CHAPTER III

IN THE REGION OF THE LURIO AND LIKUNGO RIVERS

ON May 23rd the rest of our transport and the main body of the troops were started off from Coroma camp on a track right through the bush to Koriwa. The bulk of our carrier columns and the sick had gone on ahead. The rearguard under Captain Otto remained a few days longer on the Koroma Mountain and there successfully repulsed several hostile attacks. It looked as if our enemy had once again collected the bulk of his troops at Timbani, after the conclusion of a concentric operation, and needed some time to reorganize his supply before resuming his march. Returning patrols reported heavy motor traffic on the Nanungu-Timbani Mountain road. Other patrols informed us that hostile forces from the east were approaching the northern bank of the Lurio river.

Unmolested by the enemy, I now made for the fertile district of Kwiri, south of Mahua, and from thence on to the Lurio. It turned out, however, that some of our seriously wounded and sick would not be able to endure several days of such marches in their “Maschille” (litters). Nor was it easy to ensure medical attention. We had too few attendants to be able to leave the sick behind individually. So there was nothing for it but to collect our invalids from time to time, turn them into a complete Field Hospital, under a single medical officer, and take our leave of them finally. Even the senior medical officer of the Protective Force, Dr. Meixner, was left behind at Kwiri with one such hospital. On that occasion I said farewell to Lieutenant Schaefer who had rendered us such exemplary service in the preparations for the action at Jassini, and was now stricken with black-water fever. This experienced “African” was fully aware of his situation, but was as cheerful as ever and faced his inevitable end, which was approaching fast, with composure.

I did not wish to linger long north of the Lurio, for I thought that this river, which had been very high only a short time before, would be a serious obstacle. For that reason I proposed to cross it with our large quantity of transport quickly and without let or hindrance. When we actually reached the Lurio it appeared that at this time of the year there were plenty of fords which offered a comfortable crossing. We left some of our troops on the northern bank without anxiety as to the drawbacks involved, and established a camp for the main body on the southern bank. The country was very fertile and the inhabitants trusted in us; good relations had been established by the earlier visits of the patrols and raiding parties. One of my orderlies had a hearty reception from some old acquaintances.

I was pretty sure that the English would attack us here and be compelled to bring up ever more troops. If I only withdrew slowly enough, the strong enemy forces would, I believed, probably follow, but in view of their immense supply difficulties, it would be in vain. In this way I might achieve my main purpose of gaining enough time to raid the weaker hostile camps and posts further south. Captain Müller’s detachment, which had been sent south, discovered one such camp at Malema, the same place where our troops had won heartening successes before.

After fighting for several days Captain Müller captured the Boma Malema. It had been occupied by an English half-battalion which retired south at night. Simultaneously a Portuguese patrol had gone north from the Boma Malema and returned. Captain Müller took the latter for the retreating English, attacked them on the march and was very astonished to find that the killed were Portuguese.

After the action Captain Müller shifted his camp. In the move, Lieutenant von Schroetter, who was ill with malaria, was left behind for a short time and taken prisoner by an English patrol which suddenly appeared upon the scene. When this patrol marched off to the Boma Inagu he managed to escape, and rejoined us at length, quite exhausted. But he lost all his belongings, and had nothing on his head—a very serious matter under a tropical sun.

From the reports of the natives and our own patrols there was no longer room for doubt that strong enemy forces, which had disembarked at Mozambique, were marching west on the Boma Malema, and were already only a few days’ march from that place. Simultaneous reports were received that troops were also marching towards the Boma Malema from the west, the direction of Malacotera. A few days later the enemy following us from the north reached the Lurio, so we evacuated its northern bank. From captured documents and the fighting that took place on the northern bank, we judged that this hostile force was stronger than I had suspected. Thanks to its light motor transport columns it had been able to follow us up quickly with all its supply as well as a body which I estimated at about three or four battalions with auxiliary arms.

