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 neighbourhood. The Depôt Company still remained at Mpara, between Kilwa Kivinje and Kilwa Kisiwani, 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.

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 mentioned 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 11th, 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 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.

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 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 direction of their fire. At the end of that time a luckless 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 Lieutenant 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 11th April. The bearer of the flag of truce admitted the heavy losses which the enemy had sustained on that 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 Regiment took over the outposts hitherto held by the Pathans; Captain Greene and the Pioneer Company joined the Regiment in camp; and at 7 p.m. a cable party was sent out to restore communication 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 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 supplied men for the 40th Pathans. Precisely what happened on this day does not concern us here. That the veterans of the 40th Pathans fought gallantly 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 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. Immediately 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 admirably, 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 Company and about a dozen men of the Battery, he placed half under the Sergeant-Major of A Company 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 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 successfully 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 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 himself 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 Company, 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 Rumbo. 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 two 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 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 Captain 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 harbour 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 apprehension. Even the Depôt 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.

For the rest of the month the Regiment remained 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-commissioned 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 prolonged 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 members of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and one being in charge of the transport. It may be accounted 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 Coast Regiment remained in camp at Rumbo, making the usual daily patrols, and on one occasion taking part in a reconnaissance in force, in conjunction 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 detachment at Beaumont’s Post; but by the end of May there were eleven combatant and two medical officers with the Regiment,—a material improvement, 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 11th April, and that a similar distinction had been conferred upon Captain Foley, commanding the Battery, for services rendered in the engagement at Rumbo, when supporting 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_. Intelligence was also received that Lieutenant Piggott had been awarded the silver medal of the Italian Order of San Maurico.

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 11th 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 Lieutenant 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 detachment 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 to Rumbo from Beaumont’s Post with the rest of I Company, after patrolling the Magaura 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 Lingaula Ridge was attacked by an enemy patrol, which was driven off with the 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.