CHAPTER VIII

THE HALT AT NARUNGOMBE

Although the Germans had abandoned their position at Narungombe, the severe losses which they had inflicted upon the British were out of all proportion to any advantages which the latter could claim to have secured. The check, too, impressed the British command with the difficulty of dealing with the enemy unless the pursuit could be rendered not only rapid but continuous, and above all with the fact that an adequate supply of water was the hinge upon which all future operations must turn. At Narungombe the very machine-guns of the Gold Coast Regiment had for a time been put out of action through lack of water wherewith to cool the jackets, and the men in the firing-line had been cruelly tortured by thirst during the greater part of that day. After the fight at Narungombe, therefore, the column under General Beves’ command remained in camp at that place to refit. There reinforcements speedily arrived, and General Hannyngton, returning from sick-leave, presently resumed command of the force. A large fortified camp was established; a space to the north of it was cleared and made into an aerodrome; supplies of every description were accumulated; and all things were made as ready as circumstances permitted for a renewed advance. Meanwhile no forward movement was attempted from July 20th to September 17th, a delay during two precious months of the dry season which unfortunately gave the enemy also time to rest and reorganize, to complete his preparations for further resistance to the advance, and to accumulate supplies at his advanced bases and depôts. It was desired, however, that General Hannyngton’s new advance should form part of a much larger scheme; and its timing, so as to ensure co-operation with another column whose movements will be described in the following paragraph, imposed perhaps a longer period of inactivity than was necessary merely for the purpose of refitting.

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

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

The position at Narungombe, which as we have seen is situated on a main road that runs north and south some thirty miles to the east of the highway that leads from Kilwa Kivinje to Liwale, was as follows. The enemy had retired down the former of these roads to Mihambia, which is distant only twelve miles from Narungombe, and where there are another set of water-holes; and he had established here his main advanced position. From the high-road at Mihambia, a footpath leads west to a place called Kitiia, three miles away, where four tracks meet. One of these runs for five miles in a westerly direction till a ravine, which bears the name of Liwinda, is struck; one runs south-east to rejoin the high-road at Mpingo five miles south of Mihambia, and northward to Mikikole, which is some five and a half miles off. At Mikikole the Gold Coast Regiment had an outpost; and from this place footpaths lead, one north-west to Narungombe; one east to a point on the main road four and a half miles south of Narungombe, occupied by the company of the 2nd Battalion of the King’s African Rifles, to which the name of Gregg’s Post was given; and a third in a south-westerly direction, crossing Liwinda Ravine, and running on to some water-holes nine miles further off near the native village of Mbombomya, and thence to Ndessa. This latter place and Mnitshi on the high-road, some ten miles south of Mihambia, were at this time the principal advanced bases and supply depôts of von Lettow-Vorbeck’s forces in this portion of the territory, though at neither of them had any fortification been attempted. On a hill near Mpingo, however, the enemy had established a signal-station.

The country hereabouts is for the most part a wide expanse of undulating flat, studded with frequent trees, smothered in thick, and often tall grass, and broken here and there by patches of dense bush. At this season of the year it was waterless, save for a few ponds spattered very sparsely over the face of the land. Bush-fires had been raging intermittently for weeks, and in many places the country was bare and blackened. Though now and again glades occur among the trees, it is rarely possible to obtain an extended view in any direction; and though the vegetation did not impede the movements of troops so completely as it does in real tropical forest country, the character of the locality gave great advantages to a force whose main object was to fight a delaying campaign, and presented proportionate disadvantages to the force that aimed at enveloping its enemy. The British were further hampered by their ignorance of the district, and above all by the scarcity of water. Aeroplanes were being used, and by them bombs were frequently dropped upon the German camp at Ndessa; but for the most part the efforts of the airmen illustrated the eternal triumph of hope over experience. Even when to the landsman’s eye the country appeared to be fairly open, the whole area, seen from above, was revealed as one continuous expanse of grass and tree-tops, devoid of all distinguishing landmarks. It was difficult, in such circumstances, to pick out even well-known localities, while the detection of small posts established by the enemy in the bush, and carefully screened from observation, was for the most part impossible. The infantry patrols had generally to smell out such danger-points for themselves.

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

Throughout this district ant-bears abound, and their holes, which are ubiquitous, are often large enough to admit of the entrance of a man.

