, have always sup-
plied men for the 40th Pathans. Precisely what
happened on this day does not concern us here.
That the veterans of the 40th Pathans fought gal-
lantly is attested by the fact that of one of their
machine-gun teams every man was killed at his
post, but the rest of the story can best be confined
to the experiences of the Battery of the Gold Coast
Regiment and of its commander.

On the 18th April Captain Foley got his guns
into position, in order to cover and support the
infantry advance, at a point across the Ngaura
River in the neighbourhood of Rumbo. The
stream, in which the water was on that day nearly
chin-deep, was behind him, and the camp of the
force which Colonel Tyndall of the 40th Pathans
was commanding lay in the bush on the further
bank. The country was covered by pretty dense
trees and scrub, and all that the guns could do was
to shell the area in which the enemy was believed
to be concealed. After this had been going on for
some time, the Battery trumpeter, Nuaga Kusasi,
approached Captain Foley and reported that there

G

84 MNASI AND RUMBO

were no British soldiers in front or on the flanks
of the Battery, and that the men moving in the
bush, barely thirty yards ahead, were the enemy.
Captain Foley was incredulous, but Nuaga Kusasi
insisted, and stating that he could see a German
officer, put up his rifle and fired at him. Im-
mediately the bush ahead of the guns was seen to
be alive with enemy Askari.

The men of the Battery, and the thirty men of
A Company which formed its escort, behaved ad-
mirably, and Bogoberi, one of the gun-carriers,
drew his matchet and declared that he and his
fellows would charge the enemy with those weapons
before the guns should be touched. His example
was followed by all the other gun-carriers, who
were enlisted men drawn from the same tribes as
the soldiers.

These things happened in the space of a few
seconds, and already Captain Foley had taken
complete charge of the situation, his fluency in
Hausa making it easy for him to give his orders
clearly and rapidly. He bade the Battery Sergeant-
Major retire the two guns and all the ammunition
across the river, and then dividing his small force,
which was composed of the thirty men of A Com-
pany and about a dozen men of the Battery, he
placed half under the Sergeant-Major of A Com-
pany and the rest under Sergeant Mahmadu Moshi
of the Battery. These non-commissioned officers
successively led charges into the bush, whence,
barely twenty yards away, the enemy were firing
upon Foley's men. This had its immediate effect,
and Foley next retired half his little party a few
yards to the rear, while the rest emptied their

A DIFFICULT OPERATION 85

magazine rifles into the bush occupied by the
enemy. The party in advance then retired at
the double through the men behind them, and
in their turn took up a position from which to
cover the retreat of their fellows. In this manner
the enemy, who were in greatly superior force,
were successfully kept at bay, while Sergeant-Major
Bukare Moshi retired the two guns to the further
bank of the river, an operation which was so suc-
cessfully conducted that, in spite of the deep water,
it was performed with the loss of only one box
of ammunition. One gunner and three men of
A Company were killed, and three gun-carriers
were wounded ; but the guns were saved, and the
great coolness and skill with which Captain Foley
handled his men, and the pluck, steadfastness, and
resource which the latter showed, won the special
praise of Colonel Tyndall of the 40th Pathans.
The action of the Battery on this occasion did
much to avert what at one time threatened to be
a serious disaster. Later in the day Captain Shaw,
with two hundred men of A and B Companies,
marched to Rumbo to reinforce the 40th Pathans.
The feat thus accomplished was one of quite
extraordinary difficulty. The river- crossing at this
point, even in the dry season, is by no means
easy, for the banks, which are some ten feet in
height, rise sheer from the bed and had been worn
smooth by the passage of much running water.
On this particular day, however, the stream was a
raging torrent and the steep banks were as slippery
as ice. That, in these circumstances, the passage
of the guns and ammunition should have been
effected with such expedition and success shows

86 MNASI AND RUMBO

what human effort is capable of achieving in
moments of intense excitement.

During the action just described, Lieutenant
Murray, R.N., who was in command of a naval
Lewis gun section, had all the men of his team
either killed or wounded. He then attached him-
self to Captain Foley, rendering him valuable
assistance, and refusing himself to cross the stream
until the last of the Battery had passed over in
safety.

Captain Macpherson, in command of I Com-
pany, was also in action during this day at a place
called Beaumont's Post, which was situated near
the banks of the Magaura river, on a track that
runs parallel to the coast, but well out of sight
of the sea, to the east and a little to the south of
Humbo. This post, though of great strength, was
very close to the enemy, and it and the patrols sent
out from it were frequent objects of his attack.
On this occasion Captain Macpherson lost two
men killed, two wounded, and twro local porters
killed.

On the 19th April the rest of the Regiment
marched to Rumbo, and there relieved the 40th
Pathans ; and during the afternoon the enemy,
under a flag of truce, sent in five men who had
been wounded during the action of the preceding
day, and who had fallen into his hands. The
bearer of the flag of truce admitted that the enemy
had himself lost thirty men in that action, so the
veterans of the 40th Pathans and the Battery of
the Gold Coast Regiment and its escort had not
put up their rather desperate little fight in vain.

During the next two days the surrounding

REGIMENT AT RUMBO 87

country was patrolled, and the defences of the
camp at Rumbo were improved ; and on the 22nd
April the Brigade Headquarters were established
there, and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment
of the King's African Rifles arrived in camp.
Patrolling continued, and on the 25th April Cap-
tain Macpherson reported from Beaumont's Post
that he had been engaged with the enemy on the
18th April and again on the 20th April; that he
had lost in all four men killed, four wounded,
and one missing; and that among the killed was
Company Sergeant-Major Hassan Bazaberimi.

It was while the Regiment was in camp at
Rumbo that von Lettow-Vorbeck planned and
carried out one of those daring little ventures
which, even though they might have no special
military value, helped no doubt to keep up the
spirits of his people, and certainly appealed very
strongly to his opponents' instinctive love of a
good sportsman. He sent a small raiding party
through the bush to a point overlooking the har-
bour of Kilwa Kisiwani, and having got a gun on
to a hill in the vicinity, opened fire upon a British
transport which was lying at anchor. He actually
scored three hits, and, the surprise being complete,
this unexpected attack upon the British sea-base
caused for the moment a certain amount of appre-
hension. Even the Depot Company of the Gold
Coast Regiment at Mpara was mobilized under
Major Read, and was posted along the northern
shore of the harbour ; but the Germans were not
in a position to deliver any serious attack, and
when a British cruiser appeared on the scene they
prudently withdrew.

88 MNASI AND RUMBO

For the rest of the month the Regiment re-
mained at Rumbo, daily patrolling the country,
improving the defences and the water-supply of
the camp, and having frequent slight brushes with
the enemy, in the course of which a few casualties
were sustained.

The strength of the Regiment on the 1st May
1917, was only 9 officers, 6 British non-commis-
sioned officers, 7 clerks, 2 dressers, 786 rank and
file, 381 carriers, 18 servants, and 41 stretcher-
bearers, or 1250 men of all ranks. As compared
with the personnel of the force which had left
Sekondi for East Africa on the 6th July, 1916,
only one-fourth of the cadre of officers was now
available; the British non-commissioned officers
were reduced by 9 ; the rank and file by 194 ;
and this in spite of the reinforcements from the
Gold Coast which had reached the Regiment on
the 27th December. Notwithstanding the pro-
longed and trying experiences to which the men
had been subjected, they were as keen and as
staunch as ever ; but the strength of a native force
must ever depend in a great degree upon European
leadership, and now there were only 7 company
officers and 2 British non-commissioned officers all
told, to be distributed between the Battery and
the four Companies of the Regiment, two of the
other British non-commissioned officers being mem-
bers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and one
being in charge of the transport. It may be ac-
counted no less than marvellous that, in these
circumstances, the corps continued to exhibit so
great a measure of energy and vitality.

During the whole of May, however, the Gold

HONOURS AND AWARDS 89

Coast Regiment remained in camp at Rumbo,
making the usual daily patrols, and on one occasion
taking part in a reconnaissance in force, in con-
junction with the garrison at Mnasi and I Company
at Beaumont's Post, on a thirty-two-mile front,
during which, however, the enemy was not brought
to action. A few casualties continued to occur
during the month to men belonging to the detach-
ment at Beaumont's Post ; but by the end of May
there were eleven combatant and two medical
officers with the Regiment, — a material improve-
ment, but still little more than one-third of the
proper establishment. The combatant British
non-commissioned officers still numbered only
four. During the month news was received that
Lieutenant Kinley had been awarded the Military
Cross for his action on llth April, and that a
similar distinction had been conferred upon Captain
Foley, commanding the Battery, for services ren-
dered in the engagement at Rumbo, when sup-
porting the 40th Pathans, on the 18th April. A
Distinguished Conduct Medal, and four Military
Medals were also awarded to the Battery and to
the sections of A Company which supplied its
escort for the fight they had put up on that day.

On the 29th May, half the Pioneer Company,
under Lieutenant Bray, went to Migeri-geri to
form part of the garrison at that place.

On the 1st June, 1917, Major Goodwin was
appointed an Acting Lieutenant- Colonel, and was
also awarded the French Croix de Guerre. In-
telligence was also received that Lieutenant Piggott
had been awarded the silver medal of the Italian
Order of San Maurico.

90 MNASI AND RUMBO

During the first nine days of the month nothing
occurred beyond the usual patrols, and an occasional
interchange of shots with the enemy ; but on the
10th June, the Pioneer Company reliefs, returning
from a post two and a half miles west of the camp,
were ambushed at about 7.30 a.m. by a party of
the enemy of great numerical superiority. The
returning patrol extended in the bush, opened fire
on the enemy, and compelled him to retire. The
body of one German Askari was left on the ground,
and some blood spoor was seen in the bush. The
Pioneers lost one man killed and one wounded.

On the llth June information was received
that, on the occasion of His Majesty's birthday, the
Distinguished Service Order had been conferred
upon Lieutenant - Colonel Goodwin and upon
Captain Harman, the Military Cross upon Lieu-
tenant Piggott, and the Distinguished Conduct
Medal upon Sergeant-Major Medlock.

On the following day, Captain Macpherson
with three of the sections of I Company which,
with a company of the 33rd Punjabis, had been
occupying Beaumont's Post, where they had had
so many brushes with the enemy and had sustained
such frequent casualties, rejoined the Regiment at
Rumbo. Lieutenant Biltcliffe, with another de-
tachment of I Company, remained at Beaumont's
Post, and on the same day he reported that a
mixed patrol, composed of his men and of the
33rd Punjabis, had been ambushed by the enemy,
and that one man of the Regiment had been killed
and seven others wounded. The Punjabis lost one
European officer and six Indian soldiers killed.
On the 13th June Lieutenant Biltcliffe returned

COLONEL SHAW IN COMMAND 01

to Rumbo from Beaumont's Post with the rest of
I Company, after patrolling the Mgaura River, a
small stream that empties itself into the inlet of
the sea which forms a deep and narrow bay slightly
to the north and west of Kilwa Kisiwani.

On the 15th June 987 men of the Sierra Leone
Carrier Corps came into camp and were attached
to the Gold Coast Regiment, whose officers, with
a sigh of relief, saw these sturdy West Africans
replace the much less efficient and reliable local
porters.

Captain Shaw was appointed Acting Major, and
second in Command of the Gold Coast Regiment
on the 16th June, and on the 28th June he was
appointed Acting Lieutenant-Colonel, and took
over the command, Major Goodwin having been
invalided to the base. Shortly before Colonel
Rose had been struck down with dysentery and
had also been invalided to Dar-es- Salaam, the
command of the 3rd East African Brigade being
taken over from him by Colonel Orr. General
Beves had succeeded General Hannyngton in the
command of the Division.

A camp on Lingaula Ridge, a few miles to the
south of Rumbo, which had been evacuated by
the enemy, was occupied by Lieutenant Bray with
I Company on the 28th June ; and the same day
the Regiment received orders to move on the
morrow to Ukuli, a place to the south and only
slightly to the east of Rumbo, whence it returned
on the 30th June, without having succeeded in
bringing the enemy to action. On this latter date
the detachment at Linguala Ridge was attacked
by an enemy patrol, which was driven off with the

92 MNASI AND RUMBO

loss of one European killed, I Company having
two men wounded.

Thus ended the month of June, 1917. The
dry season might now be regarded as fairly
established, and the country, covered by a luxuriant
growth of elephant grass and of fresh green bush
into which the recent rains had infused a new life,
was already beginning to dry up. The cadre of
officers was still far below strength, but it now
numbered thirteen combatants, with two medical
officers and three officers attached to the Sierra
Leone Carrier Corps. The rank and file only
totalled 771 men ; but the little force now
possessed 1264 sturdy West African carriers, 42
stretcher-bearers, and five interpreters, and was
perhaps more really mobile than it had yet been
since its arrival in East Africa. In all Colonel
Shaw had under his command 2156 men ; and
after the comparative stagnation and the constant
harassing patrol work of the past six months, the
Regiment looked forward with eager anticipation
to the resumption of more active campaigning.

MAJOR G. SHAW, M.C. CAPT. E. G. WHEELER, M.C.

MAJOR H. READ.

To face ^.9

CHAPTER VII

IN THE KILWA AREA — NARUNGOMBE

GENERAL BEVES was now preparing to take the
offensive, his plan being to divide his force into
three columns which, working southward, but
describing segments of a circle on the west and on
the east, might perhaps get in behind the enemy
and contrive to envelope him. As usual the
difficulties of maintaining sufficient supplies of
provisions, ammunition and water obtruded them-
selves from the outset ; but the force was well
equipped with motor transport, and it was hoped
that, by cutting tracks eight feet wide through the
bush, a passage might be made for these vehicles
in the rear of the advancing columns.

In order to deceive the enemy as to the main
line of his advance, Colonel Orr decided to make a
feint along the road past Lingaula Ridge due south
of the camp at Rumbo, and this duty he assigned
to a company of the Gold Coast Regiment.
Colonel Shaw selected B Company for the
purpose ; and when at 10 p.m. on the 4th July
the Regiment left Rumbo with the No. 1 Column,
B Company, under the command of Lieutenant
Eglon, remained behind at Langaula Ridge.

There was an eclipse of the moon on the night
selected for the start, and the darkness was intense,
and it was not till noon on the 5th July that

93

94 NARUNGOMBE

Beaumont's Post was reached. No. 1 Column,
which was commanded by Colonel Orr, consisted
of the Gold Coast Regiment, the 33rd Punjabis,
the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the
King's African Rifles, the famous Indian Mountain
Battery from Derajat, which goes by the name of
the " D. M. B.," and the 8th South African In-
fantry, which joined the Gold Coast Regiment at
Beaumont's Post. No. 1 Column was to make the
sweep southward on the left of the advance. No. 2
Column was composed of the 1st and 2nd Battalions
of the 3rd Regiment of the King's African Rifles,
the 7th South African Infantry, and the 27th
Mountain Battery, under the command of Colonel
Grant. Its sweep was to be made on the right of
the advance. A third column was operating still
further to the left of No. 1 Column. This column
consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd King's
African Rifles, and the 40th Pathans. On the day
before the engagement at Narungombe it was rein-
forced by one and a half companies of the 8th
South African Infantry from No. 1 Column. No. 3
Column was under the command of Colonel Taylor.
The 129th Baluchis were in reserve at Makangaga.

No. 1 Column left Beaumont's Post at 7 p.m.
on the 5th July for Ukuli, and at midnight the
men bivouacked in column of route. At dawn the
march was resumed, and at 4 p.m. the Gold Coast
Regiment took over the advanced guard from
the King's African Rifles, who had been heavily
engaged all day, and had succeeded in dislodging
the enemy from a prepared position.

As soon as this relief had been affected, the
Pioneer Company advanced and engaged the

NGOMANIA AND MNINDI 95

enemy's rear-guard, which it found some 300
yards up the road, and which it drove back to a
distance of about a mile. Here the Pioneer Com-
pany bivouacked, remaining all night in its ad-
vanced position as outpost company, the rest of
the Regiment rejoining No. 1 Column in camp.
One man was killed and one wounded in the
advance by the Pioneer Company.

On the 7th July, the Gold Coast Regiment
marched as advanced guard to the column which
was now heading in the direction of Ngomania.
This place was occupied by the Regiment, after
encountering slight resistance, and the rear-guard of
the column came into camp there at about 3 p.m.

On this day, however, No. 2 Column had a
serious engagement with the enemy in which many
casualties were sustained on both sides.

On the 8th July, the Gold Coast Regiment,
which had received orders to march to Mnindi,
there to join up with No. 2 Column, left Ngomania
at 4.30 a.m. tt was accompanied by a section of
the D.M.B., and the little force marched to Ma-
kangaga — the scene of Lieutenant Kinley's exploit
—where at 9 p.m. it bivouacked for the night.

Meanwhile B Company, which had been left
behind at Lingaula Ridge under the command of
Lieutenant Eglon, had carried out the duty en-
trusted to it with great dash and brilliancy. On
the 7th July Lieutenant Eglon, pushing southward
down the road from his camp at Lingaula Ridge,
found no less than three companies of Germans in
front of him, and promptly attacked. Though the
enemy hopelessly outnumbered the men under his
command, Lieutenant Eglon managed to drive

96 NARUNGOMBE

them from three successive positions, making as
great a display of B Company as possible, and
evidently impressing the Germans with the idea
that they were about to be attacked in force.
During these operations Lieutenant Scott was
seriously wounded, Sergeant Awudu Arigungu,
who had had long service both with the Northern
Nigeria Regiment and with the Gold Coast
Regiment, was killed, and eight other men of
B Company were wounded.

Having effected his purpose, Lieutenant Eglon,
in accordance with his instructions, fell back to
Lingaula Ridge, and on the 9th July rejoined the
Regiment at Makangaga.

From this place No. 2 Column cut across country,
almost due west, to Kirongo, on the main Liwale-
Kilwa road, leaving Makangaga at 6.30 a.m. on
the 10th July, Colonel Shaw commanding the
column on the march. Kirongo was reached at
1.30 p.m. ; and on the following morning at 6 a.m.
the column pushed on five miles to some water-
holes in the dried-up bed of a stream called Kirongo-
Ware, where it camped at 1.30 p.m. On this day
Colonel Ridgeway assumed the command of No. 2
Column.

At 6 a.m. on the 12th July No. 2 Column
resumed its march down the track leading in a
south-easterly direction to Kilageli, and at 10 a.m.
its patrols came into touch with enemy scouts, with
whom a few shots were exchanged. An enemy
camp at Kilageli, ahead of the column, was located
and bombarded by the D.M.B., and the column
deployed and occupied this camp without resist-
ance at about 4 p.m. Here the column rested for

K1HENDYE AND RUNGO 97

the night, and on the 13th July at 1.30 p.m. it
continued its advance, and at sundown reached
Minokwe, which lies four miles further along the
road south by west of Kilageli. At 4 a.m. on the
14th July, the column again moved forward in
the direction of an enemy position some six miles
to the west of Mtanduala, from the advanced
teepches of which a hot fire was opened upon it.
The D.M.B. came into action and shelled the
enemy position, and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of
the King's African Rifles and the 7th South African
Infantry joined in the fight, in which the Gold
Coast Regiment also engaged at about 11 a.m.
The enemy, fighting a rear-guard action, retired,
and two hours later the engagement came to an
end. The casualties were few, and the column
bivouacked for the night in the prepared position
from which the Germans had been ejected.

On the 15th July, the column marched in a
south-westerly direction to Kihendye and thence
to Rungo, a few shots being exchanged during the
day between the King's African Kifles and enemy
scouts. The former lost one man killed and three
wounded.

During this day the work of cutting a path,
designed for the use of motor-lorries, across country
and through the thick, tall grass began, two com-
panies of the Gold Coast Regiment being sent
forward for this purpose ; and during the whole of
the next two days this work was continued. It
was a very toilsome job, hacking an eight-foot
track through elephant-grass and occasional patches
of thorn-thicket, with a merciless sun smiting down
from above, with nought to breathe save the stuffy

98 NARUNGOMBE

overheated and used-up air peculiar to big grass
patches in the tropics, with only a few dry biscuits
for food, and a constant, agonising insufficiency of
water. The men stuck to it manfully, but one
poor fellow died during the day of exhaustion and
heat-apoplexy; and in the end this vast expendi-
ture of labour was all in vain. The track had been
cut on a compass-bearing, but the only surveys in
existence were very roughly approximate, and the
path through the grass was eventually brought to
a standstill by encountering a steep cliff up which
no motor-lorry could conceivably find a way. A
little further on, a large main road which runs
north and south was struck, and No. 2 Column
presently found itself in junction with No. 1
Column, which had advanced down this road to
Kipondira. Here the Gold Coast Regiment was
retransferred to No. 1 Column,

On the 18th July No. 1 Column left Kipondira
at 10 a.m., the Gold Coast Regiment being sta-
tioned towards the rear of the force, which was in
action with the enemy until about 2.30 p.m., when
the Germans retired, and the column camped for
the night at Kihumburu. Two miles further
down the road from this place the main body of
the enemy operating in this part of the country
had taken up a strongly entrenched position at
Narungombe. The plan for his envelopment had
miscarried, as was almost certain to befall in a
country such as that through which the columns
were operating, where movements of troops were
inevitably slow, where difficulties hampered supply,
where scarcity of water presented a constant menace
to the very existence of the forces in the field, and

SCOUTING DIFFICULTIES 99

where a few scouts, used with even a modicum
of skill, could easily keep the enemy informed of
the direction which any hostile unit was taking.
No. 3 Column had carried out the task entrusted
to it very successfully, for the wide sweeping move-
ment which it had made had enabled it to cut in
behind the enemy, who was in occupation of a scarp
at Mikikama, where he would have presented a
formidable barrier to the advance of No. 1 Column.
This was a service of considerable importance ; but
now all three columns, though their convergence
hi front of Narungombe had not been intended,
were assembled in the vicinity of the main road a
few miles to the north of that place. This well
illustrates the extreme difficulty of concerted opera-
tions when carried out in thick bush or high grass,
as soon as ever the roads or paths running through
it are quitted.

The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of
the King's African Rifles, who had borne the
brunt of this day's fighting, had rendered a tre-
mendous service to the columns by expelling the
Germans from a water-hole at Kihumburu, and
thus making it available for the troops. It was
evident, however, that the supply so obtained
was quite insufficient for the needs of the force
for more than ;a very limited space of time ; and
it thus became a matter of vital importance that
the enemy should be dislodged from the very strong
position which he had taken up at Narungombe,
where a much larger set of water-holes was known
to exist. Orders were accordingly given for an
attack to be delivered upon Narungombe early ou
the following morning.

H

100 NARUNGOMBE

The position which the enemy had prepared
and occupied consisted of a series of breastworks
some two and a half feet in height, built of earth
stoutly faced with sticks driven deep into the
ground and bound together with lianas, with a
number of small redoubts and strongly constructed
machine-gun emplacements, and a specially strong
defensive post for the accommodation of the high
command. These works, drawn along the upper
slopes of two hills, between which the high-road
passes, extended in an irregular but continuous
line, with many slight protrusions and salients, for
a distance of two and a half miles. The defensive
position was particularly strong at the left ex-
tremity of the enemy's line. From the British
camp at Kihumburu the main road runs due south
and almost straight to the centre of the German
position, dipping into a valley a few hundred yards
in advance of the British camp, and thereafter rising
gradually in a long glacis to the hills upon which
the enemy was entrenched. The country here-
abouts is undulating, and covered throughout with
high grass, and patches of thorn-scrub set fairly
thickly with rather mean-looking trees; but im-
mediately in advance of the enemy's position, the
grass had been cut, leaving stalks about two feet
six in height, for a distance of some three hundred
yards, and thus depriving the attacking force of
any cover. The enemy had four companies in the
firing-line, with four more companies in reserve,
which, however, arrived too late to take part in
the battle. He had two guns of about 2'95 calibre
and at least six machine-guns ; but above all, he
had, as usual, been able to select his own defensi\

DEATH OF LIEUTENANT EGLON 101

position, and could rely upon making the task of
his ejectment an extremely expensive undertaking.

On Thursday, the 19th July, the British ad-
vance began at 6 a.m., No. 1 Column leading with
the Gold Coast Regiment in the centre. It had
been reported that no enemy post existed at a
point nearer than 1000 yards along the road from
the British camp ; but before the Regiment had
traversed 300 yards, and while they were still in
column of route, fire was opened upon them, and
two men were killed and three wounded ere ever
they had time to deploy. An advance in extended
order through high grass is necessarily a rather
slow operation, and while the Gold Coast Regi-
ment was working forward, one company of the
2nd Battalion of the King's African Rifles was
sent forward out of reserve, and in order to protect
the Regiment's advance, occupied a ridge on their
right flank which lay to the south-west of the
British camp,

At 8.15 a.m. the advance-guard of the Regiment
became heavily engaged, Lieutenant Eglon having
led B Company to within a short distance of the
enemy's well-entrenched and strongly held position.
Here this gallant young officer, who had done so
well a few days earlier when attacking from Lin-
gaula Ridge, was killed, and B Company suffered
many casualties. Colonel Shaw had taken up an
advanced position along the road behind a mound,
from which he was able throughout the day closely
to observe the operations he was conducting ; and
he now sent I Company to prolong the line on
the right of the attack. A few minutes later the
Pioneer Company was also sent forward to prolong

102 NARUNGOMBE

the right ; and at 9.30 a.m. the 33rd Punjabis, who
had been held in reserve, were also sent yet further
to prolong the right, while the 7th South African
Infantry deployed on the left of the Gold Coast
Regiment.

At this juncture orders were given for No. 3
Column to attempt a wide turning movement on
the right of the enemy's position, the 3rd Battalion
of the 3rd King's African Rifles and the 40th
Pathans leading the advance, with certain water-
holes as their objective. No. 2 Column was
ordered at the same time to carry out a similar
turning movement on the left. At 10.30 a.m.
these troops began to get into position, and at
noon No. 3 Column became heavily engaged.
The 3rd Battalion of the 3rd King's African Rifles
and the 40th Pathans had been pushed forward,
without any preliminary scouting, into a valley on
the British left, where they presently came under
a devastating rifle and machine-gun fire from both
forces. By this time the enemy's fire had grown
intense along the whole line ; and the 8th South
African Infantry, the bulk of whom still formed
part of No. 1 Column and occupied ground on the
left of the Gold Coast Regiment, attempted to
advance, but were enfiladed by machine-gun and
rifle fire from salients in the enemy's line. They
maintained their position for a while, but the
troops upon their left failed to make good, and
the grass all round them was set on fire by the
British shells.

This failure on the left placed the Gold Coast
Regiment in a highly perilous position, as its flank
was now completely in the air. Moreover, by this

BLAZING GRASS 103

time, the grass was well alight along the whole of
the front. The men, however, were steady as a
rock, and showed no signs of giving way as had
the South African and Indian troops on their
immediate left. As for the blazing grass, that was
a phenomenon to which they had all their lives
been accustomed, and they manfully stamped the
flames out, in spite of the heavy fire to which
they were exposed, and stolidly resumed the fight.
On the left of the line, where the danger was
most imminent, Colour-Sergeant Campbell very
specially distinguished himself, and did much to
encourage and confirm the spirit of the men, only
too many of whose officers were already hofs-de-
combat. He fought his machine-gun until practi-
cally all its team had fallen, and in the end
brought it safely out of action.

Meantime the right flank had advanced 800
yards, but at 3.30 p.m. they were strongly counter-
attacked by the enemy, and two platoons of the
2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles were sent to prolong the right and
to get into touch with No. 2 Column, which so
far had failed to make its appearance. And all
this time the enemy maintained from his defences
an intense and relentless fire.

A general advance had been arranged to take
place at 2.30 p.m., but the position on the left
had by that time become so critical that the
movement could not be carried out at the hour
fixed ; and at 4 p.m. orders were sent to the Gold
Coast Regiment not to attempt any further ad-
vance. These orders arrived too late, and the
Gold Coast Companies on the right, with the

104 NARUNGOMBE

33rd Punjabis and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
Regiment of the King's African Rifles, charged
and took certain of the enemy's trenches, but
were unable to hold on owing to their left being
unsupported and to their ammunition running
short. They were accordingly retired, but only
to a distance of 100 yards from the enemy's
trenches, where they dug themselves in and held
on. The 2nd Battalion of the King's African
Rifles remained on the enemy's flank in a patch
of thick bush, and succeeded thence in getting
into touch with No. 2 Column. Darkness was
now falling, and the Gold Coast Regiment and
the troops on its right bivouacked for the night
in the rifle-pits which they had dug for them-
selves.

Meanwhile, the troops on the left had again
been led forward into action by Major Hill of the
South African Infantry and by the Commander of
the Stokes Battery, thus reconsolidating the line
on the left of the Gold Coast Regiment.

At dawn on the following day it was found
that the enemy had evacuated his position. He
had effected his object, and had made the attacking
force pay a heavy price for the possession of the
water-holes of Narungombe. Now, before he could
be enveloped or cut off, he beat a hasty retreat
toward the south. The position from which he
had inflicted so much damage upon his pursuers
had served its purpose, and he had nothing more
to gain by attempting longer to hold it.

The casualties suffered by the Gold Coast
Regiment, having regard to its strength at this
time, were very heavy. Of the greatly reduced

HEAVY CASUALTIES 105

cadre of officers and of British non-commissioned
officers, Lieutenant Eglon was killed, Captain
A. J. R. O'Brien, M.C., of the West African
Medical Staff, was severely wounded, as also
were Captain Leslie -Smith, Colour-Sergeant
Baverstock and another colour- sergeant. Lieu-
tenant Bray was slightly wounded. B Company
lost its sergeant-major — Awudu Bakano — a very
fine soldier, and of the rank and file, 37 were
killed and 114 were wounded. The total casualties
were thus 158 out of about 790 men engaged,
or 20 per cent, of the whole combatant strength
of the corps.

Never had the men of the Gold Coast Regi-
ment shown more grit than on this day at Narun-
gombe. They went into action early in the
morning of the 19th July after having been
marching and fighting, or painfully cutting paths
through the bush and high grass — labouring
practically without cessation— since the evening
of the 4th of that month. They were hotly
engaged with the enemy during the whole day,
exposed to a fierce sun, with very poor cover,
with little to eat and with less to drink, and were
exposed throughout to gun, rifle and machine-gun
fire, mostly at fairly short range, from 8 a.m. to
nightfall. In addition to the enemy, they had
constantly to fight the blazing grass, which
rendered their position more and more exposed ;
yet these Africans never wavered, but continued
stubbornly to hold their positions, though more
than one company had been robbed of all its
European leaders and was being commanded solely
by its native non-commissioned officers. When

106 NARANGOMBE

towards the end of the day, they had occupied the
enemy's trenches on the right, and running short
of ammunition and being unsupported on* their left,
were unable to hold on, they retired only a hundred
yards in obedience to orders and with perfect
steadiness, and from their new position forthwith
resumed the fight. It would be difficult to devise
a test more searching that could be applied to
native troops, and the triumphant manner in
which on this occasion the "green caps" main-
tained their reputation as men who "never go
back " is a striking proof of the Regiment's high
quality as a fighting unit.

For the services rendered by him while in com-
mand of the Regiment on this day, Lieutenant-
Colonel Shaw was subsequently awarded a bar to
the Military Cross which he had already earned.

CHAPTER VIII

THE HALT AT NAKUNGOMBE

ALTHOUGH the Germans had abandoned their
position at Narungombe, the severe losses which
they had inflicted upon the British were out of all
proportion to any advantages which the latter could
claim to have secured. The check, too, impressed
the British command with the difficulty of dealing
with the enemy unless the pursuit could be rendered
not only rapid but continuous, and above all with
the fact that an adequate supply of water was the
hinge upon which all future operations must turn.
At Narungombe the very machine-guns of the
Gold Coast Regiment had for a time been put out
of action through lack of water wherewith to cool
the jackets, and the men in the firing-line had been
cruelly tortured by thirst during the greater part
of that day. After the fight at Narungombe,
therefore, the column under General Beves' com-
mand remained in camp at that place to refit.
There reinforcements speedily arrived, and General
Hanuyngton, returning from sick-leave, presently
resumed command of the force. A large fortified
camp was established ; a space to the north of it
was cleared and made into an aerodrome ; supplies
of every description were accumulated ; and all
things were made as ready as circumstances per-
mitted for a renewed advance. Meanwhile no

107

108 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

forward movement was attempted from July 20th
to September 17th, a delay during two precious
months of the dry season which unfortunately gave
the enemy also time to rest and reorganize, to
complete his preparations for further resistance to
the advance, and to accumulate supplies at his
advanced bases and depots. It was desired, how-
ever, that General Hannyngton's new advance
should form part of a much larger scheme ; and
its timing, so as to ensure co-operation with another
column whose movements will be described in the
following paragraph, imposed perhaps a longer
period of inactivity than was necessary merely for
the purpose of refitting.

The Nigerian Brigade, which had arrived in
East Africa some months after the Gold Coast
Regiment, had endured unspeakable things during
the wet season of 1916-17 in its camp on the
northern bank of the Rufiji. Here the Brigade
had suffered from an insufficiency of supplies and
the difficulties occasioned by a water - logged
countryside. Now three battalions, under General
Cunliffe, had been brought round by sea to Kilwa
Kisiwani, and were about to operate as a separate
column on the right of General Hannyngton's
force, at present encamped at Narungombe. The
task of these columns would be to endeavour to
drive the enemy southward into the Lindi area;
and meanwhile a large force, of which the remaining
battalion of the Nigerians formed a part, had been
landed at Lindi, and was trying to slip in behind
the enemy for the purpose of helping to encircle
him.

Meanwhile, Belgian troops from the Congo

GENERAL NORTHEY'S ADVANCE 109

were advancing in a south-easterly direction, with
Mahenge as their immediate objective, — Mahenge
being an important place, two hundred miles due
west of Kilwa, on the main road which runs north
and south from Songia to Kilossa on the Dar-
es-Salaam-Lake Tanganyika railway. Simul-
taneously, General Northey's force, which had
worked through from Northern Rhodesia and had
had a certain amount of fighting in the neighbour-
hood of Lake Tanganyika, was advancing, in a
north-easterly direction, upon Mpepo, a place that
lies fifty miles south-west of Mahenge. The object
of both these forces, and of a third which was
advancing southward with its base at Dadome on
the Dar-es-Salaam railway, was the envelopment
or dislodgment of the German European and native
troops which, under the command of Major von
Tafel, were operating in the western part of the
territory, mostly to the south of the Ulanga, which
is an upper branch of the Rufiji River.

The position at Narungombe, which as we have
seen is situated on a main road that runs north and
south some thirty miles to the east of the highway
that leads from Kilwa Kivinje to Liwale, was as
follows. The enemy had retired down the former
of these roads to Mihambia, which is distant only
twelve miles from Narungombe, and where there
are another set of water-holes ; and he had
established here his main advanced position. From
the high-road at Mihambia, a footpath leads west
to a place called Kitiia, three miles away, where
four tracks meet. One of these runs for five miles
in a westerly direction till a ravine, which bears the
name of Liwinda, is struck ; one runs south-east to

110 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

rejoin the high-road at Mpingo five miles south of
Mihambia, and northward to Mikikole, which is
some five and a half miles off. At Mikikole the
Gold Coast Regiment had an outpost ; and from
this place footpaths lead, one north-west to
Narungombe; one east to a point on the main
road four and a half miles south of Narungombe,
occupied by the company of the 2nd Battalion
of the King's African Rifles, to which the name of
Gregg's Post was given ; and a third in a south-
westerly direction, crossing Liwinda Ravine, and
running on to some water-holes nine miles further
off near the native village of Mbombomya, and
thence to Ndessa. This latter place and Mnitshi
on the high-road, some ten miles south of Mihambia,
were at this time the principal advanced bases and
supply depots of von Lettow-Vorbeck's forces in
this portion of the territory, though at neither of
them had any fortification been attempted. On
a hill near Mpingo, however, the enemy had
established a signal-station.

The country hereabouts is for the most part a
wide expanse of undulating flat, studded with
frequent trees, smothered in thick, and often tall
grass, and broken here and there by patches of
dense bush. At this season of the year it was
waterless, save for a few ponds spattered very
sparsely over the face of the land. Bush-fires had
been raging intermittently for weeks, and in many
places the country was bare and blackened.
Though now and again glades occur among the
trees, it is rarely possible to obtain an extended
view in any direction ; and though the vegetation
did not impede the movements of troops so com-

DIFFICULT COUNTRY 111

pletely as it does in real tropical forest country, the
character of the locality gave great advantages to
a force whose main object was to fight a delaying
campaign, and presented proportionate disad-
vantages to the force that aimed at enveloping
its enemy. The British were further hampered by
their ignorance of the district, and above all by the
scarcity of water. Aeroplanes were being used,
and by them bombs were frequently dropped upon
the German camp at Ndessa ; but for the most
part the efforts of the airmen illustrated the eternal
triumph of hope over experience. Even when to
the landsman's eye the country appeared to be
fairly open, the whole area, seen from above, was
revealed as one continuous expanse of grass and
tree-tops, devoid of all distinguishing landmarks.
It was difficult, in such circumstances, to pick out
even well-known localities, while the detection of
small posts established by the enemy in the bush,
and carefully screened from observation, was for
the most part impossible. The infantry patrols
had generally to smell out such danger-points for
themselves.

A peculiar feature of this district is the Liwinda
Ravine, of which mention has already been made.
It consists of a natural hollow, some two hundred
feet in depth and from four hundred to eight hundred
yards in breadth, which traverses the country for
many miles from the north-west to the south-east.
The ground along its edges differs in no way from
the rest of the surrounding areas of bush and
orchard-country, except that it is somewhat more
elevated than most of them.

Throughout this district ant-bears abound, and

112 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

their holes, which are ubiquitous, are often large
enough to admit of the entrance of a man.

On the 21st July, two days after the engage-
ment at Narungombe, Lieutenant- Colonel Rose
rejoined the Regiment and took over the command.
He was accompanied by Captain Hornby, who until
he had fallen ill had long filled the post of
Adjutant, and by four new officers — Captains
McElligott and Methven, M.C., and Lieutenants
Lamont and S. B. Smith — all of whom were
joining the Gold Coast Regiment for the first time-
Captain Hornby resumed his work as Adjutant
which, during his absence on sick leave, had been
successively performed by Lieutenant Downer and
by Colour- Sergeant Avenell, both of whom had
discharged the difficult duties assigned to them
with marked success.

On the 22nd July the Regiment was for the
first time supplied with Lewis guns, and the work
of training teams for them was forthwith put in
hand. On the 28th July, Captains Briscoe,
Hartland and Brady, and Lieutenants Baillie,
Willoughby and Maxwell joined the Regiment
with reinforcements consisting of 354 rank and
file and 7 machine-gun-carriers from the Gold
Coast. On the 29th July 50 rifles of B Company,
under Lieutenant Baillie, with Colour-Sergeant
Campbell, joined the detachment of the 2nd
Battalion of the 2nd King's African Rifles at
Gregg's Post; and a detachment composed of
men of B Company, under Captain Methven, was
sent out to occupy an outpost at Mikikole.

During the whole of August the Regiment

LI WIND A RAVINE 113

lay in camp at Narungombe, its duties being con-
fined to vigorous training, more especially of the
new drafts, and daily patrolling of the roads from
the camp and from the outposts at Mikikole and
Gregg's Post. A few more men rejoined from
sick leave during the month, and on the 31st
August the Regiment was more nearly up to
strength than it had been at any time since the
very early days of the campaign. There were
present 29 officers, including 2 doctors, and 2
officers attached to the transport ; 17 British non-
commissioned officers, including 1 non-commis-
sioned officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps
and 4 belonging to the Transport; 7 clerks, 957
rank and file, 133 enlisted gun and ammunition-
carriers, 34 servants, and 1 European and 4 native
interpreters — a total of 2130 of all ranks.

