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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15802-8.txt b/15802-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2398680 --- /dev/null +++ b/15802-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2446 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, With Botha in the Field, by Eric Moore Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: With Botha in the Field + + +Author: Eric Moore Ritchie + +Release Date: May 9, 2005 [eBook #15802] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Carol David, Debra Storr, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15802-h.htm or 15802-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802/15802-h/15802-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802/15802-h.zip) + + + + + +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD + +by + +MOORE RITCHIE + +With Five Diagrams and Eighty-two Illustrations mostly by the Author + +Longmans, Green and Co. +39 Paternoster Row, London +Fourth Avenue and 30th Street, New York +Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras + +1915 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: The Author] + + + + +J.B. + +LIEUTENANT, HIS MAJESTY'S IMPERIAL FORCES, + +IF THIS SHOULD CATCH THE EYE OF: + +CHER AMI,--TO YOU: + +IN MEMORY OF DAYS. + +YOURS, + +M.R. + + + + +[Illustration: The only photo of the meeting of General Botha and +General Smuts in the field just before Windhuk was taken] + + + + +FOREWORD + +The ungentle reader (upon whom a malediction) will discover that this +little book is not by any means exhaustive. But the gentle reader may +find it to be what I hope it is. For him I wrote it. + +Europe at the present time is lacerated in the greatest war of which +man has knowledge. Compared with the doings in the Eastern and Western +Fronts, in the Austro-Italian Theatre, or in the Dardanelles, the +campaign of South Africa must take a modest place. + +My idea is simply to make clear to the public (for example, all names I +mention will be easily found on my diagrams, drawn from a German fully +detailed map, the best of the South-West African Protectorate in +existence) of gentle and patriotic readers something of the latter-day +work of a gentleman and a patriot, justly famed amongst peoples with +whom integrity and honour are still esteemed sovereign virtues. + +"The Nonggai," +Pretoria, S. Africa, +August 1915. + + + +[Illustration: General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front] + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CHASING THE REBELS + +I KEMP AND BEYERS II DE WET III KEMP'S ESCAPE IV FOURIE + +PART II + +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA + +I THE PRELIMINARY CANTER II THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT III +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK IV THE LAST PHASE + +APPENDIX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +The Author + +The only photo of the meeting of General Botha and General Smuts in the +field just before Windhuk was taken + +General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front + +Diagram of Campaign + +Group of Rebel Leaders + +Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet + +The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the Orange River after +him + +Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. December 16, 1914 + +Diagram of Nooitgedacht + +General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after the crushing +of the Rebellion + +Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange Free State + +Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing + +Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front + +Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur + +Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard fraternised +aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South African + +Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa + +Awaiting landing from the Transport + +Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, German South-West +Africa + +Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis + +Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the Red Cross +Sisters + +General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection. (The famous +Brigadier-General Brits, who trekked to Namutoni, is the fourth figure +from the right.) + +Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with the Red Cross +Sisters + +Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. Start for 100 +yards race + +Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner + +Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right + +Swakopmund: Centre + +Swakopmund: Extreme Left + +Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent + +Looking for Water in the River Bed + +A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch + +Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns + +On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a hair-cut + +Action at Riet + +An unique picture of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his +Staff reconnoitring + +After Riet water in blessed profusion + +A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa + +Typical captured German Infantry + +The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells + +The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at the old German +capital + +The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was priced beyond Silver + +The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the Trek + +A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek + +The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff lunching + +The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party after return + +German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib + +Karibib + +Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau + +The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk + +Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the Germans' usual +practice of blowing up railway bridges + +Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South African Engineer +Corps Construction Party aboard + +At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes after occupation + +At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed troops from the +Rathaus + +At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors awaiting entry + +At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters with the +Governor of Windhuk + +At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter + +At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises + +The great Wireless Station at Windhuk + +Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching + +The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight over German +positions + +At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law and order + +The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, Windhuk + +The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk + +Panorama of Windhuk + +Picturesque Windhuk + +Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless Station + +How the Germans started to try trading with us ten minutes after we +entered the Capital. Note the spelling + +The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car through the thick +sand + +The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up bridges. Here is +a fine specimen + +General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first men there taken +under the flag hauled down by us + +Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his staff + +The Fork that Caught the Germans + +The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender was made. A vast +ant-hill at 500 Kilometres + +South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender + +The Last Phase. The German white flag train just arriving + +The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 Kilometres + +The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home + +The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did so much in the +final brilliant movement + +The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released + +The German Staff before surrender + +General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel J.F. Collier, +meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres + +The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, receives an +ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them + +Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a +tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the successful +conclusion of the Rebellion and the Campaign + +Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the _Ebari_ + +The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning to the Union +after Conquest + + + +[Illustration: Diagram of Campaign] + + +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD + + + +PART I + + + + +CHASING THE REBELS + + + +SECTION I + + +KEMP AND BEYERS + +Six weeks after the war-cloud smashed over Europe a man called on me. +He was an old friend; but the point about him is that at that +particular time I fancied him on his farm at least a thousand miles +away. + +"Hello!" I said in surprise. "Why this sudden appearance?" + +"This is going to be a big thing, my boy. I am off 'Home.' They will +need us all." + +It impressed me. He was a person calm and methodical minded, and, like +so many good men, he has been dead now many months. His words, which +have proved true, were the first to turn my mind definitely to +war-thoughts. Besides, the man whose trade is writing has always, when +events are stirring, the itch to go, look and note. + +In the branch of the Union Service to which I belong--the South African +Police--none but Reservists could then proceed to Europe; but when +General Botha announced that he himself would take command of the +Expeditionary Force to German South-West Africa, a Bodyguard from the +South African Police was decided upon, volunteers came forward, and on +this unit I had the honour to serve. + +The intention of the Union Authorities was to push forward with the +German West Campaign as quickly as possible. The Rebellion delayed +operations roughly some three months--a period during which some +exceedingly severe marchings and stiff rifle actions took place. I +mention this deliberately, for in the stir of well-won applause +following the victorious end of the Campaign proper, the preliminary +canter of the Rebellion is perhaps somewhat forgotten. + +It does not seem, in the light of later information, strictly true to +say that the Rebellion of 1914 broke upon the Union of South Africa in +a manner wholly unexpected. But its ultimate development and extent did +cause both surprise and great uneasiness. The details of its various +activities over the country are by this time stale history. Leaving +comment of a political nature alone, I confine myself briefly to the +movements which, performed by General Botha and the loyalist troops, +were so swift and accurate in their workings that they broke the back +of the main risings before more than local disorganisation and the +least possible amount of bloodshed had been achieved. + +On the 12th of October the Bodyguard for the German South-West Campaign +assembled for field practices, etc., at Pretoria. On the 20th we heard +that we should be leaving at an hour's notice, presumably for the +South-West. The following day wild and disquieting rumours began to +circulate from early morning. Maritz had gone into rebellion. +Motor-cars sped all forenoon between General Botha's house close to us +and the Union Defence Headquarters. Our camp was full of alarms. The +police of Pretoria became suddenly twice as many about the streets. +Towards evening it was positively stated that plots were afoot aiming at +nothing less than the life of General Botha; and the Main Guard, which +had been mounted at the General's house from the day of the Bodyguard's +formation, was doubled. Not a soul was allowed within or around the +modest grounds of the house without challenge at the point of the bayonet +and presentment of the countersign. It will be long before memory loses +the picture of those evenings, when through the lighted windows of the +left wing of the house the Main Guard first and second reliefs got a view +of a familiar ample figure in anxious consultations at a table upon which +the electric light cast a mellow glow. + +The next day, the 22nd of October, rumour gave way to fact. Rebellion +had definitely broken out in the Transvaal and the Free State; Beyers, +the ex-Commandant General, Kemp and others were leading in the +Transvaal; the names of De Wet and Wessel Wessels were coupled with the +Free State. For the second time within a year unhappy South Africa +heard rumours of imminent Martial Law proclamations. + +Monday morning, the 26th, arrived and found us still waiting; then the +Bodyguard got twenty minutes' notice and entrained, horses, kits and +everything for Rustenburg. We arrived there at five o'clock the +following morning, and started at once in pursuit of rebel commandos +which were led by Kemp and Beyers. Before starting, General Botha over +a cup of coffee had an anxious consultation with his loyal commandants +who had arrived to meet him. Throughout the day we trekked, with one +brief halt only, and "outspanned" that night near Oliphant's Nek. +During the day the loyal commandos located the rebels without much +difficulty; they were routed in all directions, and some eighty were +captured. At two o'clock in the morning we continued the trek, stopped +in the forenoon on the railway line at Derby (close to Drakfontein, the +scene of the British disaster to Benson's Horse during the South +African War), and pushing on in the evening to Koster, learnt from +incoming scouts that Kemp had escaped capture by minutes only. The +direction of his flight was questionable at the time. + +Returning to Pretoria, we remained there for a few days. The whole town +was in a state of remarkable tension. The police were armed. Armed +volunteers were called for. Loyalists were training after working hours +in batches on various open spaces. It was freely whispered that the +German South-West Campaign would be given up, so formidable was the +threatened opposition to it.... I am writing this much less than a year +later: and Windhuk has fallen, the Germans have surrendered their +territory, and thousands of burghers and volunteers are returning to +their homes. + +On the 2nd of November we left Pretoria again. More trouble was brewing +at Brits, close to Pretoria. We trekked straightway to Zoutpan's Drift, +the commandos again pursuing a body of rebels who, cutting through the +railway line, had caused damage at De Wilts or Greyling's Post, twenty +miles or so outside the Union capital. Quite unwilling to make a stand, +the insurgents were again put to flight, and General Botha returned to +Pretoria the following day. In the meantime other loyalist columns in +the Transvaal had taken to the field, and the rebellion seemed well in +hand. + + + +SECTION II + + +DE WET + +Compared with the Free State insurrection, the Transvaal affair +appeared in many ways to be a small business from our point of view. In +actuality it was nothing of the kind. It was, if anything, much more +ugly in spirit. The genius of the Free State section of insurgents +displayed itself chiefly in a highly finished exposition of lying, +looting and "legging it." + +De Wet's delirious harangue had not exhausted its nine-days' life as a +masterpiece of unconscious humour when General Botha left Pretoria for +the Free State on November 9. Again, I am not concerned with the highly +complex motives which prompted the veteran Dutch General to make his +delightful "Five Bob Outrage" speech and other things at Vrede. +Flogging dead horses is a useless job, anyway. + +During the journey to the Free State, our guard en the train was +extremely strict. Though every possible precaution of secrecy had been +taken, we were positively told to be prepared to find the train fired +upon. But, if during such journeys preparedness was doubtless essential +in the circumstances, it always seemed to me that we, or any one so +placed, were pretty powerless to avert disaster should a properly +directed shot from the darkness find its mark. + +On November 11 we detrained at Theunissen, in the Free State. It was +speedily clear that this part of the world was in the grip of +disturbance. Telegraph poles all along the line had been wrecked; an +amount of mild pillaging had been going on. The people of Theunissen +were almost in panic. The two fights--one against Conroy, at Allaman's +Kraal, the other and larger, against De Wet, at Doornberg--had been +enormously magnified. General Botha was welcomed in genuine relief. We +remained at arms in the train during the first part of the night. At 2 +a.m. we were roused, and in less than half an hour were on the way +across country to Winburg. + +The arrival at the little railhead dorp of Winburg was remarkable. +Scarcely were we halted and hand put to loosen girth before the +loyalist leaders came running out in the morning sunshine to meet us. +De Wet had left the place two hours before, disappearing with his +following over the first kopje. He had caused absolute panic. His +forces had cut the inhabitants off from all touch with the outer world. +De Wet had commandeered all food supplies worth having. Houses had been +looted and speeches were made in the marketplace. His followers had +assured the people that the Empire was tottering, Germany had defeated +Britain on land and sea, a hundred thousand were marching on Pretoria, +and that Botha and his Government were defeated and disgraced. And +these statements were to a large extent believed. + +It was but natural. Cut off the wire and rail communication of a South +African veld town and you have isolation in the most thorough sense. In +such a place at such a time mere statement may seem quite possibly the +truth. + +Towards evening we got news of the rebels, and a night-march was +ordered. As we left the town the loyal people lined the streets, the +fellows in the columns whistled "Tipperary," and we got a rousing +farewell. + +[Illustration: Group of Rebel Leaders] +[Illustration: Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet] + +General Botha is celebrated amongst fighting men for many things, and +his night-marching is one of them. He appears to believe to the fullest +extent in night-marching. He had located De Wet at a place called +Mushroom Valley, and parts of the Commander-in-Chief's forces had been +sent to make a surrounding movement. During the all-night trek from +Winburg to Mushroom Valley I had a first thorough experience of the +true horrors of sleep-fighting. It was bitterly cold--cold as the Free +State night on the veld knows how to be. And we could not smoke, could +not talk above a faint murmur, and nodded in our saddles. The clear +stars danced fantastically in the sky ahead of us, and the ground +seemed to be falling away from us into vast hollows, then rising to our +horses' noses ready to smash into us like an impalpable wall. After +midnight, outspanning in a piercing wind, we formed square; main guard +was posted over the General's car, and those lucky enough to escape +turn of duty huddled together under cloaks and dozed fitfully until +two-thirty. From two-thirty till sunrise we trekked on. Suddenly, just +after good daylight, the Staff halted the column, glasses were put up, +and away we swung half right into the veld. Up came the artillery and +opened fire on a cluster of ant-sized figures four thousand yards ahead +beneath the shoulder of a kopje. Had the thing not contained the very +germ of tragedy it would have been laughable to see the way those +figures scattered over the red veld. It was De Wet's commandos caught +napping. Just before the shell fire our burghers had gone out ahead +hell-for-leather on either flank. The whole column then advanced. After +two hours' pretty hot work the action was over. We lost six killed +against the rebels' twenty-two, and with twenty wounded on our side the +rebel losses were proportionate. We took upwards of three hundred +prisoners, De Wet himself escaping by the merest fluke. He lost all his +transport, and generally ceased after the action to be a serious +menace. + +During the operations against De Wet I watched, when possible, the +demeanour of the quiet South African patriot with whom fate had placed +me in the field. I had last seen him many years before, gravely bowing +from under a silk hat to a crowd that swayed and cheered as he drove +through the streets of Manchester. And now duty found him in the field +against an old comrade-in-arms. There was a sadness, there was a +profound pathos about it. No wonder if to me it seemed that General +Botha looked downcast indeed, if stern as well, during the Rebellion. +Life, surely, was not dealing too fairly by him. + +Following Mushroom Valley, we trekked, with two brief outspans only, to +Clocolan, all the time scattering De Wet's followers. At Clocolan we +paused for one day, entrained men and horses and reached Kimberley, via +Bloemfontein, on the 18th of November. The following day rebel +activities were reported in the direction of Bloemhof; but after an +eventless journey we returned to Kimberley on the 21st. + + + +SECTION III + + +KEMP'S ESCAPE + +It was at Kimberley that news came through that Kemp was making a +desperate cross-country trek to get into German territory in the +Upington neighbourhood. A reference to a map will show that Upington, +on the Orange River, is on the extreme western borders of the Union; +and it must be said that the trek which Kemp and the remnant of his +moderate force, poorly mounted and equipped, had made since being +routed by General Botha on the 27th of October (a month before) stands +as a remarkable piece of work. We pushed on to Prieska, via De Aar, and +reached Upington, on the scarcely completed new line from Prieska, on +the 25th of November. The journey over the desert stretch from Prieska +to Upington was full of alarms; during the night the train halted in +the lonely veld owing to a washaway, and we stood to arms, throwing out +cossack-posts around the train wherein the Commander-in-Chief slept. It +was tremendously exciting work. + +The old town of Upington was transformed in those days. Around the +Dutch Reformed Church, standing peaceful and dazzling white in the +torrid sun, were tents, wagons, horses, motor-cars, signalling-parties, +despatch-riders and infantry. Away over the hard red sand dunes to the +north was the action zone, and from that direction every five minutes +came sweating motor despatch-riders, who tore along to Headquarters. +The following day news came through that the Imperial Light Horse and +the Natal Carbineers had been engaging Kemp before and since dawn; +almost cornered, he was making a final dash for the border to get into +German South-West. It was an anxious time; each minute brought a fresh +rumour as to the fighting and the thousands of men Kemp had got +together for his desperate move. Our staff returned before dark, +reporting an eventless day, with intermittent fighting. On the 28th the +Staff went out in motors as far as Rooidam. They returned with bad news +in the early afternoon. After a prolonged rearguard action Kemp had +succeeded, taking over to the Germans with him a force which was said +to be far greater than had been supposed. (Need I add that after events +showed there had been gross exaggeration?) + +I offer, with reserve, the following ingenious explanation of Kemp's +escape; it was told me later by several who saw the action. Near the +end of his terrific trek through from the North-Western Transvaal to +the German outpost for which he was making, Kemp was hotly pursued by +the loyalist troops. His men were exhausted. Half of them were +dismounted. All his horses were spent. In these conditions he was +forced to the most trying form of fight--the rearguard and flank +action. With his goal practically right ahead, he reached three of the +parallel large sand dunes with which the veld around Upington is +scattered. They were on his left flank. He swerved into them. Hotly +pursued, he crossed two, and under the lee of the second left a party +of good shots. Then, cantering away over the third, he doubled round on +his tracks and with his exhausted followers made for the German +outpost. When the Union troops came up they were ambushed at short +range, and the check they got just served the fleeing rebel. In the +pursuit afterwards our parties found traces of buried rations for +horses and men. These had been provided with German thoroughness. + +The second phase of the Free State Rebellion was a pantomime more than +anything else; a week's pantomime acted in the open veld in rain that +never stopped. It was the most miserable week I have known. We left +Upington on the 29th of November, reaching Kroonstad, Orange Free +State, late next evening. Here the Commander-in-Chief was met by +General Smuts, Minister for Defence; a consultation took place, and as +a result we left by train for Bethlehem in the evening. Our arrival +was timely, too. The place was in a perfect uproar. Nobody knew what +was going to happen next. All the loyalistcivilians were under arms. +The large mill of the Kaffrarian Steam Flour Company had been converted +into a fort which was, in case of necessity, impregnable to rifle-fire. +The rebels in the field had declared the New Republic practically +established, with temporary capital at Reitz. Just before we saddled up +to track them the news came of De Wet's capture on the Malopi River, +near Mafeking. The news put everyone in fresher spirits. The charm +around the famous guerilla fighter had broken. That the Rebellion was +doomed we all knew. But most of us were weary, nevertheless. It +furnished a refresher. + +We left a happier Bethlehem at a rainy dawn the next day. Half way to +Reitz we outspanned in the rain. It rained all night. The following +morning came back to mind a talk an old soldier and I had once while +freezing one early morning awaiting the Channel boat at Greenock. +Alluding to cold and misery, he said: "You don't know what it is, my +son, till you've been held up for three nights by rain in war-time in +the South African veld, and spent the time standing in water. I did it +outside Mafeking." Well, I understand a little now. + +The next day our scouts entered Reitz; the rebels had fled. For two +days we operated against them. A day later General Botha returned to +Reitz. Nothing was said at the time. The fact was that before we +entrained at Reitz, on the 7th of December, Wessel Wessels and +Serfontein were surrounded. A day later they surrendered: the Orange +Free State Rebellion, in all its futility, was over. + +[Illustration: The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the +Orange River after him] + +[Illustration: Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. +December 16, 1914] + + + +SECTION IV + + +FOURIE + +Just before and during the Commander-in-Chief's long trek, other bodies +of loyalist troops had been engaging the rebels. The most notable of +these actions were against Muller at Bronkhorst Spruit (5th November, +1914; casualties, one killed and three wounded), and against Fourie at +Hamanskraal (22nd November, 1914; casualties, three killed and ten +wounded). Both these actions took place in the neighbourhood of +Pretoria. As a result of them and the death of Beyers in the Vaal +River, the Rebellion in the Transvaal was virtually smashed. There +remained only Fourie to be dealt with. + +Fourie, late Major in the South African Defence Force, possibly the +most fanatical of all the rebels, appears to have been a man of +character and proved courage. Having got away at the action at +Hamanskraal, he and his younger brother were moving about in the veld +with ex-Major Pienaar and a moderate force. Their fantastic purpose was +said to be the taking of Pretoria itself on Dingaan's Day, the 16th of +December. As all the South African world knows, this date marks the +anniversary of the famous fight of the Voortrekkers at Blood River in +1838. The day before a force of South African Police, Defence Force, +and South African Mounted Riflemen left Pretoria, detrained at +Greyling's Post, on the Pietersburg Line, and started in pursuit of the +last big rebel commando at large. In this move we of the Bodyguard +found ourselves acting; General Botha, who had returned to Pretoria +after his severe field work, had gone to his farm for a few days' rest +before the South-West campaign. + +[Illustration: Diagram of Nooitgedacht] + +We trekked at dawn and during the whole of the following day, with one +rain-sodden halt, till four in the afternoon. The rebels had doubled in +their tracks after reaching a large dam at Blaaubank. Late in the +afternoon our scouts returned to the column and reported having located +the enemy three miles ahead, entrenched in a donga, or dried-up stony +river course, on the farm Nooitgedacht No. 4. We prepared for action, +and encountered the rebels in the next half hour. This, the first true +action I had been in, was an extremely dirty affair; a man who had gone +through some of the worst fights in the South African War afterwards +assured me it was the hottest corner he had ever been in. Bush-country +fighting is detestable chiefly because you cannot see your enemy until +you are on top of him. Our centre cantered in extended order up an +avenue flanked by dense bush. We were laughing and asking where the +deuce the rebels were, when a hail of rifle fire at short range greeted +us. Our fellows were out of their saddles in a second, and advanced to +the attack through the bush. Meantime, the South African Police extreme +left had swept round to the head of the spruit on both sides of which +the donga was formed, the South African Mounted Riflemen and more South +African Police closed in, the Defence Force unit getting in rear and in +flank of the rebels to cut them off. The attacking party had to work +their way through open veld before they could charge the enemy; they +made a mark as good as standing game. It was two and a half hours +before the "Cease-fire" whistle sounded. + +[Illustration: General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after +the crushing of the Rebellion] + +[Illustration: Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange +Free State] + + +It fell to me to be a horse-holder (one man in each section is, of +course, a horse-holder when mounted infantry are in action) in this +fight. In nightmare I have passed that evening since--and wakened +quickly, too. The worst of rifle fire is that you can hear bullets +whizzing and spitting in trees, but it takes an experienced hand to +divine direction. It was only afterwards I found out that a party of +rebels were firing on our horses in rear. The horses knew