CHAPTER VI

CONTINUOUS FIGHTING NEAR THE RUFIJI

IN order to oppose the troops of General Northey, who were advancing from the direction of New Langenburg, Captain Braunschweig had been dispatched from Dodoma at the end of June. He had taken up reinforcements from Kondoa and Dar-es-Salaam to the two German Askari companies that had slipped away from the New Langenburg country, and had concentrated his own troops, totalling five companies and one field howitzer, at Malangali. At that place his force had fought a brave action with a superior force of the enemy, but had been obliged to fall back towards Mahenge.

As the converging hostile columns were now approaching each other in the direction of Morogoro, it became necessary to consider our future plan of operations. The enemy expected us to stand and fight a final decisive engagement near Morogoro, on the northern slopes of the Uluguru Mountains. To me, this idea was never altogether intelligible. Being so very much the weaker party, it was surely madness to await at this place the junction of the hostile columns, of which each one individually was already superior to us in numbers, and then to fight with our back to the steep and rocky mountains, of which the passes were easy to close, and which deprived us of all freedom of movement in our rear. I thought it sounder so to conduct our operations that we should only have to deal with a part of the enemy. Knowing that the enemy, and General Brits in particular, had a liking for wide turning movements, I felt sure that one column would move off from Dakawa, where large hostile camps had been identified, or from Kilossa, in order to reach our rear by working round the west side of the Uluguru Mountains. This possibility was so obvious that I cycled out every day to the mountains west of Morogoro, so as to get the reports from the patrols in good time, and to supplement them by personal observation of the clouds of smoke and dust. The latter soon put it beyond doubt that a strong column was moving from near Dakawa towards the railway between Morogoro and Kilossa. Patrols identified enemy troops that had crossed the railway and were marching further south. The observers on the mountains reported the clouds of dust to be moving towards Mlali.

As I meant to let this movement run its full course and then attack the isolated detachment with the whole of my forces, I waited until I thought it was near Mlali. On the evening of the 23rd August, Captain Otto, who was encamped at Morogoro, was ordered to march off for Mlali during the night with three companies. He arrived there early on the 24th, just as English horsemen had taken possession of the depot. When I reached Otto’s Detachment the fight was in full swing. The country was, however, unsuitable for short decisive strokes, owing to the many steep hills which impeded movement. The other troops at Morogoro, except Captain Stemmermann’s Detachment, were ordered up by telephone. I myself went back again to Morogoro to talk things over. Stemmermann’s Detachment, to which, on account of the roads, the 4-inch _Königsberg_ gun and the howitzer battery were attached, was ordered to fall back along the eastern slopes of the Uluguru Mountains, and to delay the enemy there. The passes over the mountains themselves were closed by weak patrols. When I arrived once more at Mlali in the afternoon, the fight was still undecided. At several points the enemy had been driven back, and several people thought they had seen him suffer considerably. But by nightfall we had got so entangled in the mountains, and every movement had become so difficult and took so much time, that we halted. We found the night very cold, lying out on the hills without the carriers’ loads. Luckily, however, this fertile region had so far hardly suffered at all from the war, and a fowl roasted on a spit soon appeased our hunger.

The next morning numerous explosions in the German depots, which had been surprised by the enemy, indicated that he had moved off and had destroyed the 4-inch shells stored there. We surmised that he was moving south-west, which eventually turned out to be the case. The enemy was probably making a turning movement so as to reach Kissaki before us. At the wealthy Administration Office at that place, 600 tons of food supplies and the military stores removed from Morogoro had been collected. Wild rumours exaggerated the actual facts, and stated that strong forces had already reached the roads leading to Kissaki before us. Although the wagon road stopped at Mlali, and the remainder of the route to Kissaki consisted only of paths broken by many ravines and obstacles, the possibility that the enemy might make a rapid march on Kissaki had to be taken very seriously, and we had no time to waste. In the evening we were most hospitably entertained by the Father at Mgeta Mission. The buildings are charmingly situated in the deep ravine of the Mgeta river, which in this part comes down very swiftly. The many lights on the slope of the hill made one think one was approaching some small watering-place in Germany. A few European women from Morogoro were also staying there, and bade farewell to the Force for the last time. With the exception of a few nurses all women had to stay behind.