On the 7th September orders were sent to
Captain Methven to move to Liwinda Ravine
with 70 rifles of B Company, leaving a picket of
1 European and 20 rifles at Kitiia en route. His
instructions were to dig for water on his arrival
at the Ravine ; to take every precaution to prevent
the existence of his camp becoming known to the
enemy, and to make systematic reconnaissances
throughout the neighbourhood, including the roads
leading to the fortified enemy post at Mihambia
and to Mnitshi.

Liwinda Ravine was reached without incident,
but though pits were sunk to a depth of 20 feet
not a drop of water could be found. The establish-
ment of a water depot at this place formed, how-
ever, an essential feature of General Hannyngton's

114 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

plan for the advance which he was about to
undertake ; and on the 10th September big water-
troughs fashioned of rubber, measuring some
20 feet in length, 3 feet in width, 15 inches in
depth, were sent to the Ravine on the heads
of carriers. Water was also conveyed thither
in the long tins to which in India the name
of pakhal is given, each of which is a load for
two men. Only two of the troughs reached
their destination in a water-tight condition; and
this attempt to establish a water depot proved
a laborious job which only met with a qualified
measure of success.

Meanwhile Captain Methven, with a patrol
of twenty men, had gone on a scouting expedition
to the south-east, in order to try to ascertain the
exact position of the enemy's camp and supply
depot at Mnitshi. This, and two subsequent
patrols in the direction of the main road, under-
taken by Lieutenant Woods, were perilous little
reconnaissances penetrating deep into the country
occupied by the enemy, and they were very far
from commending themselves to the native head-
man, who was impressed to act as guide. He was
an ancient African, very wizened and emaciated,
who in camp sported a soiled Mohammedan robe,
to which as a Pagan he had no right, with an
European waistcoat worn buttoned-up outside it.
In the bush he reverted to a dingy loin-cloth
wound sparsely about his middle. His anxiety
to preserve his skin intact, amid admittedly ad-
verse circumstances, altogether outstripped his
regard for truth ; and when he had guided Captain
Methven to an eminence overlooking Mpingo, he

LIEUTENANT WOODS' PATROL 115

unhesitatingly declared that place to be Mnitshi,
which, as a matter of fact, lies five miles further
to the south along the main road which leads from
Mihambia to Mpingo. This had for him the satis-
factory effect of shortening the distance to be
covered by the patrol, and of proportionately
diminishing its dangers ; but Captain Methven
reported to Headquarters that he was uncertain
how far his guide was to be relied upon, and ex-
pressed doubt as to whether the place identified as
Mnitshi was indeed that enemy supply depot.

On the 13th September Lieutenant Woods
took a small patrol through the bush to a point
on the main road south of Mihambia, and on his
way back he came across water-holes near Mbom-
bomya. As Captain Methven considered it im-
portant that a more detailed examination should
be made, Lieutenant Woods returned to these
water-holes next day. As he approached them,
however, and when he and his patrol and the
ancient guide were in a patch of grass that was
not more than waist-high, the enemy suddenly
appeared from a camp which he had in the interval
constructed in a cup-like hollow on the top of a
piece of rising ground overlooking the water-holes
Shots were forthwith exchanged, and Woods,
seeing that his small party was in a fair way to be
surrounded by the enemy, who were at least one
company strong, shouted to his men to disperse
and to get back to their camp as best they might.
Meanwhile, he himself very pluckily ran at top
speed and in full view of the enemy, as straight as
he could go for the water-holes and the German
camp, secured a good view of both, and then

I

116 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

plunged into a patch of thick bush, in which he
succeeded in eluding his pursuers. He and all
his patrol eventually made their way back to the
Ravine, one man and one stretcher-bearer only
being missing. Of the soldier nothing more was
heard, but the stretcher-bearer was picked up
many days later, very emaciated and with a bullet-
wound in his leg, having crawled through the
bush nearly as /far to the south and west as
Ndessa. The ancient African, who had vanished
the moment the enemy appeared, had slipped
into an ant-bear's hole, and had there passed the
night. He returned to the camp in the Ravine on
the following morning.

On the 14th September a patrol from Kitiia,
which had crept to within hearing distance of the
enemy camp at Mihambia, had a brush with a
hostile patrol as it was returning to its post.

Some native porters, who had deserted from
the German Force at the water-holes, also came
into camp, and from them 'a good deal of more
or less reliable information was obtained by
Captain Methven on the subject of the enemy's
numbers and disposition. From this source it
was learned that Hauptmann Kerr, with 9 Euro-
peans, 200 Askari, and 4 machine-guns had
passed through the camp at the water-holes near
Mbombomya on the 14th September, from Ndessa,
on his way to Mnitshi ; that the force at the water -
holes consisted of 5 Europeans and 150 Askari
with 2 machine-guns ; that there were at that time
only 5 enemy companies encamped at Ndessa ;
and that the main road and the track to Ndessa
had both been mined. It was also stated by the

LI WIND A RAVINE 117

porters that the enemy were short of food and that
the Europeans were living on rations of rice and
millet.

On the 18th September the main body of the
Gold Coast Regiment moved out of camp at
Narungombe, where they had been now for almost
exactly two months, and marched along the
footpath to Mikikole, and thence to the water
depot which Captain Methven had established at
Liwinda Ravine. The men started with full water-
bottles, and each carried a little canvas bag of
water of the kind known in India as a chagual,
with which, moreover, every spare carrier was also
loaded. The camp at Liwinda Ravine was reached
without incident.

The orders issued to No. 1 Column, to which
the Regiment was attached, were that Mihambia
should be attacked on the morning of September
19th by the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of
the King's African Rifles, with one and a half
companies of the Gold Coast Regiment, the 27th
Mountain Battery and the Stokes Battery. In
order to prevent reinforcements reaching the
enemy at Mihambia, a force under Colonel Rose,
consisting of ithe Headquarters, the Battery, and
two companies of the Gold Coast Regiment, was
to proceed on the morning of the attack to the
junction of the track from Ndessa and the water-
holes, near Mbombomya, with that from Mnitshi,
at a spot situated about two and a half miles to
the south of the camp at Liwinda Ravine. It was
also intended that while, on the 19th September,
No. 1 Column was attacking the enemy on

118 THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

the Mihambia-Mbombomya-Mnitshi area, No. 2
Column should take up a position on the right
from whence to deliver an attack upon Ndessa on
the morning of September 20th, for the purpose of
cutting off his retreat toward the south, and this
operation would be supported by the reserve of
" Hanforce," as the force under the command of
General Hannyngton was always called.

The Nigerian Brigade, operating further on the
right, was to move to Ruale, a few miles south-
west of Ndessa, on the 19th September.

These concerted movements were designed to
drive the enemy from his fortified position at
Mihambia, from Mnitshi and from Ndessa, and if
possible across the Mbemkuru River into the arms
of the forces thrusting west, from their base on
the sea at Lindi, along the road which leads
thence to Liwale.

CHAPTER IX

THE ADVANCE TO MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

ON the morning of Wednesday, the 19th Sep-
tember, the Gold Coast Regiment quitted its camp
at Liwinda Ravine. At 6 a.m. A Company and
half the Pioneer Company, with which was the
27th Mountain Battery, set out for Kitiia, under
the command of Major Shaw. Kitiia, as has been
mentioned, lies five miles to the east of the camp
at Liwinda Ravine, and three miles to the west of
Mihambia, and is connected with both by a foot-
path leading through the grass, tree-set scrub, and
occasional bush. It was the function of this little
force, as soon as it had obtained touch with the
2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles, which was advancing upon Mi-
hambia along the main road from Gregg's Post,
to move off the footpath into the high grass and
bush, and to endeavour to fall upon the left flank
and rear of the enemy's position. Major Shaw
also had instructions to send sixty rifles from Kitiia
to act independently, with the German porters'
camp, which was situated to the south of their
fortified position at Mihambia, as its objective.

Major Shaw's force reached Kitiia without in-
cident, and shortly afterwards got into touch with
the right of the King's African Rifles. It then

119

120 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

quitted the track, and working its way through
the grass and scrub and between the trees on a
compass bearing, advanced toward Mihambia. In
traversing country of this description, where no
extended view in any direction is obtainable, it is
always a matter of great difficulty to strike the
exact objective aimed at; and on this occasion,
when Major Shaw arrived in the vicinity of
Mihambia, it was to find himself in front of the
enemy's left, instead of on his flank or to his rear.
A Company and half the Pioneers, however, forth-
with attacked, and the 27th Mountain Battery
came into action. Simultaneously, the King's
African Rifles joined in the attack.

The enemy's position at Mihambia very gene-
rally resembled that which he had taken up two
months earlier at Narungombe. jHere, however,
the water-holes were in the valley, and the enemy's
fortifications were drawn along the crest of the
hill which sloped up from them, and lay astride
the main road leading from Narungombe. On his
left there rose an isolated hill which did not appear
at this time to be occupied.

The attack was delivered with vigour, and the
water-holes passed at once into the hands of the
British. The enemy, moreover, did not make a
very stout resistance; and as he began to fall
back, Major Shaw sought permission to occupy
the isolated hill on the right of the attack, of which
mention has already been paid, which commanded
the main road. Some delay occurred before leave
to execute this movement could be obtained, and
when at last the occupation of this eminence was
attempted, the enemy was found to be holding it

PATROL WORK 121

in great strength, and the whole of the rest of the
day was spent in vain attempts to dislodge him.
So stout a resistance did he offer, indeed, that the
British advance was definitely arrested, the troops
being forced to dig themselves in, and it was not
until an hour or two before dawn on the 20th Sep-
tember that the enemy eventually retreated down
the main road in a southerly direction.

Meanwhile Colonel Rose, with the remainder
of the Gold Coast Regiment, had marched from
the camp in the Liwinda Ravine in a southerly
direction, and had occupied Nambunjo Hill, over-
looking the main road between Mpingo and Mnitshi,
and situated some two and a half miles to the west
of it. An hour after the Regiment left Liwinda
Ravine telegraphic communication with Gregg's
Post, and consequently with Colonel Orr, who was
commanding No. 1 Column, was interrupted.

At 8.30 a.m. B Company, which was acting
as advance guard, reached a path leading to
Mbombomya, and an officer's patrol, under Lieu-
tenant Woods, was sent down this track with
orders to lay an ambush, and to protect the flank
and right rear of the Regiment. A second officer's
patrol, under Lieutenant S. B. Smith, was sent
forward with orders to attempt to surprise the
enemy's signal- station on the hill near Mpingo,
and then to push on south to Mnitshi, five miles
further down the main road. Lieutenant Woods'
patrol came into touch with the enemy within
three-quarters of an hour from the time when he
left the main body of the Regiment. He shortly
afterwards reported that the enemy in front of
him were few in numbers, but that they were

122 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

resisting his advance and were fighting a series
of small rear-guard actions. He was instructed
that his chief duty was to guard the track from
Mbombomya, and that he should dig himself in
and endeavour to protect the flank and right rear
of the Regiment.

Meanwhile, at 11 a.m. Major Shaw reported
by telegraph that he had got into touch with the
King's African Rifles at 9.45 a.m., but shortly
afterwards telegraphic communication ceased, and
it was subsequently discovered that the line had
been cut and that about a mile of wire had been
removed. The Regiment was now cut off from
all communication with the forces with which it
was co-operating. This, however, did not long
continue, and by midday the telegraphic connec-
tion with No. 1 Column was restored.

Nambunjo Hill was reached at 2.45 p.m., and
a perimeter camp was established there.

At 5.15 p.m. word was received from Lieu-
tenant Smith that his attempt to surprise the
signal-station at Mpingo Hill had failed, and that
as the position was too strongly held for his small
force to attempt an attack upon it, he had with-
drawn, and was lying up in the bush at a spot
overlooking the main road in the neighbourhood
of Mpingo. Already at 2.30 p.m. ninety rifles of
B Company, under Captain Methven, had been
sent forward to pick up Lieutenant Smith's patrol,
and to try to get astride the main road ; and at
5 p.m. his party became heavily engaged with the
enemy. Instructions were sent to him to attempt
to advance toward Mihambia, as No. 1 Column
reported that they had been held up by the enemy,

WOODS' PATROL ATTACKED 123

posted on the hill already mentioned, and had been
compelled to dig themselves in. Meanwhile, how-
ever, Lieutenant Smith's patrol had been having a
very hot time of it. His position was located by
the enemy, his patrol was almost completely sur-
rounded, and he only succeeded in extricating it
with great difficulty, and joined Captain Methven,
who was then at a spot about a mile and a half
south of Mihambia, at about 5.30 p.m. Any
further advance in the direction of Mihambia was
rendered impossible owing to the thickness of the
bush and the rapid approach of darkness. More-
over, like the whole of Colonel Rose's command,
this detachment had long ago exhausted its supply
of water, and the men were suffering acutely from
thirst.

At 6.15 p.m. Lieutenant Woods' patrol on the
Mbombomya road was strongly attacked by one
full company of the enemy with two machine-guns,
and was compelled to fall back, his men, who had
been fighting all day, being also much exhausted
for want of water. Captain McElligott, with a
section of I Company, was sent out at once with
orders to entrench themselves astride the track
from Mbombomya, and to hold on at all costs, so
as to protect the flank and right rear of the Regi-
ment on Nambunjo Hill.

The whole of Colonel Rose's command was
now very hard up for rations, but above all for
water, and though supplies of both had been wired
for to No. 1 Column, nothing reached them that
night.

At 3 a.m., on the 20th September, Lieutenant
Parker left for the camp at Liwinda Ravine with

124 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

all the available carriers to fetch rations and water,
which No. 1 Column reported it was dispatching
from Mihambia at 5 o'clock that morning. At
dawn, too, Captain McElligott sent forward a
patrol from his entrenched position on the track
leading to Mbombomya ; an officer's patrol under
Lieutenant Baillie was dispatched to the main
road, with orders to remain under cover, and to
watch the movements of the enemy ; and a third
patrol was sent out towards Kitiia to try and
establish touch with Major Shaw's detachment.

Soon after 8 a.m. it was learned that the enemy
had evacuated his trenches at Mihambia, and
Colonel Rose was instructed to occupy Mbom-
bomya as soon as water and rations had reached
him, and his force was once more in a position to
advance.

At 8 a.m. also Captain Wray, with a second
section of I Company, was sent to reinforce Cap-
tain McElligott and to take over the command of
the post, and at about 9.30 a.m. he became engaged
with the enemy. Shortly before, word was received
that No. 1 Column would advance down the main
road from Mihambia at noon for the purpose of
occupying Mnitshi ; and Lieutenant Baillie, who
had crept to the edge of the road at a point
distant some two miles east of that place, reported
that the enemy and his porters in large numbers
were streaming past him from the direction of
Mihambia towards Mpingo. The enemy south of
Mihambia, however, was covering his retreat by
fighting a rear-guard action with his machine-
guns.

At 11.20 a.m. rations and water at last reached

RATION DIFFICULTIES 125

the Gold Coast Regiment, but the 350 chaquals
sent were only half-full, and this was all the water
available for a force of 1400 men, who had not had
a drop beyond the issue made to them on the night
of September 18th before they left the camp at
Liwinda Ravine. The rations supplied contained
provisions for the fighting men only, and left out
of the count gun-carriers, stretcher-bearers and
the ammunition column. However, rations were
pooled, a portion of the emergency rations of the
Regiment was thrown into the common stock, and
all the men had something to eat and a few gulps
of water to drink, though the ration served out was
only half a pint per man. The thirst from which
one and all were suffering was very acute, and
though the men were chewing bits of bark and
roots to try to relieve the dryness that was parching
mouths and throats and swollen tongues, numbers
of them fell exhausted on the ground during the
skirmishes fought on this day, and had to be
carried in a semi-unconscious condition out of the
firing-line.

As soon as the troops in the camp on Nambunjo
Hill had been watered and fed, three sections of
B Company, under Captain Methven, were sent to
reinforce Captain Wray, who was being heavily
attacked. His men had been without water for
more than twenty-four hours and were terribly
exhausted, but they none the less put up a stout
fight, in the course of which Captain Wray was
severely wounded, and Corporal Issaka Kipalsi
showed great pluck and coolness while in command
of a party of bombers. On the arrival of Captain
Methven's reinforcements the enemy withdrew.

126 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

Meanwhile, the advance of No. 1 Column, with
which was Major Shaw and his detachment, had
met with considerable resistance, and the position
was reported to be "very serious all round." A
telegram was also received from the column stating
that though rations were being sent out, it was not
possible to dispatch any more water to the camp
at Liwinda Ravine. Later in the day it was
learned that No. 1 Column had succeeded in
advancing as far along the road as Mpingo, but
that there was no chance of the water-holes at
Mnitshi being captured that day ; and Captain
Methven also found it impossible to seize the
water-holes near Mbombomya before dark. No. 1
Column could supply itself with water from the
captured holes at Mihambia, but the position of
the Gold Coast Regiment was rapidly becoming
desperate. Officers and men alike were agonized
by thirst, which was intensified by the heat in this
dried-up, arid waste of dust-smothered vegetation,
and those of them who had been fighting and
patrolling all day were reduced to a state of
pitiable exhaustion. If a supply of water could
not be obtained early on the morrow a considerable
portion of the force would almost inevitably perish
of drought in that weary wilderness.

At 6 a.m. on the 21st September, the Pioneer
Company with a supply of rations and of water
left Mpingo and reached the camp at Nambunjo
Hill at 11 a.m., the Battery having simultaneously
been sent back to join up with No. 1 Column. Of
the 15 pakhals which the Pioneers had brought
with them six were one-third full only and eight
were only half full. The ration did not amount to

WANT OF WATER 127

half the supply of one hundred and sixty gallons
which had been promised, and though it relieved
the immediate distress in some slight extent, the
whole force was still in a pitiable state of thirst.

As soon as the men had been watered, the
Gold Coast Regiment quitted its camp, and moved
out to join Captain Methven's force on some high
ground north of Mbombomya village ; and Captain
Methven with B Company then moved south,
cleared the village, and reached the water-holes
which lay one and a half miles to the west of it,
occupying both places. The water-holes at the
village itself were all dry, and those beyond were
found, to the intense disappointment of the men,
only to contain sufficient water to supply the needs
of one company. Fresh holes were dug, but the
evening of the 21st September found the Regiment
almost as severely racked by thirst as ever, and
during the day numbers of the men had completely
collapsed. During the night the Mbombomya
water-holes only yielded a pitiful supply of ten
gallons.

The Regiment on the 22nd September had no
alternative but to remain inactive at Mbombomya
awaiting water which No. 1 Column reported it
had forwarded to it; but B Company sent out
patrols towards Kihindo Juu and Ndessa, and to
the main road between Mnitshi and Marenjende,
some ten miles south of Mihambia. Information
was also sent to Colonel Rose that the Nigerian
Brigade had been at a point four and a half miles
west-south-west of Mawerenye — a place some seven
miles down the road from Marenjende — at 9.30
that morning ; and that No. 2 Column was at

128 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

Kitandi to the east of them, based upon Ndessa
Juu for its water supply, The Gold Coast Regi-
ment was ordered to move upon Ndessa Chini as
soon as possible after it had received the supply
of water which had been dispatched to it, and to
reach that place by travelling via Marenjende on
the main road.

During the afternoon two officers' patrols from
No. 2 Column came into the camp of the Gold
Coast Regiment at Mbombonya.

Before nightfall some 800 to 1000 gallons of
water reached the Gold Coast Regiment from
Mihambia, and the long agony which the men
had so patiently endured was at last sensibly
relieved. There is no physical privation which
human beings in the tropics can experience that is
in any way comparable in the intensity of suffering
which it occasions to lack of water. Such a
shortage can only occur in the hot weather, at a
season when the atmosphere is so abnormally dry
that a man may feel his very eyebrows lift and
stiffen as the last, least drop of moisture is sucked
from out of them. All about lies a parched and
arid wilderness, here and there blackened by bush-
fires, where the leafless trees provide no shade, an
environment the very dustiness of which alone
occasions an abnormal sensation of thirst ; and the
air is charged with ashes and with minute particles of
dust, that seem to penetrate and dry up every pore
of the skin. Perspiration evaporates almost before
it has time to form upon your rough and cracking
skin ; and your whole body is subjected to a desicca-
tive process that sets nature clamouring for con-
stant artificial irrigation. If water be available men

THIRST IN THE TROPICS 129

swill it in unimaginable quantities, and repeat the
operation at frequent intervals ; but if there be no
water, the thought of it — the dream and vision of
it — presently absorb the whole of your mental
faculties. You may nail your attention to other
things, may be deeply occupied by work that
ordinarily would engross your whole mind, but
throughout, at the back of it all, you are conscious
of an insistent need that dwarfs all other things,
and for the moment is the one agonizing reality.
For you now thirst no longer only with parched
mouth, swollen tongue, cracking lips and throat
that is dry as a lime-kiln, for each individual pore
is gaping and aching with drought which every
passing minute renders more acute and unen-
durable. Such trifles as the discomfort of accumu-
lating dirt which cannot be washed away hardly
affect you ; the craving to drink has blotted out
all other physical sensations. You realize that you
are treading a road along which, perilously close
ahead, madness lies in ambush.

It says much for the discipline of the men, and
for the trust which they repose in their officers
that, during those appalling days between the
morning of the 19th and the afternoon of the
22nd September, none deserted, straying away
from the force on an insane quest for water.

On the 23rd September the Regiment left
Mbombomya, and on its arrival at Ndessa Juu,
which place was reached without incident, it
learned that the Nigerian Brigade, which was
working its way southward cutting a path through
the bush by means of which its mechanical trans-
port could follow it, had on the preceding day

130 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

been very heavily engaged with the enemy at a
place called Bweho Chini, which lies ten miles
away from Riale and to the west of the main road.
The Nigerians, it was subsequently ascertained,
had here come into collision with the main German
forces, under von Lettow - Vorbeck, which had
attacked their camp in great strength at about
4.30 p.m., and had continued the assault upon it at
intervals until midnight. The enemy suffered very
heavy losses and drew off just as the Nigerians'
supply of ammunition threatened to give out.
His defeat did much to shatter his morale, and
though he subsequently put up some good rights
before he crossed the Rovuma River into Portuguese
territory, the severe handling which he received at
Bweho Chini may be said to have definitely started
him " on the run."

At Ndessa Juu large water-holes were found,
and the men of the Regiment were able properly
to satisfy their thirst at last. Here also some
Indian troops belonging to " Hanforce " were met,
and touch was resumed with the mechanical trans-
port, which meant that the men and the carriers,
who had been on very short commons ever since
the 19th September, once more received full
rations.

On the 24th September, the Regiment left
Ndessa at 2 p.m. and reached Kitandi, where it
camped for the night after a three hours' march.
No trace of the enemy was seen during the day.

On the morrow the Regiment marched to
Bweho Chini — the scene of the big fight which
the Nigerians had had with von Lettow- Vorbeck's
main force on the 22nd September — where June-

AT BWEHO CHINI 131

tion was effected with No. 1 Column. The rest
of the Regiment, under Major Shaw, however,
was not in camp, as it was holding an outpost
some five miles away from Bweho on a track
leading to Beka.

During these two days Lieutenants Bussell
and Shaw, Sergeants Campbell and Payne and
71 rank and file joined the Regiment from the
Depot Company at Mpara, and Captain Benham,
14 rank and file, and 5 carriers were evacuated
sick.

On the 26th September No. 1 Column marched
at dawn, the Gold Coast Regiment acting as the
advanced guard, with Major Shaw's detachment,
which consisted of A Company, working inde-
pendently in advance of the column. The im-
mediate objective was Nahungu, a place which
lies on the main road and on the left bank of the
Mbemkuru River, ten miles south-south-west of
Bweho Chini. The enemy were known to have
a prepared position of great strength at this place,
which is a point where several tracks meet and
where the main road on both sides is overlooked
by hiUs.

Major Shaw gained touch with the enemy at
7.30 a.m., and from that time onward the Germans
fought a series of rear-guard actions, their whole
object on this day and during the operations which
immediately followed being, as was afterwards made
clear, to cover the retreat of their main body with
their baggage, train of porters, and the numerous
wounded whom they had borne away from the
hard-fought field of Bweho Chini.

At 10.30 a.m., B Company, under Captain

K

132 MBOMBOMYA AND BEKA

Methven, was sent to join up with A Company
under Major Shaw, and the latter was instructed
to try to push the enemy rear-guard back upon
Nahungu. It was expected that the Nigerian
Brigade would be at Naiku River, some six or
seven miles north of Nahungu.

It presently became evident, however, that
Nahungu was too far off for the column to be able
to deliver an attack upon it that day; and* the
advance guard received instructions to select a site
for a camp early in the afternoon. Accordingly,
No. 1 Column camped at Beka, and the night
passed without incident.

Since the 19th September the Gold Coast
Regiment had sustained the following casualties :
Captain Wray severely wounded, Lieutenant
Percy wounded, 8 soldiers killed, 22 wounded, and
1 carrier killed and 3 wounded.

With the arrival at Beka the first phase of the
push south which had been begun on the 19th
September may be said to have come to an end,
a new one opening on the 27th September with
the projected attack upon the enemy strong-
hold at Nahungu. So far, the enemy's right,
against which No. 1 Column had been operating,
had been driven from Mihambia, some thirteen
miles south to the banks of the Mbemkuru River,
a few miles north-west of which his main body
had come into such disastrous collision with the
Nigerian Brigade. He had now fallen back up the
valley of the Mbemkuru for a further distance
of fourteen miles to Nahungu, the general line
of his retreat being in a south-westerly direction.
Sixty miles to the east of Nahungu was the port

MASSASSI 133

of Lindi, whence a large force under General
Beves was fighting its way, through very hilly
and difficult country, along the road leading to
von Lettow-Vorbeck's headquarters at Massassi,
the general line of this advance being parallel to
the enemy's line of retreat up the valley of the
Mbemkuru River. Massassi itself lay only some
five and sixty miles south of Nahungu, and if it
could be captured before the end of the dry season,
the expulsion of the Germans from their East
African possessions would have been practically
effected.

CHAPTER X

NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

ON the 27th September No. 1 Column broke camp
at 5.30 a.m. and continued its march to Nahungu
from the east, the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regi-
ment of the King's African Rifles forming the
advanced guard, with the Gold Coast Regiment
in support. Simultaneously the Nigerians were
advancing upon Nahungu in two columns from
the north. Very shortly after leaving camp, the
King's African Rifles came into contact with the
enemy outposts. The latter fell back, and a ridge
situated to the east of Nahungu was occupied with-
out any serious opposition, by the King's African
Rifles, by the 27th Mountain Battery, and by the
Headquarters and two companies of the Gold Coast
Regiment with the Battery. The main road here
runs east and west through fairly thick trees and
underwood, with the river flowing parallel to it
a few hundred yards to the south. The road
ascends from a boulder-strewn hollow until the
crest of the ridge above mentioned, which is in
the nature of a long hogsback along the spine of
which the road runs, is reached. It is overlooked
on the north-west by Nahungu Hill, a bush and
tree-covered eminence which the enemy had
strongly fortified, and where a gun was now in
position ; and it is also commanded from the south-

134

NAHUNGU HILL 135

west by Pori Hill, a similar isolated eminence on
the other side of the Mbemkuru to the left front
of the British, upon which another gun was in
position. This piece was of Portuguese manu-
facture— how obtained no man could say — and its
fire proved completely ineffective. The shrapnel
burst in the right spot with exemplary regularity,
but thereafter pattered down through the trees
with less violence than hail, exciting much derision
from the men subjected to this innocuous bom-
bardment. The gun at Nahungu Hill was more
formidable, but it was put out of action by the
27th Mountain Battery at about 5 p.m.

The King's African Rifles deployed along the
crest of the hill, as soon as its summit was nearly
reached. . The position which they took up was
roughly the segment of a circle, with its convex
side toward the enemy, and the road bisecting it at
right angles. The Pioneers and I Company of the
Gold Coast Regiment reinforced the firing-line of
the King's African Rifles, which was extended on
both sides of the road ; and Colonel Rose, realizing
that his left flank was exposed, posted a section of
I Company with one machine-gun under Captain
McElligott, halfway down the hill to the left
rear of the firing-line, and there made them dig
themselves in. He also sent an officer's patrol
furnished by the Pioneer Company, under Captain
Buckby, down to the river to watch the move-
ments of the enemy from that direction. Mean-
while A Company under Major Shaw, and B
Company under Captain Methven, were held in
reserve behind the shelter of the rising ground,
and a few hundred yards to the rear.

130 NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

The moment the presence of the British was
discovered, the enemy guns on Nahungu and on
Pori Hill both opened fire, and though the gun on
the latter did no damage, it was recognized that
this hill commanded the left of the Regiment's
position, and an officer's patrol under Captain
Buckby, as has been mentioned, was sent to the
river at 4 p.m. to watch any movement that might
be made from that direction. At 5 p.m. the troops
on the right got into touch with the Nigerians, but
shortly afterwards touch with them was again lost ;
and half an hour later the Pioneer Company joined
up with the firing-line of the King's African Rifles
on the left. About the same time B Company,
under Captain Methven, was brought forward from
the reserve and was halted in the hollow at the
base of the rising ground, on the crest of which the
fighting was going on.

Though it was hardly anticipated that B Com-
pany would be called upon to take part in th
action, Captain Methven sent out one native non
commissioned officer's patrol to supplement Captai
Buckby's patrol wrhich, earlier in the day, had been
dispatched to the river on the south of the posi-
tion, and he also established a picket of ten men,
under Colour- Sergeant Nay lor, to guard B Com-
pany's left flank. At dusk he went forward to this
picket with ten more men to see how the former
was faring, and to tell them that they would have
to remain for the night in the shallow excavations
which they had made. Just as he reached them
one of the men of the picket drew attention to
considerable commotion in the bush in the direction
of the river, and presently an irregular line of men

!

ATTACK AT DUSK 137

was seen to be scuttling .through the trees and
underwood. In the uncertain light the impres-
sion at first formed was that they belonged to the
King's African Rifles. One of them was carrying
a machine-gun on his shoulder, which he set up
with extraordinary quickness, and forthwith opened
fire at Captain Methven, at a range of not more
than thirty yards. He missed him, however, and
the men of B Company, who were squatting down
barely a hundred yards away, and who, clumped
together as they were, presented at that moment
an absolutely fool-proof target, were able to fling
themselves flat upon the ground and to crawl into
a line, whence they opened a hot fire upon the
advancing enemy over the head of Captain Methven
and his picket of twenty men.

Darkness was now falling, and the movement
of the enemy presently developed into a strong
attack, the object of which was to outflank the
British left, and to work in to the rear of the
positions on the ridge. In this attempt he very
nearly succeeded, and might well have done so had
it not been for the prompt action taken by Major
Shaw, who, with A Company, was a hundred yards
or more further down the road than the spot
occupied by B Company. He rapidly deployed
the men under his command, having in the dark-
ness practically to assign his place to each indi-
vidual, and he in an incredibly short time joined
his line up with that formed by B Company, thus
presenting a united and continuous front on the
British left to the enemy's determined and well-
timed counter-attack, upon which A and B Com-
panies now poured a heavy and sustained fire. The

138 NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

section of I Company which, with one machine-
gun under the command of Captain McElligott,
had dug themselves in earlier in the day on what
was now the left of the enemy's line of attack, also
came into action with great effect.

Meanwhile Captain Methven's picket had been
joined by both the patrols that had been posted
near the river, they having contrived to evade the
advancing enemy, The little party, however, had
a very hot time of it. From their rear, B Company
was firing over their heads with machine-gun and
rifle. Ahead of them, less than fifty yards away,
the enemy was in considerable force and was busy
with rifles and machine-gun ; while the men of the
picket, exposed to this double fusillade, and being
compelled to lie as flat as they could to avoid
British, no less than German, missiles, threw the
bombs, with which some of them were provided,
with a wonderful recklessness that caused many
to explode in a manner more dangerous to their
friends than to their opponents. The fire, too, was
very rapid, and its maintenance was essential if
the picket were to avoid being rushed and over-
whelmed by the enemy ; yet it presently became
evident that the supply of small-arms ammunition
in the men's possession would speedily become ex-
hausted. No one with the picket, except Captain
Methven, knew precisely where the Headquarters
of the Regiment had been fixed, or could undertake
to strike it in the dark ; so Captain Methven de-
cided to attempt to find it himself. It was a really
desperate venture to try to make one's way through
the scrub, with the enemy firing from in front
and B Company blazing away from the rear, but

METHVEN'S EXPLOIT 139

Captain Methven crawled and crouched and ran,
now on his feet, now on all-fours, tearing his way
through the underwood and scratching and bruising
himself from head to foot until, luck befriending
him, he contrived to reach headquarters. Here he
procured some boxes of ammunition, and managed
to impress a couple of Mendi carriers, with whom,
dragging a box of ammunition in each hand, he
returned to the picket by the perilous route whereby
he had left it. It was a gallant deed dashingly
done, and it saved the picket; and the prompt
action taken by Major Shaw, combined with the
pluck and steadiness of the men of B Company,
prevented what might well have been an enemy
success of some magnitude. On this occasion Cor-
poral Bila Busanga especially distinguished himself
by his steadiness and courage, and by the admirable
manner in which he kept the men together. As
it was, the attack was beaten off at the end of an
hour ; a perimeter camp was formed ; and the
night passed without further incident.

Considering the character of the fighting, and
the confusion caused at dusk and in the darkness
by the enemy's attack upon the left flank, the
casualties sustained by the Regiment on this day
were light. They amounted to 1 soldier and 2
carriers killed, 21 men wounded, of whom 1 shortly
afterwards died, and 13 carriers wounded.

Patrols sent out at dawn on the 28th September
reported that, as usual, the enemy had retired during
the night ; and Pori Hill was forthwith occupied
by a patrol of the Gold Coast Regiment under
Captain McElligott, and Nahungu Hill by the
2nd Battalion of the King's African Rifles. The

140 NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

rest of No. 1 Column moved forward and occupied
the^ground between Nahungu Hill and the river.

Two officers' patrols of the Gold Coast Regi-
ment were sent out, one along the road to the
west, and one along the north, or left, bank of the
river. The former reported that a gun had been
retired by that route.

During the afternoon some officers belonging
to the Nigerian Brigade, with about fifty men of
that corps, came across from their camp to the
north to call on the Gold Coast Regiment, they
having now joined up with General Hannyngton's
force. In the mess great cordiality prevailed, and
the incidents of the Nigerians' big fight at Bweho
Chini were discussed with eager interest ; but
among the rank and file of the Gold Coast Regi-
ment this encounter created the greatest excitement
and delight. They had long known by report that
a host of " their brothers " from West Africa were
co-operating with them in the fight against the
common enemy ; but this was the first time that
they had actually seen any of them in the flesh.
Many of the men composing both forces belonged
to the same tribes, spoke the same language, and
had innumerable memories and associations in
common. Some may even have been personally
known to one another ; and this unexpected meet-
ing in the dreary waste places of German East
Africa with their kinsmen — men of the familiar
types of whom they had seen no representatives
for more than fourteen toil-laden months — held for
the homesick men of the Gold Coast Regiment
something of the reassurance and comfort which
is felt at the sight of the welcome face of an old

CAPT. G. M. DOWNER. CAPT. S. T. LAMONT, M.C. LIEUT. D. BISSHOPP.

LT.-COL. R. A. DE B. ROSE, C.M.G., D.S.O. CAPT. E. B. METHVEN, M.C.

To face p. 140.

GOODWIN'S FORCE 141

friend and by his warm hand-grip. Moreover, the
rank and file of both corps were comfortably con-
vinced that but for the West Africans the enemy
would have had a comparatively easy time of it.

On the 29th September, A, B, and I Companies,
under the command of Major Goodwin, left camp
at 8 a.m., the rest of the Regiment remaining at
Nahungu. This force had instructions to push
forward to Mihomo, via Kihindi ; along the north
bank of the Mbemkuru. This river is at Nahungu
about forty yards in width, but now, at the height
of the dry season, the actual stream was greatly
shrunken and ran for the most part little more
than two feet deep, though here and there big still
pools were occasionally met with. The banks of
the river are covered with fairly high trees and
bush. After the experiences in the waterless waste
to the west of Mihambia, the men of the Regiment
had greeted the sight of running water with en-
thusiasm, and during the preceding day had revelled
in a bathe, by means of which the accumulated dust
and dirt of ten laborious, parching days were at
length scrubbed away.

The function assigned to Major Goodwin's force
was that of backing up the South African Cavalry,
which had last been heard of at Mihomo Chini ;
and simultaneously an officer's patrol of 20 men
was sent out along the southern, or right, bank of
the river with instructions to keep in touch with
Major Goodwin if possible.

After advancing about seven and a half miles
along the northern bank of the river, Major Goodwin
was held up by an enemy party of about 70 rifles

142 NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

and a machine-gun ; and on this being telephoned
through by him to Headquarters, he was instructed
to find a suitable position in which to camp for the
night. This he did about half a mile further on.
Later in the afternoon the enemy attacked this
camp with about 80 rifles and 2 machine-guns.
They were driven off without difficulty, but one
man of the Gold Coast Regiment was killed and
two were wounded.

On the morning of the 30th September the
remainder of No. 1 Column marched from Na-
hungu along the north bank of the river to Major
Goodwin's camp ; and from the latter place, before
the arrival of the column, two officers' patrols were
sent out, one to Kihindi Hill and one to recon-
noitre the crossings over the river in the direction
of Mitoneno on the south bank. These two places
are situated nearly opposite one another, with the
river separating them, at a distance of about nine
miles upstream from Nahungu.

When No. 1 Column arrived in camp, the
enemy was found to be still in position on the
hills in front of the camp, and the 1st Battalion
of the 3rd Regiment of the King's African Rifles
were sent to attack him. By nightfall, however,
the enemy had not been dislodged.

On the following morning the 1st Battalion of
the King's African Rifles, supported by the 27th
Mountain Battery, renewed its attack on the
enemy's position in front of the camp, while the
rest of No. 1 Column, which had now been re-
inforced by the 129th Baluchis and one section of
the 22nd Mountain Battery, attempted a turning
movement via Kihindi and Mitoneno. The patrol

ADVANCE FROM NAHUNGA 143

sent to Kihindi Hill on the preceding day had left
there a small picket of one officer and twelve men.

No. 1 Column marched at 6 a.m., the advance
guard being formed of the Pioneers and I Company
of the Gold Coast Regiment, with the Regimental
Headquarters and the Stokes Battery. On reach-
ing the main road, which here runs to the north of
the river and parallel to its course, the picket at
Kihindi Hill, which reported that the night had
passed without incident, was relieved, the relieving
party being instructed to remain on the hill till
5 p.m., at which hour it was to rejoin the column.

On reaching the river, patrols were sent out to
scout the high ground on the southern bank, and
when this was reported clear of the enemy, it was
in due course occupied by the Gold Coast Regi-
ment. These movements had resulted in No. 1
Column having slipped in behind the enemy's rear,
while his front was still being engaged by the 1st
Battalion of the 3rd King's African Rifles and
No. 27 Mountain Battery. He was not, however,
completely encircled, as a gap still existed toward
the south, by means of which he was able later to
extricate himself from the dangers that threatened
him.

At 2.30 p.m. orders were received to push on
towards Mitoneno by the main path running from
the east along the south bank of the river, and the
2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles were at the same time ordered to
advance by a track leading along the right bank.
As Mitoneno was approached the King's African
Rifles became engaged with the enemy, and the
Pioneer Company of the Gold Coast Regiment

144 NAHUNGU AND M1TONENO

was pushed forward to get into touch with the
right of their line, to achieve which the Pioneers
had to cross to the north bank of the Mbemkuru.

