CHAPTER VI

BACK TO THE LURIO RIVER

IN order to confirm the enemy in his mistake as to our objective I marched on 7th August along the road to Wamaka and pitched my camp three hours’ march north-east of Chalau, in a good supply area. Several enemy patrols were driven off. From Wamaka an enemy officer appeared with a flag of truce to announce that the English Commander-in-Chief would like to arrange for an exchange of medical prisoners. He was also instructed to inform me as to when and where equipment for the English prisoners could be handed over to us. These very transparent proposals showed me that the enemy had something serious in hand from the north and was trying to make his task easier by enticing me into a trap. Various enemy spies were captured and confirmed my belief. Their report that the enemy intended to attack in three columns was in accordance with the usual plan of such undertakings.

When several patrol and outpost actions on 10th and 11th August indicated that a strong enemy column was advancing along the Wamaka-Chalau road, I assumed that at least one other column would be marching parallel with this further south; their objective was obviously Chalau. I decided to engage this southern enemy column by itself. The prospect of the success of my plan was certainly not great, as the enemy was marching for the most part through the bush, avoiding the paths. To meet such a development of the situation I had had a path reconnoitred and marked. In spite of this our march, begun in the evening of 11th August, lasted through the whole night. Not until daybreak did we arrive east of Chalau at the place I had selected. Strong patrols, among them a whole company under Captain Koehl, were still on the march.

My general idea was a march west to enable me to turn either to the Blantyre district or east of Lake Nyassa. Without any hindrance from the enemy we crossed the Ligonja at Metil and the Tipa-Namirrue road. There the grave of an officer of the 1st battalion 2nd King’s African Rifles proved that the enemy column, which had first followed us from Tipa to Namirrue, had gone round us to the north to Wamaka: for this 1st battalion 2nd King’s African Rifles belonged to the force which was now approaching from Wamaka. On the further march to Ili we passed through the camps of the enemy forces which had come from the south-west and had continued their march in the direction of Alto-Moloque. They too had made a wide détour and had accomplished correspondingly long marches. It was strange that all these enemy columns should suddenly display such a high degree of mobility; they had changed their supply system and, partially at any rate, left their lines of communication. According to the reports of prisoners they sent requisitioning parties on ahead to commandeer supplies from the natives, which were then distributed among the troops. This requisitioning of supplies seems to have been carried out with great ruthlessness. The confidence which the natives had shown during our recent stay in the Ili district had vanished. They now saw an enemy in every Askari and individual men who were left behind were on several occasions attacked by the natives.

When we came to Ili, the English telegraphic station situated there was quickly captured. The papers found there gave useful information as to the movements of the enemy troops. According to this there were considerable stores at Numarroe and Regone; strong forces were to try to overtake us from Alto-Moloque and Mukubi, while one column followed immediately on our track. The enemy, who up to a short time back had been groping in the dark, had apparently received, a few days before, reliable information as to our movements. It was very difficult to find the road to Regone, as no guides could be raised. From Ili, however, a newly erected telephone line of copper wire led to Numarroe. If we followed this line we were sure to come upon something useful. As a matter of fact parts of the enemy columns were near us when we left Ili. The patrols we had left behind even met some Askari whom they took to be friends: they exchanged cigarettes and lights with these and did not realize until afterwards that they were enemies.

During these days I was much occupied with a domestic question. The supply of bread for the European prisoners became difficult in view of the prolonged marches. The men were unskilled and not in a position to help themselves. At last I succeeded in getting over the difficulty, and had considerable quantities of flour prepared by other methods. Captain Krüger, who had charge of the prisoners of war and died soon afterwards, was already very ill and exhausted by hardships; with the best intentions he had not always managed to find the ways and means of meeting the wishes of the prisoners, which were often very exacting.

In the morning of 24th August we crossed the Likungo river, and continued our march towards Numarroe. We could already see, several miles in breadth, the hill and the buildings of Boma Numarroe. During a halt we lunched in the congenial company of Lieutenant Ott, Sergeant-Major Nordenholz and the other officers of the advance guard. We had long grown accustomed during the halts to bring out, without ceremony, a piece of bread and a box of lard or hippopotamus fat. Naval Lieutenant Freund even still possessed some butter from Namacurra. Even the Askari and bearers, who formerly used to wait for their meal until camp was pitched, adopted more and more the “desturi” (manners, customs) of the Europeans. As soon as a halt was called every black would bring out his lunch. It was very jolly when the whole force bivouacked in this way in the forest, in the best of spirits, and refreshed themselves for fresh exertions, fresh marches and fresh fighting.