it, though, +and shewed it in their eyes. The sun came watery through the clouds +just before sunset; I remember during the lulls in the wicked coughs of +rifle fire hearing doves cooing gently in the sun-pierced trees. + +[Illustration: Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing] +[Illustration: Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front] +[Illustration: Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur] + +When darkness fell we had captured Fourie, his brother and all his +following, except nine men who made their escape at the beginning of +the fight. The loyalist casualties in this action were twelve killed +and twenty-four wounded. I saw a man who had shared a last cigarette +with me as we rode into the action that afternoon lying dead on a +blanket three hours later. In that instant I learnt something of the +true meaning of war. + +There are hundreds of brave deeds that must go unrecognised in these +days. But from what I know of this particular action there was an +amount of gallantry and quiet heroism displayed amongst the fellows +that deserved more than casual comment. I could speak of things I saw, +and would like to, moreover. But as for my pains a punched head from +outraged modesty would be the reward I shall say no more. + +A few days later Fourie was tried by court-martial, convicted, and shot +at dawn. In the last days of December the few remaining rebels at large +either surrendered or were captured. As the last days of the Old Year +slipped by, rebellion within the Union of South Africa died out, and +General Botha spent the holidays in peace on his farm at Rusthof--in +the haven where he fain would be. + + + + +PART II + + + + +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA + + + +SECTION I + + +THE PRELIMINARY CANTER + +At the stroke of seven on the evening of January 13, 1915, a train +steamed out of Pretoria station to the accompaniment of roars of +cheering. And few in the imposing string of carriages that made the +train were sober within the meaning of the act. But everyone was in the +highest spirits. The Rebellion was over. The New Year was with us. +After weary days our real business was on hand. We were off to German +West at last. + +We reached Cape Town on the 15th. I am particular about the date, not +entirely as a result of a desire for meticulous accuracy. All who +started on the South-West Campaign will remember their Cape Peninsula +experience after the heat and burden of the Rebellion. The authorities +might have chosen most of our camping grounds about Cape Town with the +genial purpose of providing a kind of military holiday as a preliminary +canter to the campaign proper. The unit to which I was attached had its +temporary resting place on the slopes of Table Mountain at Groote +Schuur, on the Rhodes Estate. And I fancy the world has on its vast +surface few spots more alluring and more bracing to the spirit. + +Up till that time South Africa itself had never put an expeditionary +army, to be shipped by sea, on a war footing, and at Cape Town the work +of equipping the South-West African Expeditionary Force was carried on +and finished during the four weeks we were there. The quiet pine and +fir lined roads on the Rondebosch side of Table Mountain complained +daily under the traffic of wagons and motors, horses, mules and guns; +it ruined the roads and begot unceasing clouds of dust. + +And from breakfast-time till late afternoon every street leading to +Cape Town and to the great Supply and Ordnance Stores at Maitland and +at Portswood Road was filled with grey and khaki carts and wagons +roaring steadily along in golden dust. In the whole Peninsula the +normal interests of life were for the time being completely +side-tracked. + +Being associated directly with the Commander-in-Chief and Headquarters, +we were fortunate in having our camp on the finest piece of ground on +the estate; our tents stretched down a strip of sloping sward, +sheltered from the wind by the wonderful trees that luxuriate on the +lower falls of Table Mountain; from one's tent entrance the eye was +caught by a panorama sweeping a radius of twenty miles inland. I shall +never forget those days when in the morning wind and sun I helped to +make out requisitions for shirts and breeches and saddlery to the notes +of wood music; nor those nights when we lay in our blankets on the +grass, stars swinging above, the town-lights winking away below us. It +is not often in life that one slips into dreamless slumber on soft +grass, lullabied by the night-song of a south-wester in pine trees +centuries old. + +If we had our discipline and our work at Cape Town, we had our +compensations, too. At that time khaki was completely the fashion +there. On the long promenade down Adderley Street to the pier-head you +could have counted a dozen men in khaki to one in mufti. It reminded +one of the days of the South African War fifteen years ago. There was +naturally a tendency to make much of the soldier-visitor. It did not +spoil him, though. A more orderly lot could not have been found. And +this with the people whose guests we were in indulgent mood, and the +civic authorities throwing open to us every amusement at their +disposal. + +Though there was work ahead we were all sorry to leave Cape Town. + +[Illustration: Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard +fraternised aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South +African] + +[Illustration: Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa] + +On Friday, the 5th of February, we struck camp at sunrise. All our +horses had been shipped the day before; we proceeded to the Docks by +train and on foot. As showing the kindness with which the troops were +treated I must mention that after the heavy work of embarking horses a +body of one of the Ladies' War Organisations arranged refreshments for +us at the railway station. + +The journey by train from Groote Schuur to the City takes about fifteen +minutes; by motor about a quarter of that time. But war-work is a +trifle different; we were three hours on the heavily laden transport +wagons before we got to the transport _Galway Castle_. + +Many of us who have moved about a good deal and are fond of the sea +were looking forward to that voyage. It was a four days' trip to Walvis +Bay; we thought we would have rather a jolly time. Disillusion is +hateful. And that trip was disillusionment itself. I suppose we +inexperienced ones overlooked automatically the fact that we were in +the ranks and travelling to war by transport. It wasn't a high-browed, +superior outlook that caused our undoing, I fancy. The thing is, you +must rough it soldiering by ship before you grasp the idea. There were +other points, too. + +[Illustration: Awaiting landing from the Transport] + +[Illustration: Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, +German South-West Africa] + +[Illustration: Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis] + +When we got safely aboard the _Galway Castle_ many of us fancied, in +expressive phrase, that we were "well away"; that we had struck a good +thing. Our officers were accommodated in befitting state in the first +class; our warrants and staff non-commissioned dignitaries were also +fixed up in correct style; the rest of us had plenty of room and +quietness to ourselves in the third class. All this by 2.30 in the +afternoon. + +And then eighteen hundred more warriors filed down the quays and, like +Mr. Jim Hawkins, came aboard, sir. Now most of these were as good +fellows as you could wish for; but they were landsmen, such as never go +down to the sea in ships. A large proportion, indeed, had never seen +the sea before viewing it at Cape Town. (South Africa is a fair-sized +territory.) Very few of them were good sailors. It is not a man's fault +that he is not a good sailor; nor is he to blame for knowing little of +the ways that make for cleanliness and comfort under even the most +trying conditions on shipboard. But on the whole we did not enjoy that +four days' voyage to Walvis Bay. It was a case of bedlam as to noise, +and "muck in" and take what you can get. + +Though my knowledge of organisation for a campaign is not great, I +would suggest that for campaign work the only kind of ship used should +be a vessel absolutely and completely fitted up as a troopship. If the +ships the Government used for the South-West campaign transport had all +been fitted up uncompromisingly as "troopers" I fancy we should have +fared better. + +At 8 a.m. on the 9th we arrived at Walvis Bay. General Botha, who, with +his Chief of Staff, A.D.C.'s, etc., had embarked at the Cape on the +auxiliary cruiser _Armadale Castle,_ arrived at Walvis later in the +morning. We spent the day on board the _Galway Castle_ awaiting orders +and the disembarkation of horses. + +Since the beginning of the operations in South-West Africa the world +has been flooded with descriptions of Walvis Bay; at least I have seen +two books with long descriptions of the place, and more than a dozen +articles on the subject. I shall not add to this list by any long (and +assuredly unconvincing) attempt at a new picture. When you have left +the green-covered kopjes of the Cape a few days before and come to +anchor in Walvis Bay on a cold morning you think you have reached +No-man's-land after a fast voyage. It is a first impression only. The +place is desolate enough; it suggests the Sahara run straight into the +sea, or the discomforting dreariness of Punta Arenas, in Patagonia. + +But first impressions are not everything. Walvis Bay is desolate; a +study in yellow ochre sands, burnt sienna duns, tin shanties veiled in +hot desert winds, and a sea that seldom knows anything more than a +ripple. But that is the point. Walvis Bay is nothing now--but it is a +bay. As a fact, it looks to be one of the finest natural harbours in +the world. With the South-West interior developing in the future, +Walvis Bay should have something to look forward to. + +[Illustration: Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the +Red Cross Sisters] + +[Illustration: General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection. +(The famous Brigadier-General Brits, who trekked to Namutoni, is the +fourth figure from the right.)] + +We left the _Galway Castle_ on the 11th, disembarking into lighters, to +be towed up the coast to the occupied German port of Swakopmund. Down +to the tender, on to the lighter, kits and equipment, and farewell to +the quietened steamer. For a while we stood away from her, and rose and +fell under no way on the still grey waters. Then we saw a tender from +the _Armadale Castle_ steaming towards us. She came up on our starboard +quarter and made fast. A figure well known to us all crossed the +gangway and climbed to the boat-deck of our steam tender. We had not +seen the Commander-in-Chief in personal command since the past bitter +days of the Rebellion. A great cheer hit the morning silence and echoed +over the bay to each transport at anchor. With a smile of genuine +pleasure, General Botha brought his hand to the salute. And away we +went, the tender steaming full speed ahead, blunt-nosed barges surging +in her wake, for Swakopmund. + +Swakopmund was the first Headquarters of the Northern Force, Union +Expeditionary Army; we made two sojourns at this German port. First we +were there for a period of some five weeks, from February 11 till March +18, whilst awaiting the first advance into the Namib Desert; then we +were there for a further month, from the 27th of March till the 25th of +April, whilst awaiting the general advance to Windhuk and Karibib. + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with +the Red Cross Sisters] + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. +Start for 100 yards race] + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner] + +It is difficult to write about Swakopmund. As a town it is the most +extraordinary place I have seen. I use the superlative deliberately. +But I do not wish to live there. It is purely artificial, and +artificial to a ghastly degree too. There is not a spot of vegetation. +There is not a genuine tree to be seen. The water has a detestable, +unsatisfying blurred taste, to which the adjective "brackish" is +applied. It is probable that a town occupied by enemy troops does not +look at its best; but the fact that it was under such conditions when I +first knew Swakopmund makes no important difference. The place in its +essentials must always be the same. If ever there was a work of bluff +Swakopmund is that thing. One fancies the German commercial expert, a +Government official, or, maybe, a representative of the ubiquitous +Woermann, Brock & Co., looking along this ferocious and awful coast for +a spot to found a town that should appear on the maps and be esteemed a +seaport. The Swakop River? Very well. Was there water there? But +certainly so; water obviously of the worst quality--yet water. Besides, +were there not always refrigerators and condensing machinery? Upon +which Swakopmund was forced into existence--planked down there bit by +bit in the face of circumstance. Walk a trifle over a thousand yards +from the edge of the changeful Atlantic through Swakopmund's deep sandy +streets and you get the key to the town. For it ceases utterly, +abruptly; from the door of its last villa, fitted with perfect +furnishings from Hamburg, the bitter desolation that is the Namib +Desert stretches away from your, very feet. Marvelling at this place, I +was particularly struck by the size of its cemetery. But I was not long +puzzled. If you strike Swakopmund on a fine sunshiny day you will be +pretty favourably impressed with the climate; it seems warm and +temperate, and the sun sparkles on the sea. + +In a week or so you will learn to modify that judgment. More than half +the days we were at Swakopmund a heavy pall of dampness hung over the +place, and after a day or two of it one's system seemed to be badly +affected. Maybe we were not acclimatised, but the fact remains that a +very large proportion of us were down with a kind of dysentery, +attended by vomiting and violent pains in the stomach. Then there are +days when the winds blow from the desert--an indescribable experience. +They bring moths and flies with them, and great clouds of sand; it is a +genuine labour to breathe, and at noon and for two hours after the +temperature in the sun runs up into the "hundred-and-sixties." +Swakopmund is not a health resort; or perhaps we dwelt there in the +wrong season. But it is a monument to Teutonic determination. The +Germans willed this town there, planted it on the edge of the +wilderness; fitted it out, from bioscope theatre to church with organ +and electric organola; and they lived in it, with the climate of +perdition and all the accessories of a suburb of Berlin, and called it +a seaport. It is not a seaport; in a fair gale you can't land a barrel +of corks at the pier. But given time and they would have built in the +face of nature a two million pounds breakwater and everything complete. +Yes, they are a thorough people; they are human ants as regards work. +Nevertheless, it is not colonising. The Germans are not colonists. + +Army Headquarters were fixed at the Damaraland Building close to the +shore--a splendidly equipped edifice, with a tower commanding a +fifteen-mile-radius view of the desert and the sea. General Botha made +the private quarters of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at the +Woermann Line House close by. + +When we arrived at the northern seaport it had been in our possession +many weeks, but our troops were occupying the trenches just outside the +town, and from the Damaralands Building Tower our look-out and +signallers could see through the heat-haze the enemy's patrols moving +to and fro in the glistening sands beyond. + +Whilst awaiting orders for an advance, life at Swakopmund was in some +ways quite good. There were two attractions: regimental concerts, when +sanctioned, and the shore. South Africa at war differs in great degree +from other parts of the world. The country has the germ in its blood. +Men who have campaigned before felt the stirring in them when the +South-West campaign started. The call for volunteers acted like a +magnet. All sorts and conditions of men were found with the Forces in +the South-West. Patriotism called them; but there called them also that +deep-seated spirit of unrest which prompts so powerfully when war drums +sound once again. I used to think Kipling exaggerated a trifle; now I +know the truth. At the concerts on the South-West front the most +astonishing array of talent was to be found. One such function in +particular stands out in mind. The stage was made up of army biscuit +boxes supporting rough planking outside a builder's yard in the deep +sand. At a borrowed piano belonging to some vanished resident a trooper +officiated; he was clothed in a grey back shirt and ammunition boots-- +and displayed the daedal methods of a Fragson. Singers of every type +with every kind of voice, and perfectly trained, performed. Only later +did I learn that amongst the artists were half a dozen of the best +performers in Johannesburg. And at the foreshore, between fatigues, +drills, and spells of duty the fellows used to gather, to enjoy the one +luxury of Swakopmund--the surf-bathing. Here you would meet men upon +whom you never expected again to set eyes assembled literally from all +over South Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi. Belonging to one +regiment I met, in privates and corporals, six well-to-do farmers, a +handful of solicitors, bank clerks, a sub-native commissioner or two, +and the no longer youthful private secretary to one of the most eminent +semi-public companies in Africa. And there we all were cut off from the +outside world. Each evening we got an issue of the official Bulletin-- +six square inches of paper thankfully received. For the rest we had no +change from the perpetual sound of the sea and the mournful note of the +bell-buoy that marks the inshore shoal. Its "dong-dong, dong-dong-dong" +created a perfect illusion of the call to a tiny church through the +country lanes of England. Everyone who was there can still hear the old +bell-buoy at Swakopmund. + +[Illustration: Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right] +[Illustration: Swakopmund: Centre] +[Illustration: Swakopmund: Extreme Left] + +[Illustration: Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent] +[Illustration: Looking for Water in the River Bed] +[Illustration: A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch] + + + +SECTION II + + +THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT + +There were some skirmishes outside Swakopmund early in February. On the +23rd the Commander-in-Chief took the field; leaving the base shortly +after dawn, he carried out a driving movement which pushed the enemy +back from the outspan at Nonidas to his posts much further into the +desert. In the course of this successful operation we first heard +rumours that the Germans as a whole were not anxious to fight. The +Union patrols captured several prisoners, amongst whom was an officer +with whom I had several chats when I got the opportunity. As was the +case with many of the prisoners afterwards taken, for a while he +feigned total ignorance of English. It was not long before it became +perfectly clear that he of course understood it well. + +Following the operations on the 23rd of February, the mounted troops +pushed steadily into the desert, occupying with merely nominal +resistance Goanikontes, the water-hole and police post at Haigamkhab, +and the water-hole at Husab. + +On the 18th of March the Commander-in-Chief and Staff, with all forces +except those detailed to the base and infantry already holding the line +and stores depots, etc., trekked out from Swakopmund on what was +officially described as a "reconnaissance." It was really the first big +push into the Namib Desert. The enemy had taken up an extremely strong +position on the edge of the desert proper, on the front indicated on +the general diagram of the campaign marked Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet. + +I have little official knowledge on the tactics of the campaign; it is +necessary, however, here to allude to the plan of proceeding known to +every one who took any part in it. The vital consideration to the +advance of any army across the Namib Desert is to secure the +water-holes on the Swakop River. The Swakop is by no means the usual +prepossessing kind of stream that flows efficiently between wide banks. +It flowed actually for a day just after General Botha landed at +Swakopmund--the first and last time, apparently, within the memory of +man. But it has water in it nevertheless; and at fixed and charted +spots are to be found bore-holes and wells for the convenience of +dwellers in the profitless wilderness. The principal wells and holes +are at the places marked on the diagram. General Botha's principal task +was to take an army right across the Namib Desert, and to do that he +had to capture every water-hole and keep it. It is true that at certain +points in the Swakop and other of the large rivers of South-West Africa +you can find water by digging very near the surface--perhaps. But when +you have a parched army at your back you must deal as little as +possible in speculation. At Riet and Jakalswater the enemy had +determined to hold the valuable water-holes at any cost, but especially +at Riet. + +When General Botha treks he treks at express speed. With him the +intention is that the essence of strategy shall be surprise. The +Commander-in-Chief left Swakopmund at 2.30 a.m. on the 18th of March. +We outspanned at Goanikontes, thirty-four kilos, at 10.30 that night. +Goanikontes was left at 6.30 a.m., and the Husab Outspan was made at +10.20 that morning. The rest of the day was spent at Husab; at 6.30 in +the evening the Commander-in-Chief, and with him General Brits, left +for Riet, outspanned for a few hours and attacked the German position +at Riet at dawn on the 20th. The general action which was fought on the +Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front on this day was conceivably the most +important move of the campaign. It was essential that the water-holes +should be secured. + +[Illustration: Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns] +[Illustration: On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a +hair-cut] + +[Illustration: Action at Riet] + + +Around Riet, the principal point of attack and defence, the disposition +of the Germans was as strong as it is possible to imagine. My sketch of +the place should give a fair idea of things. In the technical sense it +is not a true plan; but accuracy is not sacrificed to clearness. The +veld around the Riet water-holes is just a mass of small kopjes and +rocks; it narrows to a small defile that opens suddenly on to the +coverless Husab Road. This defile is the only main approach to the Riet +wells, and it is commanded close up on both flanks--on the right by the +great bare kopje, Langer Heinreich, on the other by small kopjes and a +line of ridges. + +In attacking this position General Botha had to consider not only the +enemy's strength of position, but also the fact that his troops had to +go into action after a waterless twenty-odd mile trek over the desert. +As the Commander-in-Chief got up to his front on the 20th the big guns +had started. The artillery duel continued well into the afternoon. +Every credit is due to the other units, but it was our artillery that +cracked the nut at Riet. The range was 2,700 yards; but the Germans +never got it. Why it is difficult to say; they had every advantage, and +one understands that the Germans are nothing if not artillerists. But +they were a wash-out at Riet; they were over-firing the whole time. On +the other hand, the Union gunners got the range at once and were all +over the enemy. They put an ammunition wagon out of action after three +shots, and did further deadly work. That afternoon General Botha sent a +detachment out to attempt an enveloping movement. But they came back +later, reporting that the slopes of Langer Heinreich on the right and +the sharp kopjes on the left made the thing impossible. + +As the afternoon came on I may say I don't think we knew too much about +the state of affairs with the enemy, and when he ceased artillery fire +about 3.30 p.m. everyone seemed pleased enough. Few knew then that the +German Commander had begun to evacuate the position; his supply of +shells was said to have run short. On account of our numbers, also, he +feared an enfilading movement on his left flank should our mounted +infantry advance to the defile Q. + +In the meantime the authorities had decided we must find water in the +rear; for that purpose a party was at once despatched to Gawieb, in the +Swakop River bed. It was found by a party from the Commander-in-Chief's +Bodyguard, and at the Gawieb Hole the greater part of the forces +watered that night. And they took seven hours to do it. + +Before sundown General Botha, with Staff and Bodyguard, fell back two +miles on the Husab-Riet Road and camped there for the night. Scarcely +had the Headquarters party arrived before news came that the enemy was +in precipitate flight, had evacuated Riet and had blown up his small +ammunition and railway water-tanks at the Riet terminus of the narrow +gauge railway line to Jakalswater. Bodies of the Union troops had +occupied Riet on the evening of the 20th. + +The actions at the Jakalswater and Pforte fronts, to fight which the +columns had swept away to our left the night before, were equally +successful. + +That is the general story of the fight of the 20th March on the inland +edge of the Namib Desert. But how to picture vividly the scene before +Riet that day? At dawn in those parts conditions are bearable enough; +the sun has little strength; the night wind refreshes. From 6.30 till +10 o'clock the desert is endurable. Then comes the change. All along +the front the stark yellow sand is taking on a different hue under the +climbing sun rays. It turns almost to glaring whiteness all around--to +where it stops short at the foot of those scorched and smothered rocks +on the left flank. To our right the members of the Headquarters Staff +are standing--sitting--resting. An officer brings his glasses down +slowly, blinks, feels for a pipe, lights it. Another moves head and +extended arm to the right and makes a remark to a colleague. Along the +ridge we occupy the Bodyguard are standing-to and watching the action; +you see that fellow wearily ease a heavy bandolier; further down +another brings an army biscuit from his haversack and breaks it on his +boot. + +And now look at that little group almost straight ahead of us; as the +tall Chief-of-Staff moves aside you see a figure on a little camp +stool. The left hand is just under the hip, binoculars are in the +right; up go both hands with the glasses; down they come. He speaks to +the Chief-of-Staff; there is the favourite gesture--the arm is jerked +out horizontally, the hand pointing loosely, and dropped again. The +face is powdered with fine sand and dust; during the day he has been +allowed a small beaker of water from the artillery. A favour indeed. +That is Botha--Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief, the man who leads us. +And on either flank, well screened, little knots of men are grouped +round the guns--and "Hampang-ky-yao!" they go in our ears, their report +carrying ten miles back into the desert where our transport hears them +in muffled thunder. And look up as you hear that screeching whistle. +The enemy's shells burst in the depression behind us on both flanks-- +"Pa-ha-ha." They look like slabs of cotton wool against the brazen blue +sky. And all afternoon the heat strikes up at you overpowering, like +the breath of a wild animal. Then the wind rises, and the sand shifts +in eddies. Veils and goggles are useless. They can't keep out that +spinning curtain of grit. The horses rattle the hard, dry bits in their +mouths, trying to get some moisture. + +On the 21st Headquarters moved into Riet. Here we found two water-holes +in the bed of the river; one was a splendid Persian well, with chain +buckets. Riet was no paradise; it was a luxury though, even if the +river sand was blinding, to lie under a wagon and hear the water +running. + +[Illustration: An unique picture of General Botha, the +Commander-in-Chief and his Staff reconnoitring] + +[Illustration: After Riet water in blessed profusion] + +Our casualties in the actions on the Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were +fifteen killed, thirty-nine wounded and forty-two missing. On the 21st +our commandos occupied Salem, eight miles further up the Swakop River. + +The Commander-in-Chief and his party remained at Riet till the 24th. It +was then decided that a supply depot must be established at Riet before +further advance was made. On the evening of the 24th Headquarters +returned to Swakopmund, reaching the coast at 9.30 on the morning of +the 26th--an extremely fast trek. + +Looking out of my window in the heart of civilisation at the evening +sun that glorifies the Pretoria green kopjes, the scene dissolves. In +its place comes the picture of the first gaunt daylight on the 26th of +March last at fifteen kilometres, just going into Swakopmund. The mist +from the coast had rolled inland; through it after dawn came miles of +horsemen and wagons, guns, limbers, lorries, ambulances. Every human +unit in that column was covered in white dust, and every horse was +weary. And except for the staccato "click-click" of bits and an +occasional deep hum from a passing motor the army moved in perfect +silence through the sand. + +The official history of the South-West campaign remains to be written, +of course; in the meantime I am convinced that the actions on the +twenty-one mile Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were practically the +deciding factors of the campaign. + +[Illustration: A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa] + + + +SECTION III + + +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK + +On the 27th of March General Botha left Northern Force Headquarters at +Swakopmund for Luderitzbucht, the landing-place of the Central Force +under the commands of Brigadier-General Mackenzie. + +The whole plan of campaign was very much this. The Protectorate was to +be invaded from several angles, the route of these various forces being +quite clear, I hope, in the diagram given. Roughly speaking there were +three forces: the Northern (General Botha, Commander-in-Chief), working +inland from Swakopmund; the Central (Brigadier-General Mackenzie) +working inland from Luderitzbucht; and the Southern and South-Eastern +converging on Keetmanshoop from Raman's Drift-Warmbad-Kalkfontein +(Hartigan's Horse), from Upington (Brigadier-General van Deventer and +Colonel Celliers) and from Kimberley-Hasuur (Colonel Berrange's +column). As a result