At 4 p.m. it was ascertained that the enemy
was in position on the south bank also, and two
sections of I Company, under Captain McElligott,
were sent forward to get abreast of the Pioneer
Company and to attempt to envelope the enemy's
left. At the same time the rest of I Company and
A and B Companies were brought up to be in a
position to launch an attack when the exact dis-
position of the enemy's forces were more clearly
known, as, owing to the thick bush, the precise
situation remained very obscure. Half an hour
later the rest of I Company, under Captain Dawes,
was sent forward to join up with the detachment
under Captain McElligott, on the right. The
129th Baluchis had in the meantime dug them-
selves in to the right rear of the Gold Coast
Regiment, and as a consequence a large gap was
left between I Company's right and the left flank
of the Baluchis.

At 4.40 p.m. Captain Dawes reported that he
was heavily engaged ; that the enemy were working
round his right flank ; and that he required support.
A Company was accordingly sent forward to his
assistance, Major Goodwin assuming the command
of the firing-line.

The firing all along the front was now fast and
furious, and the reserve of small-arms ammunition
with the Gold Coast first line was accordingly
sent forward, and an urgent message for more was
dispatched to the ammunition- column. It was
then ascertained that the latter was a long way to

ENGAGEMENT AT MITONENO 145

the rear of the column and that no further supply
of ammunition could be expected for some time to
come. This rendered the position one of con-
siderable anxiety, for the firing continued to be
very heavy.

Two sections of B Company, under Lieutenant
Woods, were now sent forward to reinforce and
prolong Captain Shaw's right. A little later a
detachment of the 129th Baluchis, a corps which
at that time had been almost depleted of its
officers, were also sent to prolong the right ; but
pushing too far forward, and losing their sense of
direction after they had come into contact with the
enemy, they passed across the front of the right
extremity of the firing-line, and as a consequence
they suffered a number of unnecessary casualties.
About 80 of them, however, eventually joined B
Company on the extreme right, and were later
joined by 40 more men of their regiment. The
two remaining sections of B Company, under
Captain Methven, had a little earlier been sent to
reinforce the right, but very soon two sections, under
Lieutenant Woods, had to be sent back to fill a
gap between I and A Companies.

The position with regard to small-arms am-
munition was now very serious. The transport-
carriers had vanished to a man, and no word could
be gained of the ammunition column. However,
20 boxes of cartridges were borrowed from the
Baluchis by the Gold Coast Regiment and were
taken to the firing-line by the battery carriers —
trained men who had stuck to their duty — under
the leadership of Captain Foley. Later, when
at last a supply was received from the long-lost

146 NAHUNGU AND MITONENO

ammunition column, Lieutenant Baldwin, in charge
of the carriers attached to that body, rendered
great service in bringing ammunition up and taking
it forward to the firing-line.

By 5.30 p.m. the Gold Coast Regiment had
thrown the whole of its reserves into the firing-
line, and the Pioneer Company, which had been
sent to the left, was urgently recalled, but con-
siderable delay inevitably occurred before it was
able to rejoin the rest of the Regiment. On the
arrival of the Pioneers, just as darkness was falling,
one section was at once sent to reinforce Captain
Shaw, the remainder being held in reserve.

At 6.15 word reached Colonel Rose that the
King's African Rifles on his left had been with-
drawn, and Major Goodwin was accordingly in-
structed to draw in his left. The firing had now
died down, only occasional shots being heard. The
firing-line was therefore drawn in; a perimeter
camp was formed ; and the night passed without
incident.

On the 2nd October, scouts sent out reported
that the enemy had retreated ; and patrols from
the Baluchis and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles were dispatched to the west
and the south-west to try to pick up his spoor.
The rest of No. 1 Column closed upon the camp
formed overnight by the Gold Coast Regiment,
where it duly dug itself in.

The casualties sustained by the Gold Coast
Regiment in the fighting on the 1st October
amounted to 5 men killed, and 3 Europeans, 50
rank and file and 10 carriers wounded.

On the 3rd October, the men of the Gold Coast

A DAY OF REST 147

Regiment enjoyed that, to them, unusual ex-
perience— a day of rest. Ever since leaving the
camp at Narungombe, now more than a fortnight
earlier, they had been incessantly on the march or
in action, and during that time they had had scant
leisure to devote to matters of even an essential
character which merely concerned their personal
comfort. Now at last, during all the hours of day-
light, they were free to do as they chose, and to
complete their well-being the shrunken stream of
the Mbemkuru exhibited in the midst of this thirsty
land the rare phenomenon of running water. The
day of rest, therefore was converted into a monster
washing-day, the men revelling in a succession of
baths such as had not been enjoyed by any of them
for months, and thereafter, subjecting their clothes
and other belongings to an energetic washing and
scrubbing and sun-drying till the whole camp was
one large dhobi-green. It was real refreshment
after all their labours and privations, and by evening
the men, new-washed, cool and comfortable once
more, were in high spirits and were thoroughly
ready to resume their duties on the morrow.

CHAPTER XI

RUANGWA CHINI TO MNERO MISSION STATION

THE operations which have formed the subject of
the three preceding chapters were designed to drive
von Lettow-Vorbeck's main force in a south-
easterly direction, until its progress should be
stayed by " Linforce." This latter column, in the
face of stubborn resistance, and hampered, too, by
the inadequate harbour facilities available at
Lindi, was fighting its way mile by mile down
the road which leads from that place to Massassi,
where, as we have seen, von Lettow-Vorbeck had
established his General Headquarters. As must
inevitably happen in fighting of this character, all
the British columns engaged occupied the ano-
malous, one might almost say the paradoxical,
position of attacking forces which were incessantly
and perpetually on the defensive. For them were
combined all the risks of the attack upon prepared
and unreconnoitred positions with all the moral
and actual disadvantages which ordinarily attach
to the defence. They were, indeed, only properly
to be described as attacking forces because it was
they that were advancing, the enemy which was
retreating before them ; but in the daily conflicts
with the enemy, in which they were so constantly
entangled, the actual attack was usually delivered

148

CAMPAIGN DIFFICULTIES 149

by the latter. It was he, not the British, who
selected the spot where fighting should take place ;
to him, not to them, were secured, in practical
perpetuity, the advantages of surprise and of being
the first to open fire ; and while he could concen-
trate all his attention upon the task of hampering,
embarrassing and resisting the advance of his
opponents, the commanders of British columns
and units alike were for ever distracted from the
actual fighting by a knowledge of the extreme
vulnerability of the formation in which they were
compelled to move, and by the precautions
necessary to protect it, as far as possible, from
assaults upon its flanks. In this rough country,
where an advance was only possible along the
main roads or along well-worn paths, each column,
with its inevitable train of pack-animals and loaded
carriers, sprawled down the tracks for miles in the
rear of the advancing force, men and beasts alike
being often compelled to go in single file. The
pace of such a column is that of the slowest man in
it, for it is essential that straggling should, as far
as possible, be prevented. It is fortunate if the
progress made averages a modest two miles an
hour — it will much more often approximate to half
that rate of advance ; yet the actual fighting force,
which can be spared from the work of mere pro-
tection, cannot abandon the transport and press on
ahead for any great distance without the risk of
becoming paralyzed for lack of supplies and ammu-
nition, or without exposing the long, snake-like
column of unarmed men and terrified animals to an
attack that may work in a few moments its complete
disintegration.

150 RUANGWA CHINI TO MNERO

The circumvention or outflanking of an enemy
in these circumstances and in such country, and
still more the envelopnient of him, are for the most
part impossible military feats. Such movements
are generally dependent upon the rapid manoeuvring
of troops, and upon the enemy being kept in com-
plete ignorance of the strategy which his opponent
is adopting ; but rapidity of movement was the one
thing which could not be insured in the East
African bush, save only where a very small body
of men was concerned; and the forces at von
Lettow - Vorbeck's command were sufficiently
numerous to expose any weak unit, temporarily
detached from the main body, to imminent danger
of being cut off or overwhelmed. As for secrecy,
that was unattainable in country where the enemy's
scouts could creep up to within a few yards of a
British column without running any save the most
slender risk of being observed, and where, when
once the main roads were quitted, the passage of
any large body of men through the bush inevitably
caused an amount of noise and commotion that
was nicely calculated to advertise its presence to
even the least watchful and suspicious of enemies.
When to these things are added the fact that
the British attack was always delivered upon an
opponent who was perfectly familiar with the
geography of the country in which the operations
were being conducted, and to whom it was a
matter of complete indifference which point of the
compass he should select as the direction of his
temporary retreat, the handicaps under which the
British commanders laboured can be to some
extent appreciated.

TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 151

Where possible mechanical transport was used,
and this fact alone served in a great measure to
anchor the British columns to the main roads.
Sooner or later, however, there came a time or a
place at which it was no longer possible to depend
even mainly upon motor transport, and thereupon
hosts of pack-animals and of head-carriers became
the machine of military supply, and the clamorous,
snake-like column thus evolved wriggled, with
incredible slowness and clamour, into the wilder-
ness of grass and bush. Of the transport mule
much has been written, and much more has been
said — most of it being unprintable. As for the
East African carrier, the late Sir Gerald Portal
said the last word about him a full quarter of a
century ago. " As an animal of burden," he wrote,
"man is out and out the worst. He eats more,
carries less, is more liable to sickness, gets over
less ground, is more expensive, more troublesome,
and in every way less satisfactory than the meanest
four-footed creature that can be trained, induced,
or forced to carry a load."

The men who took part in the East African
campaign are louder than any in the expression of
their admiration for von Lettow-Vorbeck, for the
pluck and grit and resource which he displayed,
for his dogged resolution, and for the fine resist-
ance which he put up, and which may justly be
attributed to his individual energy and force of
character. Members of the British public, who
happily for themselves have no personal experience
of bush-fighting, would do well to realize, however,
how heavy was the balance of the military ad-
vantages which he throughout enjoyed, how

152 RUANGWA CHIN I TO MNERO

completely these discounted any that could be
derived by his opponents from mere numerical
superiority, and how practically impossible is the
task of rounding up in the bush a well-armed and
elusive enemy, which had been entrusted to the
British commanders. It may even be said that
von Lettow-Vorbeck did not really make the most
of his opportunities, and that, given the superiority
of his armament, he played this game of bush-
fighting less skilfully and successfully than it had
been played in their time by the Burman and by
the Malay. Had he realized, as the Burmese and
the Malays both realized, how small a force is
needed to check and delay the advance of an
enemy column through the bush, and had he
thereafter devoted most of his attention to constant
harassing attacks upon the terribly vulnerable
transport trains, it would have been altogether
impossible for the British to drive him, in the
course of two dry-weather campaigns, steadily
southward from the country north of the Dar-es-
Salaam-Lake Tanganyika Railway to beyond the
Rovuma River into Portuguese territory.

When all the facts above noted are borne in
mind, therefore, it ceases to be in any degree
wonderful that von Lettow-Vorbeck's forces—
which from first to last never numbered more
than five or six thousand Askari and perhaps
a thousand to fifteen hundred white men — were
able to keep their British pursuers chasing them
to and fro and up and down the jungles of East
Africa for nearly four years, with all the grotesque
lack of success with which a dignified middle-aged
person runs after his hat upon a windy day.

MBEMKURU RIVER 153

On the 4th October the Gold Coast Regiment,
rested and refreshed, and above all clean once
more, took the field again.

As far as could be ascertained, the enemy
appeared to be holding positions on the right bank
of the Mbemkuru River on the road to Namehi,
approximately four and a half miles to the west
of Mitoneno. Patrols sent out on the preceding
day had drawn fire from him from the hills to the
south of the river, and it was General Hannyngton's
intention to attempt to hold the enemy by a frontal
attack delivered by one battalion drawn from
No. 1 Column, while the remainder of that force
worked round his right and sought to possess itself
of the hilly country to the south. The reserve of
" Hanforce " was simultaneously to detail a weak
battalion to hold the enemy's left flank, the rest
being held ready in support. Meanwhile, across
the river on the British right, the 25th Indian
Cavalry were to remain at Kihindi, holding them-
selves in readiness to move, at fifteen minutes'
notice, in any direction in which their services
might be required.

At dawn on the 4th October No. 1 Column
moved out of its camp at Mitoneno, and speedily
found itself in action with the enemy. The Gold
Coast Regiment, however, was in reserve on this
day, and so did not take part in the action. The
column fought its way forward for a distance of
four miles, and when, fairly late in the afternoon,
the Regiment arrived at the place where it was
proposed that a perimeter camp should be formed
for the night, B Company, under Captain Methven,
was sent to hold a flat-crested hill upon the south,

154 RUANGWA CHINI TO MNEHO

from which the camp was commanded. At dusk
the enemy fired a few shells over the camp, but
the night passed otherwise without incident.

At Ruangwa Chini, which is the name of the
place in the neighbourhood of which No. 1 Column
had been held up all day, the road at the spot near
which the camp was being established runs east
and west and roughly parallel to the river, which
is distant from it a few hundred yards on the
north — the right of the British advance. On the
left the country was very difficult, the road being
overlooked by a succession of red, laterite hills, for
the most part bare of vegetation, though long rank
grass sprouted wherever there was a foothold for
its roots. The slopes of these hills were covered
and strewrrwith outcrops and boulders of the same
red rock, the colour of which is the deep, rich hue
that in England is associated with the coombs and
lanes of Devon. The principal feature was the
high hill which, late in the afternoon, B Company
of the Gold Coast Regiment was detailed to occupy
in conjunction with the 129th Baluchis. This hill,
of naked red rock, rose in an almost precipitous
slope, from near the southern edge of the road, to
a flat summit, barely fifty yards in breadth, but
extending in a position parallel to the track for
perhaps ten times that distance. Its southern and
western slopes, which were both accessible to the
enemy, were much less abruptly graded ; but the
approach from the east was again very steep.
Near the western extremity of this hill the road
curved about its foot in a south-westerly direction ;
and in the thickish bush, which lay between the
road and the river on the right front of the British

FOSTER'S EXPLOIT 155

advance, the enemy had got a gun into position,
whence it shelled the head of the column from a
safe distance. Early in the day the Germans had
contrived to shoot down a British aeroplane into
the tree-tops in that locality ; but the pilot and the
observer both escaped without any serious injury,
and were able to make their way back to No. 1
Column.

When that morning the British were advancing
along the road from their camp at Mitoneno, the
129th Baluchis had scaled the eastern face of the
flat- topped hill above described, and had worked
along its summit to a point near to its western
extremity. Here, however, they had come into
contact with an enemy post, which had opened fire
upon them with a machine-gun. The Baluchis
had twice retired, but later in the day they had
dug their way from the road to the base of the
northern face of the hill, and thence had climbed
the steep ascent to its summit, where they had
dug themselves in in a line of rifle-pits drawn
across the flat top at a point about halfway along
its length.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Foster of the 27th
Mountain Battery had climbed with his orderly
up the eastern face of the hill, and from there was
engaged in observing for his unit the German fire
from the gun posted in the bush on the right front
of the British advance. He presently became
aware that a party of the enemy was working its
way up the gentle slope on the southern side of
the hill at a spot to the rear of the place where the
Baluchis were dug in ; and Lieutenant Foster and
his orderly, taking cover behind a boulder, opened

156 RUANGWA CHINI TO MNERO

fire upon the enemy with revolver and rifle, and
for a time actually succeeded in staying or delaying
his advance.

This was the position of affairs when B Com-
pany, under Captain Methven, who had been
ordered to dig himself in at a spot near the foot
of the eastern extremity of the hill, in order to
guard the left and left rear of the column, was
instructed to quit his entrenchments and go to the
assistance of the Baluchis on the summit. He and
his men scaled the steep eastern face of the hill,
which the Baluchis had climbed in the course of
their first advance that morning, and were in time
to relieve Lieutenant Foster and his orderly, who
were still maintaining their plucky lone-hand fight.
B Company then worked along the southern edge
of the crest until it had lined up abreast of the
Baluchis in their shallow rifle-pits, and thence
pushed forward to the western extremity of the
hill, from whence the enemy was already retiring
down the slope leading to his main position. Here
B Company dug itself in for the night, having
effectually relieved the camp from the menace to
which the occupation of this summit by the enemy
had exposed it.

In the course of this operation B Company lost
1 private killed, 5 wounded, and 1 machine-gun
carrier wounded.

On the 5th October, patrols sent out at dawn
came almost immediately into touch with the
enemy, who was estimated to have some five
companies in position at Ruangwa Chini, about
two miles to the west — namely, in the direction
of the column's advance. The 129th Baluchis, the

NO. 1 COLUMN MOVES 157

1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles, and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
Regiment of that corps were dispatched to attack
the position, supported by the 27th Mountain
Battery and the Kilwa Battery. This hilly and
rocky laterite country was very difficult, however,
and by 3.30 p.m. so little progress had been made
that Colonel Orr decided to break off the attack,
and to withdraw the units that had been engaged
in it to the camp which the column had occupied
on the preceding afternoon.

The Gold Coast Regiment was not engaged
during the day, but one of its carriers was wounded
by a stray bullet.

On the 6th October, No. 1 Column marched at
dawn, working through the bush in a southerly
direction for the purpose of outflanking the
right of the enemy's position, and of cutting
off his retreat, should he attempt to make use of
any of the paths leading toward the south. The
troops in reserve remained in camp to hold
the enemy in front, and to be ready to thrust
forward if the flanking movement proved suc-
cessful. The 27th Cavalry, meanwhile, had in-
structions to co-operate from the left bank of the
Mbemkuru.

No. 1 Column was able to get into a position
well to the rear of that which the enemy had
occupied on the preceding day, but the Germans
had retired from it during the night, leaving only
a party of some forty men to watch and delay the
movements of the British troops. On the ap-
proach of the latter this small band dispersed, and
a part of it, which had apparently got " bushed,"

158 RUANGWA CHINI TO MNERO

consisting of one German and ten Askari, was
captured.

No. 1 Column, suffering somewhat from the
disillusionment and disappointment which are
the prevailing sentiments that bush-fighting com-
monly inspires in a pursuing force, accordingly
worked its way laboriously back to the main road,
where it learned that the rest of the column,
which had encountered no resistance, was en-
camped about two and a half miles ahead of it.

The check at Ruangwa Chini is, in a measure,
typical of military operations in the bush. By it
the enemy had been able to reduce the advance
achieved in the space of three days by a force,
greatly its numerical superior, to a matter of seven
or eight miles ; and in accomplishing this he
had exposed himself to no inconvenience and to
negligible danger.

On the 7th October No. 1 Column resumed
its interrupted march down the main road, which
here runs west, with the river parallel to it upon
the right. The Gold Coast Regiment, less two
companies and the battery, furnished the advance
guard. A distance of between eight and nine
miles was traversed during the day, and a camp
was taken up for the night near Kiperele Chini.

The 25th Cavalry were encamped, with one
company of the Gold Coast Regiment, at a spot
about a mile and a quarter further down the
road.

On the 8th October No. 1 Column marched
down the main road, and camped for the night at
Mbemba, which is distant some ten miles from
Kiperele Chini.

AT MNERO MISSION STATION 159

From this point the road which No. 1 Column
had been following more or less continuously ever
since it started pushing south from Narungombe,
runs on, in a south-westerly direction, still ad-
hering closely to one or another bank of the river.
About ten miles from Mbemba it strikes the main
Liwale-Massassi road, at a place named Mangano,
and here the 25th Cavalry captured large quantities
of stores belonging to the Germans. These stores,
however, consisted exclusively of native food-stuffs
such as mealies, the kind of millet locally called
mantana, cassava and a little rice — bulky stuff
which, since it could not be carried off, was burned
to prevent it again falling into the enemy's hands.

On the 9th October No. 1 Column left the
main road and the banks of the Mbemkuru River,
and turning off to the left along a narrow track,
pushed forward in a south-south-easterly direction
to Lihonja, distant from Mbemba a matter of some
seven miles. Here the main Liwale-Massassi road
was struck by the Column for the first time — a
really first-class laterite highway, some twenty to
twenty-five feet in width, running through grass
country and open bush, with a surface consolidated
by constant traffic. This road was now followed
for a distance of about nine miles, and the Column
camped for the night at a mission station named
Mnero. This is a pretty little station, with mis-
sion buildings and church perched upon a low hill,
and with at least a mile square of well-cultivated
land lying around it. The church was subsequently
used by the British as an advance hospital for their
sick and wounded.

During October 9th, as on the two preceding

160 RUANGWA CHINA TO MNERO

days, the advance of No. 1 Column had been
accomplished without incident.

Eight miles down the road from Mnero Mission
Station, to the east and slightly to the south of
that place, lies Ruponda, where yet another large
food depot was known to have been established
by the enemy, and this was now the Column's
immediate objective.

Having quitted the banks of the Mbemkuru,
the British troops were once again dependent upon
water-holes, but the country was here less arid
than it had been further north between Narun-
gombe and Nahunga ; and at Mnero itself, and
thence all along the line of march eastward and
southward, a sufficient, and at times even an
abundant, supply of water was available either
in existing water-holes or to be obtained by
digging.

With the quitting of Mbemkuru Valley and the
push to the south upon which No. 1 Column was
now embarked, the second phase of the advance
may be said to have ended and the third phase to
have begun.

II

§ o

3 60

W O

1 §

2 a

HI a

o o>

e s

CHAPTER XII

LUKULEDI

THE position at this moment was approximately
as follows. After the taking of Nahungu on the
28th September it had become evident to the
British Command that it was not possible to feed
and supply all the troops assembled in that area,
and the Nigerian Brigade was accordingly given a
week's rations, and with Major Pretorius acting
as its guide, was bidden to march across country,
by such tracks as it could find, to join up with
"Linforce" on the Lindi-Massassi road. This
was a somewhat perilous adventure, for, though the
Nigerian Brigade carried with them only a week's
rations, it was anticipated that this cross-country
march would probably occupy a period of at least
ten days. The area about to be traversed, more-
over, was very little known, and no exact informa-
tion was forthcoming concerning the numbers or
the disposition of the enemy's troops between the
Mbemkuru River and the Lindi-Massassi road. In
Major Pretorius, however, the Nigerians possessed
a tower of strength. This remarkable man, who
in peace-time had been a professional elephant-
hunter, not only knew the highways and byways
of British and German East Africa more intimately
than any other living soul, but had established over

161

162 LUKULEDI

the native population a species of hypnotic in-
fluence. Though von Lettow-Vorbeck had placed
a price upon his head, and though from time to
time some unusually daring person had the hardi-
hood and the imprudence to attempt to earn it,
the gang of native toughs and scalawags whom
he gathered around him and who aided him in his
scouting, regarded him with an almost superstitious
reverence and served him with unshakable fidelity.
On this occasion he piloted the Nigerians across
country, by footpaths and through the bush, for
a distance of more than .fifty miles as the crow
flies, and brought them safely to their destination,
though in the course of their march they had one
very severe encounter with the enemy in which
one of their battalions sustained heavy casualties.

Ever since they began their march inland from
Lindi, the troops composing " Linforce/' with which
the Nigerian Brigade had now joined up, had ex-
perienced persistent and very effective resistance
from the enemy in the difficult, hilly country
through which the Lindi-Massassi road runs ; and
at the time of the arrival of the Nigerians they
had only succeeded in progressing along this high-
way for a distance of about thirty miles from their
base. The enemy troops opposing them, like those
which were resisting the advance of "Hanforce,"
were based upon von Lettow-Vorbeck's General
Headquarters, which, as we have seen, were estab-
lished at Massassi ; and to the security of this place
the advance of the converging British columns was
now presenting a constantly increasing menace.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck, at the time of the arrival
of No. 1 Column at the mission station at Mnero,

ADVANCE ON RUPONDA 163

was reported to be at Ruwanga, a spot in the
centre of the base of a roughly isosceles triangle
whereof the sides are formed respectively by the
Mbemkuru River and the road from Mbemba to
Ruponda. He was said to be occupying a strongly
fortified position, and to have with him not less
than ten companies of troops. The nearest British
force was No. 2 Column of " Hanforce," which was
operating to the left and east of No. 1 Column ;
and it was confidently anticipated that von Lettow-
Vorbeck would reinforce Ruponda now that that
important food dep6t was threatened by the occu-
pation of Mnero.

On the arrival of No. 1 Column at the last-
named place, on the 9th October, the 25th Cavalry
pushed on towards Ruponda, and at 8 p.m. the
Gold Coast Regiment followed in their wake, with
orders to support them and to get as near to
Ruponda as might prove to be possible. The rest
of the Column was to march at 2 a.m.

At 1 a.m. on the 10th October the native
guides with the Gold Coast Regiment reported
that Ruponda village, which was said to be occu-
pied by the 8th Schutzen Company, was only a short
distance ahead. No trace of the 25th Cavalry was
found, however, and it was supposed that they must
have left the main road and tliat they must be
camping somewhere in the bush.

At 5 a.m. orders were received by the Gold
Coast Regiment to march upon Ruponda at
5.30 a.m., acting as the advanced guard of the
column, and about the same time touch was at
last obtained with the 25th Cavalry, who reported
that Ruponda was occupied by the enemy and was

M

164 LUKULEDI

being held against the column's advance. This was
confirmed shortly afterwards when the advanced
guard of the Regiment was fired upon as it drew
near to the village ; and I Company and the
Pioneer Company thereupon moved forward to
the attack, the remainder of the Regiment simul-
taneously making a flanking movement in order
to occupy some high ground on the north-east of
Ruponda.

As the attack developed, however, the Ger-
mans were found to be few in numbers, and while
I Company continued to engage them, the rest of
the Regiment pushed round the right flank of the
enemy's position to seize some high ground and to
prevent any possible reinforcements from Ruwanga
joining up with the little force in occupation of
Ruponda. This movement was carried out, no
opposition being met with, and as the position was
found to be a good one for defensive purposes,
No. 1 Column advanced and formed a camp upon
the high ground which the Gold Coast Regiment
had occupied.

I Company was still engaging a small party of
the enemy, and the 129th Baluchis were sent to
the village to clear up the situation. The Germans
then withdrew, and the large stocks of native food-
stuffs which had been accumulated at Ruponda
fell, practically undefended, into the hands of the
British. The casualties amounted to one man of
I Company killed.

From the 10th to the 16th October inclusive,
No. 1 Column remained encamped at Ruponda,
sending out patrols in all directions to reconnoitre
the surrounding country, digging water-holes, and

CAPTURED CORRESPONDENCE 165

performing other similar duties. At noon on the
10th October a small party of the enemy, consist-
ing of about forty men with a machine-gun, sniped
the camp for about half an hour, inflicting a few
casualties ; and once or twice the patrols from
Ruponda came into touch with enemy scouting
parties.

The German correspondence captured at this
place showed that the state of things in the enemy
camp was very far from happy. Von Lettow-
Vorbeck appears to have inspired all his subordi-
nates with fear, but the admiring affection with
which he is believed to have been regarded by his
Askari does not seem to have been shared by
many of even the more senior of his European
subordinates. As was to be expected in the cir-
cumstances in which the Germans had now so long
been living, food bulked big in their thoughts and
in their imaginations ; and as a topic it filled a
wholly disproportionate space in much of the
correspondence captured. As the large stocks of
native food-stuffs seized by the British at Nangano
and again at Ruponda clearly showed, the Askari
were for the most part well fed and well cared for ;
but cassava and maize and millet, which will per-
fectly content an African, form a sadly monotonous
and unsatisfying diet for white men who have to
make of them their staple for many months on
end. The Germans waxed almost lyrical in their
correspondence when at long intervals fortune sent
a pig or some such infrequent luxury their way ;
but they devoured them in haste, like the Israelites
of old, and wrote in terms of the most explicit
dispraise of the disgusting greediness, the gross

166 LUKULED1

selfishness, and the predatory character of their
Chief. No food was apparently secure when that
energetic person had got wind of its existence.
For the rest, the correspondence showed that all
the European rank and file in the German camp
were sick unto death of this protracted and, in
their opinion, futile resistance; that their dread
of von Lettow-Vorbeck and of the prompt and
exemplary punishments to which he on occasion
resorted, alone chained them to their duty ; and
that in spite of their Commander-in-Chief s great
influence over the Askari, the native soldiers, too,
were heartily weary of the war, and had of late
been deserting in large numbers. Every one
concerned, except von Lettow-Vorbeck himself,
appeared, indeed, to be ripe for surrender ; and it
is a wonderful tribute to the energy, to the force
of character, and to the resolution of this man
that, with such sentiments prevailing all around
him and growing daily more and more intense, the
campaign was maintained up to the date upon
which, a year later, the Armistice was signed,
purely and solely because he so willed it.

On the 16th October the 2nd Battalion of the
2nd Regiment of the King's African Rifles, with
a detachment of the Pioneers of the Gold Coast
Regiment, left Ruponda and marched down the
Massassi road, about thirteen miles to Chingwea,
there to prepare a camp and develop the water
supply in anticipation of the advance of No. 1
Column. No. 2 Column was at this time operating
on the left of No. 1 Column, and was reported to
be at a place some ten miles north of Ruwanga ;

ADVANCE-GUARD WORK 167

and word was also received that " Linforce " had
advanced down the Lindi-Massassi road as far as
Mtama, which is nearly thirty-three miles from
Lindi, and had expelled the enemy from the former
place.

On the 17th October, No. 1 Column, to which
a company of the Gold Coast Regiment, under
Major Shaw, acted as advanced guard, left Ruponda
and marched to Chingwea, without incident. On
the following morning a start was made at 5.30 a.m.,
the mission station at Lukuledi, about twelve
miles further down the road, being the objective
on that day.

The Gold Coast Regiment formed the advance-
guard on this occasion, B Company, under Captain
Methven, preceding the main body, from which at
the outset it was separated by a distance of about
400 yards. B Company at this time was not quite
160 strong, including 4 officers — Captain Methven,
and Lieutenants Woods, Baillie and S. B. Smith—
and 1 British non-commissioned officer, Colour-
Sergeant Cuneen. It was accomplished by Captain
Gush, a member of the West African Medical
Staff. With B Company there also went the 7th
Light Armoured Car Battery, which consisted of
two Rolls-Royce cars, each of which was armed
with a machine-gun and was manned by an officer
and two men, all of whom were Europeans. These
cars were surmounted by armour-plated turrets, in
which the machine-guns were placed ; and the
driver was similarly protected, the only vulnerable
spot being the narrow window through which he
looked when driving the car. The bonnet was
also protected by armour, but the wheels, which

168 LUKULED1

were furnished with pneumatic tyres, were exposed
to any fire that might be brought to bear upon the
vehicle. At a later date cars of this description were
provided with patent tyres of a special character,
which were not capable of being punctured.

At a point about three miles from the camp the
1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles had overnight established a post,
and from here that Regiment now entered the
bush on the right side of the road. Its instructions
were to make a wide sweeping movement to the
west and south in such a manner as to enable it to
deliver an attack upon the mission station at
Lukuledi from the rear and right flank of that
position, which should be timed so as to syn-
chronize with the arrival of the Gold Coast
Regiment in front of it.

As soon as the 1st Battalion of the 3rd King's
African Rifles had taken to the bush, the Gold
Coast Regiment continued its march down the
road, B Company being still a few hundred yards
ahead. As Captain Methven advanced, he sent
out patrols to the right and left to explore the
numerous paths which here ran criss-cross on both
sides of the main road ; and after he had advanced
some miles upon his way, he deployed his company,
the two armoured cars keeping, however, to the
main road. The country through which he was
passing is for the most part open bush with low
scrub, scattered trees and much grass. All the
vegetation was parched and sun-dried, and there
were frequent blackened patches where the grass
had been burned to stubble and where the trees
were charred and leafless.

NATIVE INFORMATION 169

B Company's advance proceeded without in-
cident until about eight miles had been covered and
only four more separated the little force from the
mission station on the other side of the dried-up
bed of the Lukuledi River. At this point a small
black boy, wearing a blue waist-skirt, was met
sauntering quite unconcernedly down the centre of
the road. Though he was only about twelve years
of age, and quite alone, he manifested neither fear
nor excitement at finding himself thus suddenly
confronted by a body of armed men, and he
answered the questions addressed to him with the
grave maturity of demeanour that is so often to be
observed in native children, and which sits so
quaintly upon them. Captain Methven, and many
of the men of the Company, had picked up a
working knowledge of Swahili during their cam-
paigning in East Africa, so communication with
the child was easy enough, -and from him it was
learned that there were a good many Germans and
Askari at the mission- station, but that they had
packed up their gear and apparently meditated an
early departure. He added that there was a small
enemy post just across the dried-up bed of the
Lukuledi River on the left of the advance. The
small boy was passed back under escort to the
Headquarters of the Gold Coast Regiment, and
B Company resumed its march.

About two miles before the mission station at
Lukuledi is reached, the road breasts a fairly steep
ascent, the crest of which is perhaps a mile and a
half from the mission buildings. From the summit
of this rise the road dips in a long slope to the
Lukuledi River — a stream some twenty or thirty

170 LUKULED1

feet in width, with low water- worn banks, and at
this season of the year without a drop of moisture
anywhere visible in the cracked, sun-baked mud
which composes its bed. At the foot of the hill
the road crosses this river-bed, and bending slightly
to the right climbs the hill on the summit of which
the mission station is situated. The surface of
this hill is pitted near its base by a few shallow
folds and hollows, and toward the left of the
advance there were patches of shortish grass. For
the rest, however, the vegetation had been burned
off and the grass reduced to blackened stubble not
more than an inch or two in length.

On the top of the hill some of the mission
buildings were enclosed in a boma — a zariba or
stockade constructed of impenetrable thorn bushes
— which blocked the road. To the left rear of
this stockade, as viewed from the front, the road
once more emerged from it, and passing a sub-
stantial, two-storeyed dwelling-house built of red
locally-burned bricks,! that occupied a position on
its left, it ran on two to three hundred yards to the
church, which was built of the same material and was
surmounted by a high spire. Behind the station,
the country was covered by the same open bush,
scattered trees, grass and occasional scrub already
described. From the valley of the Lukuledi,
which separated the Mission Hill from the hill
whence the road led down to the river crossing,
some fairly high trees rose to a sufficient height for
their tops partially to obscure the depth of the
depression in which they were rooted.

The summit of the hill leading down to the
river crossing was very bare, the grass on each side

MISSION HILL 171

having been completely burned away, and on
arrival here Captain Methven felt convinced that
his little force, which was now nearly two miles in
advance of the rest of the Regiment, must be clearly
visible from the mission station. Owing to the
mass of the tree-tops rising from the river valley,
it is doubtful, however, whether he was right in
this conjecture ; but as he advanced a solitary shot
was twice fired from the bush upon his left.
Believing himself to be under observation from
the mission station, Captain Methven deployed
his men on either side of the road in the sparse
bush and grass, in order to provide them with such
cover as was available, and he then began to
descend the hill, the armoured cars moving forward
with him, but of course remaining on the highway.
Halfway down the hill the rearmost car suddenly
developed engine trouble, and had to be left
behind.

The section of B Company which was under
Lieutenant Woods' command led the advance,
and on reaching the river crossing it found that,
though an enemy post had been established on the
far side of it and to his left, as had been accurately
reported by the small boy, it had now been with-
drawn. Woods therefore crossed the river, and
proceeded up the road until the boma was reached.
There was no sign of the enemy, and he accordingly
went back down the road arid reported to Captain
Methven that he believed the station to be un-
occupied, and that he had sent a small party
forward to confirm this fact.

B Company was then deployed along the base
of the Mission Hill, the section on the left wing

172 LUKULEDI

being under the command of Lieutenant S. B.
Smith, that next to it being under Lieutenant
Baillie, while the centre, with which was the
machine-gun, was astride the road, under Captain
Methven and Colour - Sergeant Cuneen, with
Lieutenant Woods' section upon its right. The
formation of the company was thus an irregular
semicircular line, the men being in extended
order ; and it was thus that, at about 2.30 p.m.,
the advance up the hill was begun.

The few shallow folds and hollows in the surface
of the hill near its base had been left behind, and
B Company had advanced about a hundred yards
into the wide belt of bare and fire-blackened earth
which extended thence to the edge of the boma,
when fire was suddenly opened upon it from
machine-guns placed in the bush to the right and
left of the mission station, while from behind the
boma there came a tremendous burst of rifle-fire.
The enemy had watched the approach of B Com-
pany, and had held his fire awaiting the psycho-
logical moment to attack. Now, when Captain
Methven 's little force had reached a position where
no cover was to be found for a hundred yards or
more in any direction, the Germans suddenly sub-
jected their opponents to a withering cross-fusillade.
Shortly afterwards a party of the enemy, about
150 strong, was seen to emerge from behind the
mission house to the right rear of their position,
and to run at a double into some long grass with
the evident intention of outflanking the left of the
line formed by B Company.

The position in which Captain Methven's little
force found itself was desperate, no less ; but, as

A TIGHT PLACE 173

usual, the courage, the discipline and the steadfast-
ness of the men were beyond praise. Hugging the
bare ground as closely as they might they returned
the enemy's fire ; but save the boma, they had no
target at which to aim, while the Germans were
firing upon them, as the accuracy of their marks-
manship proved, at ranges which had been carefully
ascertained in advance.

Captain Methven brought his machine-gun into
action, and Colour-Sergeant Cuneen, who was
working it, was immediately killed. Sergeant-
Major Mama Juma, who took his place, was
instantly hit, and though it was now evident that
the enemy had the position of this gun " taped,"
as it is called, and that it was practically certain
death for any one to touch it, the gun-team
continued to try to serve it until every man among
them had been killed or wounded. From end to
end of the line the casualties were' now very heavy,
but retreat was even more dangerous than the
continued occupation of this mercilessly exposed
position ; and B Company maintained its ground,
and manfully tried to return the enemy's fire. On
the right, Lieutenant Woods was killed early in the
action, but Sergeant Yessufu Mamprusi at once
assumed command of the section, and continued
to direct and steady his men. In the centre,
where the casualties were very heavy, Colour-
Sergeant Cuneen had been killed and the whole
of the machine-gun team had been put out of
action, while Captain Methven had been thrice
wounded in the same leg — a leg which already
bore the scar of a wound received some months
earlier on the western front in France.

174 LUKULEDI

The foremost armoured car, contrary to orders,
had come right up into the firing-line, thus
presenting a target to the enemy which caused
the men lying to the right and left of it to be
subjected to a specially devastating fire. Both
this car and its fellow, which had overcome its
engine troubles, and had crept up the hill, had had
their tyres shot to ribbons ; the driver of the
leading car had been wounded in the eye, through
the window of his vehicle, and the machine-guns
with which they were armed were quite unable
effectively to retaliate upon the enemy.

On the left of Captain Methven, Lieutenant
Baillie had been shot through both feet, and had
contrived to drag himself back into an isolated
patch of grass and scrub, in which he was now
lying. Further to the left again, Lieutenant S. B.
Smith alone survived unharmed, but though the
grass here afforded a certain amount of cover for
his section, his position was being outflanked and
enfiladed by the enemy.

Meanwhile the rest of the Regiment had arrived
at the summit of the hill leading down to the
river crossing, and the Pioneer Company was sent
forward to the relief of B Company, with Major
Goodwin in command. The slope was descended,
the river-bed was crossed, and the Pioneers took
cover in such hollows in the surface of the hill
near its base and right flank as they could find.
It was in one of these hollows that Captain
Methven presently met Major Goodwin, with
whom the position was discussed; but it was
evident that B Company, more than a third of
whom were now casualties, could not be with-

LIEUTENANT R. SAUNDERSON 175

drawn, and that any attempt to reinforce their
firing-line would only result in a useless sacrifice
of life. All that could be done was for B Company
to remain where it was, and to endure the terrible
punishment to which it had been exposed for more
than an hour. The fire continued to be so hot
that many of the dead and wounded in the firing-
line were being hit over and over again.