The removal of our loads was carried out fairly satisfactorily. The Force profited by the fact that owing to the insistence of the energetic Captain Feilke, about a thousand native labourers, who had until a few days previously been working in the forestry department at Morogoro, were placed at its disposal. But the carrier question was beginning to be difficult. The natives saw that we were evacuating the country; a number of them, who had promised to come, stayed away, to the despair of the sensible Chiefs, who would gladly have helped us. As only small parties of the enemy appeared in the country round Mgeta, it began to seem probable that his principal forces were making a turning movement. Leaving a rearguard behind, which only followed us slowly, our main body was, during the ensuing days, moved nearer to Kissaki. One night an Askari appeared at my bedside, bearing himself in a smart military manner: it was the Effendi Yuma Mursal, of the 4th Field Company, who had been left behind sick at Morogoro. He reported that a force of the enemy, as strong as that at Kahe had been, had marched round the west side of the Uluguru Mountains from Morogoro, and that a number of German Askari had found the recent fighting too much for them. They had deserted, and were now plundering the plantations south-west of Morogoro.

A telephone line was laid from Kissaki to us, by means of which Captain Tafel kept us continually informed; up to date no enemy had been seen at Kissaki. But to the west of us, patrols reported the enemy to be marching to the south. I therefore moved to Kissaki, and had to destroy some of our stores, which were collected in small depots along our route. Unfortunately, in carrying this out, an efficient Ordnance N.C.O. was accidentally killed, as had happened before on a similar occasion at Morogoro. At Kissaki, several days passed before we came seriously into collision with the enemy. It was not advisable to occupy the Boma Fort itself; it consisted of a group of buildings surrounded by a massive high wall, and was situated in the middle of a completely cleared bit of country. The enemy could, therefore, only capture it by a costly attack; but he had no need to assault it at all; by means of artillery and bombs from aircraft, he could have made it intolerable for us to remain in the cramped Boma, and we ourselves should then have been forced to make a sortie over the open and to endure the fire which the enemy would have been able to pour into us in perfect security. Our defences were, therefore, placed a long way outside the Boma, covered from the view of aircraft, and so arranged that they could be occupied and evacuated unobserved.

It was not until I arrived at Kissaki myself that I obtained a proper idea of the abundance of stores and supplies available there. I learned that, contrary to my belief, practically nothing was stored further south at Behobeho or at Kungulio, on the Rufiji. At Kissaki there were large stocks, but notwithstanding the dense native population, it was impossible to get them away. The numerous inhabitants, to whom the war and the many Askari were something quite new, lost their heads and ran away into the bush. The Civil Administration, which enjoyed the complete confidence of the people, proved powerless against the overwhelming influences now bursting in upon them. Even presents of clothing, which were ordinarily so highly valued, failed to hold them. It seemed as if all the evil spirits had conspired together to deprive us of transport. Our column of several hundred pack-donkeys had been driven over the mountains from Morogoro. It arrived at Kissaki late and completely exhausted. Our ox-wagons, which had to go round the east side of the Uluguru Mountains on account of the state of the roads, seemed to be never going to arrive. The head of the Communications Service could not find any other means of carrying away the stocks which were essential to us for continuing the war. And yet it was obvious that we must continue to fall back further south, towards the Rufiji, before the superior numbers of the enemy.