We were still two hours east of Numarroe when the advance guard was fired on. An enemy company had camped on our line of march and was slowly and cleverly retreating before us from kopje to kopje in the direction of Numarroe. Lieutenant Ott, who was shot through the chest, was in a very serious condition. With the main body led by Goering’s detachment, I made a detour, and, passing the enemy to the south, made straight for the Boma of Numarroe. Before dark our gun was brought into position and fire opened on the Boma and its entrenchments. Goering’s detachment, without loss of time, made a still wider detour to the south in order, by using a ravine, to come close up to the Boma in the rear. The advance guard (Müller’s detachment), which was out of sound of the fighting, was also quickly brought up. The enemy shooting was not bad, and in spite of the distance the rifle bullets of the infantry came very close whenever one of us exposed himself.

It soon grew dark; the firing increased and died down again, until suddenly heavy firing was heard from the direction of Goering’s detachment. Then there was silence. Goering’s detachment had surprised the enemy in the rear and stormed some stubbornly defended trenches. The retreating enemy was, however, not recognized as the enemy by another German detachment and got away. The night was unpleasantly cold; it was pouring with rain and our baggage had not yet come up. On the following day 3 enemy Europeans and 41 Askari were buried by us; 1 European and 6 Askari wounded, 1 European, 7 Askari and 28 other blacks unwounded were taken prisoner. Among the prisoners was the enemy Commander, Major Garrod, who commanded the half of the 2nd battalion 4th King’s African Rifles here. On our side, Sergeant-Major Nordenholz was shot through the head; 6 Askari and 1 machine-gun bearer were killed; 3 Europeans, 18 Askari and 4 machine-gun bearers were wounded; 40,000 rounds of ammunition and two light machine guns, in addition to hand-grenades, medical stores and large quantities of supplies, were captured. Among our wounded left behind in the clean, massively built houses was Lieutenant Ott, cheerful as ever. Fortunately, his wound was not so serious as was feared at first, but it was not possible to take him with us.

On August 25th I wanted at all costs to reach the camp of Regone. From captured papers I knew that valuable stores had been taken to Regone to be safe from us, including trench-mortar ammunition. Regone was probably, for the moment, still weakly garrisoned. In view of the proximity of the enemy columns it might, however, be assumed that August 26th would already be too late for a _coup de main_. The path led through a pass in the steep rocky hills. During the march our advance guard soon came upon the enemy and engaged him, while I, with the main force, passed round this enemy and marched direct on Regone. During the climb over the hilly country, where it was only possible to see a short distance ahead, two German detachments, mistaking each other for the enemy, nearly became engaged. The machine guns were already in position when the mistake was fortunately discovered.

We then advanced further over the hills, while below us, already considerably in the rear, could be heard the machine-gun fire of our advance guard. The march was so difficult, and as we could only cross the hills in single file, our column was so long that Regone, my objective for that day, was not nearly reached. As a matter of fact we had no exact idea where Regone was. Only the fact that we could see in the distance the converging of several paths led us to conclude that Regone must lie there. Half way to Regone we saw a large encampment of tents which I took to be the other half of the battalion which had marched from Regone to the support of Numarroe.

In pouring rain we had to pitch our camp in the bush. On the next day the camp we had observed had been struck. The Boma of Regone was held in considerable strength. An attack on this place over the bare hills offered no prospect of success, and we confined ourselves to skirmishes with patrols and single detachments. As I had seen from his papers, the enemy had given orders that we should be allowed to strike at Regone unhindered and then attacked in the flank or rear by the strong reserves which lay outside. It was therefore necessary to exercise particular caution, and the impetuosity with which Lieutenant Boell’s company, in spite of all these considerations, advanced on the Boma might have had serious consequences. Several enemy camps and columns outside the entrenchments were surprised by our fire and some supplies captured. The captured papers informed us of the approach of strong enemy columns from the south and south-east towards Regone. But there were also troops to the north; whether these were in the neighbourhood of Lioma-Malacotera or at Malema could not be ascertained. It was, however, certain that they were at hand and it was probable that they were approaching Regone, and that from the north.