Lieutenant Saunderson was sent forward from
the Pioneer Company to take over the section, at
that time being commanded by Sergeant Yessufu
Mamprusi, on the extreme left of the line; and
very shortly after his arrival he attempted and led
a desperate charge against the boma. His men
loyally followed him, but the feat attempted was
impossible of achievement, and their gallant young
leader fell riddled with bullets within a yard of that
impenetrable stockade of thorns. Here his body
was recovered next day, having during the night
been partially buried by the Germans, and several
of his section lay dead around him. Sergeant
Yessufu Mamprusi, however, who had himself taken
part in the charge, led the survivors back to their
former position, where they remained during the
remainder of the afternoon. This rion- commis-
sioned officer, who throughout showed great
coolness and courage, and who continued to
command his men to the very end of the day,
was himself wounded in three places.

Robert de Bedick Saunderson, who here lost his
life, was just six-and-twenty years of age. He had
been appointed an Assistant District Commissioner
in the Gold Coast in January, 1915, served in
Ashanti for a few months, and then was attached

176 LUKULEDI

to the Gold Coast Regiment at Kumasi, being
accounted " one of the lucky ones " by his brother
officers, in that his application to be seconded for
military service had been approved. In April of
the following year he returned from leave, and was
for a time employed in the Secretariat at Accra ;
but when in April, 1917, the second draft was
dispatched from the Gold Coast to reinforce the
troops in East Africa, Mr. Saunderson accompanied
it, and was with the Regiment, except when
incapacitated by sickness, until he fell at Lukuledi
in the manner just described.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Foster, of whose lone-
hand fight mention has been made in connection
with the action at Ruwanga Chini, had crossed the
river and made his way up the hill to the hollow
on the northern slope of it where Major Goodwin
was halted. His business, as usual, was to try to
observe for the 27th Mountain Battery, to which
he was attached, and which had now opened fire
from the opposite hill upon the buildings in the
boma, and upon the area between the big dwelling-
house and the church. Here he learned from
Captain Methven of the position in which Lieu-
tenant Baillie was lying in a little patch of bush to
the right rear of his section, most of whom were now
casualties. To reach this spot about one hundred
yards of burned stubble, in which not a square
inch of cover was anywhere obtainable, had to be
crossed. This area, throughout the afternoon, had
been swept by the enemy's rifles and machine-guns,
which had the range to a nicety. Lieutenant
Foster was warned by Captain Methven that it
was almost certain death to attempt to reach

FOSTER'S GALLANT ACT 177

Lieutenant Baillie, but this information had no
deterrent effect, and Lieutenant poster not only
went out, but actually succeeded in bringing
Lieutenant Baillie safely back to the dressing-
station without either of them being hit. In any
other war this gallant exploit would have won, as
it surely merited, the Victoria Cross. As it was,
the Military Cross was awarded to Lieutenant
Foster for this signal act of heroism. Captain
Gush, while dressing Lieutenant Baillie's wounds,
was himself shot through the arm.

The remainder of the Gold Coast Regiment
had now moved down the hill, and had dug itself
in at a spot on the slope above the river crossing ;
while the rest of No. 1 Column had halted on the
crest whence, as has been noted, the 27th Mountain
Battery had come into action. How far their fire
was effective could not be ascertained, but it
afforded the only relief that was to come to
B Company during this trying afternoon, and
about this time the enemy's fire showed signs of
slackening.

From the position which the Regiment had
taken up Major Shaw was sent with three sections
of 1 Company to occupy some high ground on the
east and south-east, and to gain touch with Major
Goodwin and the Pioneers. I Company was at that
time the only company in reserve, and the left and
right flanks of the Regiment were therefore very
much exposed. No information could be gathered
as to the whereabouts of the 1st Battalion of the
3rd King's African Rifles, and the orders issued to
Major Shaw were therefore cancelled, the left flank
of the Regiment being made secure by posting

178 LUKULEDL

A Company and three sections of I Company there
to guard it.

This movement had hardly been completed
before the enemy delivered a vigorous counter-
attack upon the left of the Regiment's position.
It was carried out with great determination, but it
was beaten off without difficulty by Major Shaw,
and as the Askari exposed themselves much more
recklessly than usual, it was thought that con-
siderable losses were inflicted upon the enemy.
Such beliefs were, however, throughout this
campaign, for the most part mere matters of
speculation and conjecture, for the enemy attached
great importance to the removal of his dead and
wounded, and generally left as little trace as
possible of any misfortune that might have befallen
him.

Toward dusk the enemy fire died down, and as
soon as darkness had fallen the Pioneers, the two
armoured cars, and all that was left of B Company
were withdrawn from the position on the hill,
which the latter had occupied for nearly four hours,
and fell back to the slope across the river upon
which the rest of the Gold Coast Regiment lay
entrenched. The remainder of No. 1 Column lay
encamped on the road about a mile further to the
rear.

The casualties sustained on that afternoon were
Lieutenants Woods and Saunderson and Colour-
Sergeant Cuneen killed, and Captains Methven
and Gush and Lieutenant Baillie wounded, while
10 of the rank and file were killed and 25 were
wounded, and of the gun-carriers 2 were killed and
7 wounded- -in all 15 killed and 35 wounded, many

B COMPANY'S CASUALTIES 179

of the latter being hit more than once. The total
casualties thus numbered 50 out of a total of about
160 men actually engaged. The enemy had set
their trap with cunning and dexterity. It was one
in which, given the circumstances of the advance,
it was not possible for B Company to avoid being
caught. A detachment of the King's African
Rifles succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of
the church during the afternoon, but the place was
at that time being shelled by the 27th Battery
so heavily that a withdrawal was considered
necessary.

Captain Methven, who had already earned a
Military Cross on the Western Front, was awarded
a bar to that decoration for the gallant service he
had rendered from the time he occupied Liwinda
Ravine on the 9th August to the 18th October,
when he was repeatedly but happily not fatally
wounded, in that death-trap on the Mission Hill
at Lukuledi.

N

CHAPTER XIII

EXPULSION OF VON LETTOW-VORBECK FROM
GERMAN EAST AFRICA

ON the 19th October patrols sent out at dawn
reported that the enemy had retired. The 1st
Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles accordingly occupied the mission
boma and the church, while the remainder of No. 1
Column camped on the crest of the hill to the
north, overlooking the valley of the Lukuledi,
from which on the preceding day Captain Methven
had caught his first view of the mission buildings.
Before this move was made, I Company of the
Gold Coast Regiment was dispatched to occupy a
ridge to the north-east of the camp in which the
Regiment had passed the night ; and from here a
strong officer's patrol was sent out along the road
which runs in an easterly direction from Lukuledi
to Chikukwe. At 3 p.m. a detachment of the 1st
Battalion of the 3rd King's African Rifles took
over this post from I Company ; and at 6 p.m. the
patrol along the Chikukwe road returned and
reported that it had obtained touch with the
enemy at a point about four miles down the
road.

During the day the Battery rejoined the Gold
Coast Regiment, and the 129th Baluchis rejoined
No. 1 Column.

180

ENEMY MOVEMENTS 181

On the 20th October the enemy delivered an
attack in force upon the 1st Battalion of the 3rd
Regiment of the King's African Rifles, who were
in occupation of the Mission Hill. This attack was
the result of certain rapid movements that von
Lettow-Vorbeck had made during the past few
days, which are of sufficient importance to warrant
some detailed description.

As we have seen, he had last been heard of at
Ruwanga, a point some sixteen miles north-east of
Ruponda ; and on the arrival of No. 1 Column at
the Mission Station of Mnero, it had been confi-
dently anticipated that he would take energetic
steps to defend his food depots at Ruponda. In-
stead, leaving perhaps three companies with six
machine-guns to resist the British advance at
Lukuledi, he marched rapidly eastward, and joined
forces with the troops which were opposing " Lin-
force " near Mtama, on the Lindi-Massassi road.
He here fought two severely contested actions
with " Linforce," at Njengao and at Mahiwa,
which places are only two or three miles apart,
the former being about four miles further down
the Linda road than Mtama. The brunt in both
these engagements was borne by the Nigerians
and by General O'Grady's Brigade, which was
mainly composed of battalions of the King's
African Rifles, who succeeded in inflicting un-
usually heavy losses on von Lettow-Vorbeck's
forces, but themselves suffered even more serious
casualties. It was estimated at the time that the
enemy lost 800 men killed and wounded, and that
the British loss was approximately 2000.

Satisfied that he had now done enough tern-

182 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

porarily to paralyse the advance of " Linforce," von
Lettow-Vorbeck forthwith set off post-haste down
the main road in the direction of Massassi, taking
with him four of the companies which had been in
action with the Nigerians both at Njengao and at
Mahiwa. Pushing on very rapidly to Chigugu, he
left two companies there, and picked up three
fresh ones which had been in action at Lukuledi
on the 18th October.

His plan was to approach the last-named place
from the south with the men under his command,
advancing from the direction of Massassi, while the
two companies which he had left at Chigugu simul-
taneously attacked the left flank of the British
from the east. These concerted movements were
timed to be executed on the morning of the 20th
October.

On that day the 1st Battalion of the 3rd King's
African Rifles, supported by the 25th Cavalry, had
orders to advance toward Massassi, and it had
actually set forth upon its march when it suddenly
found itself confronted by von Lettow-Vorbeck's
five companies, with which were two guns. The
King's African Rifles took up a position south
of the church, which completely dominated the
German attack, and though the bulk of the 25th
Cavalry failed to support them, they, in the fight
which ensued, not only inflicted heavy losses upon
the enemy but caused him to abandon two of his
machine-guns, and took from him also a number of
prisoners.

It is worth noting that during the British
attack upon the Mission Hill at Lukuledi, on the
18th October, care had been exercised to avoid

THE ENEMY WITHDRAWS 183

shelling the church. Von Lettow-Vorbeck's gun-
ners were hampered by no corresponding scruples,
and one of their first acts was to bring the tall
spire down with a crash.

Meanwhile the two German companies left by
von Lettow-Vorbeck at Chigugu had made their
way across to a spot north of the main camp and
a mile or so up the road, where the 25th Cavalry
had their encampment. They found it practically
undefended, and they in a few moments reduced
it to a woeful state of chaos. The horses left in it
were slaughtered, stores and equipment were de-
stroyed, and everything which was spoilable was
completely ruined.

The 129th Baluchis had been sent forward to
support the 1st Battalion of the 3rd King's African
Rifles on the Mission Hill, and the camp was
taken over by the Gold Coast Regiment with the
2nd Battalion of the 2nd King's African Rifles in
reserve. The enemy force which had demolished
the camp of the 25th Cavalry, twice attempted to
attack during the day, but on both occasions were
beaten off without difficulty. That was all that
these two companies were able to achieve, and
von Lettow-Vorbeck's main attack having met
with no success, the Germans drew off, probably
in the direction of Massassi. The enemy's troops
had been worked with merciless severity during
the past few days. They had fought two severe
actions on the Lindi road, and thereafter had
covered by dint of forced marches a distance of
not less than fifty miles. Without rest or refresh-
ment they had then been launched upon an attack
against Lukuledi, where they had encountered

184 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

very effective resistance from the 1st Battalion of
the 3rd King's African Rifles. The prisoners
captured were pitifully exhausted ; and there can
be little doubt that von Lettow-Vorbeck on this
occasion subjected his willing troops to a strain
beyond their strength.

In these circumstances it is all the more regret-
table that at this moment orders were received by
No. 1 Column to fall back on Ruponda. This
order was dictated not by choice but by neces-
sity. " Hanforce " was still based for its supplies
upon Kilwa Kisiwani, which was distant from
Ruponda by road very nearly one hundred and
fifty miles. It had been hoped that by this time
the provisioning of the columns might be supple-
mented by supplies landed at Lindi, which is only
seventy odd miles from Lukuledi ; but the very
stout resistance which " Linforce " had encountered
had prevented it from advancing westward from
its base for much more than half that distance.
Already, after the fight at Nahungu, difficulties of
supply and transport had compelled the British
Command to detach the Nigerian Brigade from
the troops thrusting south from the Kilwa area,
and had caused it to transfer itself to " Linforce."
Now, once again, the ever-lengthening lines of
communication behind " Hanforce " had imposed
upon the machinery of transport a strain which
threatened it with a serious break-down. There
was no alternative, therefore, but temporarily to
shorten those lines, and though it was realized that
the moral effect which a retirement would produce
at this juncture could not but be deplorable, orders
were issued for the column to fall back.

NO. 1 COLUMN FALLS BACK 185

Accordingly, at 8.30 p.m. on the 22nd October,
No. 1 Column began its march back to Ruponda.
To the Gold Coast Regiment which, during the
advance, had so often acted as advanced guard,
the position of rear-guard was now assigned,
and it was not till 3 a.m., after the last of the
long train of laden men and animals had finally
crawled out of camp, that the Regiment, too, set
forth upon the road. All fires were left burning,
and everything was done to prevent the enemy
from detecting the movement which was in pro-
gress. Chingwea, twelve miles up the road, was
reached without incident, and at 3.30 p.m. the
retirement to Ruponda was continued. Ruponda
was reached by the Gold Coast Regiment and the
perimeter of the camp was taken over by it at
9.40 a.m. on the 23rd October.

From this date until the 7th November the
Gold Coast Regiment remained in the standing
camp which had now been formed at Ruponda,
furnishing patrols which kept in touch with No. 2
Column to the east, drilling the men for three
hours daily, and training gun-teams for the
Stokes Battery with which it had now been pro-
vided.

On the 7th November No. 1 Column resumed
operations in the Chigugu-Lukuledi area, and
marched without incident to Chingwea. Here it
learned that " Linforce," which was still fighting
its way down the Lindi-Massassi road, had the
day before been in action against eight of von
Lettow-Vorbeck's companies, and that after the
engagement the enemy had retired in the direction
of Nangus, which is on the main road at a spot

186 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

about twenty miles east by north of Lukuledi, and
about the same distance north-east of Massassi.

On the 8th November No. 1 Column marched
to Igumi on the left bank of the Lukuledi River,
seven miles below the mission station ; and on the
following day, it pushed on to Chigugu, on the
main Lindi-Massassi road. This place is distant
only about ten miles south-west of Nangus, where
von Lettow-Vorbeck's forces were reported to be
encamped.

Meanwhile No. 2 Column had crossed the rear
of No. 1 Column and had occupied Lukuledi,
whence it made a strong reconnaissance to
Ndomondo on the Lukuledi River, two and a
half miles up-stream from Igumi. None of these
movements met with any opposition from the
enemy.

On the 10th November, No. 1 Column pushed
on east by south to the mission station at Ndanda,
and a high ridge on the south of this place was
occupied by the 129th Baluchis and the 55th Rifles,
which had now joined the Column. Only slight
opposition was met with and four Europeans were
captured, and an enemy hospital was found con-
taining 54 sick and wounded German combatants,
and 120 Askari. There were also at this place a
number of civilians and several European women
and children.

The 1st Battalion of the 3rd King's African
Rifles occupied the village, and the 2nd Battalion
of the 2nd King's African Rifles took up a position
on the road leading from Ndanda to Nangus.
The rest of No. 1 Column encamped at the
mission station. Word was here received that

r

NO. 1 COLUMN'S MOVEMENTS 187

" Linforce " was only three miles to the east of
Nangus, and that No. 2 Column had occupied
Chigugu, where No. 1 Column had spent the
preceding night. Thence they had advanced
toward the mission station at Jumbe Nwinama,
which lies about two and a half miles to the east,
where they had come into collision with the
enemy.

It looked at the moment as though von Lettow-
Vorbeck's forces were at last in a fair way to be
surrounded, and it was anticipated that his main
body would try to escape via Chiwata, leaving
strong rear-guards to keep both "Linforce" and
" Hanforce " in play, and to delay their advance.

On the llth November No. 1 Column remained
encamped at Ndanda Mission Station, two strong
patrols being sent out; the one toward Nangus
and the other toward Chiwata. The latter was
undertaken by B Company of the Gold Coast
Regiment, which went some miles down the track
without seeing any traces of the enemy.

On the 12th November No. 1 Column marched
back to Chigugu, its objective being Mwiti, which
is situated on the right bank of the river of that
name — a tributary of the Rovuma — and lies
fourteen miles due east of Massassi and about half
that distance almost due south of Chiwata.

Moving from Chigugu to Chikukwe on the
13th November, No. 1 Column attacked and
occupied Mwiti on the 14th November. The
Gold Coast Regiment, however, was in reserve
upon this day and took no part in the action
beyond sending a patrol, furnished by I Company,
to occupy a ridge on the right of the advance of

188 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the
King's African Rifles. This was achieved without
opposition from the enemy.

The country in which " Hanforce " was now
operating consisted of a succession of hills which
rise from the plain to the height of anything from
1000 to 2000 feet, and are grouped about the
western and southern flanks of the great Makonde
plateau. The latter, which towers above the
highest of its foothills by a good 1000 feet or
more, is an elevated piece of flat land, roughly
circular in shape, situated between the Lukuledi
and Rovuma rivers to the north-east of Newala, and
measuring approximately forty miles from north
to south and again from east to west. The slopes
of all these hills and those which lead up to the
plateau are covered by grass and trees ; and though
the latter are sparsely scattered over the hillsides,
they grow more thickly in the valleys, which seen
from above seem to be choked with vegetation.
The foothills are intersected by deep ravines and
gorges, and it was through these that von Lettow-
Vorbeck's forces were now making their way in
the direction of Newala, the last German base in
this part of the country.

Word had been received from the War Office
on the 9th November that a German airship was
en route for East Africa, and later it was reported
that it had started, that it intended to effect a
landing on the summit of the Makonde Plateau,
and that it might be expected to arrive on the
14th November. This was precisely the sort of
spectacular performance, dear to the German heart,
in which the enemy so frequently indulged during

A GERMAN AIRSHIP 189

the war, and which usually involved him in
expense and risk altogether disproportionate to
the military value that could thereby conceivably
be secured. It was doubtless thought by simple
folk in Berlin that the dramatic arrival of a
Zeppelin on the battlefields of East Africa would
fill the native troops fighting against von Lettow-
Vorbeck with awe, terror and despair, and would
produce upon them the demoralizing effect which
a belief that the Germans stood possessed of super-
natural powers might be expected to inspire. But
the Oriental and African native of to-day is a
thoroughly blase person who has long ago out-
grown such childish weaknesses. To put the
matter colloquially, he is " fed up " with European
inventions, which have almost ceased to amuse or
interest him, and have long ago ceased to excite
his wonder, much less his fear. The arrival of a
German Zeppelin at this juncture would have been
welcomed by the men of the Gold Coast Regiment,
for instance, as a bright spot breaking the drab
monotony of their days ; while the British airmen,
who by now were heartily sick of the practical
inutility of most of the work that they were doing
in East Africa, would have hailed its coming with
even greater joy. The Zeppelin is believed to
have actually made a start from Aleppo, or from
some other place in Asia Minor, but if so it was
recalled before it had proceeded far upon its
journey. Perhaps von Lettow- Vorbeck, who
throughout received frequent messages from his
Government by wireless, and who may occasionally
have been able to communicate with it in his turn,
warned the Great General Staff that an airship

190 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

could produce no effect, military or moral, that it
was pretty certain to be wrecked, and that, in a
word, the game was not worth the candle.

The mission station at Mwiti, unlike most of
its counterparts in East Africa, has been built
upon flat land, shut in toward the north and east
by a semicircular range of hills ; and from this
place the Pioneer Company of the Gold Coast
Regiment was sent on the 15th November to
patrol to Manyambas, six and a half miles to the
south-east, which is connected with Mwiti by a
track skirting the base of the hills. The Pioneers
left half a company at Maruchiras, a place on this
track beyond the Miwale River, a left affluent of
the Mwiti, which in its turn is a left tributary of
the Rovuma ; for the enemy had now been driven
south of the Mambir, the last river of note in erst-
while German East Africa, and had been definitely
pushed into the valley of the Rovuma, which is
the northern boundary of the Portuguese posses-
sions.

Meanwhile, at 2 p.m., the rest of the Gold
Coast Regiment marched out of camp at Mwiti,
and breasting a long slope in an easterly direction,
ascended to the summit of a hill lying immediately
under the lee of the escarpment which, across a
deep valley, leads up to the Makonde Plateau.
The latter rising directly to the north of Miwale
Hill, the eminence occupied by the Gold Coast
Regiment, soared above it to a height of perhaps
2000 feet.

The object of this movement was, if possible,
to locate a German camp which was believed to
exist at Luchemi, in the ravine between Miwale

CAPTAIN BRISCOE'S PATROL 191

Hill and the slope leading up to the plateau ; but
looking down from this height, the valley was
revealed as a sea of tree-tops and vegetation to the
depths of which the eye could not penetrate. At
6.15 p.m. a camp was selected on a spur jutting
out into the valley. To the east, however, there
rose yet another and a higher spur, connected with
that upon which the camp was pitched by a saddle,
the whole covered by grass and trees. This spur
was reported by a patrol from a picket of the
55th Rifles, which had taken up a position on the
northern flank of Miwale Hill prior to the arrival
of the Gold Coast Regiment on its eastern summit,
to be held by the enemy. This rendered the
position of the camp somewhat precarious, and
that night no lights or fires were permitted.

Word was received that evening that the
Nigerians had occupied Chiwata, five miles to the
north, at one o'clock that afternoon, and that on
the morrow they would operate from that place
against the enemy camp at Luchemi.

At dawn on the 16th November, Captain Briscoe
with twenty rifles drawn from A Company set
out from the camp to patrol down into the valley
in a northerly direction ; and Captain McElligott
started at the same time, in command of a similar
patrol, to reconnoitre the high spur across the
saddle to the east of the camp. Captain Briscoe's
patrol was fired upon very shortly after he left
camp ; and a little later a party of the enemy were
seen moving about down in the valley. It was
one of the many trials of the campaign in
East Africa that even a glimpse of the folk
against whom they were fighting was very rarely

192 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

vouchsafed to the attacking forces. It was the role
of the former to keep well under cover at all times,
to let their pursuers discover their whereabouts if
they could, and to make them pay as heavy a price
as possible for the knowledge so obtained. The
spectacle of a number of German soldiers, visible
to the naked eye, and scuttling about in the valley,
accordingly created considerable excitement, and
fire was at once opened upon them with the Gold
Coast Regiment's machine-guns. There are few
feats more difficult, however, than accurately to
find the range of an object situated far below and
aimed at from a considerable height above it.
Almost invariably the fire is not sufficiently de-
pressed, and the bullets fly well over the target.
It may be doubted, therefore, whether on this
occasion much execution was done. The enemy,
however, quickly took cover, and was presently
seen to be in action with the 55th Rifles, who were
working up the valley from west to east.

Between eight and nine o'clock in the morning
the rest of No. 1 Column joined the Gold Coast
Regiment on Miwale Hill ; and the 1st Battalion
of the 3rd Regiment of the King's African Rifles
was sent south to work round the high spur on
the east, which was being patrolled by Captain
McElligott and his party.

The latter had reached the spur without en-
countering any opposition, but he reported that
the northern slopes were occupied by the enemy,
and that patrols sent out by him in that direction
had been fired upon. At 1.45 p.m. Captain
McElligott, signalling by flag-wagging from the
western slope of the spur, confirmed this report ;

THE ENEMY IN THE VALLEY 193

and in the meantime B Company had been dis-
patched to reinforce his patrol. With B Company
also flag- communication was established, and the
55th Rifles and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles were sent forward to occupy
the spur.

No sooner had Captain McElligott's signaller
set to work on the western slope of the spur than
the enemy from the bottom of the valley began
shelling the British position with quite extraor-
dinary accuracy. The first shot was aimed at
Captain McElligott's signaller and scored a direct
hit, blowing the poor fellow to pieces. The shell-
ing which followed was no less accurate, and the
target this time was the crowded perimeter camp
in which No. 1 Column had that morning joined
up with the Gold Coast Regiment. As all the
carriers and troops were inside the perimeter, the
position was rendered peculiarly vulnerable, and
great commotion and consternation were caused
among the non-combatants Jby the extreme pre-
cision of the enemy's aim. As soon, therefore, as
the 55th Rifles and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles had established themselves
upon the spur to the east, the whole of the re-
mainder of No. 1 Column moved across to that
less dangerous spot, where another perimeter camp,
sheltered this time from the guns in the valley,
was formed. During the night the enemy retired
from his positions on the northern flank of this
spur.

It is not thought that any large body of the
enemy was present on this day, but a strong rear-
guard— for such it probably was — had been able to

194 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

check the British advance, and had succeeded in
giving von Lettow-Vorbeck's main body the time
it needed to escape from a desperate situation, and
to slip away in the direction of Newala.

The casualties sustained by the Gold Coast
Regiment on the 16th November were 1 colour-
sergeant, who had been attached to the Gold
Coast Regiment from the South African Infantry,
killed, and Captain Dawes and 1 colour- sergeant
wounded, 3 soldiers and 1 carrier killed, and 9
soldiers and 8 carriers wounded.

On the 17th November No. 1 Column moved
forward in an easterly direction to a camp which
had been occupied on the preceding night by the
1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles; and the latter marched east and
occupied a big water-hole near Luchemi. On the
following day Luchemi was occupied by No. 1
Column, no resistance being offered by the enemy ;
and on the 19th November the column pushed on
to Mkundi, which lies almost due west of the hills
upon which Massassi is situated, and at a distance
of perhaps two and a half miles from that station.
It will be remembered that Massassi had been
chosen by von Lettow-Vorbeck, after he had been
driven across theRufiji, as his General Headquarters.
He had now, however, abandoned it and was basing
his present operations upon Newala, which is distant
only a dozen miles from the Portuguese frontier on
the Rovuma River. It was for Newala that the
enemy's forces were now believed to be heading ;
and it was understood that the troops under von
Tafel's command, who had been driven in a south-
easterly direction by the advance of the Belgians and

GERMANS RETREAT 195

of General Northey's column, had been ordered to
join forces with von Lettow-Vorbeck at this place.

At Mkundi information was received that the
Nigerians had captured a German hospital on the
previous day, containing 25 British, 2 Belgian and
5 Portuguese officers prisoners, and 250 German
and 700 natives, most of whom, however, were
believed to be carriers, though there were 100 or
more Askari among them. Twenty German
officers and 242 Askari, and 4 European and 10
native non-combatants had also surrendered on this
day. Von Lettow-Vorbeck, with the Governor of
German East Africa — Herr Schnee — were believed
to have with them some 800 to 1200 men, and to
be about to quit the erstwhile German colony and
to cross over into Portuguese territory.

On the evening of the 19th November the
disposition of the British forces operating in this
area was approximately as follows. No. 2 Column
had reached Nairombo on the left bank of the
Mwiti River, twelve miles south of Chiwata. One
battalion of the Nigerians was at Mpoto, on the
main road from Massassi to Newala, and distant
about fourteen miles to the north-west of the
latter place. Two Nigerian battalions were at
Manyambas, the village to which the Pioneer
Company of the Gold Coast Regiment had
marched from the mission station at Mwiti on
the 15th November; No. 3 Column was halting
further north with orders not to advance for the
present ; and the 25th Cavalry were near Lulindi,
fourteen miles east of Mpoto.

On the 20th November No. 1 Column marched
from - Mkundi, in a south-easterly direction, to

o

196 EXPULSION FROM GERMAN EAST

Lulindi, a distance of fourteen miles ; and here in-
formation was received that Lieutenant Isaacs, who,
it will be remembered, had been captured by the
Germans during the fight at Nkessa in the Uluguru
Mountains on the 12th}September, 1916, was among
the British officers who had been released by the
Nigerians on the 18th November. During his
fourteen months' captivity Lieutenant Isaacs had
lost about two stone in weight, and had suffered
severely from the shortage of all supplies, by which
the Germans themselves had for many months been
acutely pinched. Apart from these inevitable hard-
ships, however, he and his fellow-European captives
appear to have been well treated. The absence of
any British native soldiers among the men released
was, however, of sinister significance.

On the 21st November No. 1 Column advanced
with the intention of making a reconnaissance in
force towards Newala for the purpose of attacking
and capturing this the last of the enemy's strong-
holds in his African colonies. The advance was
led by the 55th Rifles and the 1st Battalion of the
3rd King's African Rifles, the Gold Coast Regiment
following in support. The 55th Rifles, however,
occupied Newala without resistance, and it was
there ascertained that von Lettow-Vorbeck, with
the remainder of his war-worn forces and carrying
the unhappy Herr Schnee with him, had early
that morning marched south to Nakalala on the
northern bank of the Rovuma, where a number of
canoes had been assembled, and intended thence to
cross over into Portuguese territory.

At Newala 126 Germans surrendered to No. 1
Column.

SI

CHAPTER XIV

TRANSFER OF THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT
TO PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA

THE actual movements and whereabouts of von
Lettow-Vorbeck and his troops were, as usual, still
largely a matter of conjecture, but every base
which he had possessed in German East Africa
was now in the hands of the British. He was
known to be short of supplies, of food, of equip-
ment, and of ammunition; the end of the dry
season was drawing near, and the Portuguese were
aware that he was approaching the frontier, and
were strongly encamped at Ngomano, on the right
bank of the Rovuma, about fifty miles upstream
from the point at which the German force had
crossed the river. The Rovuma is here a fine river,
with a bed of sand and shingle, about half a mile
wide from bank to bank. At this season, however,
it was shrunken to such an extent that the running
water measured only a hundred yards or so across,
and was easily fordable at many points. The
banks of the Rovuma were low and water- worn ;
the country in the vicinity was flat and covered
with vegetation, which owed such fertility as it
possessed to annual extensive inundations. In the
rainy season the valley of the Rovuma would
clearly be even more uninhabitable than the basin
of the Rufiji had proved to be in 1916-17.

197

198 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

There were many sanguine people in the British
camp who held that with the expulsion of von
Lettow-Vorbeck from the territory that had once
belonged to Germany the campaign in East
Africa — which had already, nearly a year before,
been publicly declared to have been practically at
an end — was now at last definitely concluded. Since
the first pronouncement to that effect was made,
the enemy, quite unperturbed by this pious
expression of opinion, had kept the field con-
tinuously, had fought a series of vigorous rear-guard
actions, among which those at Njengao and Mahiwa
on the Lindi road were of considerable magnitude,
and had incidentally cost the British taxpayer an
average of over twelve millions sterling per mensem.
Now, even if fighting did not cease, the campaign,
it was thought, could henceforth be conducted
upon a much more modest scale ; but most of the
men who had fought against von Lettow-Vorbeck,
and who had had opportunities of gauging the
resolution, the determination, the resourcefulness,
and, if you will, the dogged obstinacy of the man,
were convinced that he would carry on the fight
so long as he had an Askari to fire a rifle, and a
cartridge to be discharged. It was also regarded
as probable that he and von Tafel might still be
able to join forces.

On the night of the 21st November the Gold
Coast Regiment, which had not entered Newala,
camped on the road halfway between that place
and Lulindi, and on the following day retraced its
steps to the latter. On the 23rd November, No. 1
Column marched from Lulindi to Luatalla, where

BANGALLA AND ROVUMA 199

it was joined by the 55th Rifles and the 1st
Battalion of the 3rd King's African Rifles from
Newala. Word was here received that von Lettow-
Vorbeck's column was moving down the right, or
Portuguese, bank of the Rovuma, and it was
reported by natives that von Tafel had recrossed
the river to the left bank, and was moving slowly
and with great difficulty through the bush in the
neighbourhood of Miesi, which lies halfway between
the Mwiti and Bangalla rivers, both of which are
left tributaries of the Rovuma. No. 1 Column
was ordered to proceed to the mouth of the
Bangalla River, by forced marches, for the purpose
of trying to cut off von Tafel, and of preventing
him from effecting a junction with von Lettow-
Vorbeck. The Cavalry was to move in advance of
No. 1 Column, and No. 2 Column was simul-
taneously to march down the Bangalla River from
the north.

At 4 p.m. on the 24th November, therefore,
No. 1 Column, with the Gold Coast Regiment
leading the advance, set out for the mouth of the
Bangalla, and at midnight bivouacked in column
of route along the roadside. At 5.30 a.m. on the
25th November, the march was resumed, and the
junction of the Bangalla with the Rovuma was
reached at 10.30 a.m. During the march a solitary
bull buffalo, outraged by this intrusion upon his
privacy, savagely charged the column, went through
it like a clown through a paper hoop, knocking
over two carriers, and so vanished into the
bush.

During the march a distance of 24 miles was
covered, and it was calculated that since leaving

200 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

Ruponda, nine days earlier, the main body of No. 1
Column had marched no less than 174 miles — an
average of over 19 miles per diem — while many of
the units composing it, of which the Gold Coast
Regiment was one, had materially exceeded that
average. This would have been a sufficiently fine
performance anywhere and in any circumstances
for a body of infantry impeded at every step by a
large number of carriers ; but in the East African
bush, at the fag-end of the dry season, when every-
thing is at its dryest and hottest, it represented a
really considerable feat.

On the 26th November, word having been
received that an enemy force, composed of thirty
white men and an unknown number ofAskari, had
cut the Column's line of communication to the
north-east, the 129th Baluchis were dispatched
toward Luatalla for the purpose of dislodging it ;
and at 9 a.m. the remainder of the column marched
from Bangalla to Miesi by the road which it had
followed on the preceding day. On arrival here it
was learned that the 129th Baluchis, who at this
time consisted of only about 130 rifles, had had a
sharp engagement with the enemy on the banks of
the Mwiti River, that they had had the worst of the
encounter, and that they had been compelled to
retire, leaving a considerable amount of small-arms
ammunition in the hands of the Germans. This,
however, was subsequently recovered, the enemy
having had no means of carrying it away.

The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd King's African
Rifles were sent to a place called Jumbe Nambude,
with half of A Company of the Gold Coast
Regiment, to form a flunk guard to the Column ;

LIEUTENANT NASH 201

but at 6 p.m. this half-company returned to Miesi,
having seen nothing of the enemy.

During the night the enemy with whom the
129th Baluchis had come into collision retired, and
communication with Lustalla was restored. Half
of B Company, under Captain McElligott, was
sent to patrol the Mbalawala hills, to the north of
Miesi, and thence to send out parties to reconnoitre
to the north and north-west. It was thought that
von TafeFs camp was near Nambingo, to the west
of Miesi, between the Bangalla and Mwiti rivers.

On the 28th November No. 1 Column marched
back to Bangalla, at the junction of the river of
that name with the Rovuma, where the perimeter
camp formed on the 25th November was re-
occupied. Here Captain McElligott with his
patrol rejoined the Gold Coast Regiment. Very
shortly after the arrival of the column in camp, a
British aviator effected a landing on the sand and
shingle of the Rovuma 's dried-up bed, and when
he came up to the camp it was found that he was
Lieutenant Nash, who, in 1913-14, had been
engaged in surveying the line of the projected
railway extension in the Gold Coast from Kofori-
dua to Kumasi. After he had partaken of such
frugal fare as the mess of the Regiment afforded —
for at this time the whole force had for some days
been on greatly reduced rations — Lieutenant Nash
resumed his journey, a squad of Gold Coast men
being sent out to give his machine a " push off," as
the sand and shingle of the river-bed proved to be
rather heavy going. Nash flew down the river for
a few miles, and then finding that his stock of
petrol was running short and that his machine

202 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

must be lightened, he dropped all the bombs he
had with him into the Rovuma. Thus in a double
degree the Gold Coast may claim to have had a
special share in the surrender of von Tafel and his
forces ; for the explosion of Nash's bombs led the
German Commander to believe that von Lettow-
Vorbeck's troops were heavily engaged with the
British between him and Newala. He had already
learned that the latter place had been evacuated ;
his whole force had consumed practically all its
supplies ; ammunition was running very short ; and
now it seemed that he was separated from von
Lettow-Vorbeck on the left bank of the Rovuma
by a British column. This decided him to
surrender, and that afternoon he sent in his Chief
Staff Officer and another member of his staff with
a white flag. They were received by a detachment
of the Pioneer Company of the Gold Coast
Regiment, and were forthwith conducted to
Colonel Orr, the Column Commander.

The German officers, one of whom spoke
English perfectly, stated that von Tafel had
destroyed his last ammunition and buried or
burned all his arms of precision. He asked to be
allowed to surrender unconditionally, and suggested
that his force should be marched into the British
camp, and should occupy near it any area that
might be chosen for the purpose. These conditions
were approved, and late that afternoon the German
force, consisting of 190 Europeans and about 1,200
Askari, with their carriers and camp-followers,
waded across the Rovuma which they had crossed
the preceding evening and came into camp.

The whole movement was carried out with

GERMAN DISCIPLINE AND ORDER 203

machine-like precision. The little column marched,
as though on parade, to the area which had been
allotted to it for its encampment, in which each
company at once took up the position habitually
assigned to it. Baggage having been deposited
in a most orderly fashion, the men of each com-
pany instantly set to work to construct bush-huts
for their European officers, while the carriers cleared
the grass and underwood with their matchets,
and prepared less elaborate huts for the Askari.
The work was done with great rapidity, and on a
system which had evidently become so instinctive
that each cog knew to a nicety the precise place
which it occupied in the elaborate mechanism. But
what chiefly impressed the British spectators was not
only the discipline and the order, but the almost
unbroken silence which prevailed throughout.
Silence in the ranks is easy enough to secure
among men subject to strict military discipline,
but no Englishman has yet learned the secret of
imposing a like silence upon a mob of male and
female African carriers. The result was impressive,
but it may perhaps be hoped that the British
never will achieve this particular miracle. Those
who know the natives of Africa will agree that
it is only to be wrought by means of methods
that have always found greater favour in Prussia
than they are ever likely to secure in Great Britain.
The cowed and silent carrier was the inevitable
adjunct to the German Askari, an analysis of
whose privileged position has been attempted in
an earlier chapter of this book.

Though von Tafel's men did not appear to be
at all near starvation, they, and especially the

204 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

Europeans, had not been full-fed for many days.
In illustration of this it may be mentioned that
a Tabora sovereign— the handsome gold coin,
bearing the Prussian arms on the obverse and an
African elephant on the reverse, and with no
bevelling to its edge, of which von Lettow-
Vorbeck had caused a few thousand to be coined
at Tabora during the early days of the campaign
— was freely offered that afternoon for a tin of
honest bully-beef. No. 1 Column, however, was
itself very hard-up for rations ; and on the morrow
von Tafel's men, under the escort of the 55th
Rifles, were sent up the bed of the Bangalla River
to join the Lindi road at a point to the south-
west of Massassi, and thence to march along
it to the sea. They were fed by means of the
consignments of rations which were being dis-
patched from Lindi for the use of the British
columns in the field ; and the latter accordingly,
for a space, went shorter of supplies than
ever.

On the 29th November, orders were received
to break up No. 1 Column. All the Indian units
were directed to proceed to Massassi, and all the
African units — the Gold Coast Regiment, the 2nd
Battalion of the 2nd and the 1st Battalion of the
3rd King's African Rifles — to Naurus, where they
were to join up with No. 2 Column. The Indian
and African troops were designated A Column
and B Column respectively ; and the command of
the latter was entrusted to Colonel Rose, Lieu-
tenant S. B. Smith acting as his Staff Officer.

B Column started upon its march on the 30th

STRENGTH OF THE REGIMENT 205

November, and moving via Nambere and Mapa-
rawe, reached Naurus, without incident, on the
2nd December.