The country along the river Malema in which we had our camp was quite extraordinarily fertile. The _mtama_ was perfectly ripe, and there was an abundance of tomatoes, bananas, sweet potatoes (_batatas_) and other fruits. The food was also very varied. Game and fish were plentiful. The natives knew the German troops from previous acquaintance, and were very friendly. When I rode from one detachment to another the women came running out of their houses to see the “Njama” (animal, game, flesh), a creature quite unknown to them. I was riding a horse, of course! The fertile country was so extensive that we could not even approximately exploit or protect it. We could not prevent it supplying the necessities of life to the large number of Askari and non-combatants with our enemies, as well as ourselves. We could not deprive the enemy of the possibility of also making this prolific region in a large measure into a new base and shortening his line of supply. From our point of view the country was, if anything, too fertile and we were not in a position, as on earlier occasions, to exploit it to such an extent before we left that it was insufficient to support the enemy masses. But at any rate it had the result that for the moment we were very mobile as, thanks to our sojourn of several weeks, our wounded and sick were so far recovered that all, even the inmates of the field hospitals, were quite fit for marching.

This advantage would have been lost once more by any considerable actions. I decided gradually to evacuate the region, in spite of its extraordinary fertility, and slip through the ring in which the enemy columns were enclosing me in the fertile district of the Malema river. My idea was that a small part of my troops should hold off these enemy columns and keep them so busy that they would think they were involved in a serious affair, and attack my rearguard properly. In coming to this decision, good service was done me by the orders of the English commander which had fallen into our hands. He had no intention of being “foxed” by us a second time, as he had been at Koriwa, and had therefore arranged that whenever contact was established with us at any point, several detachments should immediately execute a flank march round us at a distance of five or six English miles. I told General Edwards about this later on, and he was extraordinarily amused that this had given me an intimation of his intentions, and enabled me to take my counter-measures against them. It was obvious that if I only echeloned my troops deeply enough the enemy’s enveloping detachments would be placed in the greatest peril. They would find themselves sandwiched between my detachments and in this way could be taken by surprise in the flank or rear by my troops echeloned further back. Unfortunately the execution of this plan was only imperfect. In the very thick bush, however carefully one watched camp fires and the dust, there were too few indications to follow a column properly and it was very difficult for a column to keep its direction. In addition there were a number of factors that threw out one’s calculations, factors such as dense bush, marshes and water-courses. In spite of all these obstacles, we succeeded every now and then in taking one of the hostile enveloping columns by surprise and bringing it under fire. The inevitable difficulties of moving separate columns in the thick bush were even greater on the English side than on the German. When a collision occurred there was often a complete mix-up in which neither friend nor foe knew whom he had before him. On one occasion Lieutenant von Ruckteschell’s detachment, which had been nearest to the enemy, fell back on some of our troops which had been echeloned further back. In so doing it came across a reconnoitring party in the bush, at a distance of about thirty paces. This patrol was recognized as an enemy. The machine guns were brought into position under the nose of the enemy and without any interference on his part, and the patrol, which had taken our men for English, was fired on lustily at point-blank range and put to flight in a second.

In the same way our own patrols continually found themselves in the middle of enemy troops. On one such occasion _Vizefeldwebel_ Schaffrath made his patrol lie down in the high grass and then opened an effective fire on the head of approaching enemy columns. Then he took cover again. In this way he succeeded in the course of a few hours in inflicting sensible losses on the enemy several times and capturing some material.

I wanted to gain time by these holding actions, so that I could get my main body into the country further south, which was supposed to be fertile, according to report, and fall upon and drive away the smallish hostile garrisons we expected to find there. The first objective of this nature was the Portuguese _Boma_ Alto-Moloque. A captured map showed that this had been the seat of a higher administrative authority in peace time and the military station of a force exceeding a company. Both natives and food must certainly be there. Between us and Alto-Moloque lay the high range of Inagu. An English battalion in its entrenched camp at Inagu barred the road which led from the Boma Malema round the west side of the Inagu Mountains to Alto-Moloque. It was therefore probable that our advance by that road would be contested, and that would have been unpleasant in view of the length of our carrier columns. In any case we should have been delayed and our intended surprise attack on Alto-Moloque would have been spoilt. But surprise I regarded as absolutely essential, as we suspected the presence of ammunition and arms at Alto-Moloque.

Accordingly we left the enemy in peace in his entrenchments at Inagu and marched round the east side of the Inagu Mountains on Alto-Moloque. The strategic situation was somewhat remarkable, and well described in the words of an old Boer, words that were not quite pure High German: “Is das eine Komische Orlog; ons lopt achter de Portugies an, und de Englanders lopt achter ons an” (_This is a funny war. We chase the Portuguese, and the English chase us_).

