| Primary
Source |
| Imperialism |
Colonial Policy | [P|S|M] |
Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas mit Jahrbuch (Atlas German Colonies, with Yearbook),
edited by the German Colonial Society, 1918, The
War in Deutsch-Südwestafrika
|
The War in Deutsch-Südwestafrika
(p.18) In Deutsch-Südwestafrika the white Schutztruppe of almost 1,800 men, in
addition the police force of 500 white dependents could be disposed of. In
addition reservists c. 3,500 strong could be mobilized from the settler
population.
On the other side, the Union of South Africa mobilized c. 60,000 men, equipped
with all equipments of modern warfare, for instance with more than 2000 motor
vehicles. Deutsch-Südwestafrika was informed of events in Germany via the radio
telegraph station at Kamina (Togo). After this was destroyed, news had to be
transmitted directly, which was successfully done in part.
On the German side, in consideration of the small forces at disposal, and of the
long borders, at first adopted a policy of wait-and-see. The Boer risings under
Delarey and Dewet prevented the Union from taking early action, so that August
1914 went by peacefully. The British side undertook a raid on the German station
Ramansdrift on the Oranje River on September 15th. The German response was to
take prisoner the British garrisons of Stolzenfels, Nakab and Rietfontein. The
German commander withdrew his forces on purpose to lure the enemy forces into a
trap. On September 26th they succeeded in cutting off a British force of 300 men
and, after a determined skirmish, to force their surrender. After this defeat,
the enemy, for the time being, terminated his attack from the south; the main
push now came from Lüderitzbucht, where, under the protection of gunboats, the
enemy had landed 8000 men on September 19th. The German garrison had withdrawn
to Aus on the line Lüderitzbucht-Keetmanshoop. There it prepared a strong
position, out of which it later was not expelled, but which it "marched
out".
In the meantime the well-known incident at Naulila occurred, where several
German officials and officers had been murdered by the Portuguese military
(p.19). The punishment expedition under Major Franke invaded Angola and defeated
the Portuguese forces near Naulila and stormed that fort. At the same time the
German Schutztruppe suffered a heavy blow, when the Schutztruppe commander, Lt.
von Heydebreck, died after an accident. Major Franke, returning from Angola, was
appointed his successor.
In the meantime, nothing had happened on the British front. The enemy repeatedly
had taken the undefended city of Swakopmund under fire, and further was fully
occupied with the suppression of the Boer rising. From Lüderitzbucht the
British attempted to repair the destroyed Lüderitzbuchtbahn, which did not
prevent the Germans to repeatedly penetrate into the diamond fields.
On December 15th one of the two pilots in the protectorate registered that the
enemy began to move forward from Lüderitzbucht, and already the next day 5
squadrons attacked German outposts 100 km distant from the coast. On December
24th ships appeared off Walvis Bay, which earlier had been occupied by the
Germans. Large numbers of troops were landed and Botha, who had taken over
command of the campaign and who established his headquarters at Walvis Bay,
immediately began with the construction of a railway connecting Walvis Bay and
Swakopmund. Because of these events as well as because of the advance of South
African troops from Bechuanaland the position in the south of the protectorate
became untenable, when the enemy advanced in eastern and northeastern direction.
The south was exacuated, war supplies transported off northward. Railways and
watering places were destroyed, if possible; cattle was driven northward. In
consideration of the superiority in numbers of the Union force, which at times
numbered to 60,000 men, it always was capable of overtaking the small
Schutztruppe detachments and to force their retreat. Still, the Schutztruppe
detachments repeatedly succeeded in inflicting losses on the enemy. In April
1915 the detachment von Kleist attempted to halt, near Berseba, the enemy
advancing from the southern railroad. They succeeded in surprising Berseba, but
the event did not have a lasting impression on the enemy operations. On April
27th the entire detachment von Kleist almost was encircled to the north of
Gibeon, by a superior force. Still the Schutztruppe succeeded in breaking
through, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. They retreated northward. The
further retreat was unmolested. Because of utter exhaustion and lack of supplies
the enemy had to slow down.
In the meantime the Bastards had risen. They left their main settlement,
Rehoboth, and began plundering the German farms in the districts and to murder
the German farmers. Troops also had to be sent against them.