of this great concentration on Keetmanshoop and +northwards from all sides, the Germans would be forced to decisive +action, to retreat northwards, or be cut off. Upon these forces +reaching a certain distance inland a general move would be made in the +direction of Windhuk--and again the enemy would have to fight or +retreat to the limits of his railway system. + +[Illustration: Typical captured German Infantry] + +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells] +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at +the old German capital] +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was +priced beyond Silver] + +On the 30th of March the Commander-in-Chief returned to Swakopmund, and +the same day news came of the occupation of Aus by the Central Force. +It was now that we heard definitely that General Smuts was in the field +with the forces south of us. + +With the Central and Southern advances, General Mackenzie, from +Luderitzbucht, occupied Garub on the 22nd of February, and Aus on March +31. Colonel Berrange's column, having left Hasuur on the 3rd of March, +reached Kabus, by Keetmanshoop, on the 19th. Leaving Raman's Drift on +the 2nd of April, Colonel Hartigan's column occupied Kalkfontein on the +14th of April, and reached Keetmanshoop on the 20th of April. Seeheim +was occupied on the 18th of April. The advance to these towns was +achieved by a series of fast treks in which frightful conditions of +thirst and fatigue were encountered. General Mackenzie's troops in +their advance north occupied Bethany on the 13th of April, and +continued northward to Berseba, Gibeon, etc., on the way to Windhuk. + +We now come to the feat that broke all known marching records and +caused two hemispheres to talk. On Sunday and Monday, the 25th and 26th +of April, General Botha's forces left the coast: on the 5th of May they +were outside Windhuk. Striking right across the desert through every +kind of country, General Botha's army marched night and day, and in +five of those days covered a minimum distance of a hundred and ninety +miles. Many units did much more than two hundred miles--over forty +miles per day. + +It was some trekking. + +Swakopmund was left on the 26th of April at dawn. Haigkamchab was +reached by I on the same afternoon, and Husab supply base at 6.30 p.m. +Next day Husab was left at 2.15 p.m.; the column halted for a few +minutes at 5 p.m., and pushed right through to Riet, which was made at +10.20 that evening. Headquarters rested all day on the 28th at Riet, +left it at 8 p.m., trekked by moonlight along the Swakop River for +three hours, outspanned till an hour before dawn, and made Salem at +6.45 a.m. on March 29. At 9.30 that morning the column moved on again, +reached outspan at twenty miles by 1.35 in the afternoon, rested for an +hour and a half and pushed on again till a quarter before midnight, +when it rode into Wilhelmsfeste. But the water was at Kaltenhausen, +some miles further ahead of this military post. We reached it at 1.15 +on the morning of the 30th. Animals took two hours to water in the +bitterly cold morning air. The guards had not taken two steps on their +beat before the sand was littered with sleepers that looked like dead +men. These sleeping columns, some ninety to a hundred miles from the +coast, were now half way to Windhuk. + +[Illustration: The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the +Trek] + +Two hours after daylight General Headquarters moved to a camping ground +two miles back towards Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), and rested during the +day in the shade of the scant trees with which the veld was covered as +the desert was left behind. The rest of the Northern Army had trekked on +with scarcely any pause. Shortly before sunset, the Commander-in-Chief +set out on a night march of twenty odd miles to Otjimbingwe. The trek +was done at a fierce pace till midnight, when an outspan was ordered; +the party slept for four hours, and made Otjimbingwe just as the dawn of +the 1st of May was breaking. As General Botha rode into this old mission +settlement the rear of the German forces, closely pursued, was galloping +in retreat over the kopjes to the east. Many prisoners were taken here. +General Botha spent the day at Otjimbingwe, left at dawn on the 2nd, and +trekked north-west seventeen miles to Pot Mine, which he reached at 12.45 +p.m. Here the Commander-in-Chief awaited the arrival of General Smuts, +had a conference with him, and moved in force on Karibib at 2 a.m. on the +5th of May. He trekked the whole of that day, with two halts of an hour +each, and entered Karibib on the heels of the enemy at five o'clock in +the afternoon. At the same time the rest of the Northern Force had +entered Okasise, Okahandja, Waldau, and other stations on the railway, +had captured the whole system practically up to Omaruru, and were at the +gates of Windhuk. The German forces were in full retreat to the north and +north-east. Their civilian populations, left behind in the towns, seemed +dumfoundered at the appearance of the Union troops. Meantime the Southern +and Central Armies had approached the German capital on the southern +flank. + +This account of the advance through the desert of General Botha's +Northern Force is purposely bald. The process of a vast flooding of +water over a country is in essence bald and direct. And that is as near +as I can get for comparison. General Botha's advance was like a +well-ordered flood: which, I take it, was exactly the idea. At a fixed +time organised bodies of men, mounted, dismounted and with artillery, +were systematically poured over the German territory. I am sure most of +the fellows who took part in that advance and recall it in detail will in +the future look back and wonder. For it is a subject for wonder, even +if history does contain some marches more eventful. It has been stated +since that all transport was left behind. But that is not strictly +true: a large quantity of transport was brought on by the Union Forces; +passed through the deepest sand in waterless desert, between gorges, +over big kopjes, into almost trackless bushveld--and was never more +than a day and a half behind. At one place out of a convoy of +twenty-seven wagons, seventeen capsized. + +It is hackneyed, I know, but there is only one way to describe the +great trek to Windhuk. It was absolutely "a chequer-board of nights and +days." Looking at my diary just now, that I have had ten years' +practice at keeping, I see a confusion got into the dates. You didn't +know anything about the date or the day of the week. Existence was just +a dateless alternation of light and darkness, of saddle-up and +off-saddle, of cossack-post, of thinking about water--and of yearning +with every fibre of one's being for the ineffable boon of a long sleep. + +It will be seen that the key to the advance over the Namib Desert was +the Swakop River. The water-holes of the Swakop River are very +singular; they form the nucleus of a kind of settlement (even if it be +only a couple of small huts) right in the dry river bed. At +Kaltenhausen, to take but one example, there is a splendid +shooting-lodge slapbang in the centre of the river; it has a fine +courtyard walled and railed in. It seemed extraordinary. At these +water-holes you suddenly leave the stony sand of the desert and come on +to finest soft sand. It is quite pleasant at night, but day tells another +story. Just after sunrise a wind starts blowing down the river valley and +raises this superfine, mineralised sand. To lie exposed to this for a day +is an awful experience; the fine dust will penetrate anywhere. I am sure +it must lead to positive blindness in time. + +I mentioned the water-holes of the Swakop River for the particular +reason that their situation in most cases adds immensely to the merit +of the Northern Army's great trek. The trek-road from Swakopmund +follows the river only in a broad sense; the Haigamkhab, Husab and +Gawieb water-holes are really three to four and five miles from the +road and the camping grounds. That is to say, the columns, after a +twenty mile trek in the sand and sun had another quarter of the +distance to go--_to water_. And to water usually means across the yard +to the troughs, so to speak. We shall remember the water-holes of +South-West Africa. There is many a fellow now back in civilisation who +can recall vividly the tramp over stony, loose gravel through those +great echoing rocks down to the water-holes at Haigamkhab, Husab and +Gawieb. Hour after hour the processions of weary riders passed each +other in a cloud of dust that rose five hundred yards and filled the +choking canyon. The invariable question from him going wearily to water +to him coming refreshed and smothered in water-bottles and with a +livelier horse from it: "Is it far, boy?" And the stereotyped answer of +encouragement was as always: "No, no; just round the corner." All these +water-holes are almost duplicates of each other. I suppose not the echo +of a bird now hurts their pristine and awful quietude. + +[Illustration: A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff +lunching] +[Illustration: The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party +after return] + +The marvellous series of changes as one advances constitutes the most +striking feature of the advance to Windhuk from the coast. By rail it +is not so striking; but taking the marching route via the Swakop River +water-holes--Swakopmund, Nonidas, Haigamkhab, Husab, Riet, Salem, +Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), Otjimbingwe, Windhuk--the changes in the +country and the stages that show them are as palpable as if marked by a +system of parallel walls. I have never seen this feature of the veld so +marked elsewhere in South Africa. + +Swakopmund is the limit in the down-grade--deep sand; brak water; a +treacherous, dreary climate, with visitations of furnace-heat desert +winds; a huge cemetery; moths and flies. From Nonidas to Haigamkhab and +Husab the sand lightens and hardens, the atmosphere improves, rocks, +barren kopjes begin to appear; the little water you get is fairly good. +Riet comes; the barren kopjes are more frequent; the atmosphere, hot in +the day, is beautiful by night; the water is perfect. Salem is a +duplicate Riet; a small settlement in the river bed; but the water is +more plentiful, the vegetation more profuse. Then comes the great trek +to Tsaobis. + +It does not look far on the map; it is a huge stretch nevertheless. For +the first three hours it was Riet-Salem country with extensions and +additions. Vast gorges, black and brown kopjes, boulders, sand +stretches, clumps of bush, minute trees. And then, on Thursday the 29th +of April (memory holds the date like a vice), we saw grass. It was +grass. It was undoubtedly grass--the kind of grass that gave one the +feeling that this particular veld, like a man prematurely bald through +worry or riotous living, had been trying some hair restorer with +ludicrous results--grass whitish, feeble, attenuated, that to be seen +at all wanted an eye levelled along the ground. + +Each half hour brought its surprise as we moved along, General Botha on +his white horse at the head of the column, just visible to the eye +through the thick curtain of white dust our horses' feet flung up into +the sun glare. We rode in great gorges between kopjes. We crossed dry +river courses. We clattered over the hard bosoms of rocks, switchbacked +up and down each hour working out of the desert. Trees began to +appear--caricatures of trees. Then game spoor was reported. And suddenly, +just after noon, rain fell--out of one cloud in a sky otherwise brazenly +clear five drops fell. I counted five on my bridle hand. + +Rain on the edge of the Namib Desert. It was ludicrous, too bizarre; it +was the last straw. We gasped. A deep roar of ironical cheering went +up. The Commander-in-Chief looked round and laughed. When we outspanned +later the horses made a show of grazing for the first time for five +months. The sagacious animals showed plain amazement in their eyes. At +Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis) the bushveld begins. The water supply of +Otjimbingwe is the feature of that rather quaint settlement. One must +ever associate it with its fine aeromotor pumping the precious fluid +for parched man and beast to drink their full after the desert passage +in the shade of cool palms many years old. + +[Illustration: German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib] +[Illustration: Karibib] +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau] + +[Illustration: The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk] + +During the great trek alarms regarding mines were most frequent. There +were many wonderful escapes. It seems a marvel that the enemy were not +more successful than they were with these deadly machines. Suffer +casualties we did; but if all the mines that were laid had blown up our +casualties would have been formidable indeed. But somehow those mines +seemed foreordained not to act. They were discovered by the merest +chance; or they failed to go off; or they exploded at the wrong time. + +Making for Karibib in the forenoon of the 5th of May, the authorities +naturally showed the greatest caution for the safety of General Botha-- +though a large body of Union mounted troops had passed over the same +ground before the Commander-in-Chief, Staff and Bodyguard traversed the +road. + +In view of the fact that the South African Army was operating against +the forces of the same nation that has ravaged and despoiled Belgium, a +point should be made here. It must be remembered that the armed forces +of the Protectorate simply cleared bag and baggage out of all the +important inland towns in the face of Botha's overwhelming advances. +They left wife and child, the old and infirm, every stick of property +they could not carry, at our mercy. When we entered Karibib at five in +the evening the non-combatant population were moving about the streets, +or standing in best bib and tucker at their doors, calmly gazing at the +trek-stained horsemen that sought the nearest water tanks. They had not +the slightest fear of us. I spoke to a comrade who has seen war +aforetime. He said he had never seen a more orderly occupation of a +town. + +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the +Germans' usual practice of blowing up railway bridges] +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South +African Engineer Corps Construction Party aboard] +[Illustration: At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes +after occupation] + +[Illustration: At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed +troops from the Rathaus ] + +The conduct of the South African troops should assuredly be noted. The +very confidence of these German townspeople that they had nothing to +fear from the hated troops of the British Union of South Africa was +eloquent. The thing stood out, a piece of bitterest irony in connection +with a people whose kindred across the seas were making civilisation +shudder at their atrocities afloat and ashore. The news of the +_Lusitania_ massacre on the high seas reached Karibib just after +occupation. Did one Teuton in the place have to suffer as a consequence +even the insult of a word? No. What would the Germans have done? +General Botha's forces had crossed a desert through which it was the +open boast of the enemy that it was strewn with mines and with every +well poisoned. Was a single defenceless citizen of Windhuk or Karibib +the worse for it after the occupation? Not one. The greater part of +General Botha's forces were on a half--a quarter--an eighth rations +when they made Karibib, Okahandja, Okasise, Waldau and the capital; +they lived until all supplies could come up on less than one biscuit a +day, a pinch or two of meal, and fresh meat. + +How much looting occurred in these towns? + +There was none worthy the name. + +Everyone was guarded. A few hours after the places were entered the +orders were issued threatening severe and instant penalties should any +looting be done by the hungry troops; officers, etc., were quietly +billeted; and to the houses occupied by women and marged with a white +cross no one unauthorised was allowed any approach whatsoever. + +It was magnanimous, it was magnificent. But I wonder if the chivalrous +Teuton would call it war! + +Karibib, the practical junction of the railway running north to +Grootfontein, the enemy's new "capital," was made Army Headquarters. +General Botha hoisted the flag at Karibib and proclaimed it on the 6th +of May, spent a few days settling matters at Karibib, and on the +afternoon of the 11th set out for Windhuk by motor, formally to enter +the capital. With him the Commander-in-Chief took his Chief of Staff +(Colonel Collyer), Lieut.-Colonel de Waal (Provost Marshal), Major Bok +(Military Secretary), Major Trew (Officer Commanding Bodyguard), Major +Liepoldt (Chief Intelligence Officer), Major Esselen (Staff), an escort +from the 4th Battery South African Mounted Riflemen and Bodyguard. +Overnight the Headquarters party "outspanned" at Okasise on a beautiful +camping-ground, and, meeting the Burgomaster of Windhuk under some +trees outside the town, ran into the South-West capital towards noon. +Later in the day the ceremony of formal taking over was performed +before a big crowd at the Rathaus. It was in every way a historic +scene. The mounted troops lined all about the square that fronts the +Rathaus from the roadway, their weary horses and stained uniforms +showing up in the background, with the throng of civilians crowded +amongst the motor-cars and carts in the square itself. A +warrant-officer of the Commander-in-Chief's Bodyguard had the honour of +hoisting the Union Jack over the Rathaus at Windhuk, the capital of +Germany's erstwhile colonial possessions. + +A cheer went up as the flag fluttered up in the noon sunlight. Windhuk +was naturally regarded as the Mecca, so to speak, of the invading army. + +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors +awaiting entry] +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters +with the Governor of Windhuk] + +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter] +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises] + + +With the interests of the civilised world fixed on the vast +slaughter-grounds of Europe, I shall not spend much time describing +Windhuk. It is a pretty, picturesque little town, built amongst brown and +purple hills. In most ways it is highly finished; reflects the spirit of +German thoroughness that is an admitted attribute of the race. As usual +in South-West Africa, it has nothing of the _colonial_ town about it; +it might be another suburb of Berlin. Many of the houses are thoroughly +built into the sides of the surrounding kopjes--perched like great +red-roofed cages on the hillsides. The place doesn't seem to have a +single industry of its own; but then, as I said elsewhere, there is +hardly an established industry in the Protectorate. + +There is one thing about Windhuk that grips your attention--and holds +it in no uncertain manner, too. One of the great objectives of the +South-West campaign was to secure the Windhuk wireless station. When +you see this--catch a glimpse of it suddenly where it stands on the +veld outside the town--you get a thrill of sheer astonishment. The +thing seems monstrous there. It is foreign to our ideas--a wireless +colossus in such a place. Had I seen this vast piece of work in a +humming city that stands warden to the seas it would have fitted in. +But where it is--well, it just surprised. Fancy a pretty bijou veld +town, red roofs, neat church, pepper trees, aeromotors, sleepy people +and everything--and across the veld, a mile and a half away, darkening +the sky with great vertical lines, five terrific steel lattice pillars, +nearly four hundred feet high, tied by cables with stay bolts as big as +a man; their aerials sweep from pillar to pillar, answer to the wind +the deepest note of a giant 'cello, and eavesdrop and conjure amongst +the news markets of the world. Now there is no electric light in this +village of Windhuk, or Windy Corner, yet. What was the idea with this +stupendous thing? And there are not enough Germans in the place--or in +the whole territory, if it comes to that--to populate a good-sized +town. There is also the usual telegraphic communication to the coast, +etc. Yet--the wireless. + +Its significance could be of one kind only: a military one. + +Leaving the town in the hands of Colonel Mentz, Military Governor, and +Lieut.-Colonel de Waal, the Commander-in-Chief returned to Headquarters +at Karibib on the 14th of May. + +[Illustration: The great Wireless Station at Windhuk] +[Illustration: Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight +over German positions] + +[Illustration: At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law +and order] +[Illustration: The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, +Windhuk] +[Illustration: The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk] + + + +SECTION IV + + +THE LAST PHASE + +On the 19th of June Brigadier-General Brits, of the Northern Army, +occupied Omaruru, on the Karibib-Grootfontein line. The enemy had +retreated. + +Nearly five weeks had passed since the Commander-in-Chief had +officially proclaimed the capital. During this time much had happened. +An abortive conference had taken place at Omaruru itself, the Germans, +we were informed afterwards, asking for terms that we were in no mind +to give them. The railway line between Swakopmund and Karibib, broken +up by dynamited bridges, had been to a great extent repaired. The +poorly rationed troops were now replenished. The horses, badly knocked +up after the rush through to Windhuk, had had opportunity to mend a +bit. General Botha had proclaimed the country; with refreshed troops +and horses, he was setting out to attempt to spring a final surprise on +the Germans. He had now the Aviation Corps in full working order--had +aerial eyes wherewith to be guided through a subtropical bush country +very full of possible dangers. He had ahead of him an enemy astonished, +yet, if what was rumoured was true, prepared to make a series of fights +and a big stand in country of his own choice. He had with him an army +that had crossed a desert and, arriving in bush country such as you +find in the Rhodesia "low" veld, knew the nature of it as only the +South African can. + +On June 24 Headquarters ran into Kalkfeld just after midnight. The +enemy had retreated. It had been predicted with the utmost confidence +that the Germans would here put up a fight. So confidently was this +expected that the Commander-in-Chief would hardly believe it when the +aeroplanes returned and reported that there were about half a dozen +Germans left in the place. Yet that proved to be exactly the fact, and +so greatly impressed was General Botha with the accuracy of the +observations on this occasion that he emphasised that the skymen were +to receive every possible assistance for the future. + +[Illustration: Panorama of Windhuk] + +[Illustration: Picturesque Windhuk] +[Illustration: Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless +Station] +[Illustration: How the Germans started to try trading with us ten +minutes after we entered the Capital. Note the spelling] + + +On June 26 Headquarters arrived at Okanjande, and pushed through to +Otjiwarongo, arriving there at 12 noon. The pace of the trekking was +now becoming phenomenal, and though the country was quite good, water +was as scarce as ever, the bush being intensely dense, with thick sweet +grass as much as eight feet high in places. It was a country made for +ambushes. In less than a week General Botha had trekked over one +hundred and twenty miles, the distance from Karibib to Otjiwarongo. +During this trek the army had had water only twice on the stretch from +Omaruru. But delay of any kind was now highly undesirable: the columns +could not afford to pause long owing to the consumption of rations. It +was no part of the Commander-in-Chief's policy to make bases and await +the arrival of large supplies; water was uncertain, and congestion of +columns at the watering places had to be avoided as much as possible. + +Near Okanjande the first great development in General Botha's final +strategy occurred. The northern advance was being conducted as follows. +Brigadier-General Brits, on the left, remained at Otjitasu, leaving it +on June 30. General Botha, with his command, in the centre, was holding +to the narrow gauge Karibib-Otavi-Tsumeb-Grootfontein Railway, and +General Myburgh's column to the right. Brigadier-General Brits now +branched away to Otjitasu, making for Outjo, Okanknejo, and across the +Etoscha Pan to Namutoni. The other columns moved on, trekking night and +day, as in the great advance across the Namib Desert. + +Headquarters made Okaputa on June 29; paused the next day, and on July +1 the Staff, leaving Okaputa at 8 o'clock in the morning, reached Otavi +and Otaviafontein at 4.30 p.m., close on the heels of an engagement at +Osib between the Germans and Brigadier-General Manie Botha, who had +pushed on with the Orange Free State Brigade at 6.30 the previous +evening, June 30. This engagement took place in the now intensely thick +bush country. In defeating the enemy, at a cost of a dozen casualties, +Brigadier-General Manie Botha succeeded in securing the finest water +supply the Union Forces had yet seen, and so swift and resolute was the +fighting of the burghers that the enemy fled to their last strong-hold +northward towards Tsumeb. Before striking the enemy in this action the +Free State Brigade, and their accompanying batteries from the 2nd South +African Mounted Riflemen, had trekked forty-two miles in sixteen hours +without halt for any kind of a rest. Behind them, in support, came the +force, consisting of the 6th Mounted Brigade, with the 1st South +African Mounted Riflemen Batteries, who did a similar trek, through +thickest bush, covering almost fifty miles in twenty hours. And the +animals had come through from Karibib--almost two and a half degrees of +latitude south. + +At the same time as Brigadier-General Manie Botha had left Okaputa, +Brigadier-General Lukin, with the 6th Mounted S.A.M.R. Brigade, had +left Omarasa. We had therefore a perfect network of highly mobile +forces advancing on the German position somewhere north. Away on the +right, from Windhuk and Okahandja through the Waterberg, +was Brigadier-General Albert's column. On his left was Brigadier-General +Myburgh. Nearer the railway was Brigadier-General Manie Botha. Next came +the Commander-in-Chief with Headquarters Staff and Bodyguard; and, +further, General Lukin. For the time being Brigadier-General Brits, on +the extreme left, had disappeared. + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car +through the thick sand] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up +bridges. Here is a fine specimen] + +[Illustration: General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first +men there taken under the flag hauled down by us] +[Illustration: Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his +staff] + +Brigadier-General Manie Botha now advanced right into the bush, +supported by Brigadier-General Lukin, who occupied Eisenberg Nek, on +the right flank. Brigadier-General Myburgh, trekking by forced marches, +in the course of his flanking movement on the right cut the line +between Otavi and Grootfontein, and, swerving north, encountered the +enemy at Asis and Gaub. This column, having captured seventy Germans, +marched straight on to Tsumeb, the extreme northerly limit of the +railway, forty miles north of Otavi. Here the enemy was attacked so +resolutely that they surrendered with all arms and four field guns, and +the Union prisoners of war were released. And great was their +rejoicing, too. Other columns marching north had now reached +Rietfontein and Grootfontein. + +It so arose now that General Myburgh, having got for a brief space out +of touch with the Commander-in-Chief, was not aware that the Germans +had opened, on July 5, negotiations with General Botha. General Myburgh +was at once communicated with. As a fact, at the time he entered +Tsumeb, a conference was on hand farther south. + +Why did the German forces in the Protectorate surrender without making +the big stand they threatened? If any proof be needed that they did +intend to make a stand it is necessary only to glance at the plan of +their final dispositions. And that is just where General Botha and his +forces had done their work. There is not the least doubt, not the very +least, that von Franke might have made a stand. It would have been +nothing more than a quixotically honourable waste of life ending in one +only possible way. + +_He was surrounded before he knew it._ + +So neat and swift had been the scheme prepared by the +Commander-in-Chief that the German was incredulous--until his scouts kept +coming in and telling him what the real state of affairs was. For Brits, +after a two hundred mile detour through the wildest country had swept +right north to Namutoni on the Great Etoscha Pan, had released more +prisoners and was swerving further out. Myburgh was in Tsumeb. Both these +generals were behind the Germans, ready to strike out forthwith; and +von Franke was cut off from all his supplies. He had simply been +caught--caught by remorseless forced marches and strategy as neat as a +trivet--in a great fork with bent prongs. On the sketches in this +little book, to which I have sacrificed everything possible for +clearness, the general simple scheme of the campaign may be apparent. +The final position on July 5 was something like the diagram on page 61 +[A]. + +Even guerilla warfare is an unattainable luxury when you are +surrounded. + +[Illustration: [A] The Fork that Caught the Germans] + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender +was made. A vast ant-hill at 500 Kilometres] + +[Illustration: South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender] + + +At kilometre 500 on the line between Otavi and Korab, at 2 a.m. on the +9th of July 1915, von Franke, the German Commander, and Dr. Seitz, the +Imperial Governor of South-West Africa, discreetly surrendered to Louis +Botha, Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister of the Union of South +Africa. + + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The German white flag train just +arriving] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 +Kilometres] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home] + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did +so much in the final brilliant movement] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released] + + + + +APPENDIX + + + +THE TERMS OF SURRENDER + + + +PRETORIA, _July_ 10. + +The terms of surrender of the military forces of the Protectorate of +German South-West Africa, as agreed to by the Government of the Union +of South Africa, and accepted by his Excellency Dr. Seitz, the Imperial +Governor of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa, the commander +of the military forces, which was signed on the 9th of July, 1915, are +that-- + +(1) The military forces of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa +(hereinafter referred to as the Protectorate) remaining in the field +under arms and at the disposal and the command of the commander of the +said Protectorate forces, are hereby surrendered to General the Right +Hon. Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Union of +South Africa in the field. Brigadier-General H. T. Lukin, C.M.G., +D.S.O., acting on behalf of General Botha, shall be the officer in +charge with arranging details of the surrender and giving effect to it. + +(2) The active troops of the said forces of the said Protectorate +surrendered in terms of paragraph (1) shall, in the case of officers, +retain their arms and may give parole, being allowed to live each under +that parole at such places as he may select. If for any reason the +Government of the Union is unable to meet the wish of any officer as +regards choice of abode, the officer concerned will choose some place +in respect of which no difficulty exists. In the case of other ranks of +the active troops of the said forces of the Protectorate, such other +ranks shall be interned under proper guard at such place in the +Protectorate as the Union Government shall decide upon. + +(3) Each non-commissioned officer and man of the ranks last referred to +shall be allowed to retain their rifles, but no ammunition. One officer +shall be permitted to be interned with the other ranks of artillery, +and one with the other ranks of the remainder of the active troops, and +one with the other ranks of the police. + +(4) All reservists (Landwehr) of all ranks of the said forces of the +Protectorate now remaining under arms in the field shall, except to the +extent as is provided for in paragraph (6) below, give up their arms +upon being surrendered, in such formations as may be found most +convenient, and after signing the annexed form of parole shall be +allowed to return to their homes and resume civil occupation. + +(5) All reservists (Landwehr and Landsturm) of all ranks of the said +forces of the Protectorate who are now held by the Union Government as +prisoners of war taken from the forces of the Protectorate, upon +signing the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4), shall be +allowed to resume civil occupation in the Protectorate. + +(6) Officers of the Reserve (Landwehr and Landsturm) of the said forces +of the Protectorate who surrender in terms of paragraph (1) above shall +be allowed to retain their arms, provided they sign the parole above +mentioned in paragraph (4). + +(7) All the officers of the said forces of the Protectorate who sign +the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4) shall be allowed to +retain their horses, which are nominally allotted to them in the +military establishment. + +(8) The Police of the Protectorate shall be treated, as far as have +been mobilised, as active troops. Those members of the Police who are +on duty on distant stations shall remain at their posts until relieved +by the Union troops, in order that the lives and property of +non-combatants may be protected. + +(9) Civil officials in the employment of the German Government of the +Protectorate shall be allowed to remain in their homes provided they +sign the parole above mentioned in paragraph (4). Nothing, however, in +this statement to be construed as entitling any such official to +exercise the functions of the appointment which he holds in the service +of either of the Governments aforesaid, or to claim from the Union +Government the emoluments of such appointment. + +(10)With the exception of the arms retained by the officers of the +Protectorate forces and by other ranks of the active troops, as +provided in paragraph (2), all war material (including all field guns, +mountain guns, small arms and guns, and small arm ammunition), and the +whole of the property of the Government of the Protectorate, shall be +placed at the disposal of the Union Government. + +[Illustration: The German Staff before surrender] + +[Illustration: General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel +J.F. Collier, meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres] + + +(11) His Excellency the Imperial Governor shall appoint a civil +official of the Protectorate Service who shall hand over and keep a +record of all Government property of the Civil Departments, including +records which are handed over to the Union Government in terms of +paragraph (10), and the Commander of the said forces of the +Protectorate shall appoint military officers, who shall hand over and +keep a similar record of all Government Property of the Military +Department of the Protectorate. + +Given under our hand this 19th day of July 1915. + +(Signed) Louis BOTHA, + +General Commanding-in-Chief of the Union Forces in the Field. + +SEITZ, + +Imperial Governor of German South-West Africa. + +FRANKE, + +Lieut.-Colonel, Commander of the Protectorate Forces of German +South-West Africa. + +The form of parole, shown as an annexure, begins-- + +"I, the undersigned, hereby place myself on my honour not to re-engage +in hostilities in the present war between Great Britain and Germany." + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, +receives an ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them] +[Illustration: Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, +receive a tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the +successful conclusion of the Rebellion and the Campaign] + +[Illustration: Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the +_Ebari_] +[Illustration: The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning +to the Union after Conquest] + + + +TOTAL UNION CASUALTIES. + + +The official report shows that the total casualties of the operations +in South-West Africa in connection with the Union Forces are +approximately as follows-- + +Killed in action 88 +Died of wounds 25 +Wounded in action 263 +Wounded and taken prisoners 48 +Unwounded prisoners in hands of enemy 612 +Total 1,036 + + +Died of disease 97 +Died through accidents and by mis-adventure 56 +Total 153 + + + +TOTAL ENEMY SURRENDERS + + +Immediately after the capitulation of the enemy, Brigadier-General +Lukin reported that he had satisfactorily completed the work of +accepting surrenders. The total number of surrenders amounted to +4,410, made up as follows-- + +Officers of the Active Troops and Police 110 +Officers of the Reserve 177 +Rank and File of Active Troops and Police 1,548 +Rank and File of Reserve 2,575 + + +The Union Forces when at greatest strength numbered 50,000 men. + +The Germans when at full strength numbered 9,000, but a proportion of +these consisted of civilians, who eventually refused to serve. + + + +AMENDMENT + + +In an official _communiqué_ issued at the end of July, figures were +given of the total number of the enemy included in the general +surrender. The total then given was 4,410, and included the +surrender of the main body at Korab, and also troops captured by +Brigadier-General Myburgh at Tsumeb on July 6, the surrenders at +Grootfontein, Otavifontein, Otavi and Tsumeb, and those who surrendered +at Otjiwarongo. + +The additional numbers captured or surrendered at various points since +General Botha made his advance northwards after occupation of Windhuk +are-- + +To Brigadier-General Myburgh's force, +mostly at Gaub 105 + +To Brigadier-General Manie Botha's +force between Okaputa and Otavifontein 50 + +To Brigadier-General Lukin's force 12 + +To Brigadier-General Brits' force, +mostly at Namutoni 163 + +Total 330 + +Thus the total number of prisoners taken during the last stage of the +campaign, viz. from June 18 to July 9, was 4,740. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD*** + + +******* This file should be named 15802-8.txt or 15802-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: With Botha in the Field</p> +<p>Author: Eric Moore Ritchie</p> +<p>Release Date: May 9, 2005 [eBook #15802]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Carol David, Debra Storr,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<table WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" summary=""> +<tr> +<td> +<center> +<h1> +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD</h1></center> + +<center><img src="images/botha.jpg" alt="The Author" height=600 width=514> +<p>Photo: Leon Lerson, Johannesberg</p></center> + +<center> +<h3> +BY</h3></center> + +<center> +<h1> +MOORE RITCHIE</h1></center> + +<h3> +<i>With Five Diagrams and Eighty-two Illustrations mostly by the Author</i></h3><br> + +<center> +<h2>LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.</h2> +<h4>39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON</h4> +<h4>FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK</h4> +<h4>BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS</h4> + +<h3>1915</h3></center> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<center> +<h3> +<a name="author"></a><img src="images/the-author.jpg" alt="THE AUTHOR" height=600 width=507></h3></center> + +<center>THE AUTHOR</center> + +<h3> +J.B.</h3> + +<h3> +LIEUTENANT, HIS MAJESTY'S IMPERIAL FORCES,</h3> + +<h3> +IF THIS SHOULD CATCH THE EYE OF:</h3> + +<h3> +CHER AMI,--TO YOU:</h3> + +<h3> +IN MEMORY OF DAYS.</h3> + +<h3> +YOURS,</h3> + +<h3> +M. R.</h3> + +<center><a name="bothasmuts"></a><img src="images/bothasmutsinfield.jpg" alt="The only photo of the meeting of General Botha and General Smuts in the field just before Windhuk was taken" height=600 width=477> +<br><i>Frontispiece</i>: The only photo of the meeting of General Botha +and General Smuts in the field just before Windhuk was taken</center> + +<h2> +FOREWORD</h2> +The ungentle reader (upon whom a malediction) will discover that this little +book is not by any means exhaustive. But the gentle reader may find it +to be what I hope it is. For him I wrote it. +<p>Europe at the present time is lacerated in the greatest war of which +man has knowledge. Compared with the doings in the Eastern and Western +Fronts, in the Austro-Italian Theatre, or in the Dardanelles, the campaign +of South Africa must take a modest place. +<p>My idea is simply to make clear to the public (for example, all names +I mention will be easily found on my diagrams, drawn from a German fully +detailed map, the best of the South-West African Protectorate in existence) +of gentle and patriotic readers something of the latter-day work of a gentleman +and a patriot, justly famed amongst peoples with whom integrity and honour +are still esteemed sovereign virtues. +<p><i>"The Nonggai," Pretoria, S. Africa, August1915</i>. +<center> +<p><a name="bodyguard"></a><img src="images/bodyguardtofront.jpg" alt="General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front" height=380 width=600> +<br>General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front</center> + +<h2> +CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3> +PART I</h3> +CHASING THE REBELS +<p>I KEMP AND BEYERS II DE WET III KEMP'S ESCAPE IV FOURIE +<h3> +PART II</h3> +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA +<p>I THE PRELIMINARY CANTER II THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT III +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK IV THE LAST PHASE +<h3> +APPENDIX</h3> + +<h3> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> +<a href="#author">The Author</a> +<p><a href="#bothasmuts">The only photo of the meeting of General Botha +and General Smuts in the field just before Windhuk was taken</a> +<p><a href="#bodyguard">General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front</a> +<p><a href="#campiagn_plan">Diagram of Campaign</a> +<p>Group of Rebel Leaders [Transcriber's note: missing from original] +<p>Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet [Transcriber's note: missing from original] +<p><a href="#The_last_pursuit_of_Kemp_Flying_column_crossing">The last +pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the Orange River after him</a> +<p><a href="#Troops_returning_to_Pretoria_after_Nooitgedacht.">Troops returning +to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. December 16, 1914</a> +<p><a href="#Diagram_of">Diagram of Nooitgedacht</a> +<p><a href="#General_Bothas_train_leaves_the_Orange_Free_State">General +Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after the crushing of the Rebellion</a> +<p><a href="#Exhausted_Troops_after_defeating_De_Wet_in_the">Exhausted +Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange Free State</a> +<p><a href="#Leaving_Pretoria_General_Bothas_Bodyguard">Leaving Pretoria. +General Botha's Bodyguard departing</a> +<p><a href="#Kits_aboard_The_Troops_departing_for_the">Kits aboard. The +Troops departing for the Front</a> +<p><a href="#Camp_of_the_Bodyguard_at_Groote">Camp of the Bodyguard at +Groote Schuur</a> +<p><a href="#Brothers_in_Arms_The_British_Navy_and_Bothas">Brothers in +Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard fraternised aboard. Many of +the latter are, of course, pure South African</a> +<p><a href="#Boxing_aboard._En_route_to_German_South-West">Boxing aboard. +En route to German South-West Africa</a> +<p><a href="#Awaiting_landing_from_the">Awaiting landing from the Transport</a> +<p><a href="#Trekking_over_the_terrible_Sand_Dunes_near_the">Trekking over +the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, German South-West Africa</a> +<p><a href="#Some_of_the_first_Burghers_to_land_at">Some of the first Burghers +to land at Walvis</a> +<p><a href="#Before_the_Advance_General_Botha_photographed">Before the +Advance. General Botha photographed with the Red Cross Sisters</a> +<p><a href="#General_Botha_and_Staff_alighting_for_an">General Botha and +Staff alighting for an Inspection. (The famous Brigadier-General Brits, +who trekked to Namutoni, is the fourth figure from the right.)</a> +<p><a href="#Awaiting_the_Advance._The_Commander-in-Chief_at">Awaiting +the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with the Red Cross Sisters</a> +<p><a href="#Awaiting_the_Advance_Garrison_Sports_at">Awaiting the Advance. +Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. Start for 100 yards race</a> +<p><a href="#Awaiting_the_Advance._Garrison_Sports.">Awaiting the Advance. +Garrison Sports. Winner</a> +<p><a href="#Swakopmund_from_the_Lighthouse_Extreme">Swakopmund from the +Lighthouse: Extreme Right</a> +<p><a href="#Swakopmundcentre">Swakopmund: Centre</a> +<p><a href="#Swakopmund_left">Swakopmund: Extreme Left</a> +<p><a href="#Man_and_Beast_in_the_Desert_both_absolutely">Man and Beast +in the Desert: both absolutely spent</a> +<p><a href="#Looking_for_Water_in_the_River">Looking for Water in the River +Bed</a> +<p><a href="#A_Halt_in_a_River_Bed_General_Botha_has">A Halt in a River +Bed: General Botha has lunch</a> +<p><a href="#Main_Guard_aboard--en_route_to_hunt_the">Main Guard aboard--en +route to hunt the Huns</a> +<p><a href="#On_the_Great_Trek--the_Chief_of_the_Staff_has_a">On the Great +Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a hair-cut</a> +<p><a href="#Action_at">Action at Riet</a> +<p><a href="#An_unique_picture_of_General_Botha_the">An unique picture +of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff reconnoitring</a> +<p><a href="#After_Riet_water_in_blessed">After Riet water in blessed profusion</a> +<p><a href="#A_Typical_Parade_of_the_Germans_in_South_West">A Typical Parade +of the Germans in South-West Africa</a> +<p><a href="#Typical_captured_German">Typical captured German Infantry</a> +<p><a href="#The_Great_Trek._Otjimbingwe:_its_Palms_and">The Great Trek. +Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells</a> +<p><a href="#The_Great_Trek._Otjimbingwe:_cic">The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: +the Commander-in-Chief at the old German capital</a> +<p><a href="#The_Great_Trek._Getting_Milk_from_a_Goat._Milk_was">The Great +Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was priced beyond Silver</a> +<p><a href="#The_Great_Trek_An_extempore_bath_towards_the_end">The Great +Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the Trek</a> +<p><a href="#A_Beauty_Spot_passed_during_the_last">A Beauty Spot passed +during the last Trek</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_Conference_at_Omaruru_German">The Last Phase. +Conference at Omaruru. German Staff lunching</a> +<p><a href="#The_General_receives_his_Bodyguard_at_a_Garden">The General +receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party after return</a> +<p><a href="#German_prisoners_of_war_imprisoned_at">German prisoners of +war, imprisoned at Karibib</a> +<p><a href="#Karibib">Karibib</a> +<p><a href="#Towards_Windhuk_The_first_troops_in">Towards Windhuk. The +first troops in Waldau</a> +<p><a href="#The_first_South_African_Engineer_Corps_Staff_at">The first +South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#Towards_Windhuk_A_quick_railway_repair_after_the">Towards +Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the Germans' usual practice of blowing +up railway bridges</a> +<p><a href="#Towards_Windhuk._The_first_train_to_Windhuk._The">Towards +Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South African Engineer Corps Construction +Party aboard</a> +<p><a href="#At_Windhuk._How_we_treat_the_German_women._Ten">At Windhuk. +How we treat the German women. Ten minutes after occupation</a> +<p><a href="#At_Windhuk._The_Commander-in-Chief_addresses_his">At Windhuk. +The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed troops from the Rathaus</a> +<p><a href="#At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_Headquarters_Staff_Motors">At the +Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors awaiting entry</a> +<p><a href="#At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_General_Botha_discusses">At the Gate +of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters with the Governor of Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_interpret">At the Gate of Windhuk. +The Interpreter</a> +<p><a href="#At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_emphasises">At the Gate of Windhuk. +General Botha emphasises</a> +<p><a href="#The_great_Wireless_Station_at">The great Wireless Station +at Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#Conference_at_Omaruru_General_Staff">Conference at Omaruru. +General Staff lunching</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_The_BE2_tuning_up_in_shed_before">The Last +Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight over German positions</a> +<p><a href="#prvostmarschall">At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all +in Law and order</a> +<p><a href="#union_jack">The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's +office, Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#greatmilitarybarracks">The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#panorama">Panorama of Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#pictwindruk">Picturesque Windhuk</a> +<p><a href="#windjukbasking">Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great +Wireless Station</a> +<p><a href="#How_the_Germans_started_to_try_trading_with_us_ten_minutes_after_we_entered_the_Capital_Note_the_spelling">How +the Germans started to try trading with us ten minutes after we entered +the Capital. Note the spelling</a> +<p><a href="#lastphasecarsand">The Last Phase. Difficulties with General +Botha's car through the thick sand</a> +<p><a href="#lastphaseblowing_bridges">The Last Phase. The Germans had +a hobby of blowing up bridges. Here is a fine specimen</a> +<p><a href="#General_Franks_house_Windhuk_Photo_of_the_two_first_men_there_taken_under_the_flag_hauled_down_by_us">General +Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first men there taken under the +flag hauled down by us</a> +<p><a href="#Windhuk._The_first_British_station-master_and_one_of_his_staff">Windhuk. +The first British station-master and one of his staff</a> +<p><a href="#fork">The Fork that Caught the Germans</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_Opposite_the_very_spot_where_surrender_was_made_A_vast_ant_hill_at_500_Kilometres">The +Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender was made. A vast ant-hill +at 500 Kilometres</a> +<p>South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender [Transcriber's note: missing from original] +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_The_German_white_flag_train_just_arriving">The +Last Phase. The German white flag train just arriving</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_General_Botha_meets_Von_Franke_at_500_Kilometres">The +Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 Kilometres</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_Troops_entraining_to_return_home">The Last +Phase. Troops entraining to return home</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_The_famous_Rhodesian_Regiment_that_did_so_much_in_the_final_brilliant_movement">The +Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did so much in the final +brilliant movement</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase._Isumeh._British_prisoners_released">The Last +Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released</a> +<p><a href="#The_German_Staff_before_surrender">The German Staff before +surrender</a> +<p><a href="#General_Botha_and_his_brilliant_Chief_of_Staff_Colonel_JF_Collier_meet_Von_Franke_at_500_Kilometres">General +Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel J.F. Collier, meet Von +Franke at 500 Kilometres</a> +<p><a href="#The_Last_Phase_The_CommanderinChief_General_Botha_receives_an_ovation_from_his_Bodyguard_after_disbanding_them">The +Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, receives an ovation +from his Bodyguard after disbanding them</a> +<p><a href="#Generals_Botha_and_Smuts_the_Great_South_Africans_receive_a_tremendous_ovation_from_the_crowd_at_the_Capital_on_the">Generals +Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a tremendous ovation +from the crowd at the Capital on the successful conclusion of the Rebellion +and the Campaign</a> +<p><a href="#Homeward_bound_General_Botha_and_Staff_returning_on_the_Ebari">Homeward +bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the _Ebari_</a> +<p><a href="#The_Great_Man_and_the_Chips_of_the_Old_Block_returning_to_the_Union_after_Conquest">The +Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning to the Union after Conquest</a> +</p> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<center> +<p><a name="campiagn_plan"></a><img src="images/campaignplan.jpg" alt="Diagram of Campaign" height=775 width=600> +<br>Diagram of Campaign</center> + +<h1> +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD</h1> + +<h2> +PART I</h2> + +<h2> +CHASING THE REBELS</h2> + +<h3> +SECTION I</h3> + +<h3> +KEMP AND BEYERS</h3> +Six weeks after the war-cloud smashed over Europe a man called on me. He +was an old friend; but the point about him is that at that particular time +I fancied him on his farm at least a thousand miles away. +<p>"Hello!" I said in surprise. "Why this sudden appearance?" +<p>"This is going to be a big thing, my boy. I am off 'Home.' They will +need us all." +<p>It impressed me. He was a person calm and methodical minded, and, like +so many good men, he has been dead now many months. His words, which have +proved true, were the first to turn my mind definitely to war- thoughts. +Besides, the man whose trade is writing has always, when events are stirring, +the itch to go, look and note. +<p>In the branch of the Union Service to which I belong--the South African +Police--none but Reservists could then proceed to Europe; but when General +Botha announced that he himself would take command of the Expeditionary +Force to German South-West Africa, a Bodyguard from the South African Police +was decided upon, volunteers came forward, and on this unit I had the honour +to serve. +<p>The intention of the Union Authorities was to push forward with the +German West Campaign as quickly as possible. The Rebellion delayed operations +roughly some three months--a period during which some exceedingly severe +marchings and stiff rifle actions took place. I mention this deliberately, +for in the stir of well-won applause following the victorious end of the +Campaign proper, the preliminary canter of the Rebellion is perhaps somewhat +forgotten. +<p>It does not seem, in the light of later information, strictly true to +say that the Rebellion of 1914 broke upon the Union of South Africa in +a manner wholly unexpected. But its ultimate development and extent did +cause both surprise and great uneasiness. The details of its various activities +over the country are by this time stale history. Leaving comment of a political +nature alone, I confine myself briefly to the movements which, performed +by General Botha and the loyalist troops, were so swift and accurate in +their workings that they broke the back of the main risings before more +than local disorganisation and the least possible amount of bloodshed had +been achieved. +<p>On the 12th of October the Bodyguard for the German South-West Campaign +assembled for field practices, etc., at Pretoria. On the 20th we heard +that we should be leaving at an hour's notice, presumably for the South-West. +The +following day wild and disquieting rumours began to circulate from early +morning. Maritz had gone into rebellion. Motor- cars sped all forenoon +between General Botha's house close to us and the Union Defence Headquarters. +Our camp was full of alarms. The police of Pretoria became suddenly twice +as many about the streets. Towards evening it was positively stated that +plots were afoot aiming at nothing less than the life of General Botha; +and the Main Guard, which had been mounted at the General's house from +the day of the Bodyguard's formation, was doubled. Not a soul was allowed +within or around the modest grounds of the house without challenge at the +point of the bayonet and presentment of the countersign. It will be long +before memory loses the picture of those evenings, when through the lighted +windows of the left wing of the house the Main Guard first and second reliefs +got a view of a familiar ample figure in anxious consultations at a table +upon which the electric light cast a mellow glow. +<p>The next day, the 22nd of October, rumour gave way to fact. Rebellion +had definitely broken out in the Transvaal and the Free State; Beyers, +the ex-Commandant General, Kemp and others were leading in the Transvaal; +the names of De Wet and Wessel Wessels were coupled with the Free State. +For the second time within a year unhappy South Africa heard rumours of +imminent Martial Law proclamations. +<p>Monday morning, the 26th, arrived and found us still waiting; then the +Bodyguard got twenty minutes' notice and entrained, horses, kits and everything +for Rustenburg. We arrived there at five o'clock the following morning, +and started at once in pursuit of rebel commandos which were led by Kemp +and Beyers. Before starting, General Botha over a cup of coffee had an +anxious consultation with his loyal commandants who had arrived to meet +him. Throughout the day we trekked, with one brief halt only, and "outspanned" +that night near Oliphant's Nek. During the day the loyal commandos located +the rebels without much difficulty; they were routed in all directions, +and some eighty were captured. At two o'clock in the morning we continued +the trek, stopped in the forenoon on the railway line at Derby (close to +Drakfontein, the scene of the British disaster to Benson's Horse during +the South African War), and pushing on in the evening to Koster, learnt +from incoming scouts that Kemp had escaped capture by minutes only. The +direction of his flight was questionable at the time. +<p>Returning to Pretoria, we remained there for a few days. The whole town +was in a state of remarkable tension. The police were armed. Armed volunteers +were called for. Loyalists were training after working hours in batches +on various open spaces. It was freely whispered that the German South-West +Campaign would be given up, so formidable was the threatened opposition +to it.... I am writing this much less than a year later: and Windhuk has +fallen, the Germans have surrendered their territory, and thousands of +burghers and volunteers are returning to their homes. +<p>On the 2nd of November we left Pretoria again. More trouble was brewing +at Brits, close to Pretoria. We trekked straightway to Zoutpan's Drift, +the commandos again pursuing a body of rebels who, cutting through the +railway line, had caused damage at De Wilts or Greyling's Post, twenty +miles or so outside the Union capital. Quite unwilling to make a stand, +the insurgents were again put to flight, and General Botha returned to +Pretoria the following day. In the meantime other loyalist columns in the +Transvaal had taken to the field, and the rebellion seemed well in hand. +<h3> +SECTION II</h3> + +<h3> +DE WET</h3> +Compared with the Free State insurrection, the Transvaal affair appeared +in many ways to be a small business from our point of view. In actuality +it was nothing of the kind. It was, if anything, much more ugly in spirit. +The genius of the Free State section of insurgents displayed itself chiefly +in a highly finished exposition of lying, looting and "legging it." +<p>De Wet's delirious harangue had not exhausted its nine-days' life as +a masterpiece of unconscious humour when General Botha left Pretoria for +the Free State on November 9. Again, I am not concerned with the highly +complex motives which prompted the veteran Dutch General to make his delightful +"Five Bob Outrage" speech and other things at Vrede. Flogging dead horses +is a useless job, anyway. +<p>During the journey to the Free State, our guard en the train was extremely +strict. Though every possible precaution of secrecy had been taken, we +were positively told to be prepared to find the train fired upon. But, +if during such journeys preparedness was doubtless essential in the circumstances, +it always seemed to me that we, or any one so placed, were pretty powerless +to avert disaster should a properly directed shot from the darkness find +its mark. +<p>On November 11 we detrained at Theunissen, in the Free State. It was +speedily clear that this part of the world was in the grip of disturbance. +Telegraph poles all along the line had been wrecked; an amount of mild +pillaging had been going on. The people of Theunissen were almost in panic. +The two fights--one against Conroy, at Allaman's Kraal, the other and larger, +against De Wet, at Doornberg--had been enormously magnified. General Botha +was welcomed in genuine relief. We remained at arms in the train during +the first part of the night. At 2 a.m. we were roused, and in less than +half an hour were on