The strength of the Gold Coast Regiment at
this time was as follows. There were actually
present in the field 19 British officers, including
2 doctors and 2 officers attached to the transport ;
8 British non-commissioned officers, of whom 3 be-
longed to the transport ; 850 rank and file, includ-
ing 18 signallers and 84 Gold Coast Volunteers,
the majority of the latter being employed as
orderlies ; 106 gun and ammunition-carriers ; 35
stretcher-bearers, 21 servants, 5 clerks, and 1305
carriers. The potential strength of the Regiment,
however, largely exceeded these figures, for 11
British and 2 British non-commissioned officers
were now available at Mpara, Mingonyo or Lindi,
some of whom had returned from leave, while
others were newly posted for service with the
corps; and new drafts having arrived from the
Gold Coast, 510 rank and file and 106 gun and
ammunition-carriers were in readiness to join the
Regiment. The total available force, therefore, at
this time, numbered 1360 rank and file and 212
gun and ammunition-carriers, and it was once
again very fairly well officered. The Regiment
also possessed, in addition to its machine-guns, 2
Lewis and 4 Stokes guns.

On the other hand, the quality of the rank
and file was not quite up to the standard of the
original force which the Gold Coast had put into
the field in July, 1916. The men at that time
composing the Regiment were seasoned soldiers,
all, or nearly all, of whom had recently seen active

206 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

service. They were " made " soldiers to a man,
and had every one of them been subjected to a
long process of training and discipline. Gaps in
their ranks, after the arrival of the first fully-
trained draft which had joined the Regiment
in December, 1916, had been filled, in the first
instance, by hastily collected levies of greatly
inferior quality, and as early as the fight at
Nahungu, at the end of September, 1917, it had
not been thought expedient to make use of all of
them in the firing-line. Subsequent drafts were far
superior to these, and had also undergone a more
prolonged training, but they, of course, lacked
the experience of the men belonging to the original
Exeditionary Force and of those who formed the
first draft of reinforcements. On the whole they
acquitted themselves very well ; but' the Gold
Coast Regiment at the end of December, 1917,
though numerically stronger than it had been at
any period during the whole campaign, was not,
perhaps, such a homogeneous and thoroughly
efficient force as it had been on its first arrival
in East Africa.

On the 3rd December, the Pioneer Company of
the Gold Coast Regiment, under Captain Arnold,
was sent to Wangoni, on the banks of the Ro-
vuma, to relieve the 1st Battalion of the 3rd
King's African Rifles, and the rest of the Regi-
ment was employed during the next few days in
road-making, in cleaning up old camping grounds,
and on other fatigues. On the 5th December a
draft consisting of 5 British officers, 2 British non-
commissioned officers, and 401 men, nearly all of

MAJOR GOOD WIN TAKES COMMAND 207

whom were new drafts from the Gold Coast,
reached the Regiment from Mpara.

On the 9th December, Colonel Rose, who had
been summoned by General Van der Venter to
General Headquarters, which were established at
that time at the mission station at Ndanda,
handed over the command to Major Goodwin,
and set off for his destination by motor-car ; and
it was announced that the Gold Coast Regiment
was about to be sent by sea from Lindi to Port
Amelia in Portuguese East Africa. It also leaked
out that von Lettow-Vorbeck, having reached a
point on the left bank of the Rovuma near
Ngomano, had waded across the river, his men
having at that time barely fifty rounds of small-
arms ammunition per head, and being to all in-
tents and purposes at the end of their resources.
He had then surprised the Portuguese camp at
Ngomano so effectively that he succeeded in
capturing inter alia a million rounds of small-arms
ammunition, several guns, and a supply of canned
European provisions sufficient to meet the require-
ments of his force for at least three months.
Having thus secured to himself a new lease of
life, he was now proceeding to make things as
unpleasant as possible for the Government of
Portuguese East Africa.

On the 9th December the Gold Coast Regi-
ment marched to Bangalla — not the place where
the river of that name debouches into the Rovuma,
but the spot where that stream is bridged by the
road which leads through Massassi from Makochera,
on the Rovuma, to Lindi on the sea. From this

208 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

point the Regiment marched up the main road,
reached Massassi Mission Station on the 12th
December, picking up at that place a signal
section of Royal Engineers, and pushing on to
Chigugu the same day. Marching distances which
varied from nine to sixteen miles daily, the Regi-
ment, on the 15th December, reached Mahiwa,
where General O'Grady's Column from Lindi had
fought one of its big battles. On the morrow at
Mtama, nine miles further up the road, it was
learned that Major Shaw, with Captains Harris
and Watts, and Lieutenants Pike, Smith and
Biltcliffe and 250 men of the Gold Coast Regiment,
had already sailed from Lindi for Port Amelia.
On the 17th December Mtua was reached, and
Lieutenant Withers, Colour- Sergeant Thornton,
and A Company, with two machine-guns and their
teams, were then dispatched to Lindi by motor-car
to embark for Port Amelia. The authorities were
evidently in a hurry, and von Lettow-Vorbeck was
reported already to have two companies of his
Askew i within ten hours' march of Port Amelia.

Next day, the Regiment moved on two miles
to Mingoya, where it held itself in readiness to
embark at Arab House, the landing-stage at Lindi,
which lay some six miles further up the road.

Meanwhile Colonel Rose had reported himself
to General Van der Venter, the Commander-in-
Chief, and to General Sheppard, the Chief of Staff,
at Ndanda Mission on the Lindi main road. He
was here informed that it had been decided to send
a column forthwith to assist the Portuguese at
Port Amelia, where much consternation had been
caused by the approach of von Lettow-Vorbeck's

"FOR IT' AGAIN 209

forces ; that the column would be composed mainly
of the Gold Coast Regiment ; and that the com-
mand would be entrusted to Colonel Rose.

The Gold Coast Regiment had now been serving
continuously in East Africa since its arrival at
Kilindini on the 26th July, 1916. During the
seventeen months that had thereafter elapsed the
Regiment had been constantly on the march or in
action, save when it had been camped, as for
instance at Njimbwe, at Mnasi, at Rumbo or again
at Narungombe, in close proximity to the enemy,
with whom its patrols and outposts had been in
almost daily collision. Thanks to the efforts of
the Government of the Gold Coast, and to the
highly efficient work performed by Lieutenant-
Colonel Potter, D.S.O., who had assumed com-
mand of the training depots in that colony, the
Regiment had been constantly and regularly rein-
forced; but after the remainder of the regular
force, originally left behind in the Gold Coast, had
been sent to East Africa, the quality of some of
the drafts had by no means equalled the high
standard at which the Regiment had always
hitherto aimed. The Nigerian Brigade, which
had reached East Africa some months after the
arrival of the Gold Coast Regiment, was about to
be sent back to Lagos ; but the Gold Coast Regi-
ment, which had enjoyed less than three months'
rest at Kumasi after the conclusion of the campaign
in the Kameruns, was still to be kept in the field.

It was realized by all, however, that a great
compliment to the Regiment, and a tacit recogni-
tion of the fashion in which it had borne itself,
were implied in this selection of it, out of all the

210 TO PORTUGUESE EAST

available troops, to undertake yet one more cam-
paign ; and if there were some who thought that
the men were being tried almost too severely, the
rank and file accepted the new duties which were
about to be imposed upon them with their usual
philosophy and good temper.

CHAPTER XV

THE ADVANCE FROM PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

WITH the transfer of military operations from
German to Portuguese territory the campaign
against von Lettow-Vorbeck assumed a somewhat
new aspect. Until now the German Commander-
in-Chief had been operating in country that had
long been subject to German rule, throughout
which German mission stations and German
administrative posts had been established, and
where every corner and cranny of each district
was familiarly known to Europeans or natives
resident in the German camps. The enemy troops,
moreover, had possessed bases both for military
purposes and for the accumulation of supplies ; and
so long as this continued to be the case points
existed here and there which it was important
should be maintained as long as possible, and
which the movements of von Lettow-Vorbeck's
forces were to some extent designed to defend.
With the abandonment of Newala, the last of
these permanent posts had been evacuated, and
with it any prisoners of war he had taken and the
German sick and wounded, who had hitherto been
under the treatment of their own doctors, had been
suffered to fall into the hands of the British.
Thereafter von Lettow-Vorbeck occupied a position

211

212 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

of complete independence and irresponsibility.
He was situated very much as de Wet and his
commando were situated during the concluding
months of the South African War ; and his troops
had similarly been transformed from an army in
the field into a mobile band of fugitive marauders,
whose only objects were to avoid capture, to cause
to their pursuers and to all connected with them
the maximum amount of loss and trouble, and
simultaneously to maintain themselves by seizing
any supplies upon which, from time to time, they
could contrive to lay their hands. The business
of the British, on the other hand, was rendered
more difficult than ever. The object to be aimed
at was to wear down the enemy's forces, to reduce
them by gradual attrition, and for this purpose to
bring them to action whenever and wherever this
could be achieved. There were now, however, no
important places, such as Newala, to be threatened
by the British advance, and von Lettow-Vorbeck
having got rid of all impedimenta, and having no
preoccupation save that of maintaining himself in
the field as long as possible, was able to place his
opponents in a very embarrassing position. This
he was now about to do, compelling " Pamforce,"
as the Expeditionary Force dispatched to Port
Amelia was officially designated, to extend its lines
of communications from the coast into the interior
for any distance that he might elect to fall back
before it ; diminishing by this means the strength
of the striking force which it could actually bring
against him, since lines of communications have to
be garrisoned and guarded ; multiplying with evei
additional mile the difficulties surrounding transpoi

ENEMY'S TROOPS 213

and supply ; while he carefully husbanded his own
forces, and contented himself with delaying and
harassing the advance by nieans of small patrols
whose occasional losses could not seriously diminish
his military strength.

The estimate formed of the strength of von
Lettow-Vorbeck's troops at the moment when he
evacuated Newala — viz. that they only amounted
to about 800 to 1200 men — was certainly incorrect,
and subsequent operations clearly showed that he
had at his disposal not less than 2000 soldiers,
10 per cent, of whom perhaps were white men.
These were now nearly as well armed and equipped
as they had ever been ; and in von Lettow-
Vorbeck's able hands they were capable of
leading their opponents as tantalizing a dance
through the jungle-covered plains and hills of
tropical East Africa as de Wet had led the British
troops across the veldt to the south some seventeen
years earlier.

He in the first instance established his Head-
quarters at Nanguari, a place on the right bank 01
the Lujendi River, which is one of the principal
right affluents of the Rovuma. The Portuguese
camp, which von Lettow-Vorbeck had so success-
fully surprised, had been pitched at Ngomano, at
the junction of the Lujendi with the Rovuma ;
and Nanguari, nearly a hundred miles up the former
river, had for von Lettow-Vorbeck the advantage
of being one of the most inaccessible places in the
northern part of Portuguese East Africa. From
Nanguari, he dispatched raiding parties, some of
which threatened Port Amelia, while others pene-
trated down the coast as far as Nkufi and Lurio,

214 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

at the mouth of the Luri River, where they gutted
the shops and stores of their stocks of European
provisions. It is possible that the report which
was current with regard to von Lettow-Vorbeck's
intention to attack and sack Port Amelia may
have been true, but if so, this project was aban-
doned when word reached him that British forces
had landed at that port. He, however, placed
some of his forces astride the road which runs
westward inland from the shores of Pomba Bay,
so as to frustrate any attempt that the British
might make to convey troops to the south of him
by sea, and so to slip them in behind him, as they
had earlier attempted to do by landing a force at
Lindi while he was still operating actively in the
Kilwa area.

Major Shaw's detachment of 250 men which,
as we have seen, had been dispatched from Lindi
to Port Amelia in the middle of December, had
reached the latter place in time to save it from
attack, if an attack upon it indeed formed part of
von Lettow-Vorbeck's plans. Major Shaw, how-
ever, was not provided with carriers, and none
were forthcoming at Port Amelia. His force,
therefore, was reduced to a condition of complete
immobility, and he was forced to content himself
with putting Port Amelia in a state of defence by
forming an entrenched camp in its vicinity.

After the arrival of the Gold Coast Regiment
at Mingoya, it was joined on the 18th December
by Captain Harman, D.S.O., who had been absent
for several months on sick leave, with whom were
Captain Duck, D.S.O., and 150 details. On the

ON BOARD THE SALAMIS 215

following day, at 3 a.m., A Company marched to
Arab House, and thence was ferried across the
bay to Lindi. On the 23rd December Colonel
Goodwin with the Regimental Headquarters and
620 men, including the Battery, with 4 Stokes guns
and 100 personnel, marched to Arab House, where
they were embarked in lighters. Captain Harman
remained behind at Mingoya in charge of details.
At 2 p.m. the Gold Coast Regiment was tran-
shipped from the lighters on to H.M. transport
Salamis, and immediately set off down the coast on
their journey to Port Amelia, which is distant from
Lindi a matter of 180 miles. They had been
joined on board the Salamis by A Company, and by
Colonel Rose and the Headquarters of " Pamforce."
Shortly after midnight a slight shock was felt,
and the Salamis came to a standstill with that
peculiar sensation of finality which always conveys
the impression to those on board a stranded ship
that the vessel has of a sudden been welded
indissolubly into a neighbouring continent. The
Salamis thereafter behaved precisely as though this
had actually occurred, and every effort to move
her proved to be unavailing. There was nothing
to be done, therefore, but to await the next high
tide, which was due at about 9 a.m. ; and at this
hour, two whalers having arrived in the interval,
fresh attempts to get her afloat were made. The
Salamis obstinately declined, however, to budge an
inch ; and late in the afternoon H.M.S. Lunkwa,
an armed merchantman commanded by Captain
Murray, R.N., having meanwhile come upon the
scene, it was decided to transfer the Gold Coast
Regiment to her. This was accomplished by

216 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

midnight, and the members of the little force spent
a dismal Christmas Day steaming back up the
coast to Lindi, mourning their separation from
many of their stores and much of their private
gear — a great deal of which, as it subsequently
turned out, they were destined never to see again ;
and on their arrival they took up their quarters in
the crowded detail camp.

On the 27th December 250 men of the Gold
Coast Regiment, with 2 Stokes guns and the 50
rank and file and the carriers attached to them,
under the command of Captain Duck, returned on
board the Lunkwa, and once more set for Port
Amelia. For lack of transport the remainder of the
Regiment had perforce to be left behind at Lindi,
but Colonel Rose and the Headquarters of " Pam-
force " accompanied Captain Duck's detachment.

Colonel Goodwin and the Headquarters of the
Regiment, with 500 rifles and 300 carriers of the
Sierra Leone Carrier Corps, embarked on H.M.
transport Hongbee on the 5th January, 1918,
and followed the two detachments, under Captain
Shaw and Captain Duck, which had preceded
them.

The Portuguese Estado d'Africa Oriental, like
Gaul in the time of Julius Caesar, is divided into
three parts— Lorenco Marquez, Mozambique, and
the territory of the Nyassa Company, The last-
named, which is really the northern portion of
Mozambique, comprises all the country situated
between the Rovuma and the Lurio, or Luli,
rivers, and between the eastern borders of British
Nyassaland and the sea. It is leased to a chartered

PORT AMELIA 217

company, which appoints its own Governor,
subject to the approval of some Portuguese
authority, and depends for its revenues upon a
poll-tax and a hut-tax. Both of these impositions
are for the most part paid in kind, and they are
collected by agents or revenue-farmers, who occupy
the entrenched forts, locally called bomas, which
are dotted about the country at fairly frequent
intervals. The smaller fortified posts, similarly
occupied by the native agents of the revenue-
farmers, are called mborio. The population is
comparatively speaking dense, but there is little
trade and even less prosperity. It is of the
territory exploited by this chartered company
that Port Amelia is the capital.

At Port Amelia there is an inlet of the sea,
roughly circular in shape, which measures about
six miles across at its widest part, and bears the
name of Pomba Bay. The entrance to this bay is
about a mile broad and on the southern side a
cliff, two hundred feet or more in height, juts out,
narrowing the mouth of the inlet. It is at the foot
of this cliff that the commercial portion of Port
Amelia and the native town are situated; and on
its summit is the house of the Governor, flanked
by the building in which the officers of the
Portuguese Government at once live and work,
with a rather ramshackle set of police barracks
facing it. The landing-place at Port Amelia
consists of a short, snub-nosed stone pier, which
leads to a sandy beach, beyond which there is a
single line of rather mean-looking shops and com-
mercial buildings. These are for the most part
constructed of mud, lime- washed or colour-washed,

218 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

red or blue, fitted with green shutters and roofed
with corrugated iron. Near their centre, however,
there are two fairly substantial houses built of
wood, one of which was subsequently used as a
rest-house for British officers passing through Port
Amelia. To the left, as you face the town, the
native quarter adjoins the commercial buildings—
a cluster of squalid mud huts roofed with grass.
The total population of the place does not exceed
fifteen hundred souls.

From the lower town a steep motor-road climbs
the hill till the summit of the cliff is reached, where
it passes between the Governor's house and the
police barracks.^ The former is a two-storeyed
building, raised on piles, with stone or concrete
verandah pillars, but for the rest constructed
entirely of wood. The block of Government
offices in which the officials live and work is built
of similar materials ; but the police barracks are a
mud structure colour-washed a dull red. All these
buildings, like those in the commercial town at the
foot of the cliff, are roofed with corrugated iron.

Judged from the aesthetic standpoint, these tin
roofs are always an abomination ; but in the tropics
they are peculiarly hateful. They are most efficient
conductors of heat, and with a vertical sun beating
down upon them, they produce in the buildings
which they cover an atmosphere resembling that of
an oven. Moreover, exposure to the sea air causes
rapid corrosion, and they speedily cease to be even
water-tight. For the rest, the extensive use of
corrugated iron roofing in the tropics always marks,
in a European settlement, a very primitive stage
of development. It proclaims the phase of make-

PORT AMELIA 219

shifts and of temporary expedients— the period of
comfortless picnicking— which must always pre-
cede, though it is not always followed by, an era
of advancement and prosperity. Where corrugated
iron roofing is found .predominating in any tropical
settlement which has been in European occupation
for more than a very few years, the fact may be
accepted as a sure indication that local enterprise
has so far produced very indifferent results.

From the flat ground on the top of the cliff
a grassy slope runs down in a long slope to the
waters of the Indian Ocean. Turning one's back
on this and looking out across the bay, a rather
pretty view is obtained of hills rising inland behind
the little fishing village of Bandari, six miles away.
The shores of the bay are stretches of sand varied
by patches of black-green mangroves ; and seen
from the sea, Port Amelia — a line of mean white
and colour-washed buildings, surmounted by
glaring tin roofs, and flanked by a cluster of native
hovels — devoid of vegetation, and sweltering
beneath a tropical sun, appears as undesirable a
specimen of a European outpost as it would be
possible anywhere to light upon.

Major Shaw's detachment, which had been the
first to arrive, had established a camp on the top
of the high ridge, which has the sea on one side of
it and the waters of the bay upon the other, at a
spot distant about a mile from the residence of the
Governor.

The motor-road, which ascends to the top of
the cliff, runs on, dropping down again to the level
of the bay, through masses of very thick, fine grass ;
and by this route Mtuge, which lies about two

220 FROM AMELIA TO MEZA

miles inland from Bandari, is distant eight and
twenty miles from Port Amelia. A quicker means
of reaching this place, however, is to sail across the
bay to Bandari ; but here there is a sloping beach
and shoal water which prevent even a rowing-boat
being brought close to the shore. The journey to
Bandari was usually accomplished by sailing across
the bay in dhows, such as have plied in the Red
Sea, the Persian Gulf, and upon the waters of the
Indian Ocean ever since the days of Hippalus and
before. When the wind was favourable this was
easy enough, but often, in the sheltered area of the
bay, these sailing-boats would be becalmed for days
at a time, and they still more often had to be
warped out from the shore for several hundreds of
yards to a point from whence they could catch
enough breeze to set them moving. This operation
was affected by shipping the anchor and placing it
on board a gig, which then rowed ahead of the
dhow and dropped the anchor overboard. Next all
hands and the cook tugged on the anchor-chain,
till the dhow had been brought short up to her
moorings, when the anchor was once more shipped,
retransferred to the gig, and the tedious process
was repeated. By this means a couple of hours
were sometimes occupied in covering a distance of
as many hundred yards.

When the dhow had at last been got under
way, and the six miles of sea separating Port
Amelia from Bandari had been crossed, all her
contents had to be man-handled to the shore for a
distance of about two hundred yards. Between
Bandari and Mtuge, whence the main road runs
inland in a westerly direction, there lies a swamp

DIFFICULTIES ON ARRIVAL 221

which rendered the two-mile journey a matter of
still further difficulty; and at a later period this
slough became spattered with derelict motor-lorries
which had become engulfed in it past all possibility
of salvage. These facts are worth noting as illus-
trating some of the initial difficulties which impeded
the transport and supply of " Pamforce " ; for
Mtuge was destined to be the base of its operations
during its thrust into the interior of the Nyassa
Company's territory. Mtuge, as we have seen,
could also be reached from Port Amelia by the
road which ran round the bay.

Though Port Amelia had been reported to be
threatened by von Lettow-Vorbeck's marauders,
the arrival of the British troops caused no apparent
excitement ; but Signor Abilio de Lobao Soeiro,
the Governor of the Nyassa Company's territory,
was very civil and obliging, and on the day follow-
ing Colonel Rose's arrival he placed the Portuguese
gunboat Chaimite at his disposal to transport him
and Major Shaw and to tow three or four dhows
containing 250 men of the Gold Coast Regiment
across the bay to Bandari.

Colonel Rose, however, found himself almost
as completely paralyzed as Major Shaw had done,
for still no carriers were forthcoming ; and though
alarming rumours were current concerning the
doings of von Lettow-Vorbeck's raiding parties at
Mkufi and Lurio, it was only possible to send an
Intelligence Department agent with forty scouts
down the coast to report what was going on. This
agent kept in touch with Colonel Rose by tele-
phone, and the reports which he sent back were
very far from being reassuring; but as a matter

222 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

of fact the German patrols sent to loot the coast
stores to the south of Port Amelia were never
more than thirty or forty men strong, though they
brought with them or impressed sufficient porters
to carry away everything likely to be of service to
them upon which they could lay their hands. This
was the report returned from Mkufi by Captain
Harris, who, with a party of thirty rifles, was sent
to that place from Port Amelia to ascertain the
real state of affairs.

The main body of the Gold Coast Regiment
reached Port Amelia without further jmishap on
the 7th January. It was forthwith disembarked
and marched up the hill to the camp which had
been established by Major Shaw. On the following
day A Company, under Captain Wheeler, marched
down the coast road from Port Amelia to Mkufi.
Captain Wheeler was instructed to patrol the
country in the neighbourhood of the Magaruna
River and of Chiure, which lies about forty miles
inland from Mkufi. He was also to send patrols
south along the coast as far as Lurio and Lurio
Bay. A post consisting of thirty rifles, under
Captain Harris, had already been established at
Mkufi before the arrival of the main body of the
Regiment, and it was instructed to remain there
with Captain Wheeler and A Company.

On the 9th January two Stokes guns and the
Battery, under Captain Parker, were sent across
the bay to Bandari by dhows, and from that place
they joined Major Shaw's detachment at Mtuge.
On the following day the Headquarters of the Gold
Coast Regiment with I Company and details left
the camp at Port Amelia at 6.30 a.m. en route

MARCH TO MTUGE 223

for Mtuge. They marched along the motor-road
already described, descending to the level of the
bay and thereafter skirting its shores. The grass on
either side of the road was impenetrable, the black
loam underfoot made heavy going, and the heat
and the exhausted atmosphere, which in the tropics
is peculiar to a narrow path through grass, rendered
the march more than ordinarily trying. The road
itself was much overgrown — symptomatic of the
decay by which Port Amelia appeared to be
stricken ; but it was later cleared and repaired,
and throughout the expedition to this part of
Portuguese East Africa, it was the only route
available for the passage of motor-vehicles from
Port Amelia to the troops at the front. The Regi-
ment camped for the night at a point fourteen
miles along the road, and reached Mtuge next day.
The Pioneer Company and two Stokes guns re-
mained at Port Amelia, and the other details left
there were formed into a sub-depot under the
command of Captain Watt.

The force at Mtuge, after the arrival of Colonel
Goodwin on the llth January, consisted of the
Headquarters of the Regiment, I Company, B Com-

ty, and two Stokes guns.

From Mtuge two roads run inland in a westerly
direction. Of these one is the main road from
Mtuge to Medo, which place is distant about
eighty-four miles from Mtuge. The other is a
jlegraph road, originally designed for motor traffic,
>ut at this time much overgrown, which also runs

a westerly direction, rejoining the main road at
Nanunya, a place distant some seven and twenty
miles from Mtuge. From Nanunya the telegraph

224 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

line follows the main road as far as Meza, which is
about thirty-four miles further on.

Major Shaw's detachment had been patrolling
the country in the neighbourhood of Mtuge since
its establishment at that place, but on one occasion
only had the enemy been met, a patrol under Lieu-
tenant Robertson having come into contact with
a small party of Askari on the telegraph road
above mentioned.

On the 12th January a party consisting of 145
rifles, 1 Lewis gun and 1 machine-gun, under
Captain Dawes, left Mtuge to patrol by native
paths to Pumone, a place which is situated about
ten miles to the south of the main road and some
forty-five miles south-west by west of Mtuge.
Here it was known that the enemy had a post,
and Captain Dawes was ordered to eject him from
it if possible.

On the 13th January Captain Foley reached
the camp at Mtuge with two Stokes guns from
Port Amelia, and assumed command of the Battery.

On the 14th January a party of fifty men be-
longing to 1 Company was sent, under Lieutenant
Clarke, to patrol toward Sanananga, which lies on
the telegraph road about ten miles to the south of
the main road and is distant about sixteen miles
from Mtuge. At Sanananga Lieutenant Clarke
came into contact with an enemy patrol, and a
fight took place in which one carrier was killed
and two soldiers wounded. The enemy was be-
lieved to have lost five killed, the number of his
wounded being unknown ; and he retired, Lieu-
tenant Clarke remaining at Sanananga and con-
solidating his position.

A AND I COMPANIES 225

On the 15th January, A Company, under Cap-
tain Wheeler, arrived at Mtuge from Mkufi, having
left Colour-Sergeant Hart and thirty rifles at the
latter place. No traces of the enemy had been
seen in the neighbourhood of Mkufi.

On the same day, I Company, under Captain
Harman, was sent up the main road to establish
a camp at Mahiba, a place about twelve miles from
Mtuge. Here some high ground suitable for the
purpose was found, in the neighbourhood of which
a sufficient water supply could be obtained by dig-
ging in a sort of rocky grotto. The country all
around was an undulating expanse of grassy land,
set fairly thickly with small trees, and studded
with patches of scrub and frequent clumps of
bamboos — in a word, the usual featureless, unin-
teresting bush country so common in Africa beyond
the limits of the belts of forest.

The country up the road as far as the Sovar
River, about six miles further on, was reported by
Captain Harman to be clear of the enemy.

On the 16th January I Company established
a post at Sovar River ; and Lieutenant Clarke
reported from Sanananga that the country was
occupied by the enemy as far as Bulu, a village
five miles up the telegraph road from the former
place.

On the 17th January the Regimental Head-
quarters were removed from Mtuge to Mahiba,
the Pioneer Company and two Stokes guns ac-
companying it; and on the same day Captain
Dawes reported that he had moved toward
Pumone at dawn on the 15th January with the
intention of attacking it. While still three miles

&

.N/.

226 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

distant from his objective, however, he had en-
countered an enemy patrol, and though it was
driven in, it had succeeded in delaying his progress
for a considerable time. Accordingly, Captain
Dawes did not come within sight of Pumone till
near midday, and he then found that it was a
strong post, prepared for defence and with well-
constructed entrenchments occupied by the enemy.
Having regard to the scanty supply of small-arms
ammunition in his possession, and to his distance
from reinforcements, Captain Dawes did not
consider it advisable to attempt an attack. He
consequently withdrew to Koloi, the place from
which he had started that morning, and was thence
actively patrolling the country in the neighbour-
hood.

On the 20th January motor transport between
Mtuge and Mahiba was established, for all this
time every effort was being made to improve the
road between Port Amelia and the front ; and
Lieutenant Barrett who, with twenty rifles, had
been sent up the main road on the preceding day
to examine Nanunya as a suitable site for a camp,
reported that he had found a party of the enemy
at that place, and that in the encounter which
followed one of the Intelligence Department
scouts attached to his patrol had been killed.
Lieutenant Barrett had later fallen back to the
post at Sovar River.

On the 21st January Lieutenant Bisshopp, with
fifteen men of I Company, one Intelligence Depart-
ment agent and ten scouts, left for Sovar River to
reinforce Lieutenant Barrett ; and on the same day
two officers, a hundred rifles of A Company, one

LIEUT. BISSHOPP & CAPT. DAWES 227

machine-gun and one Stokes gun were dispatched
from Mtuge to reinforce Captain Dawes at Koloi.
News was also received that the Depot Company
of the Gold Coast Regiment had at last arrived at
Port Amelia.

On the 22nd January Lieutenant Bisshopp
reached Nanunya without encountering opposition,
and he there learned from the local natives that the
enemy post at that place had only consisted of
one German and five Askari. On his way back
Lieutenant Bisshopp, in accordance with instruc-
tions, left a post consisting of Lieutenant Barrett,
twenty rifles and one Stokes gun at Namarala,
and brought in the men who had hitherto been
stationed at Sovar River.

On the 25th January Captain Dawes, who had
advanced to within six miles of Pumone on the
previous day, attacked and occupied that place at
noon, expelling the enemy without difficulty and
capturing and destroying five tons of native food-
stuffs which had been accumulated there by him.
In the course of this operation one soldier and one
carrier were wounded.

On this day the post at Namarala, which had
been established by Lieutenant Bisshopp, was
strengthened ; and a detachment of the newly-
formed King's African rifles Mounted Infantry
arrived at Mahiba en route for Nanunya. Instruc-
tions were then sent to Captain Dawes at Pumone
to get into touch with the Mounted Infantry, and
to patrol toward Ankuabe, which lies twelve miles
up the main road beyond Nanunya, for the purpose
of finding a suitable position for a camp within
striking distance of the former place.

Q

228 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

On the 28th January the post at Namarala was
moved forward to Nanunya, the former being occu-
pied by twenty rifles of the Pioneer Company
under Lieutenant Wilson. On the following day
the King's African Rifles Mounted Infantry occu-
pied Ankuabe without opposition, and Captain
Dawes next day moved to that place, leaving thirty
rifles under Lieutenant Norris to garrison Pumone.
On the.SOth January the Regimental Headquarters,
with the Pioneer Company and I Company, marched
up the road to Namarala, and on the following day
established their camp at Nanunya. On the 3rd
February the Headquarters of the Regiment, with
which also was Colonel Rose and the Headquarters
of " Pamforce," A and B Companies and two guns
of the Battery, moved forward to Ankuabe, leaving
the rest of the Battery, the Pioneer Company,
I Company and two Stokes guns to garrison
Nanunya. The site chosen for the camp at
Ankuabe was overlooked by a big bluff of rock,
but its sides were so precipitous as to be unscale-
able, and it therefore presented no menace to the
security of the camp.

On the 4th February the Post at Pumone was
withdrawn to the Maguida River, five miles south
of Ankuabe ; and though reports were received
that the enemy were advancing, he failed to put
in an appearance, the natives subsequently stating
that he had been checked by an unfordable river,
and that two of his white men had been badly
mauled by lions.

On the 8th February an enemy patrol, con-
sisting of two Europeans and forty Askari, came
out of the bush on to the main road between

ETONGA ETUN 229

Nanunya and Ankuabe at a point where a post
manned by six men of the Gold Coast Regiment,
under Lance-Corporal Etonga Etun, had been
established. The men of this post opened fire
upon the enemy, and led by Etonga Etun, charged
him so hotly that the Germans and their Askari
and carriers did not stop to find out the small
numbers by which they were opposed, but drop-
ping some of their loads, took refuge in precipitate
flight. Among the articles picked up by Etonga
Etun's party were some belts of machine-gun
ammunition and a couple of European loads con-
taining among other things a number of official
papers. Etonga Etun, who showed such dash on
this occasion, was a native of Jaunde, and was
originally enlisted during the 1914-16 campaign in
the German Kameruns. In East Africa he won
both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the
Military Medal.

An attempt was made from Ankuabe to cut
off the retreat of this enemy patrol, but the latter
made good its escape, dispersing into the bush
in great haste when overtaken by the Mounted
Infantry. The captured documents showed that
the object of this party had been to harass the
British lines of communication and especially to
capture mails and ammunition.

During the next few days nothing of any in-
terest occurred, but on the 17th February the 22nd
D.M.B. arrived in camp, and on the 25th Feb-
ruary the Gold Coast Regiment, less one hundred
rifles of 1 Company and two Stokes guns, marched
out of Ankuabe with half a section of the 22nd
D.M.B., and camping for the night at Muapa,

230 PORT AMELIA TO MEZA

fourteen miles up the road, next day advanced on
Meza.

The start was made at 6 a.m., fifty men under
Lieutenant Bisshopp being left in charge of all the
supply carriers in the camp at Muapa. Just before
7 a.m. an enemy patrol was met, which retired
hurriedly, and nothing more happened until one
o'clock, when the enemy, posted in some thick
bush about three-quarters of a mile east of Meza,
opened fire with a machine-gun upon the advancing
troops. He retired after an engagement which
lasted about half an hour, during which only one
man of the Gold Coast Regiment was wounded ;
and at 2.30 p.m. Meza was occupied. Two camps
which the Germans had established a little beyond
Meza village were found to be deserted. The
supply convoy came into camp at 5 p.m.

On the 27th February a post was established
on the main road eight miles beyond Meza, and
about 1200 carriers were sent back to Muapa to
bring up supplies.

During the first ten days of March nothing
occurred, the troops being employed in patrolling
the country around Meza, where on one or two
occasions they came into contact with small parties
of the enemy. The task of accumulating supplies
was now chiefly engrossing the attention of the
Headquarters [staff of " Pamforce," which, on the
llth March, established itself at Meza. Indeed,
the question of transport was the hinge upon which
at this junction everything turned. The advance
was favoured by the fact that no definite break had
yet occurred in the weather, though a good deal of
rain had fallen since the camp was advanced to

SERGT. GRANDA DIKALE, D.C.M., M.M. CORPL. SHUMBO LAMBE, D.C.M.

CORPL. ETONGA ETUN, M.M.

To face p. 230.

ROAD DIFFICULTIES 231

Ankuabe. Moreover, no difficulty with regard to
water had as yet been encountered, though the
quality of the supply obtained was not always very
satisfactory. For the rest, however, the advancing
force was tethered to its base at Mtuge by the
sixty odd miles of road along which it had ad-
vanced ; and though the highway had been im-
proved and motor traffic established, the indifferent
landing facilities at Port Amelia, the uncertain sea
communication between that place and Bandari,
and the fact that everything taken to the latter
had to be man-handled from the dhows to the
shore, caused endless vexatious delays. The deep,
black "cotton" soil, moreover, was quickly re-
duced to a quagmire by even a moderate amount
of rain ; and eventually it had to be " corduroyed "
with small tree-trunks along its entire length.
Every advance, of course, added to the distances
over which supplies had to be conveyed, and more
than two months had been occupied in pushing
some sixty-four miles up the main road to Meza,
without it having once been found possible to
bring the enemy to action.

The German Commander-in-Chief, who was
now engaged in playing out time, had so far
completely succeeded in attaining the objects he
had in view.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

ALTHOUGH the Great War had now been in
progress for more than three years and a half,
the time-honoured British practice of attempting
to effect a military purpose while employing there-
for a wholly inadequate force had once more been
resorted to. The difficulties which had been ex-
perienced in feeding and supplying the columns of
" Linforce " and " Hanforce " during the operations
which led to von Lettow-Vorbeck's retreat across
the Rovuma, probably convinced the British Com-
mand that any direct pursuit of the enemy into
the country beyond that river, at a time when
the beginning of the rainy season was almost
due, would be attended by too great risks. The
Germans, as they retired, always swept the country
clear of supplies of every description and of
practically all its able-bodied inhabitants, so an
advancing British force would depend entirely
upon the provisions that could be conveyed to it
from Lindi along many miles of unmetalled motor-
road, and thereafter by head-carriage over tracks,
most of which would be submerged as soon as the
waters of the Rovuma had been sufficiently swelled
by the first freshet to cause them to overflow their
banks.

Direct pursuit being therefore out of th

232

GENERAL EDWARDS 233

question, an advance westward from Port Amelia
had been determined upon, but unfortunate delays
had occurred, as we have seen, and by the time
" Pamforce " had begun its march inland, the
enemy had been able to complete his arrangements
for its embarrassment and for his own security.

Towards the end of February, therefore, it was
decided that " Pamforce " must be strengthened if
anything practical were to be achieved, and a
second column was dispatched to Port Amelia,
the whole force being placed under the command
of General Edwards. It was General Edwards, it
will be remembered, who,x while commanding the
lines of communication when the extended attack
upon the Dar-es-Salaam-Lake Tanganyika Rail-
way was in progress in 1916, had inspected the
Gold Coast Regiment immediately after its arrival
in East Africa.

" Pamforce " was now divided into two columns,
one, under the command of Colonel Rose, being
composed of the Gold Coast Regiment, the 4th
Battalion of the 4th Regiment of the King's
African Rifles, the 22nd D.M.B., and a body of
the King's African Rifles Mounted Infantry, and
the other, under the command of Colonel Giffard,
comprising the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 2nd
Regiment of the King's African Rifles. The first
was designated " Rosecol " and the second " Kar-
tucol."

A good deal of rain fell during March, deepening
the swamp between Bandari and Mtuge, which
had already caused so much trouble, filling the
nullahs all along the road, and reducing the surface

234 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

to a quagmire which, in many places, made traffic
very difficult, even though the track had now been
" corduroyed " from end to end. The journey up
the road from Mtuge to Meza, though the distance
was only some four-and-sixty miles, often took
more than a week, and after the striking force had
been strengthened by the addition of " Kartucol "
the work of moving the new troops up to the front
and of accumulating sufficient supplies to render
an advance in any degree continuous, when it could
at last be undertaken, proved to be at once slow
and difficult.

Until the 27th March, therefore, the Gold Coast
Regiment remained in camp at Meza, sending out
patrols in all directions, doing its best to familiarize
itself with the topographical features of the country
in its neighbourhood, and having occasional brushes
with small parties of the enemy, which more than
once attempted to cut its lines of communication.

On the 27th March half the Gold Coast Regi-
ment with the Stokes Battery and half the 2nd
Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King's
African Rifles, marched up the road, and camped
for the night at Natovi — eleven miles distant-
pushing on the next day to Namarika, some seven
miles further on. Heavy rain fell on both days
very soon after the camp was formed, and the
bush-huts, called banda in East Africa, constructed
of sticks and grass, afforded indifferent protection
from the tropical downpour, which turned the
trodden mud of the camp into deep slush.

From Natovi Lieutenant Clarke, with a patrol of
thirty rifles, had been sent out to try to intercept
an enemy foraging party, and on the following day

PATROL WORK 235

Captain Leslie-Smith and fifty men had been left
at Namarika, when the rest of the Regiment ad-
vanced eight miles along the road to Manambiri.
On the 29th March patrols under Lieutenant
Chaundler and Lieutenant Beech were sent out,
the first along the main road as far as Kitambo,
distant four miles from Manambiri, and the other
along the Nicoque-Medo road, which branches off
to the north-west from the latter place. Neither
of these parties found any traces of the enemy, and
Lieutenant Clarke's report, when he reached
Manambiri the same afternoon, was similarly
negative. During the night, however, shots were
exchanged between an enemy patrol and an out-
post furnished *by the 4th Battalion of the 4th
King's African Rifles.