We marched by native tracks or straight through the bush. Several considerable streams had to be negotiated on the way. This district, too, was fertile, and we soon came across unmistakable human tracks leading towards Alto-Moloque, not to mention kraals, the first I had ever seen. They were grass huts, very thick and carefully built. Ashes were smouldering in places and the heads of hens which were lying about were still fresh. We exchanged shots with some Portuguese patrols and a few rifles with ammunition were captured.

No time must be lost, so Müller’s detachment, made specially mobile by being relieved of all its transport, went on ahead and found in Alto-Moloque only a few Portuguese officers and non-commissioned officers who were just drinking coffee on the verandah of the very fine European house. These were taken prisoner.

I now followed slowly with the main body. Our rearguard, under Captain Koehl, had quite a series of little collisions, which in bulk caused the enemy not inconsiderable losses. One of our Askari patrols had been surprised and captured by a stronger enemy patrol when engaged in foraging for food. These Askari subsequently looked on while this English patrol fought quite a bloody action with another English detachment in the thick bush and the occurrence gave them their opportunity of escaping. The lack of caution which many of our Europeans continually showed, in spite of all warnings, caused us many unnecessary losses. There was one Askari, a particularly reliable and intelligent man, whose father, the old Effendi Plantan, had already been with Von Wissmann’s Zulu Askari, whom I had been only too glad to take with me on patrol. He never came back from some quite unnecessary mission on which he was sent, and was probably taken prisoner. It was a phenomenon common to both sides that a large part of the losses in the war in East Africa were unnecessary and due solely to thoughtlessness.

Koehl’s detachment gradually came up with the main body, which had reached the Alto-Moloque-Inagu road at a European plantation which was well stocked with provisions. From this place it had rung up Alto-Moloque on the enemy’s telephone and received a reply, first from a Portuguese, then from Captain Müller. Müller reported that only a small amount of ammunition had been captured, and that the bulk must have been got away to the south-east just in time by several carrier parties. Strong patrols were immediately sent out after them.

When the main body entered Alto-Moloque on June 16th we found some very fine and massive European houses. They were charmingly situated on a little hill, and had a view for miles over the neighbouring forests to the mighty rugged mountains in the distance. There were thousands of orange trees in full bloom and our coloured men immediately christened it the “Boma ja machungwa” (Orange _boma_).

The numerous maps and documents of all kinds which were found at the station gave us a tolerably clear idea of the country towards Quelimane. We could see that there was a telegraph wire from Alto-Moloque to Quelimane via Ili. A large company, the Lugella Company, had its headquarters at the confluence of the Lugella with the Likungo. There were great plantations and factories and large supplies of food. Above all, it looked as if preparations were in progress to make this station a main supply depot for food and ammunition for considerable bodies of troops.

If we wished to exploit the opportunity that this situation presented, our subordinate commanders would have to act very promptly and must not be hampered by too rigid instructions. The impression that I formed in my mind rested in many respects on unproved assumptions. Our pursuing patrols must be able to act according to circumstances independently and rapidly if that original impression was not confirmed subsequently. Time must not be lost, or the enemy would be able to get his supplies away in time. He would have the advantage of a railway which began not far south of the Lugella Company’s station and led south to the river Namacurra, as well as the steamer which plied on that stream.

As so often happens, our pursuing patrols and companies were occasionally found wanting in some respects. Yet it must not be forgotten that besides many other qualities a very mature tactical judgment is required to give an independent decision on the question when the very exhausting pursuit of a fleeing foe is to be continued at top pressure or should be broken off. To exploit the promising situation to the greatest possible extent, on the very day of my arrival at Alto-Moloque I had sent in pursuit the whole of Müller’s detachment, which I had hitherto kept by me. In the course of various patrols and raids in the neighbourhood we caught individual Portuguese Askari who in many cases had set up off their own bats as little tyrants in the villages of the district. The natives reported their presence to us.

The region of Alto-Moloque turned out to be very fertile, as we anticipated. We were therefore in a position to give Müller’s detachment a greater start in following up the enemy. One of the patrols of this detachment had captured a hostile supply depot near Ili. An enemy carrier column, turned off by an Anglo-Portuguese detachment which was now several days’ march east of Alto-Moloque, and trying to pass through Alto-Moloque in ignorance of our presence, was a welcome acquisition to our Intendant, who needed it to carry the supplies captured at Ili. Unfortunately this intended removal succeeded only partially, for a fresh English detachment appeared at Ili, apparently from the direction of Inagu, and drove off our patrols.