the way across country to Winburg. +<p>The arrival at the little railhead dorp of Winburg was remarkable. Scarcely +were we halted and hand put to loosen girth before the loyalist leaders +came running out in the morning sunshine to meet us. De Wet had left the +place two hours before, disappearing with his following over the first +kopje. He had caused absolute panic. His forces had cut the inhabitants +off from all touch with the outer world. De Wet had commandeered all food +supplies worth having. Houses had been looted and speeches were made in +the marketplace. His followers had assured the people that the Empire was +tottering, Germany had defeated Britain on land and sea, a hundred thousand +were marching on Pretoria, and that Botha and his Government were defeated +and disgraced. And these statements were to a large extent believed. +<p>It was but natural. Cut off the wire and rail communication of a South +African veld town and you have isolation in the most thorough sense. In +such a place at such a time mere statement may seem quite possibly the +truth. +<p>Towards evening we got news of the rebels, and a night-march was ordered. +As we left the town the loyal people lined the streets, the fellows in +the columns whistled "Tipperary," and we got a rousing farewell. +<p>[Illustration: Group of Rebel Leaders] [missing] +<p>[Illustration: Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet] [missing] +<p>General Botha is celebrated amongst fighting men for many things, and +his night-marching is one of them. He appears to believe to the fullest +extent in night-marching. He had located De Wet at a place called Mushroom +Valley, and parts of the Commander-in-Chief's forces had been sent to make +a surrounding movement. During the all-night trek from Winburg to Mushroom +Valley I had a first thorough experience of the true horrors of sleep-fighting. +It was bitterly cold--cold as the Free State night on the veld knows how +to be. And we could not smoke, could not talk above a faint murmur, and +nodded in our saddles. The clear stars danced fantastically in the sky +ahead of us, and the ground seemed to be falling away from us into vast +hollows, then rising to our horses' noses ready to smash into us like an +impalpable wall. After midnight, outspanning in a piercing wind, we formed +square; main guard was posted over the General's car, and those lucky enough +to escape turn of duty huddled together under cloaks and dozed fitfully +until two-thirty. From two-thirty till sunrise we trekked on. Suddenly, +just after good daylight, the Staff halted the column, glasses were put +up, and away we swung half right into the veld. Up came the artillery and +opened fire on a cluster of ant-sized figures four thousand yards ahead +beneath the shoulder of a kopje. Had the thing not contained the very germ +of tragedy it would have been laughable to see the way those figures scattered +over the red veld. It was De Wet's commandos caught napping. Just before +the shell fire our burghers had gone out ahead hell-for-leather on either +flank. The whole column then advanced. After two hours' pretty hot work +the action was over. We lost six killed against the rebels' twenty-two, +and with twenty wounded on our side the rebel losses were proportionate. +We took upwards of three hundred prisoners, De Wet himself escaping by +the merest fluke. He lost all his transport, and generally ceased after +the action to be a serious menace. +<p>During the operations against De Wet I watched, when possible, the demeanour +of the quiet South African patriot with whom fate had placed me in the +field. I had last seen him many years before, gravely bowing from under +a silk hat to a crowd that swayed and cheered as he drove through the streets +of Manchester. And now duty found him in the field against an old comrade-in-arms. +There was a sadness, there was a profound pathos about it. No wonder if +to me it seemed that General Botha looked downcast indeed, if stern as +well, during the Rebellion. Life, surely, was not dealing too fairly by +him. +<p>Following Mushroom Valley, we trekked, with two brief outspans only, +to Clocolan, all the time scattering De Wet's followers. At Clocolan we +paused for one day, entrained men and horses and reached Kimberley, via +Bloemfontein, on the 18th of November. The following day rebel activities +were reported in the direction of Bloemhof; but after an eventless journey +we returned to Kimberley on the 21st. +<h3> +SECTION III</h3> + +<h3> +KEMP'S ESCAPE</h3> +It was at Kimberley that news came through that Kemp was making a desperate +cross-country trek to get into German territory in the Upington neighbourhood. +A reference to a map will show that Upington, on the Orange River, is on +the extreme western borders of the Union; and it must be said that the +trek which Kemp and the remnant of his moderate force, poorly mounted and +equipped, had made since being routed by General Botha on the 27th of October +(a month before) stands as a remarkable piece of work. We pushed on to +Prieska, via De Aar, and reached Upington, on the scarcely completed new +line from Prieska, on the 25th of November. The journey over the desert +stretch from Prieska to Upington was full of alarms; during the night the +train halted in the lonely veld owing to a washaway, and we stood to arms, +throwing out cossack-posts around the train wherein the Commander-in-Chief +slept. It was tremendously exciting work. +<p>The old town of Upington was transformed in those days. Around the Dutch +Reformed Church, standing peaceful and dazzling white in the torrid sun, +were tents, wagons, horses, motor-cars, signalling-parties, despatch-riders +and infantry. Away over the hard red sand dunes to the north was the action +zone, and from that direction every five minutes came sweating motor despatch-riders, +who tore along to Headquarters. The following day news came through that +the Imperial Light Horse and the Natal Carbineers had been engaging Kemp +before and since dawn; almost cornered, he was making a final dash for +the border to get into German South-West. It was an anxious time; each +minute brought a fresh rumour as to the fighting and the thousands of men +Kemp had got together for his desperate move. Our staff returned before +dark, reporting an eventless day, with intermittent fighting. On the 28th +the Staff went out in motors as far as Rooidam. They returned with bad +news in the early afternoon. After a prolonged rearguard action Kemp had +succeeded, taking over to the Germans with him a force which was said to +be far greater than had been supposed. (Need I add that after events showed +there had been gross exaggeration?) +<p>I offer, with reserve, the following ingenious explanation of Kemp's +escape; it was told me later by several who saw the action. Near the end +of his terrific trek through from the North-Western Transvaal to the German +outpost for which he was making, Kemp was hotly pursued by the loyalist +troops. His men were exhausted. Half of them were dismounted. All his horses +were spent. In these conditions he was forced to the most trying form of +fight--the rearguard and flank action. With his goal practically right +ahead, he reached three of the parallel large sand dunes with which the +veld around Upington is scattered. They were on his left flank. He swerved +into them. Hotly pursued, he crossed two, and under the lee of the second +left a party of good shots. Then, cantering away over the third, he doubled +round on his tracks and with his exhausted followers made for the German +outpost. When the Union troops came up they were ambushed at short range, +and the check they got just served the fleeing rebel. In the pursuit afterwards +our parties found traces of buried rations for horses and men. These had +been provided with German thoroughness. +<p>The second phase of the Free State Rebellion was a pantomime more than +anything else; a week's pantomime acted in the open veld in rain that never +stopped. It was the most miserable week I have known. We left Upington +on the 29th of November, reaching Kroonstad, Orange Free State, late next +evening. Here the Commander-in-Chief was met by General Smuts, Minister +for Defence; a consultation took place, and as a result we left by train +for Bethlehem in the evening. Our arrival was timely, too. The place was +in a perfect uproar. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. All the +loyalistcivilians were under arms. The large mill of the Kaffrarian Steam +Flour Company had been converted into a fort which was, in case of necessity, +impregnable to rifle-fire. The rebels in the field had declared the New +Republic practically established, with temporary capital at Reitz. Just +before we saddled up to track them the news came of De Wet's capture on +the Malopi River, near Mafeking. The news put everyone in fresher spirits. +The charm around the famous guerilla fighter had broken. That the Rebellion +was doomed we all knew. But most of us were weary, nevertheless. It furnished +a refresher. +<p>We left a happier Bethlehem at a rainy dawn the next day. Half way to +Reitz we outspanned in the rain. It rained all night. The following morning +came back to mind a talk an old soldier and I had once while freezing one +early morning awaiting the Channel boat at Greenock. Alluding to cold and +misery, he said: "You don't know what it is, my son, till you've been held +up for three nights by rain in war-time in the South African veld, and +spent the time standing in water. I did it outside Mafeking." Well, I understand +a little now. +<p>The next day our scouts entered Reitz; the rebels had fled. For two +days we operated against them. A day later General Botha returned to Reitz. +Nothing was said at the time. The fact was that before we entrained at +Reitz, on the 7th of December, Wessel Wessels and Serfontein were surrounded. +A day later they surrendered: the Orange Free State Rebellion, in all its +futility, was over. +<center> +<p><a name="The_last_pursuit_of_Kemp_Flying_column_crossing"></a><img src="images/crossingriver.jpg" alt="The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the Orange River after him" height=379 width=600> +<br>The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the Orange River after +him +<p><a name="Troops_returning_to_Pretoria_after_Nooitgedacht."></a><img src="images/troopsreurnnois.jpg" alt="Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. December 16, 1914" height=386 width=600> +<br>Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. December 16, 1914</center> + +<h3> +SECTION IV</h3> + +<h3> +FOURIE</h3> +Just before and during the Commander-in-Chief's long trek, other bodies +of loyalist troops had been engaging the rebels. The most notable of these +actions were against Muller at Bronkhorst Spruit (5th November, 1914; casualties, +one killed and three wounded), and against Fourie at Hamanskraal (22nd +November, 1914; casualties, three killed and ten wounded). Both these actions +took place in the neighbourhood of Pretoria. As a result of them and the +death of Beyers in the Vaal River, the Rebellion in the Transvaal was virtually +smashed. There remained only Fourie to be dealt with. +<p>Fourie, late Major in the South African Defence Force, possibly the +most fanatical of all the rebels, appears to have been a man of character +and proved courage. Having got away at the action at Hamanskraal, he and +his younger brother were moving about in the veld with ex-Major Pienaar +and a moderate force. Their fantastic purpose was said to be the taking +of Pretoria itself on Dingaan's Day, the 16th of December. As all the South +African world knows, this date marks the anniversary of the famous fight +of the Voortrekkers at Blood River in 1838. The day before a force of South +African Police, Defence Force, and South African Mounted Riflemen left +Pretoria, detrained at Greyling's Post, on the Pietersburg Line, and started +in pursuit of the last big rebel commando at large. In this move we of +the Bodyguard found ourselves acting; General Botha, who had returned to +Pretoria after his severe field work, had gone to his farm for a few days' +rest before the South-West campaign. +<center> +<p><a name="Diagram_of"></a><img src="images/noodidiagram.jpg" alt="Diagram of Nooitgedacht" height=344 width=600> +<br>Diagram of Nooitgedacht</center> + +<p>We trekked at dawn and during the whole of the following day, with one +rain-sodden halt, till four in the afternoon. The rebels had doubled in +their tracks after reaching a large dam at Blaaubank. Late in the afternoon +our scouts returned to the column and reported having located the enemy +three miles ahead, entrenched in a donga, or dried-up stony river course, +on the farm Nooitgedacht No. 4. We prepared for action, and encountered +the rebels in the next half hour. This, the first true action I had been +in, was an extremely dirty affair; a man who had gone through some of the +worst fights in the South African War afterwards assured me it was the +hottest corner he had ever been in. Bush-country fighting is detestable +chiefly because you cannot see your enemy until you are on top of him. +Our centre cantered in extended order up an avenue flanked by dense bush. +We were laughing and asking where the deuce the rebels were, when a hail +of rifle fire at short range greeted us. Our fellows were out of their +saddles in a second, and advanced to the attack through the bush. Meantime, +the South African Police extreme left had swept round to the head of the +spruit on both sides of which the donga was formed, the South African Mounted +Riflemen and more South African Police closed in, the Defence Force unit +getting in rear and in flank of the rebels to cut them off. The attacking +party had to work their way through open veld before they could charge +the enemy; they made a mark as good as standing game. It was two and a +half hours before the "Cease-fire" whistle sounded. +<center> +<p><a name="General_Bothas_train_leaves_the_Orange_Free_State"></a><img src="images/bothatrainleaves.jpg" alt="General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after the crushing of the Rebellion" height=421 width=600> +<br>General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after the crushing +of the Rebellion +<p><a name="Exhausted_Troops_after_defeating_De_Wet_in_the"></a><img src="images/exhausted-troops.jpg" alt="Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange Free State" height=428 width=600> +<br>Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange Free State</center> + +<p>It fell to me to be a horse-holder (one man in each section is, of course, +a horse-holder when mounted infantry are in action) in this fight. In nightmare +I have passed that evening since--and wakened quickly, too. The worst of +rifle fire is that you can hear bullets whizzing and spitting in trees, +but it takes an experienced hand to divine direction. It was only afterwards +I found out that a party of rebels were firing on our horses in rear. The +horses knew it, though, and shewed it in their eyes. The sun came watery +through the clouds just before sunset; I remember during the lulls in the +wicked coughs of rifle fire hearing doves cooing gently in the sun-pierced +trees. +<center> +<p><a name="Leaving_Pretoria_General_Bothas_Bodyguard"></a><img src="images/leavingpretoria.jpg" alt="Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing" height=235 width=600> +<br>Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing +<p><a name="Kits_aboard_The_Troops_departing_for_the"></a><img src="images/troopsdepartfront.jpg" alt="Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front" height=262 width=600> +<br>Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front +<p><a name="Camp_of_the_Bodyguard_at_Groote"></a><img src="images/campbodyguardgrootshur.jpg" alt="Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur" height=345 width=600> +<br>Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur</center> + +<p>When darkness fell we had captured Fourie, his brother and all his following, +except nine men who made their escape at the beginning of the fight. The +loyalist casualties in this action were twelve killed and twenty-four wounded. +I saw a man who had shared a last cigarette with me as we rode into the +action that afternoon lying dead on a blanket three hours later. In that +instant I learnt something of the true meaning of war. +<p>There are hundreds of brave deeds that must go unrecognised in these +days. But from what I know of this particular action there was an amount +of gallantry and quiet heroism displayed amongst the fellows that deserved +more than casual comment. I could speak of things I saw, and would like +to, moreover. But as for my pains a punched head from outraged modesty +would be the reward I shall say no more. +<p>A few days later Fourie was tried by court-martial, convicted, and shot +at dawn. In the last days of December the few remaining rebels at large +either surrendered or were captured. As the last days of the Old Year slipped +by, rebellion within the Union of South Africa died out, and General Botha +spent the holidays in peace on his farm at Rusthof--in the haven where +he fain would be. +<h2> +PART II</h2> + +<h2> +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA</h2> + +<h3> +SECTION I</h3> + +<h3> +THE PRELIMINARY CANTER</h3> +At the stroke of seven on the evening of January 13, 1915, a train steamed +out of Pretoria station to the accompaniment of roars of cheering. And +few in the imposing string of carriages that made the train were sober +within the meaning of the act. But everyone was in the highest spirits. +The Rebellion was over. The New Year was with us. After weary days our +real business was on hand. We were off to German West at last. +<p>We reached Cape Town on the 15th. I am particular about the date, not +entirely as a result of a desire for meticulous accuracy. All who started +on the South-West Campaign will remember their Cape Peninsula experience +after the heat and burden of the Rebellion. The authorities might have +chosen most of our camping grounds about Cape Town with the genial purpose +of providing a kind of military holiday as a preliminary canter to the +campaign proper. The unit to which I was attached had its temporary resting +place on the slopes of Table Mountain at Groote Schuur, on the Rhodes Estate. +And I fancy the world has on its vast surface few spots more alluring and +more bracing to the spirit. +<p>Up till that time South Africa itself had never put an expeditionary +army, to be shipped by sea, on a war footing, and at Cape Town the work +of equipping the South-West African Expeditionary Force was carried on +and finished during the four weeks we were there. The quiet pine and fir +lined roads on the Rondebosch side of Table Mountain complained daily under +the traffic of wagons and motors, horses, mules and guns; it ruined the +roads and begot unceasing clouds of dust. +<p>And from breakfast-time till late afternoon every street leading to +Cape Town and to the great Supply and Ordnance Stores at Maitland and at +Portswood Road was filled with grey and khaki carts and wagons roaring +steadily along in golden dust. In the whole Peninsula the normal interests +of life were for the time being completely side- tracked. +<p>Being associated directly with the Commander-in-Chief and Headquarters, +we were fortunate in having our camp on the finest piece of ground on the +estate; our tents stretched down a strip of sloping sward, sheltered from +the wind by the wonderful trees that luxuriate on the lower falls of Table +Mountain; from one's tent entrance the eye was caught by a panorama sweeping +a radius of twenty miles inland. I shall never forget those days when in +the morning wind and sun I helped to make out requisitions for shirts and +breeches and saddlery to the notes of wood music; nor those nights when +we lay in our blankets on the grass, stars swinging above, the town-lights +winking away below us. It is not often in life that one slips into dreamless +slumber on soft grass, lullabied by the night-song of a south-wester in +pine trees centuries old. +<p>If we had our discipline and our work at Cape Town, we had our compensations, +too. At that time khaki was completely the fashion there. On the long promenade +down Adderley Street to the pier-head you could have counted a dozen men +in khaki to one in mufti. It reminded one of the days of the South African +War fifteen years ago. There was naturally a tendency to make much of the +soldier-visitor. It did not spoil him, though. A more orderly lot could +not have been found. And this with the people whose guests we were in indulgent +mood, and the civic authorities throwing open to us every amusement at +their disposal. +<p>Though there was work ahead we were all sorry to leave Cape Town. +<center> +<p><a name="Brothers_in_Arms_The_British_Navy_and_Bothas"></a><img src="images/brothersinarms.jpg" alt="Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard fraternised aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South African" height=354 width=600> +<br>Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard fraternised +aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South African +<p><a name="Boxing_aboard._En_route_to_German_South-West"></a><img src="images/boxingaboard.jpg" alt="Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa" height=349 width=600> +<br>Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa</center> + +<p>On Friday, the 5th of February, we struck camp at sunrise. All our horses +had been shipped the day before; we proceeded to the Docks by train and +on foot. As showing the kindness with which the troops were treated I must +mention that after the heavy work of embarking horses a body of one of +the Ladies' War Organisations arranged refreshments for us at the railway +station. +<p>The journey by train from Groote Schuur to the City takes about fifteen +minutes; by motor about a quarter of that time. But war-work is a trifle +different; we were three hours on the heavily laden transport wagons before +we got to the transport _Galway Castle_. +<p>Many of us who have moved about a good deal and are fond of the sea +were looking forward to that voyage. It was a four days' trip to Walvis +Bay; we thought we would have rather a jolly time. Disillusion is hateful. +And that trip was disillusionment itself. I suppose we inexperienced ones +overlooked automatically the fact that we were in the ranks and travelling +to war by transport. It wasn't a high-browed, superior outlook that caused +our undoing, I fancy. The thing is, you must rough it soldiering by ship +before you grasp the idea. There were other points, too. +<center> +<p><a name="Awaiting_landing_from_the"></a><img src="images/awaitingtransport.jpg" alt="Awaiting landing from the Transport" height=361 width=600> +<br>Awaiting landing from the Transport +<p><a name="Trekking_over_the_terrible_Sand_Dunes_near_the"></a><img src="images/trekkingoversanddunes.jpg" alt="Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, German South-West Africa" height=307 width=600> +<br>Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, German South-West +Africa +<br> +<br> +<p><a name="Some_of_the_first_Burghers_to_land_at"></a><img src="images/firstburherstoland.jpg" alt="Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis" height=600 width=382> +<br>Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis</center> + +<p>When we got safely aboard the _Galway Castle_ many of us fancied, in +expressive phrase, that we were "well away"; that we had struck a good +thing. Our officers were accommodated in befitting state in the first class; +our warrants and staff non-commissioned dignitaries were also fixed up +in correct style; the rest of us had plenty of room and quietness to ourselves +in the third class. All this by 2.30 in the afternoon. +<p>And then eighteen hundred more warriors filed down the quays and, like +Mr. Jim Hawkins, came aboard, sir. Now most of these were as good fellows +as you could wish for; but they were landsmen, such as never go down to +the sea in ships. A large proportion, indeed, had never seen the sea before +viewing it at Cape Town. (South Africa is a fair-sized territory.) Very +few of them were good sailors. It is not a man's fault that he is not a +good sailor; nor is he to blame for knowing little of the ways that make +for cleanliness and comfort under even the most trying conditions on shipboard. +But on the whole we did not enjoy that four days' voyage to Walvis Bay. +It was a case of bedlam as to noise, and "muck in" and take what you can +get. +<p>Though my knowledge of organisation for a campaign is not great, I would +suggest that for campaign work the only kind of ship used should be a vessel +absolutely and completely fitted up as a troopship. If the ships the Government +used for the South-West campaign transport had all been fitted up uncompromisingly +as "troopers" I fancy we should have fared better. +<p>At 8 a.m. on the 9th we arrived at Walvis Bay. General Botha, who, with +his Chief of Staff, A.D.C.'s, etc., had embarked at the Cape on the auxiliary +cruiser <i>Armadale Castle</i>, arrived at Walvis later in the morning. +We spent the day on board the <i>Galway Castle</i> awaiting orders and +the disembarkation of horses. +<p>Since the beginning of the operations in South-West Africa the world +has been flooded with descriptions of Walvis Bay; at least I have seen +two books with long descriptions of the place, and more than a dozen articles +on the subject. I shall not add to this list by any long (and assuredly +unconvincing) attempt at a new picture. When you have left the green-covered +kopjes of the Cape a few days before and come to anchor in Walvis Bay on +a cold morning you think you have reached No- man's-land after a fast voyage. +It is a first impression only. The place is desolate enough; it suggests +the Sahara run straight into the sea, or the discomforting dreariness of +Punta Arenas, in Patagonia. +<p>But first impressions are not everything. Walvis Bay is desolate; a +study in yellow ochre sands, burnt sienna duns, tin shanties veiled in +hot desert winds, and a sea that seldom knows anything more than a ripple. +But that is the point. Walvis Bay is nothing now--but it is a bay. As a +fact, it looks to be one of the finest natural harbours in the world. With +the South- West interior developing in the future, Walvis Bay should have +something to look forward to. +<center> +<p><a name="Before_the_Advance_General_Botha_photographed"></a><img src="images/awaitingtheadvance.jpg" alt="Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the Red Cross Sisters" height=407 width=600> +<br>Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the Red Cross Sisters +<p><a name="General_Botha_and_Staff_alighting_for_an"></a><img src="images/bothainspection.jpg" alt="General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection." height=411 width=600> +<br>General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection. +<br>(The famous Brigadier-General Brits, who trekked to Namutoni, is the +fourth +figure from the right.)</center> + +<p>We left the <i>Galway Castle</i> on the 11th, disembarking into lighters, +to be towed up the coast to the occupied German port of Swakopmund. Down +to the tender, on to the lighter, kits and equipment, and farewell to the +quietened steamer. For a while we stood away from her, and rose and fell +under no way on the still grey waters. Then we saw a tender from the <i>Armadale +Castle</i> steaming towards us. She came up on our starboard quarter and +made fast. A figure well known to us all crossed the gangway and climbed +to the boat-deck of our steam tender. We had not seen the Commander-in-Chief +in personal command since the past bitter days of the Rebellion. A great +cheer hit the morning silence and echoed over the bay to each transport +at anchor. With a smile of genuine pleasure, General Botha brought his +hand to the salute. And away we went, the tender steaming full speed ahead, +blunt-nosed barges surging in her wake, for Swakopmund. +<p>Swakopmund was the first Headquarters of the Northern Force, Union Expeditionary +Army; we made two sojourns at this German port. First we were there for +a period of some five weeks, from February 11 till March 18, whilst awaiting +the first advance into the Namib Desert; then we were there for a further +month, from the 27th of March till the 25th of April, whilst awaiting the +general advance to Windhuk and Karibib. +<center> +<p><a name="Awaiting_the_Advance._The_Commander-in-Chief_at"></a><img src="images/aateawithredcross.jpg" alt="Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with the Red Cross Sisters" height=299 width=600> +<br>Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with the Red Cross +Sisters +<p><a name="Awaiting_the_Advance_Garrison_Sports_at"></a><img src="images/aagarisonsports.jpg" alt="Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. Start for 100 yards race" height=296 width=600> +<br>Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. Start for 100 +yards race +<p><a name="Awaiting_the_Advance._Garrison_Sports."