As a _coup de main_ against Regone offered no prospect of success, and a prolonged enterprise, in view of the intervention to be expected from outside, could not be relied on, I determined to resume the march. On account of the obstacles formed by the rivers and swamps south of Lake Nyassa, the line of march I had formerly decided on to the west appeared ill-advised, especially as the enemy could, with the help of steamers and railways, easily concentrate and maintain a force there. A further march north seemed to me more practicable, passing the lake on the east; it seemed probable that our return to German East Africa would be a complete surprise to the enemy, who would take our objective to be the natural capital of this district, Tabora. Under this impression he might be expected, in order to save his main force the difficult overland march to Tabora, to withdraw to the Portuguese coast, take ship from there to Dar-es-Salaam, and proceed by rail to Tabora. These calculations were to a large extent realized. It was natural that, having reached the north end of Lake Nyassa, I should continue my march, not to Tabora but in another direction, probably west. In any case, the first thing was to reach the north end of the lake. This could not be done in less than a month and meanwhile the situation might alter considerably.

At Regone we observed the concentration of strong enemy forces, who examined our camps immediately after our departure but followed us only slowly. The country, with its numerous ravines and water-courses, was particularly favourable to us. On the way to Lioma a considerable enemy supply dump was captured, including a large quantity of tobacco. Müller’s detachment, which had gone on ahead to Lioma, soon reported the enemy occupation of this place, but could not obtain any exact information as to his strength. I reached this advance detachment on 30th August with the main force. The position of the enemy entrenchments in the thick bush had not yet been located with any exactness. Apparently he had only just arrived and had not yet completed his works. I therefore attacked immediately. The detachments of Müller and Goering marched round the enemy to take him from the north. Meanwhile the main force gradually closed in along several ravines in the forest.

In view of the lack of information I could get no clear picture of the situation. Suddenly lively firing was heard from the rear, where our carrier columns were still on the march. A strong enemy patrol had unexpectedly opened fire on our bearers. A great part of our baggage was lost. Captain Poppe, who with two companies was standing by in case I required him, was sent to attack. He could no longer find the patrol, but followed their line of retreat and came upon an entrenched camp which he immediately stormed. Sergeant-Major Schaffrath was severely wounded. These events were personally reported to me by Captain Poppe, who was brought back severely wounded in the chest. He reported that the enemy had been completely defeated, and that large captures of arms and ammunition had been made. The companies of Poppe’s detachment had pursued the fleeing enemy and come upon a fresh and larger camp. This same camp was also attacked from the north by Goering’s detachment, so that the enemy was taken under an effective cross fire. Meanwhile, a new enemy, advancing from the north-east, was held up by Müller’s detachment.

I did not get anything like a clear view of these different events until I personally reconnoitred the position long after dark. On one of these reconnaissances an enemy rifle-bullet, of which many were being fired, passed through the trousers of one of my companions (Hauter, of the Landsturm), struck my other companion, Lieutenant Besch, in the thigh and severed the artery. Fortunately we were near the dressing station. I was thus able to take leave of this officer, who had hitherto acted as Quartermaster and at the same time had undertaken the duties of orderly officer, with the knowledge that he would recover. His few possessions he gave to his companions together with his wishes for good luck for the future. I, too, was honoured with a handful of cigarettes. It was my habit to smoke continuously during serious fighting.

In the middle of the bush I met Lieutenant Von Ruckteschell with some bearers, on his stretcher which he was forced to use temporarily because of his wounded leg, which had not yet healed; he had kept the column together as far as possible during the long march and now, rifle in hand, was beaming with joy at the possibility of taking part in the engagement with the enemy patrol which appeared on the flank and in our rear. Part of our columns had lost their way in the thick bush and only found us some hours later. After nightfall the dressing station in a ravine had been filled with wounded. It was reported that Lieutenant Schroetter and Naval Lieutenant Freund had fallen. In a further patrol-attack, Sergeant-Majors Bolles and Hüttig accidentally came close to the enemy positions and were fired on suddenly; Bolles fell, Hüttig was captured, severely wounded. Sergeant-Major Thurmann had come within five yards of the enemy trenches, and being an excellent shot he repeatedly picked off from an ant-hill any of the enemy inside the camp who exposed himself, until he, too, received a mortal wound.

Captain Goering, regarding it as hopeless to storm the camp, did not attempt this and, after dark, withdrew the force, leaving only patrols in front of the enemy. The main force was thus collected in several groups north of the enemy camp, and I decided to evacuate the scene of action on the following day and march on.