On the 30th March Lieutenant Chaundler
again patrolled to Kitambo, but found that an
enemy camp, which had been established just
beyond that village, was deserted. During the
day Manambiri camp, which by now had become
a mere mud-hole, was rearranged, an endeavour
being made to pitch it upon higher ground.

On the 2nd April, an enemy patrol having fired
upon a party of sappers and miners near Namarika
at about 7 a.m., Lieutenant Bisshopp with fifty rifles
was sent out to try to intercept him, marching
through the bush on a compass-bearing for a dis-
tance of eight miles. It was a toilsome and com-
fortless task, cutting and forcing a way through
dripping-wet bush, but it led to no result.

On the 5th April Captain Harman patrolled
along the main road to Medo with half of I Com-
pany, and reached Namaaka, which is distant

236 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

about four miles from Manambiri. From Namaaka
he sent out a small party which engaged an enemy
patrol, composed of about thirty men and two
machine-guns, which retired before it, though two
men of I Company were wounded.

On the 7th April the Headquarters of the
Gold Coast Regiment, with A and I Companies,
advanced to Namaaka. This place was reached
without incident, but two miles further on the
advanced guard came up against a party of the
enemy, about fifty strong with two machine-guns.
A fight ensued which lasted for about two hours,
in the course of which one man of the advanced
guard was killed, and five men, two machine-gun
carriers and four carriers belonging to the Sierra
Leone Carrier Corps were wounded. The enemy
was driven back to a position behind a large swamp,
from which it would have been very difficult to
eject him unless he could be outflanked. The
advanced guard was not strong enough to attempt
this, and it accordingly fell back upon the main
body. A patrol was then sent round the north
side of the swamp, only to find that the enemy
had retired.

On the 8th April, half of I Company, under
Captain Webber, was sent forward in the direction
of Medo, and came into touch with the enemy at a
place about half a mile beyond the position behind
the swamp which the latter had evacuated on the
preceding evening. As usual, the first intimation
received on this occasion of the proximity of the
enemy was a volley fired from cover, the men
forming the advanced point being shot down.
This accomplished, the enemy blew his bugles and

FIGHT AT NAMAAKA 237

sounded the charge. It had been previously
arranged that, in the event of a fight developing,
the supporting section, under Lieutenant Bisshopp,
should move to the side of the road upon which
the enemy appeared to be the more numerous, in
order to support the leading section, which was
under the command of Lieutenant Clarke. As the
enemy came on, the shouting and cheering which
accompanied his charge indicated that he was
strongest on the left of the road, so Lieutenant
Bisshopp with his party pushed forward in that
direction at the double, receiving a volley in partial
enfilade from the Askari who were engaging
Lieutenant Clarke's section, and whose onset had
already been almost stopped by the latter. As
Lieutenant Bisshopp's section continued at the
double, they presently met the enemy, who were
also delivering an attack upon Lieutenant Clarke's
flank; whereupon the Askari faced about and
bolted. Many of them were wearing the green
caps which are part of the service kit of the men
of the Gold Coast Regiment, and so confused at
all times is fighting in the bush, that one of
Lieutenant Bisshopp's party, seeing his officers
aiming at a retreating Askari, pulled his rifle
down, crying out that the fugitive was one of their
own corps. The next moment, this soldier fell,
shot through the ankle, ejaculating many and
bitter things about the manners and morals of the
" Germani." I Company then attacked and drove
the enemy down the road for several miles, and the
other half of I Company having been sent forward
to reinforce, a strong post was established about
two miles west of Namaaka, with a picket thrown

238 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

out a mile ahead of it. On this day I Company
lost three men killed and five men wounded.

In the afternoon the rest of the column arrived
at Namaaka, and on the 9th April it went forward
through I Company's post, the 4th King's African
Rifles being the advanced guard. The enemy were
driven back about four miles further down the
road, and the column camped for the night at a
point to which the name of Rock Camp was given,
on account of a large isolated bluff which was
situated near to it on the northern side of the road.

From Rock Camp Lieutenant Reid was sent
out to try to locate the road to Kimone toward the
south, and Lieutenant Gumming took out a patrol
in a north-easterly direction to the Montepuez
River, which falls into the sea about forty-five miles
north of Port Amelia, and on the right bank of
which Medo is situated.

This place was now the immediate objective of
" Pamforce," the enemy being believed to have
occupied it in some strength, and to have accumu-
lated there a considerable quantity of supplies.

General Edwards and his Staff reached Rock
Camp at 7.30 a.m. on the 10th April, and at
1.30 p.m. the Gold Coast Regiment moved out
towards Medo, which was distant about seven
miles.

The boma, or entrenched camp, at Medo—
originally a stronghold of a Portuguese revenue-
farmer — occupied a situation on a piece of rising
ground some six or seven miles up the main road
from Rock Camp. To the south of the boma, and
about three-quarters of a mile from it, lay the
village of Medo ; and the country, which is here

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CHIRIMBA HILL 239

both rocky and hilly, was for the most part park-
land, studded with frequent trees and covered with
grass and patches of bush. Though some of it had
the appearance of being fairly open, it proved to
be what is called " very blind," no extended view
being obtainable in any direction.

The main road runs east and west from Rock
Camp to Medo, passing through broken country,
and flanked on the left or southern side by
Chirimba Hill. This is an eminence several
hundred feet in height and about two miles in
length — a mass of slate-grey rock rising out of a
tangle of bush and low forest, which clothes its
lower slopes and overflows to the very edge of the
road. The summit of this hill is razor-edged and
deeply serrated throughout its length, rising into
three principal peaks divided by ravines ; and its
nature was such that no attempt could be made to
advance along it. Running parallel to the main
road at a distance of only a few hundred yards
from it, Chirimba Hill commanded it for a matter
of about two miles, and completely dominated the
position.

As usual, the enemy had selected a very
awkward place in which to offer this, his first
serious resistance to the British advance in Portu-
guese East Africa. He was six companies strong —
say about eight hundred men — with twelve machine-
guns and one field gun which he had captured from
the Portuguese at Ngomano. The whole force
was under the command of Major Kohl, the ablest
of von Lettow-Vorbeck's lieutenants, to whom
throughout the campaign the task of harassing
and delaying the British advance, and of fighting

240 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

rear-guard actions, was most frequently confided
by his chief. He had posted men in the thick bush
along the base of Chirimba Hill, and had occupied
a strong position on high ground astride the road
on a very extended front, and most effectually
concealed in the bush.

When the Regiment moved forward on the
afternoon of the 10th April, Captain Harris with
fifty rifles was sent out on the left to try to
establish himself on the eastern extremity of
Chirimba Hill. This patrol ran into an ambush
before it had proceeded far upon its way, Sergeant
Flatman and one soldier being killed and several
of the party wounded. Though, after this, Captain
Harris was at first forced to retire, he succeeded
in collecting his rather scattered men, and, ad-
vancing again, made good a post on the slopes of
the hill which had been his objective.

Meanwhile the advance-guard had come into
action about three miles down the road from Rock
Camp, and it speedily became evident that the
enemy could not be ejected from the position he
had taken up until Chirimba Hill had been
occupied. The Gold Coast Regiment accordingly
camped at a place two miles from Rock Camp,
with an advanced post thrown out a mile further
down the road. Its further losses during the
afternoon were 1 man killed, 10 wounded, and 1
carrier missing, who was believed to have been
killed.

On the llth April the rest of " Rosecol " moved
forward to the camp which the Gold Coast Regi-
ment had established over night, and at dawn the
advanced guard, consisting of I Company and two

CHIRIMBA HILL 241

Stokes guns, advanced to the forward post a mile
further down the road. From this point an officer's
patrol consisting of one section of I Company
under Captain Webber was sent out on the left
to occupy the peak at the eastern extremity of
Chirimba Hill, at the foot of which a post had
been established by Captain Harris on the pre-
ceding evening. His right rested on the road, the
section being thence strung out through the bush
to the foot of the hill.

Simultaneously another section of I Company,
under Lieutenant Barrett, was pushed out on the
right of the road, its left keeping touch with
Captain Webber's right. Yet a third section of
I Company, under Lieutenant Bisshopp, was
deployed on Lieutenant Barrett's right. Lieu-
tenant Barrett's section was the first to come into
action, a small party of the enemy opening fire
upon it and then retiring. It was also seen by
one of the enemy's observation-points posted on
Chirimba Hill, for it was shelled by the Portuguese
field-gun, which was posted in the bush somewhere
in the neighbourhood of Medo boma to the right
front of the advance. A section of A Company
was sent out still more to the right to move along
a track to the north which ran parallel to the main
road, and was often described as "the telegraph
road," as there were vestiges on it of a line which
had been constructed by the Portuguese and
utilized by the enemy.

Major Shaw, who was in command of the
advance, decided that it was not possible to push
on further until Chirimba Hill had been cleared of
the enemy, and a section of A Company was sent

242 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

out to the left to reinforce Captain Webber's
party. This part of the line came into action early
in the afternoon, and was engaged with the enemy,
posted in the thick bush and low forest on the
lower slopes of Chirimba Hill, until about 4.30 p.m.
By the end of the day all that had been achieved
was the establishment of a post, occupied by half
of I Company under Captain Webber, on the
slopes of Chirimba Hill, the eastern extremity of
which had been cleared of the enemy ; while on the
right of the road a small post had been established
under a native non-commissioned officer, about
four hundred yards in advance of the point reached
by Captain Webber on the left of the line.

At 4 p.m. "Kartucol" advanced from Rock
Camp through the bush to the south of Chirimba
Hill, for the purpose of taking up a position from
which to join on the morrow in a general attack
upon Medo ; and an hour later " Rosecol " received
orders to advance at 6 a.m. on the following
morning, the attack to be delivered by the Gold
Coast Regiment, the 4th Battalion of the 4th
King's African Rifles forming the force and column
reserve.

On the 12th April the advanced guard, con-
sisting of B Company with two Stokes guns, under
Major Shaw, moved forward at 6 a.m., the 22nd
D.M.B. covering its advance by shelling the bush
in which the enemy was believed to have established
himself. The broken, bush-covered country lent
itself to defence, and the enemy's machine-gun and
rifle fire from the lower slopes of Chirimba Hill
was persistent and galling, nor could even his main
position be accurately located. Early in the day,

CLEARING THE HILL 243

however, three or four men of I Company scaled
the higher peak of Chirimba Hill, which overlooked
that cleared of the enemy the night before, and
succeeded in ejecting therefrom a solitary Askari,
who had evidently been engaged in observing for
the enemy's gun.

At this time the advance of "Rosecol" was
being opposed by about two companies of the
enemy, the remainder being held in reserve, though
the movement of " Kartucol " round the southern
side of Chirimba Hill had not yet been discovered
by Kohl. The resistance offered was, as usual, of
a very determined character, and tbe progress
made by the attacking force was proportionately
slow.

During the whole of the advance the Stokes

guns belonging to the Gold Coast Regiment were

of the greatest assistance. Under the command

of Captain Foley and Lieutenant Lamont, these

guns had been almost continuously employed in

all recent actions, and while the companies of the

Regiment had taken it in turn to bear the brunt of

the work, the Stokes gun team and their officers

had a record of almost continuous activity. On

this occasion they had opened fire as soon as

ever the machine-guns came into action, throwing

their shells about one hundred and fifty to three

hundred yards to the right and left of the advance

on both sides of the road. When the line halted

to fire, fifteen minutes were allowed the Stokes

guns to take up fresh positions, generally about

fifty yards in the rear of the firing-line. This

worked very well, and the advance, though slow,

was practically continuous until about 12.30 p.m.,

244 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

when the enemy developed a very stout resistance,
and held the Gold Coast Regiment up for nearly
three hours.

At 2 p.m. two sections of A Company, under
Captain Wheeler, were sent forward to reinforce
Major Shaw, and to extend the line on the right
of the advance ; and an hour later the Headquarters
of the Regiment, with two sections of I Company,
advanced, and Colonel Goodwin took over the
command from Major Shaw. The latter then went
forward and assumed the command of the firing-
line, which at this time had worked its way along
the northern face of Chirimba Hill, and was getting
clear of its western extremity. Simultaneously
fifty rifles of I Company, with one machine-gun
and one Lewis gun, under the command of Captain
Harman, were sent out to the right of the two
sections of A Company, under Captain Wheeler,
with orders to extend the line to the right and
to be prepared to swing the right flank round so
as to enfilade the enemy when the advance was
continued.

At about 3 p.m. " Kartucol," on the southern
side of Chirimba Hill, was heard to be heavily
engaged with the enemy, and the resistance offered
to the advance of the Gold Coast Regiment per-
ceptibly slackened. Major Shaw therefore worked
round the western end of the hill and succeeded in
getting into touch with the King's African Rifles,
who had dug themselves in in a hastily made peri-
meter camp. At the moment of Major Shaw's
arrival the enemy was delivering a strong counter-
attack upon the leading troops of " Kartucol,"
which were very hard pressed. Major Shaw at

ACTION AT CHIRIMBA 245

once attacked vigorously, and a very sharp engage-
ment ensued, which resulted in the Gold Coast
Regiment and the King's African Rifles driving
the enemy back with considerable losses.

Meanwhile half of I Company, under Captain
Harman, which, as we have seen, had been sent
out on the extreme right of the advance, had met
a large open swamp, the negotiation of which caused
some delay ; and as the firing-line, commanded by
Major Shaw, was wheeling steadily to the left,
following the configuration of the ground at the
western extremity of Chirimba Hill, touch with
A Company was presently lost. Captain Harman
crossed from the right to the left of the main road,
still without regaining touch with A Company ;
and soon after firing broke out in front of him.
Advancing in the direction from which the sound
came, touch with the right of A Company was at
last regained ; but as the whole line pushed forward
the wheel to the left became more and more pro-
nounced, Major Shaw being engaged at this time
in moving round the western extremity of Chirimba
Hill to go to the assistance of " Kartucol." Just
as this movement began, fire was opened upon
Captain Harman's half- company from the right
flank and right rear, the enemy company, which
had hitherto been held in reserve, having been sent,
it is probable, to join up with the other companies
which were delivering a heavy attack upon the
roughly made perimeter camp in which " Kartucol "
was defending itself. The half-section of I Company
on the extreme right of Captain Harman's little
party was hastily faced about to resist the attack
from the right rear, and the section bombers on its

246 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

left drove the enemy off from its right front. The
attacking party to the right rear, however, was
more persistent, and Colour-Sergeant Thornett,
with three of his machine-gun team and three
carriers, who at the moment when fire was opened
upon them had just loaded up in order to move
forward, were all hit, Colour- Sergeant Thornett
being killed on the spot. These losses were caused
by a machine-gun which the enemy had captured
from the Portuguese. The reserve gun-team and
carriers, however, behaved with their usual coolness,
and they succeeded in getting their gun away, only
leaving one box of ammunition behind them, which
was recovered next day.

Sergeant Mudge was wounded badly in the
groin and died in the course of a few minutes,
while Lieutenant Barrett was slightly wounded in
the thigh.

Meanwhile the half-section of I Company on
the immediate left of the 'party which had been
thus roughly handled, had gone on with the main
advance, leaving only about twenty-five men to
deal with the surprise attack which had been de-
livered upon them. They succeeded, none the less,
in driving the enemy off; but recognizing the
necessity of guarding the right flank of the main
advance against a possible renewed attack, and
hampered in his movements by the number of
his casualties, Captain Harman decided to remain
where he was, and not to attempt for the moment
to regain touch with the troops on his left.

The wounded men were carried back to the
place where Colonel Goodwin had established his
Headquarters, the work being done in difficult

ACTION AT CHIRIMBA 247

circumstances, no stretchers or stretcher-bearers
being available. Darkness fell, and Captain Har-
man's little party, having found no further trace of
the enemy, gathered together and began to work over
to the left with the intention of regaining touch with
the men under Major Shaw's command. These had
now joined up with " Kartucol," as already men-
tioned, and had thereafter established themselves
in the perimeter camp which had been hastily dug
earlier in the day by the King's African Rifles.
Here, guided by the bugle-call of I Company,
Captain Harman's party presently joined them ;
and the weary men of both columns dossed down
for the night on the bare ground to sleep as
best they might, without food or cover of any
description.

While the engagement was in progress Colonel
Rose and several members of his staff had a very
narrow escape. They had been walking up and
down the road at some distance to the rear when
a loud explosion occurred within a few feet of
them, and a man of the 22nd D.M.B., who a few
moments before had been coming down the road
toward them, was blown into the air, receiving
terrible injuries from which he shortly afterwards
died. It was a road-mine which he had touched
off — a road-mine constructed, as usual, of one of
the 4*1 shells from the Koenigsberg — and Colonel
Rose and his companions, who as it was were only
spattered from head to foot with mud, had during
the last quarter of an hour repeatedly passed
within a few inches of the spot where the slightest
pressure upon the surface of the road would have
ignited the charge. These road-mines were found

248 THE ENGAGEMENT AT MEDO

with considerable frequency, and the men of the
Gold Coast Regiment had a rather embarrassing
habit of digging them up, and carrying them
to their officers for inspection, live-fuse and all,
handling the lethal things with a reckless familiarity
which it was hair-erecting to witness. On the
whole, however, extraordinarily little damage was
done by these man-traps.

Mention has been made of the good work done
by the Stokes guns under Captain Foley and Lieu-
tenant Lamont. These guns, one of the notable
inventions of the Great War, proved to be the ideal
artillery for bush-warfare. Their discharge causes
so slight a report that, when rifle-fire is going on,
it is practically inaudible, and it was therefore very
difficult for the enemy to locate the positions from
which the guns were shelling them. On the other
hand, the Stokes guns were very handy and could
be got into action with great rapidity, while the
shells thrown by them burst with a particularly
loud report that was not without its moral effect,
and threw a very effective charge.

The losses sustained by the Regiment from the
10th to the 12th of April amounted to 4 Europeans
— Colour-Sergeant Thornett, Sergeant Mudge, and
Sergeant Flatman — killed, and Lieutenant Barrett
wounded ; 10 men killed and 40 wounded ; and 1
carrier killed and 14 wounded — in all 69 casualties.
Unfortunately the losses among the rank and file
included a number of old soldiers and section com-
manders, all of whom were at this time doubly
valuable owing to the experience which they had
gained during nearly four years of almost con-
tinous warfare.

THE ENEMY RETIRES 249

During these three days a great strain was
imposed upon Captain J. M. O'Brien, of the West
African Medical Staff, and upon his assistants ; and
Captain O'Brien, by no means for the first time,
displayed almost reckless courage while attending
to the wounded under fire.

On the 13th April scouting parties sent out
from the camp found that, as usual, the enemy
had retired. His primary object had been to delay
and embarrass the British advance, and to make it
pay as heavily as might be for its passage over
a few miles of road lying through particularly
difficult country. This he had achieved; and if
indeed the boma at Medo had contained any accu-
mulation of supplies, he had also succeeded in re-
moving them before he was compelled to evacuate
that place, for none were found when the troops
occupied Medo on the 13th April. Meanwhile
" Pamforce," which throughout the three days'
fighting had been engaged in attacking and being
attacked by an enemy who, from beginning to end,
remained practically invisible, was no nearer the
fulfilment of its purpose — the wearing down or
rounding up of von Lettow-Vorbeck's forces —
than it had been when, more than three months
earlier, it had first landed at Port Amelia.

CHAPTER XVII

THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO TO KORONJE AND
MSALU

ALL that remained of the Portuguese boma at
Medo was the deep ditch by which it had been
surrounded, and the mound or earthwork fashioned
from the earth that had been excavated from it.
Any buildings that these fortifications may have
been designed to protect had long ago been burned
to the ground, and save for a big red-brick store,
with an iron roof, situated outside the ditch, there
was no habitable place in the immediate vicinity.
It can never have been of much military value,
except against attacks delivered by natives armed
with primitive weapons, and its capture and occu-
pation by the British conferred upon the latter no
material advantage. Medo, however, or rather the
place a few miles east of it where Rock Camp
had been formed, marks the beginning of a stretch
of very blind and difficult country, where big
clumps of bamboos are numerous, where bamboo-
brakes of considerable extent are not infrequently
encountered, and where elephant grass nine feet
high is a common feature. Further on along the
road, as the columns advanced, more broken
ground was met with, and numbers of isolated
rocky hills, often fantastically shaped — the solitary

250

ADVANCE TO MWALIA 251

curved horn of the rhinoceros being one of the
forms most commonly represented — provided the
enemy with excellent observation-posts from which
every movement of the British troops could be
watched and provided against.

On the 13th April the two columns camped at
Medo, and on the following day a strong officer's
patrol of the 4th Battalion of the 4th King's
African Rifles went down the road toward Mwalia,
and speedily found itself engaged with the enemy.
Von Lettow-Vorbeck and Kohl had allowed the
British, very slowly and painfully, to work their
way inland from the coast from a distance of
eighty-four miles to Medo ; and having now drawn
them on into a very difficult belt of country, they
were preparing to ambush the advance once or
twice daily, to make the troops fight as often
as possible and in disadvantageous circumstances,
for the camping-ground and for their supply of
water, and to withhold from them any chance of
dealing a very effective blow at their ubiquitous
and elusive enemy.

The campaign was at once more harassing and
less hopeful than had been the advance from Narun-
gombe to Lukuledi in the preceding year, for then
" Linforce " had been working its way inland from
Lindi, and there had always been a chance of the
enemy being enveloped by the converging columns ;
and the country, though thick and difficult, had
not been so blind and so impenetrable as that
through which " Pamforce " was at present en-
gaged in making its way. Now, too, there was
no British force closely co-operating with " Rose-
col " and " Kartucol " to threaten the enemy's

252 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

flank and rear, though some of General Northey's
troops had made their way in a south-easterly
direction from Mahenge, and were known to have
crossed the Rovuma, and Colonel Rose, while still
in command in Portuguese East Africa, had suc-
ceeded in getting the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles dispatched to Mozambique,
where, under Colonel Phillips, they were brigaded
with a Portuguese force under Major Leal. There
was, however, no immediate prospect of bringing
von Lettow-Vorbeck to a definite action, for there
no longer existed German posts, such as Ruponda,
Massassi and Newala, the defence of which was
important to him because their capture would
work him a measure of moral and even of material
injury. [Instead von Lettow-Vorbeck, at this time,
seemed to have the whole of the vast continent of
Africa into which to retreat, and the prospect of
surrounding or cutting off any large body of his
forces was felt by all to be more remote than
ever.

None the less, " Pamforce " continued to move
forward down the road from Medo to Mwalia and
from Mwalia to Koronje, with ever-lengthening
lines of communication stringing out behind it,
and with daily ambushes delaying its progress.
These, often enough, were laid for it by small
enemy posts consisting of one native non-com-
missioned officer and half a dozen Askari, but in
such blind country it was on each occasion neces-
sary to clear up the situation before the advance
could be continued, lest the column should find
themselves caught in some more elaborate trap
with results that might well prove to be disastrous.

ADVANCE OP "ROSECOL" 258

Moreover, the character of the country, which
greatly favoured the tactics that the enemy was
now adopting, practically confined the British to
a series of frontal attacks, as it did not admit of
flanking movements being successfully carried
out.

On the 15th April " Rosecol " left the camp
at Medo, and began to advance down the road in
the direction of Mwalia. The 4th Battalion of the
4th King's African rifles formed the advanced
guard, the Gold Coast Regiment being in reserve.
The former's advanced points were attacked, as
usual, and the Battalion engaged a small enemy
rear-guard, the progress made during the day
amounting to only four and a half miles. From
this time onward, the Gold Coast Regiment and
the 4th Battalion of the 4th King's African Rifles
took it in turns to lead the advance, and each was
preceded at a short distance by an advanced de-
tachment consisting of 300 rifles with the usual
complement of machine and Lewis guns, and two
Stokes guns of the Gold Coast Regiment. This
leading detachment had points thrown out ahead
on each side of the road and a line of skirmishers
deployed behind them, the remainder of the de-
tachment advancing in open order on both sides
of the road, with connecting files between them
and the main body in their rear.

On the 16th April the advanced detachment
was supplied by A Company and two sections of
I Company, under the command of Major Shaw.
During the day small engagements were fought
with an enemy rear-guard, consisting of one

254 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

company, but the Stokes guns proved very useful
and effective, the enemy being shelled out of suc-
cessive positions from which, but for these guns,
it would have cost much delay and probably many
casualties to eject him. As it was, only two men ot
the Regiment and one Sierra Leone carrier were
wounded. The column camped at 2 p.m., Major
Shaw's detatchment digging itself in about a mile
further down the road.

On the 17th April the 4th Battalion of the 4th
King's African Rifles furnished the advanced de-
tachment, that regiment being at the head of the
column, with the Gold Coast Regiment following
in reserve. During the afternoon the King's
African Rifles became heavily engaged with the
enemy, who had been reinforced and was now
opposing the advance with three companies and
six machine-guns. The road here ran through
elephantfgrass nine feet in height, and it was found
impossible to locate the enemy's positions. On the
other hand, the King's African Rifles had dug
themselves in across the road, the lie of which was
accurately known to the Germans, and the former
consequently sustained many casualties. The 4th
Battalion of the 4th King's African Rifles was a
newly raised force, largely composed of recruits,
and the ordeal of being fired upon by an invisible
enemy, against whom no | effective retaliation was
possible, was very severe. However, they held on,
and in the afternoon A Company was sent forward
to reinforce them. This company and the two
Stokes gun-teams, which had been with the 4th
Battalion of the 4th King's African Rifles all day,
sustained 28 casualties before dark, losing 3 men

CONVOY ATTACKED 255

and 1 battery gun-carrier killed, and 13 men, 6
battery gun-carriers and 5 Sierra Leone carriers
wounded.

Next morning the Gold Coast Regiment took
over from the King's African Rifles the position
which the latter had occupied during the night,
and was directed to hold the enemy in front while
a strong detachment from " Kartucol " attempted
a wide flanking movement on the right. Captain
Duck with thirty rifles was sent forward from the
position held by the Regiment to get in touch with
the enemy in order to give the flanking detachment
an objective. He speedily found and engaged the
enemy, whereupon the rest of " Kartucol " advanced
through the Gold Coast Regiment and joined in
the fight. The enemy, however, had once again
reduced his rear-guard to a single company, and on
the 19th April " Kartucol" continued the advance,
" Rosecol " following in the rear. On the following
day the two columns were to have exchanged
places, but the rations expected from the rear
arrived so late on the night of the 19th April that
this arrangement could not be carried out. The
delay had been caused by the convoy being
attacked by the enemy near Rock Camp. The
officer commanding this convoy was killed, and
much confusion was wrought by the ambush,
though the carriers and their escort contrived to
get through with the loss of a few bags of mails.
There were many Europeans in camp who would
far more willingly have foregone their dinners.
In a captured diary Kohl was subsequently found
complaining with disgust that the mails taken on
this occasion contained no information concerning

/

256 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

the progress of the war in Europe, and mainly
consisted of " love to dear Jack."

" Kartucol," therefore, continued the advance
and occupied Mwalia, while " Rosecol " camped
for the night at Kalima, about four miles short of
that place. The distance from Medo to Mwalia is
not quite five-and-twenty miles. The column had
left Medo on the 15th April and " Kartucol" had
reached Mwalia on the 20th April, the average
daily progress being therefore little more than four
miles.

On the 21st April " Rosecol " remained in camp
at Kalima, where it was joined by General Edwards
and his staff. "Kartucol" during the day was
shelled by the enemy, and on the 22nd April it
moved forward and occupied an enemy position
two miles in front of the camp at Mwalia. Both
columns remained in these positions until the
26th April, when " Rosecol " moved forward and
occupied Makuku, about twelve miles down the
road, " Kartucol," which had preceded it, having
advanced three miles further to a place called
Mbalama. At Makuku the main road, hitherto
followed, which leads from Mtuge to Lusinje, is
crossed by another which runs south-west to
Koronje ; and Mbalama is situated some three
miles down this latter track.

On the 27th April " Rosecol " advanced through
" Kartucol," and marched down the road towards
Koronje, with Nanungu, some forty miles further to
the west and slightly south of the former place, as
its ultimate objective. The advanced detachment,
under Major Shaw, consisted of the Pioneer Com-
pany and A Company of the Gold Coast Regiment

MORE FIGHTING 257

with two Stokes guns. A small party of the
enemy was engaged and driven back ; " Rosecol "
camped for the night about four miles west of
Mbalama.

Next day, 28th April, the advance was con-
tinued, being led this time by the 4th Battalion of
the 4th King's African Rifles, two Stokes guns of
the Gold Coast Regiment, as usual, accompanying
the advanced detachment. About six miles were
covered during the day, and as " Rosecol " was
forming camp at about 3.30 p.m., patrols from the
advanced detachment came into touch with the
enemy, and Lieutenant McEvoy was wounded in
the hand by a stray bullet, and a trumpeter
belonging to the Stokes Gun Battery was killed.

On the 29th April the enemy was found to
have abandoned the positions which he had occu-
pied the night before ; and at 7 a.m. the advanced
detachment, consisting of half I and B Companies
with two of the Gold Coast Stokes guns, advanced,
the rest of " Rosecol " following half an hour later.
Major Shaw, who was, as usual, in command of the
advanced detachment, came into contact with the
enemy at about 10.30 a.m., and thereafter the latter
fought an intermittent rear-guard action — a series
of harassing ambushes — until 4.30 p.m., when
camps were formed for the night, Major Shaw's
men occupying a position about a mile in advance
of the rest of the column. In the course of the
day only two men of the Gold Coast Regiment
were wounded, the Stokes guns once more proving
very useful in dislodging the enemy from successive
positions.

On the 30th April, " Kartucol " passed through

258 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

" Rosecol " with the intention of attacking an
enemy position, which was known to be held by
four companies and one gun. The Headquarters
of the Gold Coast Regiment, with half the Stokes
Battery, the Pioneers and I Company, marched in
the rear of " Kartucol " as reserve troops. Touch
was not gained with the enemy until the afternoon,
but owing to the country traversed being very
difficult and blind, the progress made was so slow
that no attack could be delivered upon the German
position owing to the lateness of the hour. The
two columns, therefore, formed a perimeter camp
at about 4.30 p.m. at a place on the Koronje road
about four hundred yards west of the Montepuez
River. One Battalion from " Kartucol " occupied
an advanced camp about one thousand yards further
down the road leading to Koronje.

On the 1st May, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles advanced along the road to-
ward Koronje, while the 2nd Battalion of the same
Regiment went out on the right to attempt to
outflank the enemy's left. The country was still
very difficult and extremely blind, and progress
was again very slow. It was subsequently dis-
covered, moreover, that from an observation post
on the summit of Koronje Hill, to the left of the
road, the enemy could follow every movement of
the British troops. While, therefore, the 2nd
Battalion of the 2nd King's African Rifles was
laboriously working its way round to the right, its
attempt to surprise and outflank the enemy was
foredoomed to failure from the outset. Meanwhile,
of course, this movement greatly delayed the
advance of the rest of the force.

D.M.B. ENGAGED 259

The detachment of the Gold Coast Regiment
which, under the command of Major Shaw, was
with " Kartucol," was employed to escort the
22nd D.M.B. and the ammunition column of that
force.

At about 5 p.m. the 1st Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles became heavily engaged, and
simultaneously an enemy party of about forty rifles,
which had worked its way through the bush to the
rear, attacked the D.M.B. which was being escorted
by fifty rifles of I Company. The latter, under
Lieutenant Kay, acted with great steadiness and
promptitude. At the moment when the attack
was delivered, the Mountain Battery, which had
just come out of action, was limbered up. For a
moment the guns were in peril, but Lieutenant
Kay held the enemy and beat off the attack while
the mules and their loads were got away in safety.

The sound of the firing misled the 2nd Battalion
of the 2nd King's African Rifles, which was out on
the right, with the result that it rejoined the
column in the rear of the enemy.

A perimeter camp was formed for the night,
the 1st Battalion of the 2nd King's African Rifles
digging themselves in at a point about eight hundred
yards in advance of the main body.

On the 2nd May, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd
King's African Rifles pushed out patrols which
quickly came into touch with the enemy, who was
soon after engaged by " Kartucol," which drove
him back. No progress, however, was made during
the day, and on the morrow it was found that,
while the enemy's rear-guard was fighting " Kartu-
col," the position at Koronje had been evacuated.

260 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

" Kartucol " then advanced and camped near
Koronje, the detachment of the Gold Coast
Regiment under Major Shaw rejoining " Rosecol "
in the afternoon,

On the 4th May " Kartucol " again advanced
and located a strong enemy position near the
Milinch hills, about six and a half miles west of
Koronje, through which the road passes. On this
day three officers and ten British non-commissioned
officers belonging to the Gold Coast Regiment
arrived from Port Amelia.

On the 5th May, "Rosecol" advanced and
took over from " Kartucol," which then fell back
to the camp which the former had hitherto
occupied. The 4th Battalion of the 4th King's
African Rifles encamped at a point down the
road about a mile in advance of the main body
of " Rosecol " ; and patrols were sent out to the
right and left to try to find a way round the
enemy's position on the Milinch Hills. Both
these patrols were furnished by A Company of
the Gold Coast Regiment, that on the right being
commanded by Captain Harris and that on the
left by Lieutenant Withers.

On the 6th May Captain Harris returned and
reported that the country to the north was much
more open than that through which the columns
had recently been advancing, and that it would be
almost impossible to make a flanking movement
from the right side of the road. On the 7th May
Lieutenant Withers came in from the south
bringing a similar report ; and meanwhile patrols
sent out by the 4th Battalion of the 4th King's
African Rifles had on both days come into touch

MILINCH HILLS 261

with the enemy just east of the Milinch Hills, and
reported that the position which he was occupying
was a very strong one. This was indeed the case,
for the enemy was posted on the crests and slopes
of two hills, both of which commanded the gut
between them through which the road runs ; yet
on the 8th May it was discovered that the Germans
had retired, and two companies of the 4th Battalion
of the 4th King's African Rifles went forward and
occupied the position which he had evacuated.

Meanwhile the lines of communication were
lengthening behind the columns, and now
measured approximately one hundred and forty
miles from Mtuge, which in its turn is twenty-
eight miles by road from Port Amelia. Also
the heavy and increasing traffic over the road had
not tended to improve it ; and though road corps,
recruited from South Africa and East Africa, toiled
ceaselessly at its repair, the difficulties of transport
and supply were becoming daily more and more
acute. At this time, the columns at the front had
been on very short commons for a considerable
period, and the company officers of the Gold Coast
Regiment reported that their men were not getting
enough food to keep them fit to take part in active
operations of so trying and arduous a character as
those at present in progress.

On the 9th May the Gold Coast Regiment
took over the Milinch Hills from the 4th Battalion
of the 4th King's African Rifles ; and on this day
local natives reported to Colonel Rose that von
Lettow-Vorbeck, with a large enemy force, was
moving in a north-easterly direction toward Lusinje.
This place lies about thirty-seven miles almost

262 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

due north of Nanungu, on the main road from
which the columns had branched off in a south-
westerly direction at Makuku, as already noted.
Accordingly the 4th Battalion of the 4th King's
African Rifles was dispatched across country to
Msalu Boma, which is situated on that road at a
point, as the crow flies, about twenty-three miles
north-west of Koronje, and twenty-seven miles east
by south of Lusinje. The orders issued to this
battalion of the King's African Rifles were that
they should deal with any enemy parties weak
enough to enable action to be taken with effect,
but to avoid any serious engagement with his
numerically superior forces.

It was believed that a fairly strong party of the
enemy were occupying a hill on the right side of
the road at a place called Jirimita, about five or
six miles down the road from the pass through the
Milinch Hills, and at dawn on this day two patrols
were sent out, one under the command of Captain
Leslie- Smith and the other under Lieutenant
Bisshopp. Each patrol consisted of seventy-five
rifles, drawn respectively from A and I Companies ;
and Captain Leslie-Smith, who went out on the right
of the road, had orders to make a flanking move-
ment and to come back to the highway at a point
about four miles beyond Jirimita. Lieutenant
Bisshopp, on the left, was instructed to make a
wider and longer sweep, and to strike the road
about three miles further on. It was hoped thus
to outflank the enemy and to cut off his retreat.
It was a difficult task in the broken country through
which these two patrols had to work, at once to
maintain a correct sense of direction, and accurately

PATROL WORK 263

to estimate the distance traversed. However, both
these small parties started off, expecting to be a
night or two in the bush, and each in the end
succeeded in exactly carrying out the orders issued
to it.

Meanwhile, during the morning of the same
day Lieutenant Wilson, with a patrol of twenty
rifles drawn from the Pioneer Company, got touch
with an enemy outpost of about the same strength
at a point some two miles west of the Milinch
Hills ; and at 4.45 p.m. a second officer's patrol,
under Lieutenant Beech, was sent out down the
road in the same direction for a distance of two
and a half miles without coming into contact with
the enemy, whose outpost had retired since the
morning.

At 6 a.m. on the 10th May, Lieutenant Withers,
with fifty rifles and one Lewis gun of A Company,
was sent down the road with orders to brush aside
any small party of the enemy that he might en-
counter, and thereafter to try and ascertain the
real strength of the force which was opposing the
advance of the column.

Three and a half miles from the Milinch Hill
Lieutenant Withers met a small party of the
enemy, which he drove back ; and about five miles
out he found an enemy camp, strongly entrenched,
which had evidently been designed to accommodate
some four companies, but which had been recently
burned. As far as it was possible to judge, this
camp had been destroyed and abandoned two days
earlier ; and though the tracks leading from it were
at once confused and confusing, conveying at first
the impression that the enemy had retired in a

264 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

northerly direction, it was subsequently ascertained
that he had retreated down the main road. Just
beyond the burned camp this road was found to
bifurcate, one fork leading west-north-west and the
other west-south-west. It was the latter route
which the enemy had taken.

The main patrol camped at a point where the
road bifurcated, and sent out small parties to
reconnoitre along each of the forks, but neither
of them came into touch with the enemy.

On the llth May the patrols under Captain
Leslie-Smith and Lieutenant Bisshopp, which had
been sent out on the 9th May, rejoined the Regi-
ment. As has already been noted, they had achieved
the difficult feat of striking the road at the points
aimed at, but for the rest, though Lieutenant
Bisshopp's patrol had surprised and killed one
enemy Askari, who had probably been left behind
to watch the movements of the British, nothing
more had been seen of the enemy, who must have
passed down the road while these patrols were still
making their way through the bush.

On the 12th May one of the battalions of the
2nd King's African Rifles from " Kartucol " took
over from the Gold Coast Regiment, which re-
turned to the main camp occupied by " Rosecol."
On the following day the latter marched across
country, in the wake of the 4th Battalion of the
4th King's African Rifles, which had preceded
them on the 9th May, in the direction of Msalu
Boma. The way led along a native footpath which
only admitted of men marching in single file, but
in order to beat out a track for the transport
through the high grass and standing crops of maize

CAMP AT MSALU 265

and millet, the column advanced four abreast — a
hard task for troops who had been insufficiently
fed for many days, and who were now required to
cover between daybreak and dusk a distance of
eighteen miles. The column camped in the bush,
and on the following day it joined up with the
4th Battalion of the 4th King's African Rifles at
the boma at Msalu. This place, too, had once
been a stronghold of a Portuguese revenue-farmer,
and had been fortified against attack by the natives,
but it had now been completely destroyed by fire.

At Msalu news was received that von Lettow-
Vorbeck and the whole of his main force were at
Nanungu, and that so far they had given no signs
of any intention to move to the north toward the
Rovuma River, or south to the Lurio, which divides
the territory of the Nyassa Company from the
Province of Mozambique. It was also learned that
the King's African Rifles Mounted Infantry were
at Lusinje, some six-and-twenty miles along the
main road west by north of Msalu, and about
thirty-two miles almost due north of Nanungu.