The advance of our main body on Ili was contested by considerable hostile patrols which were approaching the Alto-Moloque-Ili road from the north. One of these patrols was immediately pursued energetically and attacked in its camp, but I gained the impression that larger enemy forces were advancing on us from the north of Ili and Alto-Moloque. I had no intention of delaying, but wished rather to join up as soon as possible with Müller’s detachment, which was on its way to Lugella. Accordingly I marched south, skirting Ili and occupied the Portuguese post of Nampepo. In this district, at about a day’s march from each other, the Portuguese companies had established a number of clean, well-arranged stations around which lay the fields, which they cultivated. A whole series of these posts and their field-depots fell into our hands during the march. Nampepo was one of them, only larger than usual, and the centre of an extraordinarily fertile district. A special feature of the Nampepo camp was our chase after domestic pigs. Large numbers of these were running loose in the bush, so that we had excellent sausages to eat, as well as roast pork and brawn. A German planter named Hauter, from the district of Morogoro, who had delivered large supplies of sausages to Morogoro during the war, had acquired expert skill in preparing them, and this now came in very useful. He now had the insides of pigs to practise on instead of the insides of cows, and our enjoyment of this unwonted luxury was so great that we did not allow ourselves to be disturbed even by the shots that fell into our camp.

For as a matter of fact a considerable enemy column from the north was approaching the station of Nampepo, which was held by Captain Spangenberg with our outposts. From the commanding ground the approach of a large enemy column could be noted quite easily. As a particularly favourable opportunity for attacking it presented itself we did not disturb the enemy in his approach. However, contrary to expectation, he did not attack us. Pillars of smoke arising from the bush about 1,500 yards away showed us that he had encamped there. Our patrols which went round the enemy crawled up to his camp at night and fired into it. Koehl’s detachment had come up meanwhile and I marched off with the main body to follow Müller’s detachment in the direction of Lugella. Captain Spangenberg remained with our rearguard in touch with the enemy, and then followed us at a distance of a day’s march.

Meanwhile Captain Müller’s detachment had succeeded in crossing the Likungo river, near the confluence of the Lugella, at a ford. It had been able to give an apparently severe drubbing to a Portuguese battalion which had rushed up from the south to protect it. Several machine guns were captured. The great depot of the Lugella Company fell into our hands. It was possible to distribute a large amount of food and clothing. The buildings themselves, which had been adapted for defence, and about 300,000 kilograms of food were burnt.

As no other remunerative objective presented itself Captain Müller considered he had fulfilled his mission for the time being, retired to the southern bank of the Likungo and there awaited my arrival.

I was afraid that our wonderful captures of the last few weeks would tempt some of our Europeans to help themselves to things improperly, and I took advantage of the occasion to point out the evils of such behaviour. It must not be forgotten that war booty belongs to the State, and that the individual soldier has to notify to his superiors if he happens to want any particular object he has captured. An estimate is then made of the value of the object and he has to pay the amount. It was important for me to maintain the _moral_ of our troops unconditionally if I was to be able to appeal to their sense of honour and make calls on their endurance.

A certain amount of ammunition was captured here and there, and, further, a small Portuguese gun had fallen into our hands, but the great haul of cartridges for which we had hoped and striven had not materialized. I thought it extremely doubtful whether there ever had been such large stocks at Alto-Moloque and Ili, and suspected that the whole thing was a case of exaggeration of the approved native type. That did not imply evil intentions on the part of those concerned. On the contrary, the natives were well-disposed towards us. For example, they brought back of their own accord one of our captured Portuguese officers who had escaped. They also brought us some German black boys who had been enjoying themselves looting, and had been caught and well beaten by the natives, excusing themselves on the ground that they had taken them for Portuguese!

It is an extremely difficult matter even for a European to estimate, for example, the numerical strength of a detachment on the march. The native finds it much more difficult, especially when it comes to larger numbers. The words he so frequently uses, _mingi_ (much) or _kama majani_ (as thick as grass) can mean 50 just as well as 5,000.