The enemy, asvancing from the base at Swakopmund, in mid February 1915 raided
the camp of the coast protection companies near Felseneck on the Swakop, just
when a part of the company was out on reconnaissance patrol. The companies were
withdrawn to Stinkbank. 2 companies and a battery which had returned from the
Angola expedition, were sent to enforce the troops standing near Ried. Between
Otavi Railroad and Swakop a position was fortified which served to irritate the
enemy. At the end of February the enemy attacked with a force of 7 to 8000
rifles and 5 batteries (against 360 rifles, 4 modern, 6 outdated artillery
pieces and 6 machine guns). Moving around in a wide circleb in the north, the
enemy intended to cut off the position, and to force it to surrender after an
artillery barrage. The attack on the other part of the position failed; yet it
had to be
abandoned, so that the enemy had surmounted the Namib girdle around Swakopmund.
Thus, Windhuk was immediately threatened, and the troop detachment decided to
abandon the place, in order to withdraw further to the north. Supplies were
brought to Tsumeb; the governor and his administration staff moved to
Grootfontein. After the skirmish at the Swakop position, the enemy remained
there, but fiercely worked on repairing the destroyed Otavi Railroad. In order
to prevent him to push through to Windhuk before the troops had departed, an
attack on the railroad construction tete at Trekkopje on the Otavi Railroad was
ordered, and undertaken by 5 companies and 3 batteries. Yet the enemy had
observed the advance, and, being enforced, had dug in. As even during the
skirmish further strong enforcements arrived by rail and in armed vehicles, the
skirmish had to be broken off. On May 4th the South Africans succeeded in
occupying Karibib.
In the meantime negotiations had been begun between the governor and Botha
aiming at a truce. Because Bothas demands corresponded neither with the
situation in Europe nor with that in the protectorate, they had to be broken off
without result. In the days after the unsuccessful negotiations the enemy
remained inactive. On the German side preparations were made to eventually
withdraw beyond Tsumeb to Namutoni and in case to withdraw into Owamboland
(p.20). Now the enemy began his last push northward from Omaruru and Okahandja
in a way which could not have been expected according to previous experience.
This time he did not depend on the railroad for supplies, but on his park of
motor vehicles, to supply his 25,000 troops. The Schutztruppe, depending on the
slow ox-carts, and with animals totally exhausted because of the lack of food
concentrate, was powerless compared to such a mobility. Any possibility to
further retreat northward was no more given, because then it had to abandon its
last major asset, the Otavi Railroad. A left enemy column 4000 strong marched
via Omaruru and Outjo to Namutoni. It met almost no resistance, because their
was nothing which could have been laid in their way. Because of its vehicle
park, against expectations, it could cover the distance of 240 km between Outjo
and Namutoni in merely 2 days. Botha himself with 15,000 men moved to the left
and right of the Otavi Railroad until Otavi, then to Otavifontein, and there he
attacked the Schutztruppe with a largely superior force. In order not to be cut
off, the Schutztruppe had to retreat, while fighting, to the main position at km
513. The enemy right wing, 4000 strong, closed in from Okahandja via Eaterberg
to Tsumeb. Here the left cover of the German position had to be withdrawn in
order not to be encircled, as it did not dispose of any artillery any more.
Considering the situation, the governor saw no other option than to suggest
renewed negotiations to Botha, who could simply have starved out this last
German position, after the enemy's left column in the meantime must have closed
in on Namutoni and the rear magazines and stores thus could not be saved any
more.
On July 6th, in the presence of the Schutztruppe commander, the governor entered
in negotiations with Botha in Otavi. A truce was arranged. On July 9th the
Schutztruppe, at a strength of 3400 men, surrendered under honourable
conditions. Active soldiers of Schutztruppe and police force were allowed to
keep rifles, officers even rifles, ammunition and horses.
The active Schutztruppe force and police force, of 1400 men, was interned.
We are only badly informed about the political and economic conditions in Südwestafrika,
due to the ban on news imposed by the enemy. The country suffered, as the South
Africans, at least temporarily, transported civilians off to South Africa as
prisoners. However, a lively trade between the Union and Südwestafrika seems to
have developed, from which the German farmers settling in the country have
benefitted.
|
|
Source:
Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas mit Jahrbuch, (Atlas German Colonies, with
Yearbook), edited by P. Sprigade und M. Moisel, Surveys and retrospects
by Dr. Karstedt. Berlin 1918, p.18ff. |
GM
(digitalisation) and AG
(translation)
posted on the web for psm-data;
many thanks to
Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin / Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Kartenabteilung
Dokument in deutscher
Sprache
|
|
|