One circumstance that brightened the gloom was that our great herds of cattle, which had been grazing east of Mpapua, had been brought away in good time. Several thousand head, mostly beautiful cattle, arrived at Kissaki, and would have formed a most welcome mobile reserve of supplies. But, unfortunately, our pleasure at this was diminished by the frequent occurrence of the tse-tse fly at some places; if the animals got stung by them they lost condition badly, and mostly died after a few weeks. The bulk of the cattle was, therefore, driven on into the healthy districts on the Rufiji. As for the rest, we simply worked with energy at getting away the stores to Behobeho and on to Kungulio, using the carriers belonging to the troops, all the people we could raise in the district, and our few wagons. In order to effect this, we had to gain time, and Captain Stemmermann, who was marching round the Uluguru Mountains by the eastern road, could only be allowed to fall back quite slowly before the hostile division which was pushing after him with all its might.

I waited at Kissaki with the main body, in order to be able quickly to recognize and make use of any favourable opportunity. As was to be expected, the enemy had, owing to our withdrawal to Kissaki, abandoned his concentration on Morogoro; he had sent a few detachments direct over the Uluguru Mountains, but his other columns had separated and followed us, extending far to the east and west. The hope of being able to defeat one or more of these columns separately was fulfilled beyond expectation. West of the Uluguru Mountains General Brits had divided his division into brigade columns (two mounted and one infantry), which had difficulty in keeping touch. Soon large hostile camps were discovered a day’s march west of Kissaki, and on the 7th September, 1916, Captain Otto’s Detachment, which was encamped at a plantation near Kissaki, was attacked by a large force of European horse, and by native and white infantry. It turned out later that this force consisted of General Enslin’s Mounted Brigade, and of portions of the infantry brigade of General Brits’s Division. The turning movement which the enemy was making round the left wing of Otto’s Detachment was allowed to continue until the outflanking detachment had got right round in rear of Captain Otto, near the Boma of Kissaki. Evidently the enemy did not expect German reserves to be posted under cover still further back. These reserves were now loosed upon him. The gallant 11th Field Company, under Lieutenant Volkwein of the Reserve, worked through the dense bush close up to the outflanking enemy, and immediately attacked with the bayonet, cheering. With that the enemy’s beautiful plans completely collapsed; our further advance simply rolled him up, and he was completely defeated. The almost impenetrable bush made it impossible vigorously to push the enemy, or to undertake a pursuit on a large scale; but the bulk of his troops was broken up, and the small fragments were scattered in the bush in hopeless confusion. The led-horses and horse-holders were captured, and about fifteen Europeans taken prisoner. Even the next day an English soldier arrived from quite another direction; he had lost himself with his led-horses in the dense bush and had no idea where to go. The man had plenty of humour; he threw his rifle and ammunition across a small stream and said: “It’s just luck; I might have taken the right road or the wrong one. I had the bad luck to take the wrong one. That’s my fault.”

Tafel’s Detachment, which was encamped north of Kissaki, on the road we had come by, had only partially joined in the fight on the evening of the 7th. I had kept it back, as I thought that, simultaneously with the attack on the 7th from the west, another one would be made from the north along the road. And General Brits undoubtedly did hold this perfectly sound intention; but the execution failed. General Nussy’s Mounted Brigade, without having any idea of the action of the 7th, marched along towards Tafel’s Detachment from the north on the 8th. It was just as thoroughly beaten as its friends had been the day before. In the dense bush it was, on the 8th, even more difficult to survey the fighting, and a considerable number of prisoners taken by the 1st Company managed to escape.

In the two days we took some thirty European prisoners, and some of them were sent back to the enemy, on taking an oath not to fight again in this war against the Germans or their allies. The humanity of this step, which was, under tropical conditions, in the best interest of the prisoners themselves, was not recognized by the English. They suspected spying, seized the German envoy who brought back the prisoners, sent him far into the bush with his eyes bound, and then let him go where good luck might take him. It was a wonder that the man, who was exhausted by prolonged wandering about, found his way back. This shows how difficult the English made it for us to avoid unnecessary severity towards the enemy. At the same time, the English private soldiers had faith in the treatment we meted out to our prisoners. While the battlefield was being cleared, in which both English and German medical officers took part, wounded Englishmen begged to be treated by the German doctor. And later on, also, wounded men remarked that they would hardly have been cured if they had been treated by English medical personnel.