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

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

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

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

Liwinda Ravine was reached without incident, but though pits were sunk to a depth of 20 feet not a drop of water could be found. The establishment of a water depôt at this place formed, however, an essential feature of General Hannyngton’s plan for the advance which he was about to undertake; and on the 10th September big water-troughs fashioned of rubber, measuring some 20 feet in length, 3 feet in width, 15 inches in depth, were sent to the Ravine on the heads of carriers. Water was also conveyed thither in the long tins to which in India the name of _pakhal_ is given, each of which is a load for two men. Only two of the troughs reached their destination in a water-tight condition; and this attempt to establish a water depôt proved a laborious job which only met with a qualified measure of success.

Meanwhile Captain Methven, with a patrol of twenty men, had gone on a scouting expedition to the south-east, in order to try to ascertain the exact position of the enemy’s camp and supply depôt at Mnitshi. This, and two subsequent patrols in the direction of the main road, undertaken by Lieutenant Woods, were perilous little reconnaissances penetrating deep into the country occupied by the enemy, and they were very far from commending themselves to the native headman, who was impressed to act as guide. He was an ancient African, very wizened and emaciated, who in camp sported a soiled Mohammedan robe, to which as a Pagan he had no right, with an European waistcoat worn buttoned-up outside it. In the bush he reverted to a dingy loin-cloth wound sparsely about his middle. His anxiety to preserve his skin intact, amid admittedly adverse circumstances, altogether outstripped his regard for truth; and when he had guided Captain Methven to an eminence overlooking Mpingo, he unhesitatingly declared that place to be Mnitshi, which, as a matter of fact, lies five miles further to the south along the main road which leads from Mihambia to Mpingo. This had for him the satisfactory effect of shortening the distance to be covered by the patrol, and of proportionately diminishing its dangers; but Captain Methven reported to Headquarters that he was uncertain how far his guide was to be relied upon, and expressed doubt as to whether the place identified as Mnitshi was indeed that enemy supply depot.

On the 13th September Lieutenant Woods took a small patrol through the bush to a point on the main road south of Mihambia, and on his way back he came across water-holes near Mbombomya. As Captain Methven considered it important that a more detailed examination should be made, Lieutenant Woods returned to these water-holes next day. As he approached them, however, and when he and his patrol and the ancient guide were in a patch of grass that was not more than waist-high, the enemy suddenly appeared from a camp which he had in the interval constructed in a cup-like hollow on the top of a piece of rising ground overlooking the water-holes. Shots were forthwith exchanged, and Woods, seeing that his small party was in a fair way to be surrounded by the enemy, who were at least one company strong, shouted to his men to disperse and to get back to their camp as best they might. Meanwhile, he himself very pluckily ran at top speed and in full view of the enemy, as straight as he could go for the water-holes and the German camp, secured a good view of both, and then plunged into a patch of thick bush, in which he succeeded in eluding his pursuers. He and all his patrol eventually made their way back to the Ravine, one man and one stretcher-bearer only being missing. Of the soldier nothing more was heard, but the stretcher-bearer was picked up many days later, very emaciated and with a bullet-wound in his leg, having crawled through the bush nearly as far to the south and west as Ndessa. The ancient African, who had vanished the moment the enemy appeared, had slipped into an ant-bear’s hole, and had there passed the night. He returned to the camp in the Ravine on the following morning.

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

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

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

The orders issued to No. 1 Column, to which the Regiment was attached, were that Mihambia should be attacked on the morning of September 19th by the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the King’s African Rifles, with one and a half companies of the Gold Coast Regiment, the 27th Mountain Battery and the Stokes Battery. In order to prevent reinforcements reaching the enemy at Mihambia, a force under Colonel Rose, consisting of the Headquarters, the Battery, and two companies of the Gold Coast Regiment, was to proceed on the morning of the attack to the junction of the track from Ndessa and the water-holes, near Mbombomya, with that from Mnitshi, at a spot situated about two and a half miles to the south of the camp at Liwinda Ravine. It was also intended that while, on the 19th September, No. 1 Column was attacking the enemy on the Mihambia-Mbombomya-Mnitshi area, No. 2 Column should take up a position on the right from whence to deliver an attack upon Ndessa on the morning of September 20th, for the purpose of cutting off his retreat toward the south, and this operation would be supported by the reserve of “Hanforce,” as the force under the command of General Hannyngton was always called.

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

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