></a><img src="images/aagarisonsportswinner.jpg" alt="Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner" height=297 width=600> +<br>Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner</center> + +<p>It is difficult to write about Swakopmund. As a town it is the most +extraordinary place I have seen. I use the superlative deliberately. But +I do not wish to live there. It is purely artificial, and artificial to +a ghastly degree too. There is not a spot of vegetation. There is not a +genuine tree to be seen. The water has a detestable, unsatisfying blurred +taste, to which the adjective "brackish" is applied. It is probable that +a town occupied by enemy troops does not look at its best; but the fact +that it was under such conditions when I first knew Swakopmund makes no +important difference. The place in its essentials must always be the same. +If ever there was a work of bluff Swakopmund is that thing. One fancies +the German commercial expert, a Government official, or, maybe, a representative +of the ubiquitous Woermann, Brock & Co., looking along this ferocious +and awful coast for a spot to found a town that should appear on the maps +and be esteemed a seaport. The Swakop River? Very well. Was there water +there? But certainly so; water obviously of the worst quality--yet water. +Besides, were there not always refrigerators and condensing machinery? +Upon which Swakopmund was forced into existence--planked down there bit +by bit in the face of circumstance. Walk a trifle over a thousand yards +from the edge of the changeful Atlantic through Swakopmund's deep sandy +streets and you get the key to the town. For it ceases utterly, abruptly; +from the door of its last villa, fitted with perfect furnishings from Hamburg, +the bitter desolation that is the Namib Desert stretches away from your, +very feet. Marvelling at this place, I was particularly struck by the size +of its cemetery. But I was not long puzzled. If you strike Swakopmund on +a fine sunshiny day you will be pretty favourably impressed with the climate; +it seems warm and temperate, and the sun sparkles on the sea. +<p>In a week or so you will learn to modify that judgment. More than half +the days we were at Swakopmund a heavy pall of dampness hung over the place, +and after a day or two of it one's system seemed to be badly affected. +Maybe we were not acclimatised, but the fact remains that a very large +proportion of us were down with a kind of dysentery, attended by vomiting +and violent pains in the stomach. Then there are days when the winds blow +from the desert--an indescribable experience. They bring moths and flies +with them, and great clouds of sand; it is a genuine labour to breathe, +and at noon and for two hours after the temperature in the sun runs up +into the "hundred-and-sixties." Swakopmund is not a health resort; or perhaps +we dwelt there in the wrong season, But it is a monument to Teutonic determination. +The Germans willed this town there, planted it on the edge of the wilderness; +fitted it out, from bioscope theatre to church with organ and electric +organola; and they lived in it, with the climate of perdition and all the +accessories of a suburb of Berlin, and called it a seaport. It is not a +seaport; in a fair gale you can't land a barrel of corks at the pier. But +given time and they would have built in the face of nature a two million +pounds breakwater and everything complete. Yes, they are a thorough people; +they are human ants as regards work. Nevertheless, it is not colonising. +The Germans are not colonists. +<p>Army Headquarters were fixed at the Damaraland Building close to the +shore--a splendidly equipped edifice, with a tower commanding a fifteen-mile-radius +view of the desert and the sea. General Botha made the private quarters +of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at the Woermann Line House close +by. +<p>When we arrived at the northern seaport it had been in our possession +many weeks, but our troops were occupying the trenches just outside the +town, and from the Damaralands Building Tower our look-out and signallers +could see through the heat-haze the enemy's patrols moving to and fro in +the glistening sands beyond. +<p>Whilst awaiting orders for an advance, life at Swakopmund was in some +ways quite good. There were two attractions: regimental concerts, when +sanctioned, and the shore. South Africa at war differs in great degree +from other parts of the world. The country has the germ in its blood. Men +who have campaigned before felt the stirring in them when the South-West +campaign started. The call for volunteers acted like a magnet. All sorts +and conditions of men were found with the Forces in the South-West. Patriotism +called them; but there called them also that deep-seated spirit of unrest +which prompts so powerfully when war drums sound once again. I used to +think Kipling exaggerated a trifle; now I know the truth. At the concerts +on the South-West front the most astonishing array of talent was to be +found. One such function in particular stands out in mind. The stage was +made up of army biscuit boxes supporting rough planking outside a builder's +yard in the deep sand. At a borrowed piano belonging to some vanished resident +a trooper officiated; he was clothed in a grey back shirt and ammunition +boots-- and displayed the daedal methods of a Fragson. Singers of every +type with every kind of voice, and perfectly trained, performed. Only later +did I learn that amongst the artists were half a dozen of the best performers +in Johannesburg. And at the foreshore, between fatigues, drills, and spells +of duty the fellows used to gather, to enjoy the one luxury of Swakopmund--the +surf-bathing. Here you would meet men upon whom you never expected again +to set eyes assembled literally from all over South Africa from the Cape +to the Zambesi. Belonging to one regiment I met, in privates and corporals, +six well-to-do farmers, a handful of solicitors, bank clerks, a sub-native +commissioner or two, and the no longer youthful private secretary to one +of the most eminent semi-public companies in Africa. And there we all were +cut off from the outside world. Each evening we got an issue of the official +Bulletin-- six square inches of paper thankfully received. For the rest +we had no change from the perpetual sound of the sea and the mournful note +of the bell-buoy that marks the inshore shoal. Its "dong-dong, dong-dong-dong" +created a perfect illusion of the call to a tiny church through the country +lanes of England. Everyone who was there can still hear the old bell-buoy +at Swakopmund. +<center> +<p><a name="Swakopmund_from_the_Lighthouse_Extreme"></a><img src="images/swakopmundxlighthouse.jpg" alt="Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right" height=300 width=600> +<br>Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right +<p><a name="Swakopmundcentre"></a><img src="images/swakopmundcentre.jpg" alt="Swakopmund: Centre" height=298 width=600> +<br>Swakopmund: Centre +<p><a name="Swakopmund_left"></a><img src="images/swakopmundleft.jpg" alt="Swakopmund: Extreme Left" height=298 width=600> +<br>Swakopmund: Extreme Left +<p><a name="Man_and_Beast_in_the_Desert_both_absolutely"></a><img src="images/manbeastspent.jpg" alt="Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent" height=303 width=600> +<br>Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent +<p><a name="Looking_for_Water_in_the_River"></a><img src="images/lookingwater.jpg" alt="Looking for Water in the River Bed" height=298 width=600> +<br>Looking for Water in the River Bed +<p><a name="A_Halt_in_a_River_Bed_General_Botha_has"></a><img src="images/bothalunch.jpg" alt="A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch" height=299 width=600> +<br>A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch</center> + +<h3> +SECTION II</h3> + +<h3> +THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT</h3> +There were some skirmishes outside Swakopmund early in February. On the +23rd the Commander-in-Chief took the field; leaving the base shortly after +dawn, he carried out a driving movement which pushed the enemy back from +the outspan at Nonidas to his posts much further into the desert. In the +course of this successful operation we first heard rumours that the Germans +as a whole were not anxious to fight. The Union patrols captured several +prisoners, amongst whom was an officer with whom I had several chats when +I got the opportunity. As was the case with many of the prisoners afterwards +taken, for a while he feigned total ignorance of English. It was not long +before it became perfectly clear that he of course understood it well. +<p>Following the operations on the 23rd of February, the mounted troops +pushed steadily into the desert, occupying with merely nominal resistance +Goanikontes, the water-hole and police post at Haigamkhab, and the water-hole +at Husab. +<p>On the 18th of March the Commander-in-Chief and Staff, with all forces +except those detailed to the base and infantry already holding the line +and stores depots, etc., trekked out from Swakopmund on what was officially +described as a "reconnaissance." It was really the first big push into +the Namib Desert. The enemy had taken up an extremely strong position on +the edge of the desert proper, on the front indicated on the general diagram +of the campaign marked Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet. +<p>I have little official knowledge on the tactics of the campaign; it +is necessary, however, here to allude to the plan of proceeding known to +every one who took any part in it. The vital consideration to the advance +of any army across the Namib Desert is to secure the water- holes on the +Swakop River. The Swakop is by no means the usual prepossessing kind of +stream that flows efficiently between wide banks. It flowed actually for +a day just after General Botha landed at Swakopmund-- the first and last +time, apparently, within the memory of man. But it has water in it nevertheless; +and at fixed and charted spots are to be found bore-holes and wells for +the convenience of dwellers in the profitless wilderness. The principal +wells and holes are at the places marked on the diagram. General Botha's +principal task was to take an army right across the Namib Desert, and to +do that he had to capture every water-hole and keep it. It is true that +at certain points in the Swakop and other of the large rivers of South-West +Africa you can find water by digging very near the surface--perhaps. But +when you have a parched army at your back you must deal as little as possible +in speculation. At Riet and Jakalswater the enemy had determined to hold +the valuable water-holes at any cost, but especially at Riet. +<p>When General Botha treks he treks at express speed. With him the intention +is that the essence of strategy shall be surprise. The Commander-in-Chief +left Swakopmund at 2.30 a.m. on the 18th of March. We outspanned at Goanikontes, +thirty-four kilos, at 10.30 that night. Goanikontes was left at 6.30 a.m., +and the Husab Outspan was made at 10.20 that morning. The rest of the day +was spent at Husab; at 6.30 in the evening the Commander-in-Chief, and +with him General Brits, left for Riet, outspanned for a few hours and attacked +the German position at Riet at dawn on the 20th. The general action which +was fought on the Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front on this day was conceivably +the most important move of the campaign. It was essential that the water-holes +should be secured. +<center> +<p><a name="Main_Guard_aboard--en_route_to_hunt_the"></a><img src="images/mainguard.jpg" alt="Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns" height=436 width=600> +<br>Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns +<p><a name="On_the_Great_Trek--the_Chief_of_the_Staff_has_a"></a><img src="images/chiefhaircut.jpg" alt="On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a hair-cut" height=354 width=600> +<br>On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a hair-cut +<p><a name="Action_at"></a><img src="images/actionatriet.jpg" alt="Action at Riet" height=303 width=600> +<br>Action at Riet</center> + +<p>Around Riet, the principal point of attack and defence, the disposition +of the Germans was as strong as it is possible to imagine. My sketch of +the place should give a fair idea of things. In the technical sense it +is not a true plan; but accuracy is not sacrificed to clearness. The veld +around the Riet water-holes is just a mass of small kopjes and rocks; it +narrows to a small defile that opens suddenly on to the coverless Husab +Road. This defile is the only main approach to the Riet wells, and it is +commanded close up on both flanks--on the right by the great bare kopje, +Langer Heinreich, on the other by small kopjes and a line of ridges. +<p>In attacking this position General Botha had to consider not only the +enemy's strength of position, but also the fact that his troops had to +go into action after a waterless twenty-odd mile trek over the desert. +As the Commander-in-Chief got up to his front on the 20th the big guns +had started. The artillery duel continued well into the afternoon. Every +credit is due to the other units, but it was our artillery that cracked +the nut at Riet. The range was 2,700 yards; but the Germans never got it. +Why it is difficult to say; they had every advantage, and one understands +that the Germans are nothing if not artillerists. But they were a wash-out +at Riet; they were over-firing the whole time. On the other hand, the Union +gunners got the range at once and were all over the enemy. They put an +ammunition wagon out of action after three shots, and did further deadly +work. That afternoon General Botha sent a detachment out to attempt an +enveloping movement. But they came back later, reporting that the slopes +of Langer Heinreich on the right and the sharp kopjes on the left made +the thing impossible. +<p>As the afternoon came on I may say I don't think we knew too much about +the state of affairs with the enemy, and when he ceased artillery fire +about 3.30 p.m. everyone seemed pleased enough. Few knew then that the +German Commander had begun to evacuate the position; his supply of shells +was said to have run short. On account of our numbers, also, he feared +an enfilading movement on his left flank should our mounted infantry advance +to the defile Q. +<p>In the meantime the authorities had decided we must find water in the +rear; for that purpose a party was at once despatched to Gawieb, in the +Swakop River bed. It was found by a party from the Commander-in-Chief's +Bodyguard, and at the Gawieb Hole the greater part of the forces watered +that night. And they took seven hours to do it. +<p>Before sundown General Botha, with Staff and Bodyguard, fell back two +miles on the Husab-Riet Road and camped there for the night. Scarcely had +the Headquarters party arrived before news came that the enemy was in precipitate +flight, had evacuated Riet and had blown up his small ammunition and railway +water-tanks at the Riet terminus of the narrow gauge railway line to Jakalswater. +Bodies of the Union troops had occupied Riet on the evening of the 20th. +<p>The actions at the Jakalswater and Pforte fronts, to fight which the +columns had swept away to our left the night before, were equally successful. +<p>That is the general story of the fight of the 20th March on the inland +edge of the Namib Desert. But how to picture vividly the scene before Riet +that day? At dawn in those parts conditions are bearable enough; the sun +has little strength; the night wind refreshes. From 6.30 till 10 o'clock +the desert is endurable. Then comes the change. All along the front the +stark yellow sand is taking on a different hue under the climbing sun rays. +It turns almost to glaring whiteness all around-- to where it stops short +at the foot of those scorched and smothered rocks on the left flank. To +our right the members of the Headquarters Staff are standing--sitting--resting. +An officer brings his glasses down slowly, blinks, feels for a pipe, lights +it. Another moves head and extended arm to the right and makes a remark +to a colleague. Along the ridge we occupy the Bodyguard are standing-to +and watching the action; you see that fellow wearily ease a heavy bandolier; +further down another brings an army biscuit from his haversack and breaks +it on his boot. +<p>And now look at that little group almost straight ahead of us; as the +tall Chief-of-Staff moves aside you see a figure on a little camp stool. +The left hand is just under the hip, binoculars are in the right; up go +both hands with the glasses; down they come. He speaks to the Chief-of-Staff; +there is the favourite gesture--the arm is jerked out horizontally, the +hand pointing loosely, and dropped again. The face is powdered with fine +sand and dust; during the day he has been allowed a small beaker of water +from the artillery. A favour indeed. That is Botha--Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief, +the man who leads us. And on either flank, well screened, little knots +of men are grouped round the guns--and "Hampang-ky-yao!" they go in our +ears, their report carrying ten miles back into the desert where our transport +hears them in muffled thunder. And look up as you hear that screeching +whistle. The enemy's shells burst in the depression behind us on both flanks-- +"Pa-ha-ha." They look like slabs of cotton wool against the brazen blue +sky. And all afternoon the heat strikes up at you overpowering, like the +breath of a wild animal. Then the wind rises, and the sand shifts in eddies. +Veils and goggles are useless. They can't keep out that spinning curtain +of grit. The horses rattle the hard, dry bits in their mouths, trying to +get some moisture. +<p>On the 21st Headquarters moved into Riet. Here we found two water-holes +in the bed of the river; one was a splendid Persian well, with chain buckets. +Riet was no paradise; it was a luxury though, even if the river sand was +blinding, to lie under a wagon and hear the water running. +<center> +<p><a name="An_unique_picture_of_General_Botha_the"></a><img src="images/bothareconn.jpg" alt="An unique picture of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff reconnoitring" height=362 width=600> +<br>An unique picture of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his +Staff reconnoitring +<p><a name="After_Riet_water_in_blessed"></a><img src="images/afterreitwater.jpg" alt="After Riet water in blessed profusion" height=600 width=478> +<br>After Riet water in blessed profusion</center> + +<p>Our casualties in the actions on the Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were +fifteen killed, thirty- nine wounded and forty-two missing. On the 21st +our commandos occupied Salem, eight miles further up the Swakop River. +<p>The Commander-in-Chief and his party remained at Riet till the 24th. +It was then decided that a supply depot must be established at Riet before +further advance was made. On the evening of the 24th Headquarters returned +to Swakopmund, reaching the coast at 9.30 on the morning of the 26th--an +extremely fast trek. +<p>Looking out of my window in the heart of civilisation at the evening +sun that glorifies the Pretoria green kopjes, the scene dissolves. In its +place comes the picture of the first gaunt daylight on the 26th of March +last at fifteen kilometres, just going into Swakopmund. The mist from the +coast had rolled inland; through it after dawn came miles of horsemen and +wagons, guns, limbers, lorries, ambulances. Every human unit in that column +was covered in white dust, and every horse was weary. And except for the +staccato "click-click" of bits and an occasional deep hum from a passing +motor the army moved in perfect silence through the sand. +<p>The official history of the South-West campaign remains to be written, +of course; in the meantime I am convinced that the actions on the twenty-one +mile Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were practically the deciding factors +of the campaign. +<center> +<p><a name="A_Typical_Parade_of_the_Germans_in_South_West"></a><img src="images/paradegerman.jpg" alt="A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa" height=290 width=600> +<br>A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa</center> + +<h3> +SECTION III</h3> + +<h3> +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK</h3> +On the 27th of March General Botha left Northern Force Headquarters at +Swakopmund for Luderitzbucht, the landing-place of the Central Force under +the commands of Brigadier-General Mackenzie. +<p>The whole plan of campaign was very much this. The Protectorate was +to be invaded from several angles, the route of these various forces being +quite clear, I hope, in the diagram given. Roughly speaking there were +three forces: the Northern (General Botha, Commander-in-Chief), working +inland from Swakopmund; the Central (Brigadier-General Mackenzie) working +inland from Luderitzbucht; and the Southern and South-Eastern converging +on Keetmanshoop from Raman's Drift-Warmbad-Kalkfontein (Hartigan's Horse), +from Upington (Brigadier-General van Deventer and Colonel Celliers) and +from Kimberley-Hasuur (Colonel Berrange's column). As a result of this +great concentration on Keetmanshoop and northwards from all sides, the +Germans would be forced to decisive action, to retreat northwards, or be +cut off. Upon these forces reaching a certain distance inland a general +move would be made in the direction of Windhuk--and again the enemy would +have to fight or retreat to the limits of his railway system. +<center> +<p><a name="Typical_captured_German"></a><img src="images/capturedgermans.jpg" alt="Typical captured German Infantry" height=351 width=600> +<br>Typical captured German Infantry +<p><a name="The_Great_Trek._Otjimbingwe:_its_Palms_and"></a><img src="images/gtpalmswells.jpg" alt="The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells" height=265 width=600> +<br>The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells +<p><a name="The_Great_Trek._Otjimbingwe:_cic"></a><img src="images/gtcic.jpg" alt="The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at the old German capital" height=254 width=600> +<br>The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at the old German +capital +<p><a name="The_Great_Trek._Getting_Milk_from_a_Goat._Milk_was"></a><img src="images/gtmilkgoat.jpg" alt="The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was priced beyond Silver" height=297 width=600> +<br>The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was priced beyond Silver</center> + +<p>On the 30th of March the Commander-in-Chief returned to Swakopmund, +and the same day news came of the occupation of Aus by the Central Force. +It was now that we heard definitely that General Smuts was in the field +with the forces south of us. +<p>With the Central and Southern advances, General Mackenzie, from Luderitzbucht, +occupied Garub on the 22nd of February, and Aus on March 31. Colonel Berrange's +column, having left Hasuur on the 3rd of March, reached Kabus, by Keetmanshoop, +on the 19th. Leaving Raman's Drift on the 2nd of April, Colonel Hartigan's +column occupied Kalkfontein on the 14th of April, and reached Keetmanshoop +on the 20th of April. Seeheim was occupied on the 18th of April. The advance +to these towns was achieved by a series of fast treks in which frightful +conditions of thirst and fatigue were encountered. General Mackenzie's +troops in their advance north occupied Bethany on the 13th of April, and +continued northward to Berseba, Gibeon, etc., on the way to Windhuk. +<p>We now come to the feat that broke all known marching records and caused +two hemispheres to talk. On Sunday and Monday, the 25th and 26th of April, +General Botha's forces left the coast: on the 5th of May they were outside +Windhuk. Striking right across the desert through every kind of country, +General Botha's army marched night and day, and in five of those days covered +a minimum distance of a hundred and ninety miles. Many units did much more +than two hundred miles-- over forty miles per day. +<p>It was some trekking. +<p>Swakopmund was left on the 26th of April at dawn. Haigkamchab was reached +by I on the same afternoon, and Husab supply base at 6.30 p.m. Next day +Husab was left at 2.15 p.m.; the column halted for a few minutes at 5 p.m., +and pushed right through to Riet, which was made at 10.20 that evening. +Headquarters rested all day on the 28th at Riet, left it at 8 p.m., trekked +by moonlight along the Swakop River for three hours, outspanned till an +hour before dawn, and made Salem at 6.45 a.m. on March 29. At 9.30 that +morning the column moved on again, reached outspan at twenty miles by 1.35 +in the afternoon, rested for an hour and a half and pushed on again till +a quarter before midnight, when it rode into Wilhelmsfeste. But the water +was at Kaltenhausen, some miles further ahead of this military post. We +reached it at 1.15 on the morning of the 30th. Animals took two hours to +water in the bitterly cold morning air. The guards had not taken two steps +on their beat before the sand was littered with sleepers that looked like +dead men. These sleeping columns, some ninety to a hundred miles from the +coast, were now half way to Windhuk. +<center> +<p><a name="The_Great_Trek_An_extempore_bath_towards_the_end"></a><img src="images/gtbath.jpg" alt="The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the Trek" height=600 width=346> +<br>The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the Trek</center> + +<p>Two hours after daylight General Headquarters moved to a camping ground +two miles back towards Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), and rested during the day +in the shade of the scant trees with which the veld was covered as the +desert was left behind. The rest of the Northern Army had trekked on with +scarcely any pause. Shortly before sunset, the Commander-in- Chief set +out on a night march of twenty odd miles to Otjimbingwe. The trek was done +at a fierce pace till midnight, when an outspan was ordered; the party +slept for four hours, and made Otjimbingwe just as the dawn of the 1st +of May was breaking. As General Botha rode into this old mission settlement +the rear of the German forces, closely pursued, was galloping in retreat +over the kopjes to the east. Many prisoners were taken here. General Botha +spent the day at Otjimbingwe, left at dawn on the 2nd, and trekked north-west +seventeen miles to Pot Mine, which he reached at 12.45 p.m. Here the Commander-in-Chief +awaited the arrival of General Smuts, had a conference with him, and moved +in force on Karibib at 2 a.m. on the 5th of May. He trekked the whole of +that day, with two halts of an hour each, and entered Karibib on the heels +of the enemy at five o'clock in the afternoon. At the same time the rest +of the Northern Force had entered Okasise, Okahandja, Waldau, and other +stations on the railway, had captured the whole system practically up to +Omaruru, and were at the gates of Windhuk. The German forces were in full +retreat to the north and north-east. Their civilian populations, left behind +in the towns, seemed dumfoundered at the appearance of the Union troops. +Meantime the Southern and Central Armies had approached the German capital +on the southern flank. +<p>This account of the advance through the desert of General Botha's Northern +Force is purposely bald. The process of a vast flooding of water over a +country is in essence bald and direct. And that is as near as I can get +for comparison. General Botha's advance was like a well- ordered flood: +which, I take it, was exactly the idea. At a fixed time organised bodies +of men, mounted, dismounted and with artillery, were systematically poured +over the German territory. I am sure most of the fellows who took part +in that advance and recall it in detail will in the future look back and +wonder. For it is a subject for wonder, even if history does contain some +marches more eventful. It has been stated since that all transport was +left behind. But that is not strictly true: a large quantity of transport +was brought on by the Union Forces; passed through the deepest sand in +waterless desert, between gorges, over big kopjes, into almost trackless +bushveld--and was never more than a day and a half behind. At one place +out of a convoy of twenty- seven wagons, seventeen capsized. +<p>It is hackneyed, I know, but there is only one way to describe the great +trek to Windhuk. It was absolutely "a chequer-board of nights and days." +Looking at my diary just now, that I have had ten years' practice at keeping, +I see a confusion got into the dates. You didn't know anything about the +date or the day of the week. Existence was just a dateless alternation +of light and darkness, of saddle-up and off- saddle, of cossack-post, of +thinking about water--and of yearning with every fibre of one's being for +the ineffable boon of a long sleep. +<p>It will be seen that the key to the advance over the Namib Desert was +the Swakop River. The water-holes of the Swakop River are very singular; +they form the nucleus of a kind of settlement (even if it be only a couple +of small huts) right in the dry river bed. At Kaltenhausen, to take but +one example, there is a splendid shooting- lodge slapbang in the centre +of the river; it has a fine courtyard walled and railed in. It seemed extraordinary. +At these water-holes you suddenly leave the stony sand of the desert and +come on to finest soft sand. It is quite pleasant at night, but day tells +another story. Just after sunrise a wind starts blowing down the river +valley and raises this superfine, mineralised sand. To lie exposed to this +for a day is an awful experience; the fine dust will penetrate anywhere. +I am sure it must lead to positive blindness in time. +<p>I mentioned the water-holes of the Swakop River for the particular reason +that their situation in most cases adds immensely to the merit of the Northern +Army's great trek. The trek-road from Swakopmund follows the river only +in a broad sense; the Haigamkhab, Husab and Gawieb water-holes are really +three to four and five miles from the road and the camping grounds. That +is to say, the columns, after a twenty mile trek in the sand and sun had +another quarter of the distance to go--_to water_. And to water usually +means across the yard to the troughs, so to speak. We shall remember the +water-holes of South-West Africa. There is many a fellow now back in civilisation +who can recall vividly the tramp over stony, loose gravel through those +great echoing rocks down to the water-holes at Haigamkhab, Husab and Gawieb. +Hour after hour the processions of weary riders passed each other in a +cloud of dust that rose five hundred yards and filled the choking canyon. +The invariable question from him going wearily to water to him coming refreshed +and smothered in water-bottles and with a livelier horse from it: "Is it +far, boy?" And the stereotyped answer of encouragement was as always: "No, +no; just round the corner." All these water-holes are almost duplicates +of each other. I suppose not the echo of a bird now hurts their pristine +and awful quietude. +<center> +<p><a name="A_Beauty_Spot_passed_during_the_last"></a><img src="images/trekbeautyspot.jpg" alt="A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek" height=401 width=600> +<br>A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_Conference_at_Omaruru_German"></a><img src="images/staffconfernce.