It was my opinion that these satisfactory successes at Kissaki had not brought us a final decision against the troops of General Brits, and I still believe that in the dense bush and the rugged country an energetic pursuit, which alone would have secured the desired result, was impossible of execution. My attention was all the more drawn towards the force pursuing Stemmermann’s Detachment, as it had already come within two days’ march north-east of Kissaki. During the last few days the situation there had not been favourable; the broken ground had in several instances caused our already weak forces to be disseminated. Some portions had been ambushed, the troops were very fatigued, and several people were suffering badly from nerves. On the 9th September Stemmermann’s Detachment approached the village of Dutumi, which was known to me from previous reconnaissance. I thought the enemy would press on on the following day, and considered the opportunity favourable for achieving a success at Dutumi by rapidly moving my main body there from Kissaki. In the evening we marched away from Kissaki by the fine broad road, and reached Dutumi that night. Captain Otto remained at Kissaki with five companies. On arrival I decided to make use of the factor of surprise, and to make an enveloping attack in the early morning on the enemy’s left wing, which was identified close in front of Stemmermann’s Detachment. I knew that this wing was in the plain, while, looking from our side, the enemy’s centre and right stretched away to the left up the foot-hills of the Uluguru Mountains. It was because of these foot-hills that the chances of attack were less favourable on our left.

Early on the 9th September, Schulz’s Detachment attacked from our right. Rifle and machine-gun fire soon started, and the enemy’s light artillery also opened fire; but the thick high elephant grass, with which the plain was covered, made it impossible to form a clear idea of things. I thought the attack was going well, and proceeded to the left in order to get a view of the situation. The heights there were also densely overgrown. It was very fatiguing to get along and difficult to find anybody. I was clambering about, fairly exhausted in the heat of a tropical noon, when I luckily heard the sound of tin pots, and found I was right in concluding that some European was just having lunch. It was Captain Goering, who had taken up his post in the bush on a height which afforded a good view. Here, towards three p.m., I received the unwelcome news that the attack by Schulz’s Detachment on our right had not attained its object. It had been simply impossible to get at the enemy through the dense elephant grass. If, therefore, any decisive action was to be taken on that day at all, it could only be done on our left. Even here, owing to the difficult country, success was not very probable. The advancing companies got into a very intersected mountain tract, in which they shot at the enemy, and were shot at by him without any result, and at dusk returned to their original positions.

During the following days the enemy directed his attacks mainly against our left, and was frequently driven back by counter-strokes. But, on the whole, it was evident that success was only possible if the enemy proved very unskilful. On the other hand, our communications, which from now on no longer ran to Kissaki, but towards Behobeho in the south-east, were in a great degree threatened by the enemy. I therefore abandoned Dutumi, and withdrew the main body an hour’s march to the south, across the Mgeta river, where the Force occupied an extensive fortified camp, which it continued to hold for months. By this move the rich fields of Dutumi were unfortunately given up. In the poor country of Kiderengwa we had to depend mainly on supplies from the rear, which were sent up from the Rufiji. Unfortunately the fatigues of this transport work, combined with sickness caused by tse-tse, very soon led to the almost complete loss of our pack-donkeys. From Kiderengwa our fighting patrols attacked the enemy’s communications, which ran to the north-east from Dutumi, as well as the Dutumi-Kissaki road, which soon became alive with enemy detachments and transport.

Various observations now concurred in disclosing remarkable movements on the part of the enemy. Both east and west of the Uluguru Mountains movements of troops in such strength were seen to be taking place towards Morogoro, that the natives said: “_Wana hama_” (“They are moving elsewhere”). A large number of the South African Europeans, of whom, by the way, many had come to the end of their strength, were sent home. Other observations disclosed a movement of troops towards the east. Generally speaking, a period of rest ensued, which was only interrupted by minor expeditions of patrols and occasional artillery bombardments.

General Smuts realized that his blow had failed. He sent me a letter calling upon me to surrender, by which he showed that, as far as force was concerned, he had reached the end of his resources.