By force of necessity we had to leave behind part of our sick and wounded, as well as the sick prisoners, in charge of an English medical officer, and at nine o’clock in the morning we began our march north in several columns. We had no guides; the country was quite unknown to us and I could only give the Commander of the advance guard general instructions that I intended to pass round one of the hills that lay before us to the north. Soon firing could be heard from the advance guard. It gradually became clear in the bush that our advance guard had turned against an enemy who had attacked in the rear from the left. The shooting was at close range, and from Headquarters, which was with the main body, seemed to come from a considerable force.

I sent back an Askari to lead the head of the main force to the place where I was. The position certainly invited us to catch the enemy between our advance guard and our main force, and overwhelm him. I waited, but our main force did not arrive. At last I ran back and saw from the tracks that the main force had been wrongly guided and had marched past us a long way to the side. On the other hand, I saw the head of Stemmermann’s detachment, to which the greater part of our columns and our sick belonged, in the very act of marching unwittingly straight into the enemy. There was just time to head off this detachment. I myself now joined the advance detachments of Müller and Goering, who had meanwhile continued their march further north. They were following a road which led up the hill and was then completely lost. I paid no further attention to the firing which I heard from time to time further to the rear. In the late afternoon I was astonished to notice that the rest of the troops had not followed the detachments of Müller and Goering, but were marching along the valley to our right. I had no idea that our column had meanwhile been fired on again by a new enemy from the east and that a great part of a field hospital had fallen into the enemy’s hands.

In order to bring the force together, I tried to descend from my hill. The descent, however, proved impossible; the rocks were steep, almost perpendicular. We continued along a native path, and evening was falling when Captain Müller reported that this path, too, ended abruptly in a precipice. Fortunately there was another small bypath. This we followed and succeeded in climbing down. Even here it was very steep in places, but the bare feet of the carriers gave them a good foothold and I, too, after taking off my boots, managed the descent. It was pitch dark and we had no water. At last, however, we found some, and a load fell from my heart when we came upon the rest of the force which, under General Wahle, had, on their side, been trying to join us. On the 30th and 31st of August, we had lost 6 Europeans, 23 Askari killed; 11 Europeans, 16 Askari wounded; 5 Europeans, 29 Askari missing; 5 Askari taken prisoner; 48,000 rounds of ammunition, important medical and surgical stores, a considerable number of rifle parts and the whole transport of Müller’s detachment had been lost. The enemy losses were also severe, as appeared from a casualty list of the 1st battalion 1st King’s African Rifles which was captured later. In addition to this battalion part of the 3rd battalion of this regiment and the 2nd King’s African Rifles had taken part in the fighting against us.

Our men fought brilliantly; some of the carriers, it is true, had been somewhat unnerved by the unexpected fire and more than 200 were missing. There was no news of Koehl’s detachment, but our leaders had become so experienced and skilled in bush warfare that there was no need for me to be anxious. On the next day, on arrival at our camp, we surprised an English supply column.

We then crossed the Cutea-Malema road on which enemy troops also appeared, and then crossed the Lurio river at Mtetere. An English requisitioning force fled and some supplies were captured. Here Koehl’s detachment rejoined the main force. They had followed the enemy who was following us and had ascertained that he was several battalions strong. We then marched down the Lurio to the fertile district of Mpuera. Here Sol (Sergeant-Major) Salim, who, during an earlier patrol expedition, had married a wife who had followed him faithfully, left her behind with her father, the local Jumbo, in view of her approaching confinement.

As there was plenty of food in this district, I gave our troops, who had been very exhausted by recent events, a day’s rest. It was necessary, anyhow, in the interests of our numerous invalids. Captain Koehl had been left behind with his company without transport so that he could do the enemy as much damage as possible. He reported that strong bodies of enemy troops had arrived in the neighbourhood and east of Mtetere. It was clear that for the time being the enemy was devoting his whole energies to pursuing us, and for that purpose had concentrated all his forces. On that account I did not think the moment favourable for some partial success, because it could not be exploited, and an action would have cost us wounded whom we could not take away with us. As my idea was to forage the district north of Luambala for food, I was unwilling to postpone the march thither any longer.

The day of rest, September 5th, was employed in completing our food supplies from the fertile region of Mpuera, and early on the 6th we continued our march in a northerly direction. It was to be assumed that the enemy would march downstream, and therefore in a north-easterly direction, in several columns. Our troops advanced in order of echelon through the bush, and I expected any moment to come across the most northerly of the enemy columns, but we crossed its probable course without discovering its tracks. About midday we were approaching our objective, a water-hole on Mount Hulua. Here our advance guard was shot at and before long a lively action was in progress. Captain Müller, in command of the advance guard, had stumbled on the rear of a hostile column which was marching north-east on a course making an acute angle with ours. He had immediately attacked the 2nd battalion 2nd King’s African Rifles, which was at the end of the column, and put it to flight, capturing the enemy’s field-hospital and his mule train.