" Rosecol " remained at Msalu on the 14th and
15th May, the neighbourhood being clear of the
enemy, but much infested by lions. The proximity
of these brutes got upon the nerves of some of
the inmates of the camp, and on the night of the
13th — 14th May a carrier, who had had a nightmare
in which they played a prominent part, awoke in
a panic, shattering the silence with his yells and
outcry. Instantly an indescribable scene resulted.
Tumbling over one another to get at the camp-
fires, the porters fought and scrambled for fire-
brands which they waved wildly, and impeded by

266 THE ADVANCES FROM MEDO

which they made desperate efforts to climb into
neighbouring trees. The country here is orchard-
bush, and the only trees available are small and
stunted — altogether inadequate as places of refuge
from the onslaught of a lion. The terrified carriers,
however, were long past reason, and appeared to
consider that their one chance of salvation lay in
getting even a foot or two above the ground. The
lions on this occasion existed only in their imagi-
nation, and order and confidence were presently
restored. During the same night, however, the
4th King's African Rifles lost two sentries, one
killed and one badly mauled by these brutes, so
the terror of the carriers had at any rate some
measure of justification.

With the arrival of " Rosecol " at Msalu the
second phase of the advance, which had its be-
ginning with the fight at Medo, may be regarded
as concluded. The enemy had offered a persistent
and fairly effective resistance to the progress of the
columns along the main road through the difficult
country which lies between Medo and the Milinch
Hills. His main force, which was believed to be
at Nanungu, was really encamped at Wanakoti,
about three and a half miles to the north of that
place ; and against him were advancing " Kartucol "
from the east, " Rosecol " from the north-east, and
a weak column of perhaps 800 rifles, which General
Northey had dispatched across the Rovuma in a
south-easterly direction, under the command of
Colonel Griffiths. Von Lettow-Vorbeck still had
the choice of several lines of retreat, for at Wana-
koti many tracks cross one another, and though
the road to Koronje on the east and to Chisona

END OF SECOND PHASE 267

on the north-west were closed to him by the
British advance, the track leading south-west to
Mahu was still open, and while retreating along it
he would have opportunities of breaking off, should
it suit his convenience to do so, in almost any
direction.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE EXPULSION OF VON LETTOW-VORBECK FROM
THE NYASSA COMPANY'S TERRITORY AND THE
RETURN OF THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT

ON the 16th May "Rosecol" left Msalu, and
marching along bush paths in a westerly direction,
leaving the road to Lusinje on the north and
having the Msalu River on its right, began a move-
ment which was designed to cut the main road
between Lusinje and Nanungu. Camping for two
nights in the bush — orchard country which, though
the soil was of a rocky character, was broken by
frequent patches of cultivated land — the column
crossed this road on the 18th May, and pushed
on toward Chisona. On reaching the Lusinje—
Nanungu road, a patrol was dispatched to examine
the ford across the Msalu River, and on approaching
it was fired upon by a party which proved to be
composed of scouts belonging to the Rhodesian
Native Regiment — part of the weak column which
General Northey had sent out across the Rovuma
River. Connection was thus established for the
first time with this force.

On the 19th May " Rosecol " continued its
inarch to Chisona, where it camped on the banks
of the Msalu River at a place about two miles from
the column from " Norforce " above mentioned,
which was under the command of Colonel Griffiths.

268

NANUNGU— MAHUA 269

The river was unfordable at this season of the year,
but the battery-carriers quickly constructed a
bridge under the personal supervision of Colonel
Goodwin, who, as a former commander of the
Pioneer Company, had proved himself, both in the
Kameruns and in East Africa, to possess a special
gift for such improvizations.

On the 20th May the column crossed the Msalu,
and marched due south to within five miles of
Chilonga, I Company leading the advance and
doing what it could to widen and improve the
existing paths so as to facilitate the passage of the
column. On the 21st May the latter pushed on
twelve miles in a westerly direction and camped
at a spot some three miles to the north of the road
to Mahua. Five companies of the enemy, under
Kohl, were reported to be on this road ; and it
was here learned that " Kartucol " had entered and
occupied Nanungu without opposition, and was
advancing along the Mahua road. This advance
had been opposed by Kohl during the day, one
company of the enemy with one gun having been
in action, while the rest of his force was held in
reserve. Meanwhile Colonel Griffiths' column was
marching parallel to " Rosecol," on a line a few
miles to the north of it.

At this juncture General Edwards hoped to
surround Kohl from the west, east, and north ; and
with this object in view " Kartucol " was ordered
to advance along the Mahua road, Colonel Griffiths'
column to march in a south-westerly direction, so
as to get astride that road in the rear of the enemy,
while "Rosecol" was instructed to march on a
line about three miles to the north of the Mahua

270 RETREAT OF THE GERMANS

road and roughly parallel to it with the object of
turning the enemy's left.

During the afternoon of the 22nd May Colonel
Griffiths' force was heard to be heavily engaged,
and " Rosecol " continued its march until 10 p.m.,
when it camped, Major Shaw in command of the
Pioneers and B Company of the Gold Coast Regi-
ment, and two Gold Coast Stokes guns, forming
an advanced detachment encamped on high ground
a few miles forward, overlooking the place where
Colonel Griffiths was entrenched. During all these
operations " Rosecol " was separated from " Kar-
tucol " by the Mwambia Ridge — a high barrier of
grey, granite hills, with unscalable, cliff-like sides,
rising abruptly from the grass and bush and orchard
forest at their base — which flanks the main road on
the north for a matter of more than a dozen miles.

Colonel Griffiths' column, it appeared, had
struck the Mahua road, and had entered and
occupied Kohl's camp at Mwariba, meeting with
very little resistance. Here he had possessed him-
self of practically all Kohl's heavy baggage— a
really severe loss to the enemy at this juncture ;
but almost immediately afterwards he had been
vigorously attacked, his small column being com-
pletely surrounded and suffering many casualties.
Failing to push home his attack, however, the
enemy had drawn off during the night and had
then retired in a southerly direction.

Yet another attempt to envelop him had
definitely failed.

The Gold Coast Regiment this day came into
contact with the enemy for the first time since it
had quitted the main road near Koronje on the

23RD TO 25TH MAY 271

13th April. Its only casualty, however, was one
man wounded.

On the 23rd May " Bosecol " advanced through
Colonel Griffiths' camp, with Major Shaw's detach-
ment about one mile ahead of it ; and very shortly
afterwards the latter became engaged with the
enemy, who, with one company and two machine-
guns, was covering the retirement of Kohl's main
force. Major Shaw drove this enemy party back a
matter of two miles, when he was relieved by the
4th Battalion of the 4th King's African Rifles, who
now formed the advanced detachment of " Rosecol,"
supported as usual, however, by two guns of the
Gold Coast Regiment's Stokes Battery.

On this morning the Regiment lost one British
non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Kent, and one
soldier killed, and three men wounded.

On the 24th May the 4th King's African Rifles
advanced at 6 a.m., and forthwith became engaged
with the enemy, whose strength had now been in-
creased to at least two companies with four machine-
guns. All day long the Germans fought a series
of very stubborn rear-guard actions, and the pro-
gress made by dusk was only two miles. In the
course of the day Lieutenant Percy and two
battery gun-carriers, attached to the Gold Coast
Stokes guns, were wounded.

On the 25th May " Rosecol " advanced along
the Mahua road in the direction of Korewa, with
" Kartucol " following in its rear ; Colonel Griffiths'
column having marched west on the preceding day
with the object of once again getting astride the
road behind the enemy, this time on the other
side of Korewa. The enemy was not met with,

272 RETREAT OF THE GERMANS

however, Major Shaw occupying Korewa in the
afternoon without opposition, and during the night
news was received that Colonel Griffiths had struck
the road at the point aimed at, and that he, too,
had seen nothing of the enemy.

From Korewa patrols were sent out in several
directions, and by the 27th May, it having by then
become pretty evident that von Lettow-Vorbeck
with the main body, followed at a short distance
by Major Kohl and his redoubtable rear-guard,
had crossed the Lurio River into the province of
Mozambique, Colonel Griffiths' column marched
that evening in pursuit.

On the 28th May B Company, less one machine-
gun and one Lewis gun, left the camp at 6 a.m.
for Wanakoti, thirty miles to the east, acting as
escort to the 22nd D.M.B. The rest of the
Regiment remained in camp at Korewa, where it
was rejoined by B Company in due course.

With the retreat of von Lettow-Vorbeck south-
ward across the Lurio River, the expedition into
the Nyassa Company's territory, which had been
begun five months earlier by the landing of Major
Shaw's advanced detachment at Port Amelia,
reached its natural termination. Yet another
campaign, based so far as the British were con-
cerned upon the port of Mozambique, was about
to begin, though as yet no very extensive prepara-
tions had been made for its effectual initiation.

The Gold Coast Regiment, as it has been seen,
had been transferred straight from the pursuit of
von Lettow-Vorbeck through the Kilwa and Lindi
areas and on to the banks of the Rovuma, to the

HARD WORK AND NO HOLIDAY 273

very trying inland march from Port Amelia.
Other units subsequently engaged in that enter-
prise had in the interval been afforded a period of
rest, the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the
King's African Rifles, for example, having been
allowed to return for a space to their cantonments
and to their womenkind at Nairobi. The men of
this corps and those of the Gold Coast Regiment,
who had done so much hard fighting in company,
had learned greatly to trust and value one another,
and though they were drawn from such widely
different parts of the African continent and though
the Gold Coast soldiers' knowledge of Swahili was
still rather elementary, a species of blood-brother-
hood had come to be recognized as existing
between them. When the " Second Second," as
this battalion of the King's African Rifles was
familiarly called, had made its appearance in
Portuguese East Africa, it had been warmly wel-
comed by the men of the Gold Coast Regiment,
and the latter, it may be surmised, had listened not
without envy to the accounts which their friends
had to give them of the good time the former had
enjoyed during their stay at Nairobi. Were the
war-worn veterans of the Gold Coast Regiment
never to enjoy a similar respite from patrols,
attacks, counter-attacks and endless toils and
fatigues? The men put the question to their
officers. They would fight on if they must,
embarking forthwith upon this new campaign
which was clearly about to begin ; but they would
fight better, they felt, if in the interval they might
have a taste of the delights of rest and home in
their cantonments at Kumasi. Colonel Goodwin,

274 RETREAT OF THE GERMANS

who was now commanding the Regiment, and
Colonel Rose, who was commanding the column
to which the battalion was attached, shared the
men's opinion, and General Edwards agreed that
the Regiment had fairly earned a rest.

Accordingly, at 7 a.m. on the 1st June, the
Gold Coast Regiment left the camp at Korewa,
and began its march back to Port Amelia. From
Medo to Ankuabe — a distance of five-and-twenty
miles — it was conveyed by motor-cars, but the rest
of that weary journey was accomplished on foot
over a road which had been knocked to pieces by
the traffic passing over it. A standing camp was
established at Gara, between Mtuge and Bandari,
which was reached on the 13th June, Colonel Rose
having, on the preceding day, relinquished the
command of " Rosecol " and resumed that of the
Regiment.

The rest of June, July and the first twelve days
of August were spent in refitting, and men of the
Regiment who were doing duty at various points
along the lines of communication were gradually
recalled and collected. On the 29th July Colonel
Rose and Major Read sailed for South Africa from
Port Amelia on board H.M. Transport Hymettus ;
and on the 13th August Major Hornby with 37
officers, 17 British non-commissioned officers, 862
rank and file, and 135 stretcher-bearers, gun-carriers,
etc., embarked on board H.M.T. Magdalena and
on the 14th August set sail for West Africa.

At Durban, reached on the 18th August, Colonel
Rose and Major Read rejoined the Regiment, and
both here and at Capetown, where the transport
arrived on the 27th August, several officers were

HOME TO KUMASI 275

landed who were taking leave in South Africa,
Australia or Tasmania.

Accra, the capital of the Gold Coast, was
reached without incident late on the 5th September,
and on the following day the Governor, who had
seen the Regiment off from Sekondi exactly two
years and two months earlier, came on board the
Magdalena to welcome and inspect the troops, and
to thank them on behalf of the Colony whose
name they bear, for the splendid fashion in which,
through all the trials and dangers of the East
African campaign, they had upheld its reputation.

Colonel Rose and Major Read disembarked at
Accra, but the Regiment sailed on the evening of
the 6th September for Sekondi, where it arrived
early next morning.

From this port to Kumasi, whither the Regi-
ment at once proceeded in special trains, its journey
was a triumphal progress. At Sekondi itself a
feast of native foods, such as these soldier-exiles
had not tasted for two years, had been prepared
for their consumption ; and at every halting-place
crowds had assembled to greet and acclaim the
Regiment and to load the men with gifts. All
along the line little knots of natives shouted and
danced their welcome, and even after darkness had
fallen every station at which the trains stopped was
crammed by eager crowds of Europeans and natives
alike, bent upon showing the men what pride the
colony felt at the reputation which they had won
for themselves, and how deep was the popular
sympathy for all they had suffered and endured.

It was a royal home-coming, and when at dawn
the men, worn out with excitement and fatigue at

T

276 RETREAT OF THE GERMANS

last arrived at Kumasi, their women met them at
the station in a clamorous mob, and accompanied
them in triumph to their cantonments, with the
songs and dances wherewith the warriors of West
Africa have always been greeted on their return
from a victorious campaign.

But, alas ! there were waitings and keenings too,
mingling with the joyful tumult, for many a
woman there was lamenting some poor fellow who
lies buried far away on the other side of Africa,
and would not be comforted because he was not.

The casualties sustained by the Gold Coast
Regiment during the campaign in East Africa
were as follows : —

Killed In
action.

Wounded.

Missing.

Died of
diseases.

Invalided.

British officers , .
British non-commis
sioned officers .
Rank and file . .
Gun-carriers . .
Stretcher-bearers .
Clerks

9

6
181
9

21

9
603
56
3

13

3

4
206
16

1

30

15

469

28

I

Carriers

10

33

—

40

24

Total .....

215

725

13

270

567

The strength of the Gold Coast Regiment
actually in the field never much exceeded 900 rifles.
The total of effectives belonging to the Regiment
at any one time in East Africa never numbered
much more than 3000, and from first to last the
total number of officers and men of all ranks
dispatched did not amount to much more than
3800. When these facts are remembered, the

EXPANSION TO A BRIGADE 277

above table will be found strikingly to illustrate
the severity of the fighting in which the Regiment
took so active a part, and to indicate the ravages
caused by disease to which prolonged strain and
hardship exposed it.

Meanwhile the recruiting efforts made by the
Government of the Gold Coast, to which during
1917-18 Captain Armitage, C.M.G., D.S.O., the
Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories,
had devoted special energy and enthusiasm, had
resulted in the collection of a very large number of
recruits at the various training-depots throughout
the Colony, Ashanti, and the Northern Territories ;
and the Regiment had proved itself to possess such
fine qualities that, as the early end of the war was
not at that time anticipated, the War Office
decided to convert it from a battalion to a brigade.
This consisted of four full battalions with a battery
of four 2 '75 guns, and a battery of eight Stokes
guns, and it was constituted a brigade as from
the 1st November, 1918, under the command of
Brigadier-General Rose. It was an open secret
that, as soon as its organization was complete, the
Second West African Brigade, as it was now called,
was to be dispatched on active service to Palestine.

Then, during the closing days of October and
the first half of November, came the dramatic
collapse of the Central Powers and of their Allies —
the debacle in the Balkans, the surrender of Turkey,
the rout of the Austro-Hungarian armies on the
Italian front, the succession of hammer-blows
delivered on the western front from the Swiss
frontier to the sea, and finally the Armstice granted

278 RETREAT OF THE GERMANS

to a defeated, crime-stained enemy, the terms of
which exactly reflected the magnitude of the
Allies' victory, and the extent to which Germany
and Germans had forfeited the trust and the
respect of all mankind.

The reading of those terms from the balcony of
the Public Offices at Accra to a large concourse of
people, almost beside themselves with enthusiasm
and delight, was recognized as closing the short
career of the Gold Coast Service Brigade ; and by
the end of the following December its disbandment
was completed. It had existed long enough, how-
ever, to enable the Gold Coast to boast that it,
no less than its neighbour the huge territory of
Nigeria, had been able to raise by voluntary
enlistment a full brigade of soldiers for the service
of the Empire in the Great War.

APPENDIX I

THE MOUNTED INFANTRY OF THE GOLD COAST
REGIMENT

THERE is another Gold Coast unit, which never served with
the rest of the Regiment, and which remained behind in
Portuguese East Africa when the remainder of the battalion
returned to the West Coast, and of its short but adventure-
some career some brief account must here be given.

At the end of February, 1918, nearly two months after
the arrival of Colonel Goodwin with the main body of the
Gold Coast Regiment at Port Amelia, Lieutenant G. H.
Parker, who has been mentioned in an earlier chapter as
having been in temporary command of the Battery, was
chosen by Colonel Rose to raise and train a small body of
Mounted Infantry. He was told to pick out for this purpose,
from a newly arrived draft of recruits from the Gold Coast,
170 men ; and to him were attached Lieutenants Drummond
and Saunders, and five British non-commissioned officers.

The men chosen were natives of the Hinterland of the
Gold Coast, to whom, since they for the most part live
beyond the range of the tsetse fly and the Trypanosoma,
horses are more or less familiar animals. About 10 per cent,
of them could ride in the hunched-up, Tod Sloan-like fashion
peculiar to folk to whom saddles are unusual luxuries ; but
not a man among them had the vaguest ideas concerning
horse-mastership and management.

Four riding-schools were constructed near the camp, upon
the top of the hill which slopes on the one side to the
waters of the Indian Ocean, and on the other falls in a sheer
cliff to the beach at Port Amelia ; and daily for hours at a
time the European officers and non-commissioned officers

279

280 APPENDIX I

shouted themselves hoarse, while the men bumped round the
maneges. A certain number were incurably horse-shy, and
had to be "returned to store," but the majority were quite
fearless and enjoyed their daily ride, and though horses had
not been received at Port Amelia until the end of March, by
the 30th May No. 1 Troop of the Mounted Infantry of the
Gold Coast Regiment was declared to be fit to take the field.

This troop, under the command of Lieutenant Drummond,
consisting of 1 British non-commissioned officer, 41 rank and
file, 51 horses, 2 mules, and 2 camp-followers, left Port
Amelia on the above-mentioned date, and rode up the
well-worn track from Mtuge to Medo, and thence to
Wanakoti, General Edwards1 Headquarters. The troop
arrived at this place just as the Gold Coast Regiment was
about to begin its march back to the coast from Korewa.

It is not possible to follow the history of this troop in
detail without embarking upon a full account of the campaign
in the Province of Mozambique, to which the British were
committed after the Germans had retreated across the Lurio
River, and this forms no part of the plan of the present work.
It must, therefore, suffice to note that " Kartucol " from this
time onward followed hard upon the heels of the enemy
forces, pursuing them without intermission nearly as far
south as Kilimane. A little north of this place one and a
half companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd King's
African Rifles, with a much larger force of Portuguese
encamped at Nhamaccura, were attacked by the enemy, who,
having possessed himself of the guns belonging to the
Portuguese, nearly annihilated the small British detachment,
Colonel Gore Brown, who was in command, being himself
killed with a large number of his men.

After this the enemy went north once more, still pursued
by " Kartucol," which had now cut loose from its transport
and was living on the country; and the Germans shortly
afterwards attacked and invested Namirrue, a place near the
centre of the province, which was being held by a company
of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd King's African Rifles, under
Captain Bustard.

DrummoncTs Troop of Gold Coast Mounted Infantry had

APPENDIX 1 281

worked its way down in a southerly direction from Wanakoti
to Namirrue, scouting for the columns, and doing some
excellent work ; and it had joined up with Captain Bustard's
little force just before the latter was surrounded.

Finding that the position which he occupied at the
moment of the enemy attack was commanded by the German
guns, Captain Bustard occupied a higher hill near at hand ;
and, though hopelessly outnumbered, cut off from water, and
bombarded by a Stokes gun which had been captured by the
Germans, he made a gallant fight of it, and held out for
three days.

Meanwhile the three remaining troops of the Gold Coast
Mounted Infantry, under Captain Parker, had sailed from
Port Amelia on the 1st July, arriving on the following day
at Mussuril Bay, in the entrance to which lies the island of
Mozambique. The force consisted of 8 British officers, 10
British non-commissioned officers, 137 rank and file, 84 East
Africans, % Indians, 11 other details, with 133 horses, 50
mules, and 141 donkeys.

The Mounted Infantry were disembarked at Lumbo, on
the northern shores of the bay, and on the 5th July marched
twenty miles to Monapo, where their depot was established.
On the 8th July the Squadron began its march to Nampula,
eighty miles further inland, where at this time General
Edwards had his Headquarters ; and travelling an average of
about twenty miles a day, it reached its destination on the
afternoon of the llth July. Here Captain Parker learned
that No. 1 Troop was with Captain Bustard at Namirrue,
and that it was thought that the small post established there
would embarrass the retreat of the enemy, who was known to
be advancing from the south.

On the following days the Squadron pushed on in the
direction of Chinga, which lies five-and-forty miles to the
west of Nampula, walking and leading most of the time, for
sore backs among the horses were already giving occasion for
anxiety. From Chinga on the 15th July the Squadron
marched sixteen miles to Marrupula ; and here on the
following day Captain Parker received orders to press forward
as rapidly as possible to Metil, and thence to take up certain

thl

282 APPENDIX I

positions on the Ligonha River. Three days' rations were
drawn, and though the nights were very cold, the capes and
spare clothing were all left behind, the men being cut down
to their body-clothes and one blanket each, in order to ease
the horses of as much weight as possible.

On the 17th July the Squadron covered a distance of
thirty-three miles to Calipo, and on the morrow reached
Pequerra, and pushed on thence to the banks of the Lighona
River, travelling on that day thirty-six miles between dawn
and dusk.

The geography of the country was very imperfectly
known, and the only available maps were grossly inaccurate.
Moreover, whereas it had been anticipated that the Ligonha
River would only be fordable in a few places, which the
Squadron had been ordered to hold, it was found that the
stream was quite shallow for a distance of at least twenty
miles. This was discovered on the 19th July, on which day
Metil was reached, the Squadron having marched one hundred
and two miles to that place from Murrupula in fifty-seven
hours — a very good performance for a newly raised body of
Mounted Infantry.

From Metil one troop, under Lieutenant Poole, was sent
eastward to Napue ; a second, under Lieutenant Viney, went
toward Muligudge, five miles south-east of Metil ; and a third,
under Lieutenant Saunders, back along the track towards
Pequerra, twenty men and Lieutenant Broomfield remaining
at Metil with Captain Parker. All these mounted patrols
had orders to try to locate the enemy and to keep touch as
far as possible with one another and with Captain Parker.

On the 23rd July news was received that Namirrue was
invested by the enemy, and that though it was still holding
out, Colonel Fitzgerald's column, consisting of the 4th
Battalion of the 4th and the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd King's
African Rifles, had had to retire when attempting to move
to Captain Bustard's relief. As Captain Parker was in-
structed to get as many of his men together as possible in
order to scout in the direction of Namirrue, the troops under
Lieutenants Poole and Viney were recalled, and on the
24th July, Captain Parker moved back to Pequerra, and

APPENDIX I 283

thence proceeded through dense bush to the banks of the
Ligonha. From here Lieutenant Viney with twelve troopers
crossed the stream and went scouting in what was believed to
be the direction of Namirrue. On the 26th July Lieutenant
Broomfield with twenty men were sent to Lulete, Captain
Parker and Lieutenant Saunders with twenty-eight men — all
that remained at their disposal — moving up the left bank of
the Ligonha. At 4 p.m. they came upon a track, surprised an
enemy baggage-train, and captured nine porters, the baggage-
guard making off. Lieutenant Saunders with a few rifles
was left to watch the trail, and late that afternoon he had a
brush with the enemy, and captured a German, an Askari,
and about a dozen more porters, also killing one or two
enemy soldiers.

On the 27th July Captain Parker set off for Pequerra
with the prisoners, leaving Lieutenant Saunders with a few
men to watch the track and to snipe and harass the enemy.
Captain Parker fell in with a superior force of the enemy,
lost all his prisoners and a good many of his men and horses,
and was himself reported missing for three days. At the
end of that time, however, he and the surviving remnant of
his troop contrived to rejoin. Meanwhile Lieutenant
Saunders also came into touch with the enemy, was wounded
and had several of his men and nearly all his horses shot ;
while Lieutenant Viney, who was surprised and attacked just
as he had off-saddled, was killed, his men, acting on his
orders, dispersing into the bush. Immediately afterwards
word was received that Captain Bustard at Namirrue had
been compelled to surrender, and with him Lieutenant
Drummond and what was left of No. 1 Troop of the Gold
Coast Mounted Infantry.

This meant that the Gold Coast Mounted Infantry, which
on the 5th July had numbered, including Lieutenant
Drummond's troop, about one hundred and sixty-five rank
and file, was now reduced to sixty-five men ; and Captain
Parker returned to the depot at Mnapo to train and equip
further drafts, while Lieutenant Broomfield remained in the
field in command of the handful of mounted men still effective
as a fighting force.

284 APPENDIX I

Though the enemy had won successes at Nhamaccura and
at Namirrue, in both of which places he had succeeded in
cutting off small British forces, he was now being hunted by
" Kartucol " from the south into the grip of six converging
columns ; and for the first time in the history of the whole
campaign he was so completely cornered that in the neigh-
bourhood of Chalana — a place some five-and-forty miles
inland from the coast of Antonio Annes — he was compelled
to concentrate all his troops, combining them into a single
force.

It was while the meshes of the net appeared at last
to be securely drawn around von Lettow-Vorbeck, that
Lieutenant Broomfield and his little body of sixty men of
the Gold Coast Mounted Infantry specially distinguished
themselves. It was of great moment to General Edwards
that he should be kept fully and frequently informed of the
exact position and movements of the enemy, and this service
was rendered to him by Lieutenant Broomfield. For a week
the Gold Coast Mounted Infantry maintained close touch
with the enemy's main body. The country is here very
thickly populated. The Germans, who were paying for all
their supplies with cloth which they had looted from the
Portuguese stores, had made themselves very popular with
the local natives, who witnessed the wholesale destruction of
the Portuguese bomas with ecstatic delight. The British,
who they were assured were hired bravos engaged by the
Portuguese to capture their deliverers, were proportionately
unpopular, and the movements of Broomfield's two troops
were again and again betrayed by the natives to the enemy.
Often he had to change his resting-place three and four times
a day ; he was engaged with the enemy almost as frequently ;
yet his active patrolling continued without interruption, and
General Edwards was kept regularly informed as to every
move which the enemy was making. It was, in its way, an
outstanding little bit of work, carried out with great coolness,
persistency and skill, and it by itself would abundantly have
justified all the labour which had been expended in raising
and training the Gold Coast Mounted Infantry.

At Numarroe — which lies much further to the west and

APPENDIX I 285

must not be confused with Namirrue — von Lettow-Vorbeck
surprised and captured at the end of August a small British
detachment from what had formerly been one of General
Northey's columns ; but at Liome on the 31st August and
on the 1st September he came in for the worst hammering
he had experienced in the whole course of the campaign,
losing some fifty of his Europeans and several hundreds of
his Askari killed, wounded and captured. On this occasion
Lieutenant Drummond and a number of other captives were
able to make their escape.

Thereafter, as is now well known, von Lettow-Vorbeck
broke away north, succeeded in crossing the Lurio River, and
thence treked through the Nyassa Company's territory to
Ngomano on the Rovuma, where at the end of November in
the preceding year he had re-equipped and refitted at the
expense of the Portuguese garrison. Crossing the Rovuma,
he once more entered German East Africa, still hotly pursued
by battalions of the indefatigable King's African Rifles ; but
when after the signing of the Armistice he finally surrendered,
he made his submission to a small police post in Northern
Rhodesia.

The Gold Coast Mounted Infantry, once more reinforced
and under the command of Major Parker, joined in the
pursuit as far north as Ngomano, but on this occasion saw
no fighting. On the 3rd October, however, orders were
received for them to return to the Gold Coast in order to
rejoin the 2nd West African Brigade ; and as soon as the
necessary arrangements could be completed, the men of the
Gold Coast Mounted Infantry were embarked at Port Amelia,
and on their arrival at Accra were disbanded, and reabsorbed
into the Gold Coast Regiment.

APPENDIX II

LIST OF HONOURS AND DECORATIONS AWARDED TO
EUROPEAN STAFF AND NATIVE RANK AND
FILE OF THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT DURING
THE EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.

(1) EUROPEAN OFFICERS.

Brevet Lieut. -Colonel

Brevet Major on pro-
motion to Captain

D.S.O.

Bar to D.S.O.

M.C. .

BartoM.C...

Date.

Temporary Lieut. -Colonel

R. A. de B. Rose, D.S.O. 7/2/17

Major G. Shaw, M.C. ... 5/8/18

Lieut. (Temporary Captain)

T. B. C. Piggott, M.C. ... 5/8/18

Major H. Goodwin 10/6/17

Captain H. A. Harman ... 10/6/17

Lieut.-Colonel R. A. de B.

Rose, D.S.O 5/8/18

Captain (now Lieut.-Colonel)

G. Shaw 24/11/16

Captain A. J. R. O'Brien ... 24/11/16

Captain R. H. Poyntz ... 24/1/17

Captain J. Leslie-Smith ... 13/8/17

Captain J. G. Foley ... 29/10/17

Captain H. B. Dawes ... 5/8/18

Lieutenant T. B. C. Piggott 10/6/17

Lieutenant G. H. Parker ... 11/3/18

Lieutenant R. F. Beech ... 11/3/18

Lieutenant G. B. Kinley ... 30/4/18

Lieutenant L. B. Gumming 27/7/18

Captain (now Lieut.-Colonel)

G. Shaw, M.C 13/8/17

286

APPENDIX II

287

Bar to M.C...

Legion d'Honneur
Croix d'Officier ...

Croix de Guerre
Italian Silver Medal

O.B.E.

Date.

Captain A. J. R. O'Brien, M.C. 13/8/17
Captain E. B. Methven, M.C. 5/11/17
Captain J. G. Foley ... 17/10/18

Lieut.-Colonel R. A. de B.
Rose, D.S.0 22/10/17

Major H. Goodwin, D.S.O. 4/1/17

Lieutenant. T. B. C. Piggott,
M.C.

Major H. Read

4/1/17
9/9/18

(2) BRITISH NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN.

D.C.M.

Bar to D.C.M.

(Russian) Cross St.
George (3rd Class)

7024 Corpl. J. Campbell ... 24/1/17

9532 R.S.M. F. C. Medlock 10/6/17

28399 Sergt. E. Thornton ... 19/7/17

69845 Pte. S. G. Radford

(R.A.M.C.) ... 19/7/17

1847 Sergt. C. A. Thornett 17/6/18

7024 Corpl. J. Campbell ... 19/7/17

69845 Pte. S. G. Radford ... 12/11/16

D.C.M

(3) NATIVE RANK AND FILE.

... 3948 Corpl. Akanno Ibadan 19/7/17

113 M.G.C. John Lagos ... 19/7/17

3844C.S.M:MumuniMoshi 19/7/17
6727 Corpl. Yessufu Koto-

koli 19/7/17

5827 Sergt. Moriambah

Moshi 19/7/17

5737 Corpl. Musa Fulani ... 6/7/17

and 19/7/17
6557 Temporary Corpl. Seti

Frafra 24/11/16

8427 Pte. Yaw Kuma ... 19/7/17
5493 Corpl. and Tern. Sergt.

Chililah Grunshi , No date

288 APPENDIX II

Date.

D.C.M 8581 L/Corpl. Granda Di-

kale 19/7/17

7339 Trptr. Nuaga Kusase 18/4/17

5048 Corpl. Sandogo Moshi No date

5397 Dr. Musa Karaki ... No date

5655 Sergt. Alhaji Grunshi 19/7/17

7817 Pte. Seidu Chokosi ... 20/9/17
5860L/Corpl. (Acting-
Corpl.) Issaka Da-

garti 18/10/17

4188 Sergt. Yessufu Mam-

prusi 18/10/17

7426 Bugler Nufu Moshi... 1/10/17

4157 C.S.M.MusaWongara 11/4/17

5225 Sergt. Mamadu Moshi 25/5/17

Bar to D.C.M. ... 4961 Sergt. BukaraKukawa 24/11/16
6557 Temporary Corpl. Seti

Frafra 15/8/17

Military Medal ... 4188 Sergt. Yessufu Mam-

prusi 19/7/17

6689 Ft. Akuluga Moshi 19/7/17
6414 Sergt.Palpuku Grumah 19/7/17

182 M.G.C.Kwenjeh Moshi 19/7/17

109 M.G.C. Dogali ... 19/7/17
7842 Pte. Adama Baza-

berimi 19/9/17

7248 Pte. Allassan Grumah 15/12/16

4765 Sergt. Braima Dagarti 15/12/16

6690 L/Corpl. Kuka Moshi 15/12/16
6756 Corpl. Timbala;Busanga 15/12/16
6675 Corpl. Yero Fulani ... 15/12/16

13 H.G.C. Imoru Dodo 6/2/17

5593 Corpl. Nuaga Moshi 11/4/17

6688 Pte. Nubela Busanga 11/4/17

6833 Pte. Sebidu Moshi ... 11/4/17

4388 B.S.M. Bukare Moshi 23/5/17

137 Hdm. G. C. Kwesi John 23/5/17

94 G. C. Lawani Ibadan 23/5/17

959 Sergt. Member ... 23/5/17

SERGT. SANDOGO MOSHI, D.C.M.

To face p. 288.

APPENDIX II

289

Date.

Military Medal ... 8481 L/Corpl. Ntonge Etun 24/11/16

3851 Sergt. AH Wongara... 24/11/16

170 S. B. Bawa Hausa ... 24/11/16

200 S. B. Musa Kano ... 24/11/16

5658 L/Corpl. Sulley Ibadan 24/1/17

Meritorious Service V. 103 Corpl. J. W. H.

Medal Amartey ... ... 17/6/18

O.R.S. G. M. Fraser ... 17/6/18
31 Qr.Mr.-Sergt. S. Amonoo

Aidoo 17/6/18

APPENDIX III

STRENGTH OF THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT
ON JULY 31ST, 1916.

Officers 55

British non-commissioned officers 13

Rank and file . 1702

STRENGTH OF THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE ON
JULY 6TH, 1916.

Officers 36

British non-commissioned officers ... ... ... 15

Clerks 11

Rank and File 980

Carriers (battery) ... 177

Carriers (other) 204

Storemen ... ... 1

Officers (R.A.M.C.) 4

STRENGTH OF THE DRAFTS SENT FROM THE GOLD
COAST TO REINFORCE THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

First draft-— 25th November, 1916 :—

Officers 4

Clerks 1

Rank and file 402

Second draft— 21st April, 1917 :—

Officers 2

British non-commissioned officers ... ... ... 1

Rank and file 500

290

APPENDIX III 291

Third draft— 5th July, 1917 :—

Officers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3

British non-commissioned officers 2

Rank and file 799

Fourth draft— 6th October, 1917 :—

Rank and file 401

Fifth draft— 10th December, 1917 :—

Rank and file 500

N.B. — Date shown in each case is that of departure from the
Gold Coast.

U

APPENDIX IV

Letter from the General Officer Commanding " Pamforce " to
the Officer Commanding the Gold Coast Regiment.

FAREWELL MESSAGE TO THE GOLD COAST REGIMENT BY THE
GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING PAMFORCE.

THE departure of the Gold Coast Regiment from my Com-
mand furnishes me with a fitting opportunity to place on
record my high appreciation of the distinguished and gallant
services which the Gold Coast Regiment has never failed to
render me within the period that I have had the honour to
command Pamforce.

The greatest testimony to the excellence of the services
rendered by the Gold Coast Regiment is to be found in the
fact that during the period which the Regiment has formed
an integral part of Pamforce, it has assisted in reducing the
enemy forces by at least one-half of his former strength, and
the measure of the achievement of the Regiment is the
contrast between the strength of the enemy force when
Pamforce was formed and his strength to-day.

I would desire at this juncture to pay a high tribute of
my regard to the Officer Commanding, Officers, British Non-
Commissioned Officers, and the Native Ranks, for the initiative,
resource, and daring which has characterized the service of
all during this particularly difficult phase of the campaign,
while I would wish expressly to place on record my high
appreciation and gratitude for the able and efficient support
that has been so loyally extended to me by Colonel R. A.
De B. Rose, D.S.O., to whose soldierly qualities I feel I owe
much.

I bid good-bye to the Regiment with deep regret, but

292

APPENDIX IV 293

nevertheless with confidence that, no matter in what other
theatre of war the Regiment may be called on to serve, the
Gold Coast Regiment will ever prove itself worthy both of
the confidence of King and Country by upholding the highest
traditions of British arms, and the sacred heritage of the
Flag of Saint George.

I wish you all God-speed, good luck, and a safe return,
and so farewell.

(Sgd.) W. F. S. EDWARDS,

Brigadier-General,
General Officer Commanding Pamforce.

Waiiakote,
3rd June, 1918.

Letter addressed to the Officer Commanding the Gold Coast
Regiment by the Acting Colonial Secretary.

No. 5276/M.P.11393/18.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Accra, Gold Coast,
6th September, 1918.

SIR,

On the occasion of your return to the Colony with
the first portion of the Gold Coast Regiment which is now
on its way back from active service in East Africa, I am
directed by the Governor to convey to you and to ask you
to transmit to the Officers, European and Native Non-
Commissioned Officers and the men of the Gold Coast Expe-
ditionary Force under your command, the thanks of the
Government of the Gold Coast for the brilliant and gallant
services which they have rendered, and His Excellency's
warm congratulations to them on their safe return.

2. The fine reputation which the Regiment won for
itself in Togoland and subsequently in the Kameruns has,
I am to add, been confirmed and enhanced by its behaviour
during the campaign in East Africa ; and the whole Colony
is proud of the record of the Regiment which bears its name
and is recruited from its inhabitants.

3. The heavy losses in Officers, Non-Commissioned

294 APPENDIX IV

Officers, and men which the Regiment has sustained since
it left the Colony on the 6th July, 1916, though they are
the inevitable result of its prowess, are deeply mourned in
the Gold Coast and its Dependencies, and I am to take this
opportunity of expressing His Excellency's heartfelt sym-
pathy with you and with the Officers, Non-Commissioned
Officers, and men of the Expeditionary Force, which you
have commanded with such conspicuous success.

4. His Excellency hopes that the Regiment will now,
for a period, be able to enjoy the rest which it has so nobly
earned, but that, if the war continues, a further opportunity
may be afforded to it, at no very distant date, once more to
render active and valuable assistance to the Empire,
I have, etc.,

(Sgd.) C. H. HARPER,
Acting Colonial Secretary.

Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. De B. Rose, D.S.O.,
Officer Commanding Gold Coast Regiment,
Coomassie.

Resolution passed by the Legislative Cotmcil on the %8th
October, 1918.

That this Council do record its proud appreciation of
the reputation as a fighting force won by the Gold Coast
Regiment in East Africa ; and that this Council do request
His Excellency to convey to Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, D.S.O.,
and to the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and men of
the Regiment its congratulations on the distinguished record
of service in the field, which the Regiment has maintained
throughout the Great War, and its deep sympathy with all
ranks in the heavy casualties which the Regiment has
sustained.