I deployed Goering’s detachment on the right of Müller’s detachment, and it quickly threw back part of the opposing forces, but did not press on as the enemy deployed larger bodies—the 1st battalion of the 2nd King’s African Rifles and apparently parts of the 3rd battalion as well.

Our left wing, which had arrived in rolling, open country in its advance, and also collided with fresh hostile troops, had retired a few hundred yards and occupied a slight eminence, giving a field of fire of several hundred yards. I was not able to get a clear picture of the situation until I went from the right wing, where I had joined Goering’s detachment, back to the left.

The action was pretty violent and at length came to a standstill. We now heard the sound of trench-mortar fire coming from the rearguard, under Captain Spangenberg, whose arrival I was awaiting. The rearguard had beaten off the attack of another enemy column at Mpuera and driven part of it away in disorderly flight. In accordance with its instructions it had followed the main body at seven o’clock in the morning. It arrived on the battlefield about five in the afternoon, and I considered whether I ought not to throw in all my reserves to inflict a decisive defeat on the 2nd King’s African Rifles there and then on Mount Hulua. I gave up the idea, however. Time was very short, for there was only an hour to darkness, and I felt perfectly certain that very early next morning fresh hostile forces would appear on the scene. If we were to achieve a decisive victory it would certainly cost us appreciable losses, and I was anxious to avoid such losses in view of the small numbers—176 Europeans and 1,487 Askari—which our strength return of September 1, 1918, revealed. Lieutenant Wenig (Navy), who had been employed with his gun in Goering’s detachment, told me that he had taken over the command of that detachment, because all the other officers were incapacitated. Before long, Captain Goering, with a severe wound in the breast, and Lieutenant Boell, with one in the head, were brought to the dressing station.

Accordingly I would not commit our reserves to the confusion and uncertainty of a night battle in the bush, and determined to slip away from the battlefield in a north-westerly direction. It was soon quite dark and our progress was very slow in the thick, high grass. After going three miles we bivouacked. Our losses in the action of September 6th had been 5 Askari, 4 machine-gunners killed; 13 Europeans, 49 Askari, and 15 other natives wounded; 3 Europeans, 13 Askari, and 12 carriers missing; 3 Askari and 3 bearers captured. The enemy were seen to have some 10 Europeans and 30 Askari hit, while 8 Europeans and 45 Askari were captured; those of the prisoners who were sick or wounded, and our own more severely wounded, were left on the battlefield under the charge of English R.A.M.C. Documents captured later on at Mwembe showed that “Karturol” (abbreviation for “Column of the 2nd King’s African Rifles”) had heavy losses on the 6th September and was put out of action for a time.

The enemy did not molest our further progress. Captain Koehl had remained behind with his company to the west of Mpuera, in order to operate from the rear against the enemy and his communications. He followed our trail, having slight encounters at Milweberg with the 1st battalion of the 4th King’s African Rifles, which arrived at that point from the south on the 8th September. We moved in several columns right through the bush, a region rich in game. We even killed several buffaloes on the march. At Kanene we crossed the road that ran from Lake Amaramba to Mahua. The enemy had burnt down the store at Kanene, but we found ample supplies in the country itself, and the material condition of the troops would have been good, if only the influenza epidemic had not made such strides. About half had bronchial catarrh, and from three to six men in each company had inflammation of the lungs; as it was only possible for some eighty sick to be carried in the whole force, about twenty men suffering with slight inflammation of the lungs had to march at times. No satisfactory solution of the problem of transport of sick was to be found, short of abandoning the campaign; we could not simply leave the sick to die in the bush. This difficult position inevitably placed the greatest possible strain on the nerves of Surgeon-Major Taute, our splendid senior medical officer. It was the greatest good fortune that this officer, singularly gifted both in medicine and in organization, proved equal to his grave responsibility. We owe it to the measures adopted by him, as well as to the change of district and climate forced upon us by circumstances, that the epidemic soon abated. A number of Askari and other natives not in a fit state for heavy work followed the force slowly; many of them lost courage when they continually found our camping-places empty. A large number, however, caught up with us, especially when the force did one of its short marches, or was able (a rare occurrence enough) to take a day’s rest.