INDEX

A COMPANY of the Gold Coast Be- ,
giment, 4, 31, 35, 37, 38, 50, 53, !
61, 82, 84, 119, 131, 135, 215,
222, 236, 244, 253, 260

Accra, 4, 275, 278 ; volunteers from,
56 ; school at, 64

JEneas, the transport, 5

Aeroplane, British, shot down, 155

Aeroplanes, use of, 111

Africa, East, climate in August,
18 ; bush fires, 18 ; commence-
ment of the dry season, 71 ; the
carrier, 151

African, an ancient, acts as guide,
114

Aidoo, Quarter-Master Sergt. S.
Amonoo, awarded the Meri-
torious Service Medal, 289

Airship, German, 188

Aleppo, 189

Amartey, Corpl. J. W. H., awarded
the Meritorious Service Medal,
289

Ankuabe, 227 ; capture of, 228

Ant-bears, 111 ; size of holes, 112

Antonio Annes, 284

Arab house, 208, 215

Armistice, terms, 277

Armitage, Capt., Chief Commis-
sioner of the Northern Terri-
tories, 277

Armoured Car Battery, the 7th
Light, 167, 174

Arnold, Captain, 206

, Lieut., death, 39

Ashanti, 4

Askari, the German native soldier,
22; reasons for the fidelity, 74,
77 ; result of the military system,
75-77, 203; reputation, 77; de-
sertion, 166

Austro-Hungarian armies, rout,
277

Avenell, Colour- Sergt., 112
Awudu Arigungu, Sergt., killed, 96

Bakano, Sergt.-Major, killed,

105

B COLUMN, march to Naurus, 204

B Company of the Gold Coast Re-
giment, 4, 20, 29, 35, 37, 50, 64,
61, 78, 79, 82, 93, 95, 101, 121,
131, 138, 153, 156, 167-169, 172,
175, 201, 228, 242, 270, 272

Bagamoyo, 10, 39

Baillie, Lieut., 112, 124, 167, 172 ;
wounded, 174, 178; brought to
safety, 177

Baldwin, Lieut., 146

Baluchis, the 129th, 47, 58, 142,
144, 154, 155, 156, 164; at Ma-
kangaga, 94 ; casualties, 145 ;
engagement at Mwiti, 200

Baluchis, the 130th, 40

Banda, or bush -huts, 234

Banda Hill, 49, 51, 53

Bandari, 219

Bangalla, 207 ; river, 199

Barrett, Lieut., 226; advance on
Chirimba Hill, 241 ; wounded,
246, 248

Baverstock, Colour - Sergt.,
wounded, 105

Bazaberimi, Pte. Adama, awarded
the Military Medal, 288

Beattie, Colour - Sergt., 56 ;
wounded, 32

Beaumont's Post, 86, 87, 89, 90, 94

Beech, Lieut. R. F., 82, 235, 263;
awarded the Military Cross, 286

Beka, 131, 332

Belgian troops, advance on Ma-
henge, 108

Benharn, Captain, illness, 181

Berry, Lieut., 40

206

INDEX

Beves, General, in command of the

Division, 91 ; plan of attack, 93 ;

at Narungombe, 107; at Lindi,

133
Biddulph, Capt., 51 ; wounded, 51 ;

death, 56
Biltcliffe, Lieut., 90; at Port

Amelia, 208
Bisshopp, Lieut., 226, 235, 237;

at Muapa, 230 ; advance on Chi-

rimba Hill, 241 ; patrol -work,

262-264
Bliss Hill, 44
Bogoberi, gun-carrier, 84
Bomas, or entrenched forts, 217
Bompkin, Major von, taken pri-
soner, 59
Brady, Capt., 112
Bray, Lieut., 30; killed at the

battle of Nkessa, 39
, Lieut., 89; at Lingaula Ridge,

91 ; wounded, 105
Briscoe, Capt., 112, 191
British columns in East Africa,

disadvantages in fighting, 148-

152 ; transport, attack on, 87
Brits, Brig. -General, in command

of South African mounted troops,

11

Broomfield, Lieut., 282, 283, 284
Brown, Colonel Gore, killed, 280
Buckby, Capt., 135, 136
Buffalo, charges through No. 1

Column, 199
Bukari, Acting- Sergeant, awarded

theD.C.M., 30; death, 30
Bulu, 225

Busanga, Corpl. Bila, 139
, Pte. Nubela, awarded the

Military Medal, 288
, Corpl. Timballa, wounded,

69 ; awarded the Military Medal,

288
Bush fighting, 3, 151, 158; fires,

18, 110 ; huts, 234
Bussell, Lieut., 131
Bustard, Capt., 280, 281 ; sur-
render, 283
Butler, Capt. Jack, at the battle

of Kikirunga, 26-29 ; killed, 29,

32 ; characteristics, 29
Bweho Chini, engagement at,

130

CALIPO, 282

Campbell, Corpl. J., 112, 131;
awarded the D.C.M. and Bar, 59,
287 ; bravery, 103

Capetown, 274

Cavalry, the 25th, destruction of
the camp, 183 ; at Lulindi, 195

Chaimite, the, 221

Chalana, 284

Chaqual, canvas bag of water, 117

Chasi, 16

Chaundler, Lieut., 235

Chemera, 44, 46, 71

Chigugu, 182, 186, 208

Chikukwe, 180

Chilonga, 269

Chinga, 281

Chingwea, 166, 185

" Chini," meaning of the word, 47

Chirimba Hill, 239; advance on,
240-244 ; action at, 244-247

Chisona, 266, 268

Chiure, 222

Chiwata, 191, 195

Chokosi, Pte. Seidu, awarded the
D.C.M., 288

Chuplies, meaning of the word, 9

Clarke, Lieut., 224, 234, 237

Clifford, Sir Hugh, Governor of
the Gold Coast Colony, 4 ; ban-
quet to the officers, 4

Column, No. 1 : 98, 101, 117, 126,
132, 134, 142, 143, 153, 157, 159,
163, 164, 166; at Ukuli, 94;
march to Ruponda, 184 ; at
Ndanda, 187 ; occupy Mwiti,
187; Luchemi, 194; at Lua-
talla, 198; charged by a bull
buffalo, 199 ; at Bangalla, 201 ;
broken up, 204

, No. 2 : 94, 96-98, 102, 103,

104, 118, 127, 166, 195

, No. 3 : 94, 99, 102, 195

Gumming, Lieut. L. B., 238 ;
awarded the Military Cross, 286

Cuneen, Colour-Sergt., 167, 172;
killed, 173, 178

Cunliffe, General, 108

D COMPANY, 56

" D. M. B.," the Indian Mountain

Battery, 94, 96, 233, 242, 247,

259, 272

INDEX

297

Dadorna, 11, 12, 109

Dagarti, Sergt. Braima, awarded

the Military Medal, 288
, Corpl. 'Issaka, awarded the

D.C.M., 288
Dakawa, 16
D'Amico, Capt., 55
Dar-es- Salaam, 10, 12, 20, 40, 41
Dar - es - Salaam - Lake Tanganyika

Railway, 72, 109
Dawes, Capt. H. B., 144, 224,

225 ; wounded, 194 ; captures

»Pumone, 227 ; at Ankuabe, 228 ;
awarded the Military Cross, 286
Dep6t Company, 78 ; mobilized,

87 ; at Port Amelia, 227
Derajat, 94

Dhoiv, or sailing-boats, 220
Dikale, Corpl. Granda, awarded the

D.C.M., 288

Dobell, Major-General, in com-
mand of the British and French

troops, 1 ; at Liome, 1
Dodo, Imoru, awarded the Military

Medal, 288
Dogali, M. G. C., awarded the

Military Medal, 288
Donho, 34
Downer, Lieut., 56, 112; at Gold

Coast Hill, 58

Drummond, Lieut., 279, 280, 285
Duck, Capt., 214, 216, 255
Duncan, Lieut., killed, 61
Durban, 5, 274

EAST African Brigades1: the 1st,
10; the 2nd, 10, 35; the 3rd,
60; Mounted Rifles, 21 ; capture
Germans, 22

Edwards, Brig.-General W. F. S.,
Inspector-General of Communi-
cations, 8; inspects the Gold
Coast Regiment, 8, 12 ; at Port
Amelia, 233 ; Rock Camp, 238 ;
Kalima, 256 ; plans to surround j
Kohl, 269; at Nampula, 281; \
farewell message, 292

Eglon, Lieut., 93; at Lingaula
Ridge, 95 ; killed, 101, 105

Enslin, General, 17

Etun, Corpl. Ntonge, 229; awarded
the Military Medal, 289

FITZGERALD, Colonel, 282

Flatman, Capt., killed, 240, 248

Foley, Capt. J. G., 56, 82, 224,
243, 248 ; at the battle of Rumbo,
83-86; awarded the Military
Cross and Bar, 89, 286, 287 ; at
the battle of Mitoneno, 145

Foster, Lieut., exploit at Ruangwa
Chini, 155 ; act of heroism, 176 ;
awarded the Military Cross, 177 ;
the D.C.M. and Bar, 287

Fra Fra, Temp. Corpl. Seti,
awarded the D.C.M. and Bar
287, 288

Fraser, G. M., awarded the Meri-
torious Service Medal, 289

Fulani, Corpl. Amandu, killed, 69

, Corpl. Musa, awarded the

D.C.M., 287

, Corpl. Yero, awarded the

Military Medal, 288

Fulanis, 56

G COMPANY of the Gold Coast Re-
giment, 4, 31, 35, 36, 38 ; broken
up, 44, 46

Gara, 274

German East Africa, mission sta-
tions, 22

Germans, surrender at Kamina, 1 ;
retreat, 24, 121, 124, 139, 146;
casualties, 32, 81; evacuate
Nkessa, 39 ; bombard Kibata, 48 ;
attack on Gold Coast Hilt, 53 ;
accuracy of firing, 56 ; evacuate
it, 58 ; treachery, 63 ; attack on
Njimbwe, 67 ; headquarters at
Massassi, 72, 162, 194 ; expelled
from the Rufiji, 72, 74 ; reasons
for the fidelity of the native
soldiers, 74, 77; result of the
military system, 75-77, 203;
ambush against, 79-81 ; flag of
truce, 81, 86 ; fire on a British
transport, 87 ; attack on Narun-
gombe, 98-104 ; retire to Mi-
hambia, 109, 120, 124; at
Ndessa, 116 ; defeated at Bweho
Chini, 130; rear-guard actions,
131, 271 ; engagements at Na-
hungen, 134-139 ; Mitoneno,
144-146; advantages of their
position, 148-152; at Ruangwa

298

INDEX

Chini, 156 ; stores captured, 159, i
164 ; defeated at Buponda, 164 ;
capture of their correspondence, i
165 ; fear of their Commander- i
in-Chief, 165, 166; attacked at j
Lukuledi, 172-178; at Nangus, !
185; taken prisoners, 195; sur-
render, 196, 202 ; evacuate Medo,
249 ; campaign in Mozambique,
280-285

Germany, declaration of war, 1 ; ;
armistice terms, 278

Gifford, Colonel, in command of
Pamforce column, 233

Gold Coast Colony, 4 ; recruiting '
campaign, 277

Gold Coast Hill, 49 ; attack on, 53- <
55 ; evacuated, 58

Gold Coast Mounted Infantry, I
campaign in Mozambique, 279- i
285 ; at Accra, 285

Gold Coast Regiment, mobilized, 1 ; j
invasion of Togoland, 1 ; the I
Kameruns, 2 ; courage and en- '
durance, 2, 105; at Sekondi, 4, I
275 ; appearance, 4, 9 ; on board i
the JEneas, 5 ; inspection at ;
Durban, 5 ; at Kilindini, 6 ; jour-
ney to Ngombezi, 6-8; service
kit, 8 ; characteristics, 9, 15 ;
join up with the Royal Fusiliers,
11 ; march to Msiha, 12-15 ; at
Dakawa. 16; march to theNgere-
Ngere, 17-20; transport burnt,
19 ; at Metomba, 22-24 ; the
battle of Kikirunga, 25-32; cas-
ualties, 32, 39, 55, 67, 104, 132,
139, 146, 178, 181, 194, 248,
276; at Kiringezi, 34; occupy
Nkessa, 39 ; march to Dar-es-
Salaam, 40 ; on board the Ingoma,
41 ; at Kilwa Kisiwana, 44 ;
march to Chemera, 44-46 ; re-
duction in the personnel, 46 ;
march to Mtumbei Chini, 47 ;
attack on Gold Coast Hill, 50-
55; reinforcements, 56, 112;
total strength, 57, 88, 89, 92,
113, 205, 276, 290; at Ngararnbi
Chini, 61 ; Njimbwe, 65, 69 ;
shortage of food, 68, 261 ; dis-
cipline, 68, 129 ; march to
Mitole, 70, 78; at Mnasi, 79;

Migeri-geri, 82 ; Rumbo, 86, 89 ;
Ngomania, 95 ; Makangaga, 95 ;
join up with No. 2 Column, 95 ;
retransferred to No. 1 Column,
98 ; attack on Narungombe, 101-
104 ; at Mikikole, 110 ; Liwinda
Ravine, 117 ; sufferings from
thirst, 125-129 ; at Mbombomya,
127 ; Ndessa Juu 129 ; Kitandi,
130 ; march on Nahungen, 131 ;
attack on, 134-139 ; meeting
with the Nigerian Brigade, 140 ;
attack on Mitoneno, 144-146 ;
bathing and washing, 147 ; in
reserve, 153 ; advance on Ru-
ponda, 163, 185 ; march to Luku-
ledi, 167, 168 ; at Lulindi, 198 ;
Bangalla River, 199, 207; se-
lected for service in Portuguese
East Africa, 209 ; at Mingoya,
214; transferred from H.M.
Salamis to H.M.S. Lurikwa, 215 ;
at Port Amelia, 222, 274, 279 ;
Meza, 280, 234 ; at the battle of
Chirimba Hill, 244-247 ; advance
on Mwalia, 253; at Milinch
Hills, 261 ; respite from fighting,
273 ; reception at Kumasi, 276 ;
list of honours and decorations
awarded to, 286-289; farewell
message from Brig.-Gen. Ed-
wards, 292.

Gold Coast Service Brigade, 277 ;
disbanded, 278

Goodwin, Lieut.-Colonel H., 31, 35,
37, 58, 207; wounded, 53; in
command of the Gold Coast
Regiment, 60 ; appointed Acting
Lieut.-Colonel, 89 ; awarded the
Croix de Guerre, 89, 287; the
D.S.O., 90, 286 ; invalided to the
base, 91 ; in command of Com-
panies, 141 ; advance on Mi-
homo, 141 ; at the battle of
Mitoneno, 144, 146 ; attack on
Lukuledi, 174; voyage to Port
Amelia, 215, 279; on board
H.M. Hongbee, 216; advance
on Chirimba Hill, 244

Grant, Colonel, 94

Greene, Capt., 82

Greene, Capt., killed at the battle
of Nkessa, 39

INDEX

299

Green's Post, 61

Gregg's Post, 110, 113, 119

Griffiths, Colonel, 266 ; in com-
mand of " Norforce," 268 ; cap-
tures Mwariba, 270

Grumah, Pte. Allassan, awarded
the Military Medal, 288

Grumah, Sergt. Palpuku, awarded
the D.C.M., 57; the Military
Medal, 288

Grunshi, Sergt. Alhaji, awarded
the D.C.M., 288

Grunshi, Corpl. Chililah, awarded
theD.C.M., 287

Gush, Capt., 167; wounded, 177,
178

HANDKNI, base at, 11, 15

" Hanforce," 118, 153

Hannyngton, Brig. - General , in
command of the 2nd East African
Brigade, 10; telegram of con-
gratulation, 33; military opera-
tions at Kilwa, 43 ; plan of at-
tack, 49, 113, 153; awards
decorations, 57 ; resumes com-
mand, 107

Harman, Capt. H. A., 47, 50;
wounded, 53; awarded the
D.S.O., 90, 286; at Minoya,
214, 215; Mahiba, 225; Na-
maaka, 235; advance on Chi-
rimba Hill, 244, 245

Harman' s Kopje, 50, 51, 55

Harper, C. H., letter from, 294

Harris, Capt., 260; at Port
Amelia, 208; Mkufi, 222; ad-
vance on Chirimba Hill, 240

Hart, Colour- Sergt., at Mkufi,
225

Hartland, Capt., 112

Hassan Bazaberimi, Company
Sergeant-Major, killed, 87

Hausa, S. B. Bawa, awarded the
Military Medal, 289

Hellis, Capt., 56

Hill, Major, 104

Hongbee, H.M., 216

Hornby, Major, 112, 274

Hoskyns, Major-General, in com-
mand of the First Division, 10

Hymettua, H.M., 274

I COMPANY of the Gold Coast

Regiment, 4, 31, 35, 36, 38, 40, 46,

89, 90, 135, 144, 164, 177, 222,

225, 228, 236, 242-247, 253, 269
Ibadan, Corpl. Akanno, awarded

theD.C.M., 287
Ibadan, G. C. Lawani, awarded

the Military Medal, 288
Ibadan, Corpl. Sulley, awarded the

Military Medal, 59, 289
Igumi, 186

Indian Cavalry, the 25th, 158
Indian Mountain Battery, or the

"D.M.B.," 94, 96, 233, 242, 247,

259, 272

Indian Ocean, 219, 279
Ingoma, the transport, 41
Isaacs, Lieut., taken prisoner, 39 ;

released, 196
Issaka, Kipalsi, Corpl., bravery,

125

JAUNDIS, 56

Jerimita, 262

John, Hdm. G. C. Kwesi, awarded

the Military Medal, 288
Jumbe Nambude, 200
Jumbe Nwinama, mission station,

187
" Juu," meaning of the word, 47

KALIMA, 256

Kameruns, 1 ; fighting in, 2

Kamina, wireless installation at, 1

Kano, S. B. Musa, awarded the
Military Medal, 289

Karaki, Dr., Musa, awarded the
D.C.M., 288

" Kartucol," 233 ; advance on Chi-
rimba Hill, 242, 244; Mwalia,
255; Koronje, 258-260; pursuit
of the Germans, 280

Kassanga, 34

Kay, Lieut., 259

Kelton, Capt., 50, 55

Kent, Sergt., killed, 271

Kerr, Hauptmann, 116

Kibata, mission station, 43, 47, 57 ;
shelled by the Germans, 48

Kibega river, 65

Kidugato, 41

Kigome, 11

Kihendye, 97

300

INDEX

Kihindi Hill, 142, 143

Kihindo Juu, 127

Kihumburu, 98, 99, 100

Kikirunga Hill, 25, 26 ; battle of,
28-32

Kilageli, 96

Kilirnane, 280

Kilima-njaro, 7

Kilindini, 6, 11, 209

Kilney, Lieut., 53

Kilossa, 11, 12, 109

Kilwa Kisiwani, 42, 44, 78, 87

Kilwa Kivinje, 73, 78, 79

Kimamba, 17

Kingani Eiver, 10

King's African Rifles, 48, 50, 58,
65, 94, 97, 142, 143, 157, 166,
168, 177 ; at the battle of Kiki-
runga, 30 ; advance, 33 ; at the
battle of Nkessa, 37; Eumbo,
87; Narungombe, 101-104; Mi-
hambia, 117, 119; Nahungen,
134 ; occupy Lukuledi, 180 ; ad-
vance on Massassi, 182 ; at
Ndanda, 186 ; Mahiba, 227 ; dis-
patched to Mozambique, 252;
advance on Mwalia, 254; Ko-
ronje, 258; Jerimita, 262; Nai-
robi, 273

Kinley, Lieut. G. B., 95 ; encounter
with Germans, 79-81 ; awarded
the D.S.O., 82; the Military
Cross, 89, 286

Kiperele Chini, 158

Kipondira, 98

Kiringezi, 34

Kirongo, 78, 79, 96

Kirongo-Ware, 96

Kissalu, 34 ; mines on the road, 40

Kisserawe, 41

Kitambi, 47, 55, 71, 78, 235

Kitandi, 128, 130

Kitiia, 109, 113, 116, 119

Kiwambi, 63

Kiyombo, 61, 65

Koenigsberg, 48

Kohl, Major, at Chirimba Hill,
239; plans to surround, 269;
loss of his baggage, 270 ; retreat
to Mozambique, 272

Koloi, 226

Kondoa-Irangi, 11

Korewa, 271, 272

Korogwe, 11, 44

Koronje, 252, 256; advance on,

258 ; evacuated, 259
Kotokoli, Corpl. Yessufu, awarded

the D.C.M., 287
! Kukawa, Sergt. Bukara, Bar to

D.C.M., 288
Kuma, Yaw, awarded the D.C.M.,

287

Kumasi, 2, 4, 276
Kusase, Nuaga, awarded the

D.C.M., 288
Kwevi Lombo, 16

LAGOS, John, awarded the D.C.M.,
287

Lamont, Lieut., 112, 243, 248

Leal, Major, 252

Legislative Council, resolution, 294

Leslie- Smith, Capt. J., wounded,
105; at Namarika, 235; patrol
work, 262-264 ; awarded the Mili-
tary Cross, 286

Lettow-Vorbeck, von, Commander-
in-Chief, 59; at Massassi, 72,
133, 148, 162 ; attack on a British
transport, 87; defeat at Bweho
Chini, 130; pluck and resource,
151, 166, 198; forces, 152; at
Buwanga, 163 ; refuses to sur-
render, 166 ; actions, 181 ; con-
certed movements, 182 ; at Ne-
wala, 194 ; expelled from German
East Africa, 196, 198; captures
ammunition at Ngomano, 207 ;
march on Port Amelia, 208 ; cha-
racter of his military operations,
212, 251 ; at Nanguari, 213 ; raid-
ing parties, 213,' 221; at Na-
nungu, 265; Wanakoti, 266;
retreat to Mozambique, 272 ;
surrender, 285

Ligonha River, 282

Lihonja, 159

Likawage, 79

Lindi, 73, 108, 118, 133, 148, 207

" Linforce " Column, 148, 161, 251 ;
joined by the Nigerian Brigade,
162 ; advance to Mtama, 167 ;
actions, 181, 185

Lingaula Ridge, 91, 93, 95

Liome, 285

Lions, at Msalu, 265

INDEX

301

Liwale, 73, 78, 118

Liwinda Bavine, 109, 110, 111 ;

water depot at, 113, 117
Lome, 1, 76
Loren9o Marquez, 216
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment,

10, 35, 37
Luatalla, 198
Luchemi, 190, 194
Lugomya Eiver, 61
Lujendi River, 213
Lukigura River, 10
Lukuledi, mission station at, 167,

169-171; attack on, 168-178;

destruction of the church, 183

River, 169, 186

Lulete, 283

Lulindi, 195, 198

Lumbo, 281

Lunkwa, H.M.S., 215

Lurio, 213, 222, 265; River, 214,

272, 285

Lusinje, 256, 261
Lustalla, 201

MACPHERSON, Capt., 86, 87 ; at the !

battle of Nkessa, 36; Rumbo, 90
Mafisa, 17, 41
Magaruna River, 222
Magaura River, 86, 91
Magdalene, H.M.T., 274
Magogoni, 41
Maguida River, 228
Mahazi, 15
Mahenge, 109
Mahiba, 225

Mahiwa, 208 ; action at, 181, 198
Mahu, 267

Makangaga, 79, 94, 95
Makindu River, 16
Makochera, 207
Makonde Plateau, 188, 190
Makotschera, 78
Makuku, 256, 262
Mama Juma, Sergt.-Major, 173
Mambir River, 190
Mamprusi, Sergt. Yessufu, 173 ;

wounded, 175 ; awarded the

D.C.M. and the Military Medal,

288

Manambiri, 235
Manasara Kanjaga, Sergt.-Major,

awarded the D.C.M., 57

Mangano, 159

Manyambas, 190, 195

Marenjende, 127

Marrupula, 281

Maruchiras, 190

Massambassi, 20

Massassi, mission station at, 72,
133, 148, 182, 208 ; headquarters
of the Germans, 72, 162, 194

Matandu River, 43

Matombo Mission Station, 22, 24,
25

Mawerenye, 127

Maxwell, Lieut., 112

May, Colour-Sergt., killed at the
battle of Nkessa, 39

Mbalama, 256

Mbalawala hills, 201

Mbemba, 158

Mbemkuru River, 118, 131, 132,
133, 135, 141, 144, 147, 153, 157,
159, 160 ; valley of, 132

Mbombomya, 110 ; water-holes at,
115, 117, 127

Mborio, or fortified posts, 217

McElligott, Capt., 112, 123, 124,
135, 138, 144 ; patrol work, 191-
193, 201

McEvoy, Lieut., wounded, 257

Mecklenburg, Duke Adolf Fredrich
of, Governor of Togoland, 76

Medlock, Sergt.-Major F. C.,
awarded the D.C.M., 90, 287

Medo, 223, 235, 238, 250; en-
gagement at, 236; evacuated,
249

Member, Sergt., awarded the Mili-
tary Medal, 288

Methven, Capt. E. B., 112; at
Liwinda Ravine, 113; scouting
expedition, 114 ; advance on Mi-
hambia, 122, 123; attack on,
Nahungu, 136; gallant deed,
139 ; at the battle of Mitoneno,
145 ; attack on Ruangwa Chini,
156 ; march to Lukuledi, 167 ;
attack on, 171-173; wounded,
173, 178; awarded a bar to the
Military Cross, 179, 287

Metil, 281, 282

Meza, 224, 230

Mgeta River, 39, 40

Miesi River, 199, 201

302

INDEX

Migeri-geri, 82

Mihambia, 109, 115, 119; attack

on, 117, 120 ; evacuated, 124
Mihomo, 141
Mikesse, 73
Mikikama, 99
Mikikole, 110, 113, 117
Milinch Hills, 260
Mingoya, 208, 214
Minokwe, 97
Mission stations in German East

Africa, 22

Mitole, 45, 46, 71, 78
Mitoneno, 142; advance on, 143;

engagement at, 144-146
Miwale HiU, 190 ; Eiver, 190
Mkufi, 222

Mkundi, 194, 195 ; Eiver, 17
Mnapo, 281, 283
Mnasi, 78, 79, 89
Mnero, mission station at, 159
Mnindi, 95

Mnitshi, 110, 114, 115, 117, 127
Mombassa, 6

Montepuez Kiver, 238, 258
Moon, eclipse, 93
Morogoro Mission Station, 11, 12,

24

Moschi, 10
Moshi, Pte. Akuluga, awarded the

Military Medal, 288
, Sergt. -Major Bukare, 86 ;

awarded the D.C.M., 57; the

Military Medal, 288
, Corpl. Kuka, awarded the

Military Medal, 288
, Kwenjeh, awarded the Mili-
tary Medal, 288
, Sergt. Mamadu, 84 ; awarded

the D.C.M., 288
, Sergt. Moriambah, awarded

the D.C.M., 287
, Mumuni, awarded the D.C.M.,

287
, Corpl. Nuaga, awarded the

Military Medal, 288 ;
, Bugler Nufu, awarded the

D.C.M., 288
, Corpl. Sandogo, awarded the

D.C.M., 288
, Pte. Sebidu, awarded the

Military Medal, 288
Mountain Battery, the 24th, 58

Mountain Battery, the 27th, 94,

117, 119, 134, 142, 157, 177
Mozambique, 216, 272; campaign

in, 280

Mpara, 44, 78
Mpepo, 109

Mpingo, 110, 114, 121, 122, 126
Mpoto, 195
Msalu Boma, 262, 264 ; Eiver, 268 ;

bridge across, 269
Msiha, 12

Mtama, 167, 181, 208
Mtandula, 97
Mtua, 208

Mtuge, 219, 221, 223, 225
Mtumbei Chini, 47, 71
Juu, Mission Station, 43, 47,

48,55
Muapa, 229

Mudge, Sergt., killed, 246, 248
Mule, the transport, character, 151
Muligudge, 282
Murray, Capt., in command of

H.M.S. Lurikwa, 215
Murray, Lieut., 86
Murrupula, 282
Musa Fra-Fra, Corpl., instinct

for discovering water, 70
Mussuril Bay, 281
Mwalia, 251 ; advance on, 258-256
Mwambia Eidge, 270
Mwariba, 270
Mwengei, 57, 58
Mwiti Mission Station, 187, 190,

200; Eiver, 195

NAHUNGU, 131 ; attack on, 184-
139, 206

Naiku Eiver, 182

Nairobi, 7, 273

Nairombo, 195

Nakalala, 196

Namaaka, 235 ; fight at, 236-238

Namarala, 227, 228

Namaranje, 46

Namarika, 234

Namatwe, 61, 70

Nambingo, 201

Nambunjo Hill, 121, 126; peri-
meter camp at, 122

Namburage, 61

Namehi, 158

Nampula, 281

INDEX

303

Namirrue, 280, 281, 282, 284

Nanguari, 218

Nangus, 185

Nanungu, 256, 265, 269

Nanunya, 223, 226, 228

Napue, 282

Narungombe, 98, 107, 109 ; attack

on, 99-104
Nash, Lieut., 201
Natovi, 234
Naurus, 205

Naylor, Colour- Sergt., 136
Ndanda, mission station, 186, 207
Ndessa, 110, 116 ; attack on, 118
Ndessa Juu, 129; water-holes at,

180

Ndomondo, 186
Nelson, Colour- Sergi, 61, 63 ; shot,

64 ; discovery of his body, 67 ;

burial, 68

Nerungombe, engagement at, 94
Newala, 78, 188, 194; Germans

surrender, 196 ; abandoned, 211
Ngarambi Chini, 60, 61, 70
Ngaura Eiver, 83, 86
Ngere-Ngere, the, 17, 20
Ngomania, 95
Ngomano, 197, 207, 285
Ngombezi, 8, 12
Nhamaccura, 280, 284
Nicholl, Bev. Captain, 68
Nigerian Brigade, 74, 127; at ,

Kufiji, 108; advance on Buale, j

118; engagement at Bweho Chini, i

130; meeting with the Gold ;

Coast Begiment, 140 ; march to '

join up with " Linforce," 161 ;

actions, 181 ; occupy Chiwata,

191 ; capture a German hospital,

195

Nigeri-geri, 78
Nivanga, 78

Njengao, action at, 181, 198
Njijo, 78

Njimbwe, 61, 63, 65, 66, 69, 70, 74
Nkessa, battle of, 35-39, 196
Nkufi, 218
" Norforce," 268
Norris, Lieut., at Pumone, 228
Northey, General, 252 ; advance on

Mpepo, 109
Nuaga Kusasi, battery trumpeter,

Numarroe, 284

Nyassa Company territory, 216

O'BRIEN, Capt. A. J. B., 47;
awarded the Military Cross and
Bar, 56, 286, 287 ; wounded, 105

O'Brien, Capt. J. M., 249

O'Grady, General, 20, 50, 57, 181

One-Stick HiU, 58

Orr, Colonel, 202 ; in command of
the 3rd East African Brigade,
91, 93; in command of No. I
Column, 94 ; attack on Buangwa
Chini, 157

PAKHALS, or long tins, 114, 126

Palestine, 277

"Pamforce," 212, 221; at Meza,
280; division of, 233; advance
to Koronje, 252

Parker, Capt. G. H., 123, 222;
trains the Mounted Infantry,
279 ; at Mussuril Bay, 281 ;
awarded the Military Cross, 286

Path, cutting a, 97

Pathans, the 40th, 64, 55, 56, 59,
65, 74, 82, 94, 102; casualties,
67 ; at the battle of Bumbo, 88-
86

Payne, Sergt., 131

Pequerra, 282, 283

Percy, Lieut., 56; wounded, 182,
271

Phillips, Colonel, 252

Piggott, Capt. T. B. C., wounded,
53; awarded the Italian Silver
Medal, 89, 287; the Military
Cross, 90, 286

Pike, Lieut., at Port Amelia, 208

Pioneer Company of the Gold
Coast Begiment, 4, 85, 36, 38,
51, 65, 70, 78, 94, 101, 119, 126,
135, 186, 164, 174, 190 ; at the
battle of Kikirunga, 26-82 ; Mi-
geri-geri, 89; ambush against,
90 ; at the battle of Mitoneno,
146; Wangoni, 206; Port
Amelia, 223

Poer, Capt, H. C. C. de la, Special
Service Officer to the Gold Coast
Begiment, 8

Pomba Bay, 214, 217

Poole, Lieut., 282

304

INDEX

Pori Hill, 135, 136, 139

Tort Amelia, 207, 208, 217, 279 ;
defence of, 214

Portal, Sir Gerald, on the East
African carrier, 151

Portuguese East Africa, 72 ; am-
munition at Ngomano captured,
207 ; division of, 216

Potter, Lieut. -Col., in command
of the training depots, 209

Poyntz, Capt. R. H., 31; at the
battle of Nkessa, 86-88; ad-
vance on Gold Coast Hill, 51 ;
wounded, 53 ; awarded the Mili-
tary Cross, 59, 286

Pretorius, Major, 17 ; acts as guide
to the Nigerian Brigade, 161

Pumone, 224, 225, 227

Punjabis, the 29th, 37

Punjabis, the 33rd, 90, 94, 102

Pye, Capt,, 51 ; killed, 53

RADFORD, Pte. S. G., awarded the
D.C.M. and Cross of St, George,
287

Eead, Major H., 44, 87 ; voyage to
Accra, 274 ; awarded the O.B.E.,
287

Reid, Lieut., 238

Bidgeway, Colonel, in command of
No. 2 Column, 96

Rifles, the 55th, occupy Newala,
196

Road-mine, explosion, 247

Robertson, Lieut., 224

Rock Camp, 288 ; convoy attacked,
255

Roofs, corrugated iron, result, 218

Rose, Lieut.-Col. R. A. De B., in
command of the Gold Coast Ex-
peditionary Force, 4, 274 ; tele-
gram of congratulation, 33;
knocked over by a shell, 53 ; re-
connaissance, 58 ; in temporary
command of the 3rd East African
Brigade, 60; Brevet Lieut.-
Colonel, 71 ; attack of dysentery,
91 ; rejoins the Regiment, 112 ;
attack on Mihambia, 117 ; occu-
pies Nambunjo Hill, 121 ; in
command of B Column, 204, 207 ;
on board H.M. Salamis, 215;

at Port Amelia, 221; at An-
kuabe, 228; in command of
"Pamforce" division, 233;
escape from an explosion, 247 ;
at Accra, 275 ; in command
of the Second West African
Brigade, 277 ; awarded the Bar
to D.S.O., 286; Legion d'Hon-
neur Croix d'Omcier, 287 ; letter
from C. H. Harper, 294

"Rosecol," 233; advance on Chi-
rimba Hill, 240, 242; Mwalia,
253-256; at Kalima, 256; ad-
vance on Milinch Hills, 260 ; at
Msalu, 265, 266, 269; advance
on Korewa, 271

Rovuma River, 72, 73, 130, 187,
188, 197, 199, 207, 265, 285

Royal Fusiliers, join up with the
Gold Coast Regiment, 11

Ruale, 118

Ruangwa Chini, 154 ; attack on,
156-158

Rufiji River, 12, 24, 43, 61, 71, 72,
108, 109, 197

Rumbo, engagement at, 82-86

Rungo, 97

Ruponda, 160, 163, 164, 185 ; food
depots at, 181

Ruwanga, 163, 181

Ruwu, the, 17, 39, 40

SALAMIS, H.M., stranded, 215

Sanananga, 224

Sandani, 10

Sassaware, 73

Saunders, Lieut., 279, 282;
wounded, 283

Saunderson, Lieut. R. de Bedick,
killed, 175, 178 ; career, 175

Schnee, Herr, Governor of German
East Africa, 195, 196

Schutzen Company, the 8th, 163

Scott, Lieut., wounded, 96

Sekondi, Port of, 4, 275

Shaw, Colonel G., 50, 54; at the
battle of Kikirunga, 29, 30;
awarded the Military Cross and
Bar, 56, 106, 286; at Rumbo,
85 ; appointed Acting Major and
Second in Command of the Gold
Coast Regiment, 91 ; in com-

INDEX

305

inand of No. 2 Column, 96 ;
attack on Narumgombe, 101

Shaw, Lieut., 131

Shaw, Major, advance on Miham-
bia, 119 ; at Kitiia, 119 ; march
on Nahungu, 131 ; attack on,
137 ; march to Chingwea, 167 ;
attack on Lukuledi, 177 ; at Port
Amelia, 208, 214, 219; advance
on Chirimba Hill, 241, 242, 244 ;
occupies Korewa, 272

Shepperd, Brig. -General, in com-
mand of the 1st East African |
Brigade, 10; Chief of Staff,
208

Shields, Lieut. George Billiard, 61 ;
attack on Gold Coast Hill, 53 ;
treachery of the Germans, 63;
killed, 64; head-master of the
Government Boy's School at
Accra, 64 ; discovery of his body,
67 ; burial, 68

Sierra Leone Carrier Corps, 91, 236

Smith, Lieut. S. B., 112, 167, 172,
174 ; attempt to surprise the
signal-station at Mpingo, 121 ;
failure, 122; surrounded, 123;
Staff-Officer, 204; at Port
Amelia, 208

Smuts, General, Commander -in-
Chief, Headquarters at Luki-
gura, 10 ; plan of attack, 11 ; at
Dakawa, 16

Soeiro, Signer Abilio de Lobao,
Governor of the Nyassa Com-
pany, 221

Songea, 73, 109

South African Infantry, the 7th,
94, 97, 102 ; the 8th, 94, 102

Sovar River, 225, 226

Stokes Battery, 104, 117, 185, 243,
248, 254

TABORA, gold coin, 204

Tafel, Major von, 109, 194, 198;

surrender, 202
Tanga, fall of, 10
Tanga-Moschi Eailway, 7, 10, 11,

44,72

Tanganyika, Lake, 11, 73
Taylor, Colonel, in command of

No. 8 Column, 94

Taylor, Lieut., 53 ; wounded, 54
Thornett, Colour-Sergt. C. A.,

killed, 246, 248; awarded the

D.C.M., 287
Thornton, Colour-Sergt. E., at

Port Amelia, 208 ; awarded the

D.C.M., 287
Thirst, sufferings from, 18, 45, 107,

125-129

Togoland, invasion of, 1
Transport of the army, need for

protection, 149
Tulo, 34, 36, 40
Turiani, 16

Turkey, surrender of, 277
Tyndall, Colonel, 83, 85

Ujui, 11

Ukuli, 91, 94

Ulanga, 109

Uluguru Mountains, 23, 24, 25, 26,

34, 43, 196
Unguara, 65
Utete, 61, 63, 66

VENTER, Major-General Van der,
in command of the Second
Division, 11 ; Commander-in-
Chief, 207, 208

Viney, Lieut., 282 ; killed, 283

Voi, 7

WAMI River, 10

Wanakoti, 266, 272, 280

Wangoni, 206

Watercourses, tropical, eccen-
tricities, 47

Water depot, attempt to establish
at Liwinda Ravine, 114 ; short-
age of, 13, 45, 107, 123, 125-
129

Watt, Capt., 223

Watts, Capt., at Port Amelia, 208

Webber, Capt., advance on Medo,
236 ; Chirimba Hill, 241, 242

Wet, General de, 212

Wheeler, Capt., 81, 87, 50;
wounded, 58; at Mkufi, 222;
Mtuge, 225; advance on Chi-
rimba Hill, 244

306

INDEX

Wiedhafen, 73

Willoughby, Lieut., 112

Wilson, Lieut., 263; at Naina-

rala, 228
Withers, Lieut., 260, 263 ; at Port

Amelia, 208
Wongara, Sergt. AH, awarded the

Military Medal, 289
Wongara, Musa, awarded the

D.C.M., 288
Woods, Lieut., reconnaissances,

114, 115 ; patrol on the Mboni-
bomya road, 121 ; attack on, 128 ;
at the battle of Mitoneno, 145 ;
advance on Lukuledi, 167, 171 ;
killed, 173, 178

Wray, Captain. 56, 124 ; attack on,
125 ; wounded, 125, 132

ZANZIBAR, island of, 39
Zeppelin, recalled, 189

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