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff lunching" height=355 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff lunching +<p><a name="The_General_receives_his_Bodyguard_at_a_Garden"></a><img src="images/bodyguardgardenparty.jpg" alt="The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party after return" height=352 width=600> +<br>The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party after return</center> + +<p>The marvellous series of changes as one advances constitutes the most +striking feature of the advance to Windhuk from the coast. By rail it is +not so striking; but taking the marching route via the Swakop River water-holes--Swakopmund, +Nonidas, Haigamkhab, Husab, Riet, Salem, Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), Otjimbingwe, +Windhuk--the changes in the country and the stages that show them are as +palpable as if marked by a system of parallel walls. I have never seen +this feature of the veld so marked elsewhere in South Africa. +<p>Swakopmund is the limit in the down-grade-- deep sand; brak water; a +treacherous, dreary climate, with visitations of furnace-heat desert winds; +a huge cemetery; moths and flies. From Nonidas to Haigamkhab and Husab +the sand lightens and hardens, the atmosphere improves, rocks, barren kopjes +begin to appear; the little water you get is fairly good. Riet comes; the +barren kopjes are more frequent; the atmosphere, hot in the day, is beautiful +by night; the water is perfect. Salem is a duplicate Riet; a small settlement +in the river bed; but the water is more plentiful, the vegetation more +profuse. Then comes the great trek to Tsaobis. +<p>It does not look far on the map; it is a huge stretch nevertheless. +For the first three hours it was Riet-Salem country with extensions and +additions. Vast gorges, black and brown kopjes, boulders, sand stretches, +clumps of bush, minute trees. And then, on Thursday the 29th of April (memory +holds the date like a vice), we saw grass. It was grass. It was undoubtedly +grass--the kind of grass that gave one the feeling that this particular +veld, like a man prematurely bald through worry or riotous living, had +been trying some hair restorer with ludicrous results--grass whitish, feeble, +attenuated, that to be seen at all wanted an eye levelled along the ground. +<p>Each half hour brought its surprise as we moved along, General Botha +on his white horse at the head of the column, just visible to the eye through +the thick curtain of white dust our horses' feet flung up into the sun +glare. We rode in great gorges between kopjes. We crossed dry river courses. +We clattered over the hard bosoms of rocks, switchbacked up and down each +hour working out of the desert. Trees began to appear--caricatures of +trees. Then game spoor was reported. And suddenly, just after noon, rain +fell--out of one cloud in a sky otherwise brazenly clear five drops fell. +I counted five on my bridle hand. +<p>Rain on the edge of the Namib Desert. It was ludicrous, too bizarre; +it was the last straw. We gasped. A deep roar of ironical cheering went +up. The Commander-in-Chief looked round and laughed. When we outspanned +later the horses made a show of grazing for the first time for five months. +The sagacious animals showed plain amazement in their eyes. At Wilhelmsfeste +(Tsaobis) the bushveld begins. The water supply of Otjimbingwe is the feature +of that rather quaint settlement. One must ever associate it with its fine +aeromotor pumping the precious fluid for parched man and beast to drink +their full after the desert passage in the shade of cool palms many years +old. +<center> +<p><a name="German_prisoners_of_war_imprisoned_at"></a><img src="images/germanprisoners.jpg" alt="German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib" height=260 width=600> +<br>German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib +<p><a name="Karibib"></a><img src="images/kariib.jpg" alt="Karibib" height=303 width=600> +<br>Karibib +<p><a name="Towards_Windhuk_The_first_troops_in"></a><img src="images/towardswinruk.jpg" alt="Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau" height=299 width=600> +<br>Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau +<p><a name="The_first_South_African_Engineer_Corps_Staff_at"></a><img src="images/saenginnercorp.jpg" alt="The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk" height=393 width=600> +<br>The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk</center> + +<p>During the great trek alarms regarding mines were most frequent. There +were many wonderful escapes. It seems a marvel that the enemy were not +more successful than they were with these deadly machines. Suffer casualties +we did; but if all the mines that were laid had blown up our casualties +would have been formidable indeed. But somehow those mines seemed foreordained +not to act. They were discovered by the merest chance; or they failed to +go off; or they exploded at the wrong time. +<p>Making for Karibib in the forenoon of the 5th of May, the authorities +naturally showed the greatest caution for the safety of General Botha-- +though a large body of Union mounted troops had passed over the same ground +before the Commander-in-Chief, Staff and Bodyguard traversed the road. +<p>In view of the fact that the South African Army was operating against +the forces of the same nation that has ravaged and despoiled Belgium, a +point should be made here. It must be remembered that the armed forces +of the Protectorate simply cleared bag and baggage out of all the important +inland towns in the face of Botha's overwhelming advances. They left wife +and child, the old and infirm, every stick of property they could not carry, +at our mercy. When we entered Karibib at five in the evening the non-combatant +population were moving about the streets, or standing in best bib and tucker +at their doors, calmly gazing at the trek-stained horsemen that sought +the nearest water tanks. They had not the slightest fear of us. I spoke +to a comrade who has seen war aforetime. He said he had never seen a more +orderly occupation of a town. +<center> +<p><a name="Towards_Windhuk_A_quick_railway_repair_after_the"></a><img src="images/twrailwayrepair.jpg" alt="Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the Germans' usual practice of blowing up railway bridges" height=300 width=600> +<br>Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the Germans' usual practice +of blowing up railway bridges +<p><a name="Towards_Windhuk._The_first_train_to_Windhuk._The"></a><img src="images/twsaconstrcution.jpg" alt="Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South African Engineer Corps Construction Party aboard" height=297 width=600> +<br>Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South African Engineer +Corps Construction Party aboard +<p><a name="At_Windhuk._How_we_treat_the_German_women._Ten"></a><img src="images/twgermanwomen.jpg" alt="At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes after occupation" height=307 width=600> +<br>At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes after occupation +<p><a name="At_Windhuk._The_Commander-in-Chief_addresses_his"></a><img src="images/twcic.jpg" alt="At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed troops from the Rathaus" height=375 width=600> +<br>At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed troops from +the Rathaus</center> + +<p>The conduct of the South African troops should assuredly be noted. The +very confidence of these German townspeople that they had nothing to fear +from the hated troops of the British Union of South Africa was eloquent. +The thing stood out, a piece of bitterest irony in connection with a people +whose kindred across the seas were making civilisation shudder at their +atrocities afloat and ashore. The news of the _Lusitania_ massacre on the +high seas reached Karibib just after occupation. Did one Teuton in the +place have to suffer as a consequence even the insult of a word? No. What +would the Germans have done? General Botha's forces had crossed a desert +through which it was the open boast of the enemy that it was strewn with +mines and with every well poisoned. Was a single defenceless citizen of +Windhuk or Karibib the worse for it after the occupation? Not one. The +greater part of General Botha's forces were on a half--a quarter-- an eighth +rations when they made Karibib, Okahandja, Okasise, Waldau and the capital; +they lived until all supplies could come up on less than one biscuit a +day, a pinch or two of meal, and fresh meat. +<p>How much looting occurred in these towns? +<p>There was none worthy the name. +<p>Everyone was guarded. A few hours after the places were entered the +orders were issued threatening severe and instant penalties should any +looting be done by the hungry troops; officers, etc., were quietly billeted; +and to the houses occupied by women and marged with a white cross no one +unauthorised was allowed any approach whatsoever. +<p>It was magnanimous, it was magnificent. But I wonder if the chivalrous +Teuton would call it war! +<p>Karibib, the practical junction of the railway running north to Grootfontein, +the enemy's new "capital," was made Army Headquarters. General Botha hoisted +the flag at Karibib and proclaimed it on the 6th of May, spent a few days +settling matters at Karibib, and on the afternoon of the 11th set out for +Windhuk by motor, formally to enter the capital. With him the Commander-in-Chief +took his Chief of Staff (Colonel Collyer), Lieut.-Colonel de Waal (Provost +Marshal), Major Bok (Military Secretary), Major Trew (Officer Commanding +Bodyguard), Major Liepoldt (Chief Intelligence Officer), Major Esselen +(Staff), an escort from the 4th Battery South African Mounted Riflemen +and Bodyguard. Overnight the Headquarters party "outspanned" at Okasise +on a beautiful camping-ground, and, meeting the Burgomaster of Windhuk +under some trees outside the town, ran into the South-West capital towards +noon. Later in the day the ceremony of formal taking over was performed +before a big crowd at the Rathaus. It was in every way a historic scene. +The mounted troops lined all about the square that fronts the Rathaus from +the roadway, their weary horses and stained uniforms showing up in the +background, with the throng of civilians crowded amongst the motor-cars +and carts in the square itself. A warrant- officer of the Commander-in-Chief's +Bodyguard had the honour of hoisting the Union Jack over the Rathaus at +Windhuk, the capital of Germany's erstwhile colonial possessions. +<p>A cheer went up as the flag fluttered up in the noon sunlight. Windhuk +was naturally regarded as the Mecca, so to speak, of the invading army. +<center> +<p><a name="At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_Headquarters_Staff_Motors"></a><img src="images/hqstaffmotors.jpg" alt="At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors awaiting entry" height=600 width=453> +<br>At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors awaiting entry +<p><a name="At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_General_Botha_discusses"></a><img src="images/gwbothadiscuss.jpg" alt="At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters with the Governor of Windhuk" height=600 width=412> +<br>At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters with the Governor +of Windhuk +<p><a name="At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_interpret"></a><img src="images/gwinterpreter.jpg" alt="At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter" height=358 width=600> +<br>At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter +<p><a name="At_the_Gate_of_Windhuk_emphasises"></a><img src="images/gwemphasises.jpg" alt="At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises" height=365 width=600> +<br>At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises</center> + +<p>With the interests of the civilised world fixed on the vast slaughter- +grounds of Europe, I shall not spend much time describing Windhuk. It is +a pretty, picturesque little town, built amongst brown and purple hills. +In most ways it is highly finished; reflects the spirit of German thoroughness +that is an admitted attribute of the race. As usual in South-West Africa, +it has nothing of the _colonial_ town about it; it might be another suburb +of Berlin. Many of the houses are thoroughly built into the sides of the +surrounding kopjes--perched like great red- roofed cages on the hillsides. +The place doesn't seem to have a single industry of its own; but then, +as I said elsewhere, there is hardly an established industry in the Protectorate. +<p>There is one thing about Windhuk that grips your attention--and holds +it in no uncertain manner, too. One of the great objectives of the South-West +campaign was to secure the Windhuk wireless station. When you see this--catch +a glimpse of it suddenly where it stands on the veld outside the town--you +get a thrill of sheer astonishment. The thing seems monstrous there. It +is foreign to our ideas--a wireless colossus in such a place. Had I seen +this vast piece of work in a humming city that stands warden to the seas +it would have fitted in. But where it is--well, it just surprised. Fancy +a pretty bijou veld town, red roofs, neat church, pepper trees, aeromotors, +sleepy people and everything-- and across the veld, a mile and a half away, +darkening the sky with great vertical lines, five terrific steel lattice +pillars, nearly four hundred feet high, tied by cables with stay bolts +as big as a man; their aerials sweep from pillar to pillar, answer to the +wind the deepest note of a giant 'cello, and eavesdrop and conjure amongst +the news markets of the world. Now there is no electric light in this village +of Windhuk, or Windy Corner, yet. What was the idea with this stupendous +thing? And there are not enough Germans in the place--or in the whole territory, +if it comes to that--to populate a good-sized town. There is also the usual +telegraphic communication to the coast, etc. Yet--the wireless. +<p>Its significance could be of one kind only: a military one. +<p>Leaving the town in the hands of Colonel Mentz, Military Governor, and +Lieut.-Colonel de Waal, the Commander-in-Chief returned to Headquarters +at Karibib on the 14th of May. +<center> +<p><a name="The_great_Wireless_Station_at"></a><img src="images/wirelesswinruk.jpg" alt="The great Wireless Station at Windhuk" height=352 width=600> +<br>The great Wireless Station at Windhuk +<br>(Note the size of the man as he rests on one of the foundations of +the vast derricks) +<p><a name="Conference_at_Omaruru_General_Staff"></a><img src="images/confomarauru.jpg" alt="Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching" height=286 width=600> +<br>Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching +<br>(<i>Photo by Sergeant Ramsay</i>) +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_The_BE2_tuning_up_in_shed_before"></a><img src="images/airplane.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight over German positions" height=299 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight over German +positions +<p><a name="prvostmarschall"></a><img src="images/provostmarschalloffice.jpg" alt="At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law and order" height=301 width=600> +<br>At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law and order +<p><a name="union_jack"></a><img src="images/unionjackhoisted.jpg" alt="The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, Windhuk" height=298 width=600> +<br>The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, Windhuk +<p><a name="greatmilitarybarracks"></a><img src="images/greatmilitary.jpg" alt="The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk" height=296 width=600> +<br>The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk</center> + +<h3> +SECTION IV</h3> + +<h3> +THE LAST PHASE</h3> +On the 19th of June Brigadier-General Brits, of the Northern Army, occupied +Omaruru, on the Karibib-Grootfontein line. The enemy had retreated. +<p>Nearly five weeks had passed since the Commander-in-Chief had officially +proclaimed the capital. During this time much had happened. An abortive +conference had taken place at Omaruru itself, the Germans, we were informed +afterwards, asking for terms that we were in no mind to give them. The +railway line between Swakopmund and Karibib, broken up by dynamited bridges, +had been to a great extent repaired. The poorly rationed troops were now +replenished. The horses, badly knocked up after the rush through to Windhuk, +had had opportunity to mend a bit. General Botha had proclaimed the country; +with refreshed troops and horses, he was setting out to attempt to spring +a final surprise on the Germans. He had now the Aviation Corps in full +working order--had aerial eyes wherewith to be guided through a subtropical +bush country very full of possible dangers. He had ahead of him an enemy +astonished, yet, if what was rumoured was true, prepared to make a series +of fights and a big stand in country of his own choice. He had with him +an army that had crossed a desert and, arriving in bush country such as +you find in the Rhodesia "low" veld, knew the nature of it as only the +South African can. +<p>On June 24 Headquarters ran into Kalkfeld just after midnight. The enemy +had retreated. It had been predicted with the utmost confidence that the +Germans would here put up a fight. So confidently was this expected that +the Commander-in-Chief would hardly believe it when the aeroplanes returned +and reported that there were about half a dozen Germans left in the place. +Yet that proved to be exactly the fact, and so greatly impressed was General +Botha with the accuracy of the observations on this occasion that he emphasised +that the skymen were to receive every possible assistance for the future. +<center> +<p><a name="panorama"></a><img src="images/pan1.jpg" alt="Panorama of Windhuk" height=283 width=600> +<p><img src="images/pan2.jpg" alt="Panorama of Windhuk" height=281 width=600> +<p><img src="images/pan3.jpg" alt="Panorama of Windhuk" height=279 width=600> +<br>Panorama of Windhuk +<p><a name="pictwindruk"></a><img src="images/pictwindruk.jpg" alt="Picturesque Windhuk : photograph showing the houses nestling in the hills, taken from the church" height=288 width=600> +<br>Picturesque Windhuk : photograph showing the houses nestling in the +hills, taken from the church. +<p><a name="windjukbasking"></a><img src="images/windrukbaskingsun.jpg" alt="Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless Station" height=254 width=600> +<br>Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless Station +<p><a name="How_the_Germans_started_to_try_trading_with_us_ten_minutes_after_we_entered_the_Capital_Note_the_spelling"></a><img src="images/germansstartedtrading.jpg" alt="How the Germans started to try trading with us ten minutes after we entered the Capital. Note the spelling" height=255 width=600> +<br>How the Germans started to try trading with us ten minutes after we +entered the Capital. Note the spelling</center> + +<p>On June 26 Headquarters arrived at Okanjande, and pushed through to +Otjiwarongo, arriving there at 12 noon. The pace of the trekking was now +becoming phenomenal, and though the country was quite good, water was as +scarce as ever, the bush being intensely dense, with thick sweet grass +as much as eight feet high in places. It was a country made for ambushes. +In less than a week General Botha had trekked over one hundred and twenty +miles, the distance from Karibib to Otjiwarongo. During this trek the army +had had water only twice on the stretch from Omaruru. But delay of any +kind was now highly undesirable: the columns could not afford to pause +long owing to the consumption of rations. It was no part of the Commander-in-Chief's +policy to make bases and await the arrival of large supplies; water was +uncertain, and congestion of columns at the watering places had to be avoided +as much as possible. +<p>Near Okanjande the first great development in General Botha's final +strategy occurred. The northern advance was being conducted as follows. +Brigadier-General Brits, on the left, remained at Otjitasu, leaving it +on June 30. General Botha, with his command, in the centre, was holding +to the narrow gauge Karibib-Otavi-Tsumeb-Grootfontein Railway, and General +Myburgh's column to the right. Brigadier-General Brits now branched away +to Otjitasu, making for Outjo, Okanknejo, and across the Etoscha Pan to +Namutoni. The other columns moved on, trekking night and day, as in the +great advance across the Namib Desert. +<p>Headquarters made Okaputa on June 29; paused the next day, and on July +1 the Staff, leaving Okaputa at 8 o'clock in the morning, reached Otavi +and Otaviafontein at 4.30 p.m., close on the heels of an engagement at +Osib between the Germans and Brigadier-General Manie Botha, who had pushed +on with the Orange Free State Brigade at 6.30 the previous evening, June +30. This engagement took place in the now intensely thick bush country. +In defeating the enemy, at a cost of a dozen casualties, Brigadier-General +Manie Botha succeeded in securing the finest water supply the Union Forces +had yet seen, and so swift and resolute was the fighting of the burghers +that the enemy fled to their last strong-hold northward towards Tsumeb. +Before striking the enemy in this action the Free State Brigade, and their +accompanying batteries from the 2nd South African Mounted Riflemen, had +trekked forty-two miles in sixteen hours without halt for any kind of a +rest. Behind them, in support, came the force, consisting of the 6th Mounted +Brigade, with the 1st South African Mounted Riflemen Batteries, who did +a similar trek, through thickest bush, covering almost fifty miles in twenty +hours. And the animals had come through from Karibib--almost two and a +half degrees of latitude south. +<p>At the same time as Brigadier-General Manie Botha had left Okaputa, +Brigadier-General Lukin, with the 6th Mounted S.A.M.R. Brigade, had left +Omarasa. We had therefore a perfect network of highly mobile forces advancing +on the German position somewhere north. Away on the right, from Windhuk +and Okahandja through the Waterberg, was Brigadier- General Albert's column. +On his left was Brigadier-General Myburgh. Nearer the railway was Brigadier-General +Manie Botha. Next came the Commander-in-Chief with Headquarters Staff and +Bodyguard; and, further, General Lukin. For the time being Brigadier-General +Brits, on the extreme left, had disappeared. +<center> +<p><a name="lastphasecarsand"></a><img src="images/lastphasecarsand.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car through the thick sand" height=430 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car through the thick +sand +<p><a name="lastphaseblowing_bridges"></a><img src="images/lastphaseblowingbridges.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up bridges. Here is a fine specimen" height=431 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up bridges. Here +is a fine specimen +<p><a name="General_Franks_house_Windhuk_Photo_of_the_two_first_men_there_taken_under_the_flag_hauled_down_by_us"></a><img src="images/generalfrankshouse.jpg" alt="General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first men there taken under the flag hauled down by us" height=431 width=600> +<br>General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first men there taken +under the flag hauled down by us +<p><a name="Windhuk._The_first_British_station-master_and_one_of_his_staff"></a><img src="images/windrukstationmaster.jpg" alt="Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his staff" height=423 width=600> +<br>Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his staff</center> + +<p>Brigadier-General Manie Botha now advanced right into the bush, supported +by Brigadier-General Lukin, who occupied Eisenberg Nek, on the right flank. +Brigadier-General Myburgh, trekking by forced marches, in the course of +his flanking movement on the right cut the line between Otavi and Grootfontein, +and, swerving north, encountered the enemy at Asis and Gaub. This column, +having captured seventy Germans, marched straight on to Tsumeb, the extreme +northerly limit of the railway, forty miles north of Otavi. Here the enemy +was attacked so resolutely that they surrendered with all arms and four +field guns, and the Union prisoners of war were released. And great was +their rejoicing, too. Other columns marching north had now reached Rietfontein +and Grootfontein. +<p>It so arose now that General Myburgh, having got for a brief space out +of touch with the Commander-in-Chief, was not aware that the Germans had +opened, on July 5, negotiations with General Botha. General Myburgh was +at once communicated with. As a fact, at the time he entered Tsumeb, a +conference was on hand farther south. +<p>Why did the German forces in the Protectorate surrender without making +the big stand they threatened? If any proof be needed that they did intend +to make a stand it is necessary only to glance at the plan of their final +dispositions. And that is just where General Botha and his forces had done +their work. There is not the least doubt, not the very least, that von +Franke might have made a stand. It would have been nothing more than a +quixotically honourable waste of life ending in one only possible way. +<p><i>He was surrounded before he knew it.</i> +<p>So neat and swift had been the scheme prepared by the Commander-in- +Chief that the German was incredulous--until his scouts kept coming in +and telling him what the real state of affairs was. For Brits, after a +two hundred mile detour through the wildest country had swept right north +to Namutoni on the Great Etoscha Pan, had released more prisoners and was +swerving further out. Myburgh was in Tsumeb. Both these generals were behind +the Germans, ready to strike out forthwith; and von Franke was cut off +from all his supplies. He had simply been caught--caught by remorseless +forced marches and strategy as neat as a trivet--in a great fork with bent +prongs. On the sketches in this little book, to which I have sacrificed +everything possible for clearness, the general simple scheme of the campaign +may be apparent. The final position on July 5 was something like the diagram +on page 61 [below] +<center> +<p><a name="fork"></a><img src="images/finalposition.jpg" alt="Final Position" height=625 width=600></center> + +<p>Even guerilla warfare is an unattainable luxury when you are surrounded. +<center> +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_Opposite_the_very_spot_where_surrender_was_made_A_vast_ant_hill_at_500_Kilometres"></a><img src="images/finalprize.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender was made. A vast ant-hill at 500 Kilometres" height=600 width=350> +<br>The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender was made. A +vast ant-hill at 500 Kilometres</center> + +<p>[Illustration: South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender] +[missing] +<p>At kilometre 500 on the line between Otavi and Korab, at 2 a.m. on the +9th of July 1915, von Franke, the German Commander, and Dr. Seitz, the +Imperial Governor of South-West Africa, discreetly surrendered to Louis +Botha, Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. +<center> +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_The_German_white_flag_train_just_arriving"></a><img src="images/lastphasewhiteflag.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. The German white flag train just arriving" height=255 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. The German white flag train just arriving +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_General_Botha_meets_Von_Franke_at_500_Kilometres"></a><img src="images/lastphasebothameetfranke.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 Kilometres" height=297 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 Kilometres +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_Troops_entraining_to_return_home"></a><img src="images/lastphasetroopsentrainhome.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home" height=298 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home +<br> +<br> +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_The_famous_Rhodesian_Regiment_that_did_so_much_in_the_final_brilliant_movement"></a><img src="images/lastphaserhodesianregi.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did so much in the final brilliant movement" height=366 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did so much in the +final brilliant movement +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase._Isumeh._British_prisoners_released"></a><img src="images/lastphaseipsumeh.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released" height=365 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released</center> + +<h2> +APPENDIX</h2> + +<h3> +THE TERMS OF SURRENDER</h3> + +<h3> +PRETORIA, <i>July</i> 10.</h3> +The terms of surrender of the military forces of the Protectorate of German +South-West Africa, as agreed to by the Government of the Union of South +Africa, and accepted by his Excellency Dr. Seitz, the Imperial Governor +of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa, the commander of the military +forces, which was signed on the 9th of July, 1915, are that-- +<p>(1) The military forces of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa +(hereinafter referred to as the Protectorate) remaining in the field under +arms and at the disposal and the command of the commander of the said Protectorate +forces, are hereby surrendered to General the Right Hon. Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief +of the Forces of the Union of South Africa in the field. Brigadier-General +H. T. Lukin, C.M.G., D.S.O., acting on behalf of General Botha, shall be +the officer in charge with arranging details of the surrender and giving +effect to it. +<p>(2) The active troops of the said forces of the said Protectorate surrendered +in terms of paragraph (1) shall, in the case of officers, retain their +arms and may give parole, being allowed to live each under that parole +at such places as he may select. If for any reason the Government of the +Union is unable to meet the wish of any officer as regards choice of abode, +the officer concerned will choose some place in respect of which no difficulty +exists. In the case of other ranks of the active troops of the said forces +of the Protectorate, such other ranks shall be interned under proper guard +at such place in the Protectorate as the Union Government shall decide +upon. +<p>(3) Each non-commissioned officer and man of the ranks last referred +to shall be allowed to retain their rifles, but no ammunition. One officer +shall be permitted to be interned with the other ranks of artillery, and +one with the other ranks of the remainder of the active troops, and one +with the other ranks of the police. +<p>(4) All reservists (Landwehr) of all ranks of the said forces of the +Protectorate now remaining under arms in the field shall, except to the +extent as is provided for in paragraph (6) below, give up their arms upon +being surrendered, in such formations as may be found most convenient, +and after signing the annexed form of parole shall be allowed to return +to their homes and resume civil occupation. +<p>(5) All reservists (Landwehr and Landsturm) of all ranks of the said +forces of the Protectorate who are now held by the Union Government as +prisoners of war taken from the forces of the Protectorate, upon signing +the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4), shall be allowed to +resume civil occupation in the Protectorate. +<p>(6) Officers of the Reserve (Landwehr and Landsturm) of the said forces +of the Protectorate who surrender in terms of paragraph (1) above shall +be allowed to retain their arms, provided they sign the parole above mentioned +in paragraph (4). +<p>(7) All the officers of the said forces of the Protectorate who sign +the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4) shall be allowed to +retain their horses, which are nominally allotted to them in the military +establishment. +<p>(8) The Police of the Protectorate shall be treated, as far as have +been mobilised, as active troops. Those members of the Police who are on +duty on distant stations shall remain at their posts until relieved by +the Union troops, in order that the lives and property of non- combatants +may be protected. +<p>(9) Civil officials in the employment of the German Government of the +Protectorate shall be allowed to remain in their homes provided they sign +the parole above mentioned in paragraph (4). Nothing, however, in this +statement to be construed as entitling any such official to exercise the +functions of the appointment which he holds in the service of either of +the Governments aforesaid, or to claim from the Union Government the emoluments +of such appointment. +<p>(10)With the exception of the arms retained by the officers of the Protectorate +forces and by other ranks of the active troops, as provided in paragraph +(2), all war material (including all field guns, mountain guns, small arms +and guns, and small arm ammunition), and the whole of the property of the +Government of the Protectorate, shall be placed at the disposal of the +Union Government. +<center> +<p><a name="The_German_Staff_before_surrender"></a><img src="images/germanstaffbeforesurrender.jpg" alt="The German Staff before surrender" height=387 width=600> +<br>The German Staff before surrender +<p><a name="General_Botha_and_his_brilliant_Chief_of_Staff_Colonel_JF_Collier_meet_Von_Franke_at_500_Kilometres"></a><img src="images/bothacollierfranke.jpg" alt="General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel J.F. Collier, meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres" height=600 width=417> +<br>General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel J.F. Collier, +meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres</center> + +<p>(11) His Excellency the Imperial Governor shall appoint a civil official +of the Protectorate Service who shall hand over and keep a record of all +Government property of the Civil Departments, including records which are +handed over to the Union Government in terms of paragraph (10), and the +Commander of the said forces of the Protectorate shall appoint military +officers, who shall hand over and keep a similar record of all Government +Property of the Military Department of the Protectorate. +<p>Given under our hand this 19th day of July 1915. +<p>(Signed) Louis BOTHA, +<p>General Commanding-in-Chief of the Union Forces in the Field. +<p>SEITZ, +<p>Imperial Governor of German South-West Africa. +<p>FRANKE, +<p>Lieut.-Colonel, Commander of the Protectorate Forces of German South- +West Africa. +<p>The form of parole, shown as an annexure, begins-- +<p>"I, the undersigned, hereby place myself on my honour not to re-engage +in hostilities in the present war between Great Britain and Germany." +<center> +<p><a name="The_Last_Phase_The_CommanderinChief_General_Botha_receives_an_ovation_from_his_Bodyguard_after_disbanding_them"></a><img src="images/bothaovation.jpg" alt="The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, receives an ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them" height=341 width=600> +<br>The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, receives an +ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them</center> + +<blockquote> +<blockquote> +<blockquote> +<center><a name="Generals_Botha_and_Smuts_the_Great_South_Africans_receive_a_tremendous_ovation_from_the_crowd_at_the_Capital_on_the"></a><img src="images/bothacrowdovation.jpg" alt="Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the successful conclusion of the Rebellion and" height=362 width=600> +<p><img src="images/bothacrowdovation2.jpg" alt="Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the successful conclusion of the Rebellion and the Campaign." height=358 width=600></center> +</blockquote> +</blockquote> +</blockquote> + +<center>Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a tremendous +ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the successful conclusion of the +Rebellion and the Campaign +<p><a name="Homeward_bound_General_Botha_and_Staff_returning_on_the_Ebari"></a><img src="images/homewardbound.jpg" alt="Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the Ebari" height=406 width=600> +<br>Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the <i>Ebari</i> +<br> +<p><a name="The_Great_Man_and_the_Chips_of_the_Old_Block_returning_to_the_Union_after_Conquest"></a><img src="images/greatmanand-chips.jpg" alt="The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning to the Union after Conquest" height=600 width=347> +<br>The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning to the Union +after Conquest</center> + +<h3> +TOTAL UNION CASUALTIES.</h3> +The official report shows that the total casualties of the operations in +South-West Africa in connection with the Union Forces are approximately +as follows-- +<p>Killed in action 88 Died of wounds 25 Wounded in action 263 Wounded +and taken prisoners 48 Unwounded prisoners in hands of enemy 612 Total +1,036 +<p>Died of disease 97 Died through accidents and by mis-adventure 56 Total +153 +<h3> +TOTAL ENEMY SURRENDERS</h3> +Immediately after the capitulation of the enemy, Brigadier-General Lukin +reported that he had satisfactorily completed the work of accepting surrenders. +The total number of surrenders amounted to 4,410, made up as follows-- +<p>Officers of the Active Troops and Police 110 Officers of the Reserve +177 Rank and File of Active Troops and Police 1,548 Rank and File of Reserve +2,575 +<p>The Union Forces when at greatest strength numbered 50,000 men. +<p>The Germans when at full strength numbered 9,000, but a proportion of +these consisted of civilians, who eventually refused to serve. +<h3> +AMENDMENT</h3> +In an official <i>communiqué</i> issued at the end of July, figures +were given of the total number of the enemy included in the general surrender. +The total then given was 4,410, and included the surrender of the main +body at Korab, and also troops captured by Brigadier- General Myburgh at +Tsumeb on July 6, the surrenders at Grootfontein, Otavifontein, Otavi and +Tsumeb, and those who surrendered at Otjiwarongo. +<p>The additional numbers captured or surrendered at various points since +General Botha made his advance northwards after occupation of Windhuk are-- +<p>To Brigadier-General Myburgh's force, mostly at Gaub 105 +<p>To Brigadier-General Manie Botha's force between Okaputa and Otavifontein +50 +<p>To Brigadier-General Lukin's force 12 +<p>To Brigadier-General Brits' force, mostly at Namutoni 163 +<p>Total 330 Thus the total number of prisoners taken during the last stage +of the campaign, viz. from June 18 to July 9, was 4,740. + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15802-h.txt or 15802-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/8/0/15802</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: With Botha in the Field + + +Author: Eric Moore Ritchie + +Release Date: May 9, 2005 [eBook #15802] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Carol David, Debra Storr, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15802-h.htm or 15802-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802/15802-h/15802-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802/15802-h.zip) + + + + + +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD + +by + +MOORE RITCHIE + +With Five Diagrams and Eighty-two Illustrations mostly by the Author + +Longmans, Green and Co. +39 Paternoster Row, London +Fourth Avenue and 30th Street, New York +Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras + +1915 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: The Author] + + + + +J.B. + +LIEUTENANT, HIS MAJESTY'S IMPERIAL FORCES, + +IF THIS SHOULD CATCH THE EYE OF: + +CHER AMI,--TO YOU: + +IN MEMORY OF DAYS. + +YOURS, + +M.R. + + + + +[Illustration: The only photo of the meeting of General Botha and +General Smuts in the field just before Windhuk was taken] + + + + +FOREWORD + +The ungentle reader (upon whom a malediction) will discover that this +little book is not by any means exhaustive. But the gentle reader may +find it to be what I hope it is. For him I wrote it. + +Europe at the present time is lacerated in the greatest war of which +man has knowledge. Compared with the doings in the Eastern and Western +Fronts, in the Austro-Italian Theatre, or in the Dardanelles, the +campaign of South Africa must take a modest place. + +My idea is simply to make clear to the public (for example, all names I +mention will be easily found on my diagrams, drawn from a German fully +detailed map, the best of the South-West African Protectorate in +existence) of gentle and patriotic readers something of the latter-day +work of a gentleman and a patriot, justly famed amongst peoples with +whom integrity and honour are still esteemed sovereign virtues. + +"The Nonggai," +Pretoria, S. Africa, +August 1915. + + + +[Illustration: General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front] + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +CHASING THE REBELS + +I KEMP AND BEYERS II DE WET III KEMP'S ESCAPE IV FOURIE + +PART II + +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA + +I THE PRELIMINARY CANTER II THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT III +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK IV THE LAST PHASE + +APPENDIX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +The Author + +The only photo of the meeting of General Botha and General Smuts in the +field just before Windhuk was taken + +General Botha's Bodyguard leaving for the Front + +Diagram of Campaign + +Group of Rebel Leaders + +Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet + +The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the Orange River after +him + +Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. December 16, 1914 + +Diagram of Nooitgedacht + +General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after the crushing +of the Rebellion + +Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange Free State + +Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing + +Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front + +Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur + +Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard fraternised +aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South African + +Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa + +Awaiting landing from the Transport + +Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, German South-West +Africa + +Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis + +Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the Red Cross +Sisters + +General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection. (The famous +Brigadier-General Brits, who trekked to Namutoni, is the fourth figure +from the right.) + +Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with the Red Cross +Sisters + +Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. Start for 100 +yards race + +Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner + +Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right + +Swakopmund: Centre + +Swakopmund: Extreme Left + +Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent + +Looking for Water in the River Bed + +A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch + +Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns + +On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a hair-cut + +Action at Riet + +An unique picture of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his +Staff reconnoitring + +After Riet water in blessed profusion + +A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa + +Typical captured German Infantry + +The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells + +The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at the old German +capital + +The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was priced beyond Silver + +The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the Trek + +A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek + +The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff lunching + +The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party after return + +German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib + +Karibib + +Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau + +The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk + +Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the Germans' usual +practice of blowing up railway bridges + +Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South African Engineer +Corps Construction Party aboard + +At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes after occupation + +At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed troops from the +Rathaus + +At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors awaiting entry + +At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters with the +Governor of Windhuk + +At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter + +At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises + +The great Wireless Station at Windhuk + +Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching + +The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight over German +positions + +At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law and order + +The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, Windhuk + +The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk + +Panorama of Windhuk + +Picturesque Windhuk + +Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless Station + +How the Germans started to try trading with us ten minutes after we +entered the Capital. Note the spelling + +The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car through the thick +sand + +The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up bridges. Here is +a fine specimen + +General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first men there taken +under the flag hauled down by us + +Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his staff + +The Fork that Caught the Germans + +The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender was made. A vast +ant-hill at 500 Kilometres + +South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender + +The Last Phase. The German white flag train just arriving + +The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 Kilometres + +The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home + +The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did so much in the +final brilliant movement + +The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released + +The German Staff before surrender + +General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel J.F. Collier, +meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres + +The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, receives an +ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them + +Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, receive a +tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the successful +conclusion of the Rebellion and the Campaign + +Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the _Ebari_ + +The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning to the Union +after Conquest + + + +[Illustration: Diagram of Campaign] + + +WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD + + + +PART I + + + + +CHASING THE REBELS + + + +SECTION I + + +KEMP AND BEYERS + +Six weeks after the war-cloud smashed over Europe a man called on me. +He was an old friend; but the point about him is that at that +particular time I fancied him on his farm at least a thousand miles +away. + +"Hello!" I said in surprise. "Why this sudden appearance?" + +"This is going to be a big thing, my boy. I am off 'Home.' They will +need us all." + +It impressed me. He was a person calm and methodical minded, and, like +so many good men, he has been dead now many months. His words, which +have proved true, were the first to turn my mind definitely to +war-thoughts. Besides, the man whose trade is writing has always, when +events are stirring, the itch to go, look and note. + +In the branch of the Union Service to which I belong--the South African +Police--none but Reservists could then proceed to Europe; but when +General Botha announced that he himself would take command of the +Expeditionary Force to German South-West Africa, a Bodyguard from the +South African Police was decided upon, volunteers came forward, and on +this unit I had the honour to serve. + +The intention of the Union Authorities was to push forward with the +German West Campaign as quickly as possible. The Rebellion delayed +operations roughly some three months--a period during which some +exceedingly severe marchings and stiff rifle actions took place. I +mention this deliberately, for in the stir of well-won applause +following the victorious end of the Campaign proper, the preliminary +canter of the Rebellion is perhaps somewhat forgotten. + +It does not seem, in the light of later information, strictly true to +say that the Rebellion of 1914 broke upon the Union of South Africa in +a manner wholly unexpected. But its ultimate development and extent did +cause both surprise and great uneasiness. The details of its various +activities over the country are by this time stale history. Leaving +comment of a political nature alone, I confine myself briefly to the +movements which, performed by General Botha and the loyalist troops, +were so swift and accurate in their workings that they broke the back +of the main risings before more than local disorganisation and the +least possible amount of bloodshed had been achieved. + +On the 12th of October the Bodyguard for the German South-West Campaign +assembled for field practices, etc., at Pretoria. On the 20th we heard +that we should be leaving at an hour's notice, presumably for the +South-West. The following day wild and disquieting rumours began to +circulate from early morning. Maritz had gone into rebellion. +Motor-cars sped all forenoon between General Botha's house close to us +and the Union Defence Headquarters. Our camp was full of alarms. The +police of Pretoria became suddenly twice as many about the streets. +Towards evening it was positively stated that plots were afoot aiming at +nothing less than the life of General Botha; and the Main Guard, which +had been mounted at the General's house from the day of the Bodyguard's +formation, was doubled. Not a soul was allowed within or around the +modest grounds of the house without challenge at the point of the bayonet +and presentment of the countersign. It will be long before memory loses +the picture of those evenings, when through the lighted windows of the +left wing of the house the Main Guard first and second reliefs got a view +of a familiar ample figure in anxious consultations at a table upon which +the electric light cast a mellow glow. + +The next day, the 22nd of October, rumour gave way to fact. Rebellion +had definitely broken out in the Transvaal and the Free State; Beyers, +the ex-Commandant General, Kemp and others were leading in the +Transvaal; the names of De Wet and Wessel Wessels were coupled with the +Free State. For the second time within a year unhappy South Africa +heard rumours of imminent Martial Law proclamations. + +Monday morning, the 26th, arrived and found us still waiting; then the +Bodyguard got twenty minutes' notice and entrained, horses, kits and +everything for Rustenburg. We arrived there at five o'clock the +following morning, and started at once in pursuit of rebel commandos +which were led by Kemp and Beyers. Before starting, General Botha over +a cup of coffee had an anxious consultation with his loyal commandants +who had arrived to meet him. Throughout the day we trekked, with one +brief halt only, and "outspanned" that night near Oliphant's Nek. +During the day the loyal commandos located the rebels without much +difficulty; they were routed in all directions, and some eighty were +captured. At two o'clock in the morning we continued the trek, stopped +in the forenoon on the railway line at Derby (close to Drakfontein, the +scene of the British disaster to Benson's Horse during the South +African War), and pushing on in the evening to Koster, learnt from +incoming scouts that Kemp had escaped capture by minutes only. The +direction of his flight was questionable at the time. + +Returning to Pretoria, we remained there for a few days. The whole town +was in a state of remarkable tension. The police were armed. Armed +volunteers were called for. Loyalists were training after working hours +in batches on various open spaces. It was freely whispered that the +German South-West Campaign would be given up, so formidable was the +threatened opposition to it.... I am writing this much less than a year +later: and Windhuk has fallen, the Germans have surrendered their +territory, and thousands of burghers and volunteers are returning to +their homes. + +On the 2nd of November we left Pretoria again. More trouble was brewing +at Brits, close to Pretoria. We trekked straightway to Zoutpan's Drift, +the commandos again pursuing a body of rebels who, cutting through the +railway line, had caused damage at De Wilts or Greyling's Post, twenty +miles or so outside the Union capital. Quite unwilling to make a stand, +the insurgents were again put to flight, and General Botha returned to +Pretoria the following day. In the meantime other loyalist columns in +the Transvaal had taken to the field, and the rebellion seemed well in +hand. + + + +SECTION II + + +DE WET + +Compared with the Free State insurrection, the Transvaal affair +appeared in many ways to be a small business from our point of view. In +actuality it was nothing of the kind. It was, if anything, much more +ugly in spirit. The genius of the Free State section of insurgents +displayed itself chiefly in a highly finished exposition of lying, +looting and "legging it." + +De Wet's delirious harangue had not exhausted its nine-days' life as a +masterpiece of unconscious humour when General Botha left Pretoria for +the Free State on November 9. Again, I am not concerned with the highly +complex motives which prompted the veteran Dutch General to make his +delightful "Five Bob Outrage" speech and other things at Vrede. +Flogging dead horses is a useless job, anyway. + +During the journey to the Free State, our guard en the train was +extremely strict. Though every possible precaution of secrecy had been +taken, we were positively told to be prepared to find the train fired +upon. But, if during such journeys preparedness was doubtless essential +in the circumstances, it always seemed to me that we, or any one so +placed, were pretty powerless to avert disaster should a properly +directed shot from the darkness find its mark. + +On November 11 we detrained at Theunissen, in the Free State. It was +speedily clear that this part of the world was in the grip of +disturbance. Telegraph poles all along the line had been wrecked; an +amount of mild pillaging had been going on. The people of Theunissen +were almost in panic. The two fights--one against Conroy, at Allaman's +Kraal, the other and larger, against De Wet, at Doornberg--had been +enormously magnified. General Botha was welcomed in genuine relief. We +remained at arms in the train during the first part of the night. At 2 +a.m. we were roused, and in less than half an hour were on the way +across country to Winburg. + +The arrival at the little railhead dorp of Winburg was remarkable. +Scarcely were we halted and hand put to loosen girth before the +loyalist leaders came running out in the morning sunshine to meet us. +De Wet had left the place two hours before, disappearing with his +following over the first kopje. He had caused absolute panic. His +forces had cut the inhabitants off from all touch with the outer world. +De Wet had commandeered all food supplies worth having. Houses had been +looted and speeches were made in the marketplace. His followers had +assured the people that the Empire was tottering, Germany had defeated +Britain on land and sea, a hundred thousand were marching on Pretoria, +and that Botha and his Government were defeated and disgraced. And +these statements were to a large extent believed. + +It was but natural. Cut off the wire and rail communication of a South +African veld town and you have isolation in the most thorough sense. In +such a place at such a time mere statement may seem quite possibly the +truth. + +Towards evening we got news of the rebels, and a night-march was +ordered. As we left the town the loyal people lined the streets, the +fellows in the columns whistled "Tipperary," and we got a rousing +farewell. + +[Illustration: Group of Rebel Leaders] +[Illustration: Rebels rounded up after the capture of De Wet] + +General Botha is celebrated amongst fighting men for many things, and +his night-marching is one of them. He appears to believe to the fullest +extent in night-marching. He had located De Wet at a place called +Mushroom Valley, and parts of the Commander-in-Chief's forces had been +sent to make a surrounding movement. During the all-night trek from +Winburg to Mushroom Valley I had a first thorough experience of the +true horrors of sleep-fighting. It was bitterly cold--cold as the Free +State night on the veld knows how to be. And we could not smoke, could +not talk above a faint murmur, and nodded in our saddles. The clear +stars danced fantastically in the sky ahead of us, and the ground +seemed to be falling away from us into vast hollows, then rising to our +horses' noses ready to smash into us like an impalpable wall. After +midnight, outspanning in a piercing wind, we formed square; main guard +was posted over the General's car, and those lucky enough to escape +turn of duty huddled together under cloaks and dozed fitfully until +two-thirty. From two-thirty till sunrise we trekked on. Suddenly, just +after good daylight, the Staff halted the column, glasses were put up, +and away we swung half right into the veld. Up came the artillery and +opened fire on a cluster of ant-sized figures four thousand yards ahead +beneath the shoulder of a kopje. Had the thing not contained the very +germ of tragedy it would have been laughable to see the way those +figures scattered over the red veld. It was De Wet's commandos caught +napping. Just before the shell fire our burghers had gone out ahead +hell-for-leather on either flank. The whole column then advanced. After +two hours' pretty hot work the action was over. We lost six killed +against the rebels' twenty-two, and with twenty wounded on our side the +rebel losses were proportionate. We took upwards of three hundred +prisoners, De Wet himself escaping by the merest fluke. He lost all his +transport, and generally ceased after the action to be a serious +menace. + +During the operations against De Wet I watched, when possible, the +demeanour of the quiet South African patriot with whom fate had placed +me in the field. I had last seen him many years before, gravely bowing +from under a silk hat to a crowd that swayed and cheered as he drove +through the streets of Manchester. And now duty found him in the field +against an old comrade-in-arms. There was a sadness, there was a +profound pathos about it. No wonder if to me it seemed that General +Botha looked downcast indeed, if stern as well, during the Rebellion. +Life, surely, was not dealing too fairly by him. + +Following Mushroom Valley, we trekked, with two brief outspans only, to +Clocolan, all the time scattering De Wet's followers. At Clocolan we +paused for one day, entrained men and horses and reached Kimberley, via +Bloemfontein, on the 18th of November. The following day rebel +activities were reported in the direction of Bloemhof; but after an +eventless journey we returned to Kimberley on the 21st. + + + +SECTION III + + +KEMP'S ESCAPE + +It was at Kimberley that news came through that Kemp was making a +desperate cross-country trek to get into German territory in the +Upington neighbourhood. A reference to a map will show that Upington, +on the Orange River, is on the extreme western borders of the Union; +and it must be said that the trek which Kemp and the remnant of his +moderate force, poorly mounted and equipped, had made since being +routed by General Botha on the 27th of October (a month before) stands +as a remarkable piece of work. We pushed on to Prieska, via De Aar, and +reached Upington, on the scarcely completed new line from Prieska, on +the 25th of November. The journey over the desert stretch from Prieska +to Upington was full of alarms; during the night the train halted in +the lonely veld owing to a washaway, and we stood to arms, throwing out +cossack-posts around the train wherein the Commander-in-Chief slept. It +was tremendously exciting work. + +The old town of Upington was transformed in those days. Around the +Dutch Reformed Church, standing peaceful and dazzling white in the +torrid sun, were tents, wagons, horses, motor-cars, signalling-parties, +despatch-riders and infantry. Away over the hard red sand dunes to the +north was the action zone, and from that direction every five minutes +came sweating motor despatch-riders, who tore along to Headquarters. +The following day news came through that the Imperial Light Horse and +the Natal Carbineers had been engaging Kemp before and since dawn; +almost cornered, he was making a final dash for the border to get into +German South-West. It was an anxious time; each minute brought a fresh +rumour as to the fighting and the thousands of men Kemp had got +together for his desperate move. Our staff returned before dark, +reporting an eventless day, with intermittent fighting. On the 28th the +Staff went out in motors as far as Rooidam. They returned with bad news +in the early afternoon. After a prolonged rearguard action Kemp had +succeeded, taking over to the Germans with him a force which was said +to be far greater than had been supposed. (Need I add that after events +showed there had been gross exaggeration?) + +I offer, with reserve, the following ingenious explanation of Kemp's +escape; it was told me later by several who saw the action. Near the +end of his terrific trek through from the North-Western Transvaal to +the German outpost for which he was making, Kemp was hotly pursued by +the loyalist troops. His men were exhausted. Half of them were +dismounted. All his horses were spent. In these conditions he was +forced to the most trying form of fight--the rearguard and flank +action. With his goal practically right ahead, he reached three of the +parallel large sand dunes with which the veld around Upington is +scattered. They were on his left flank. He swerved into them. Hotly +pursued, he crossed two, and under the lee of the second left a party +of good shots. Then, cantering away over the third, he doubled round on +his tracks and with his exhausted followers made for the German +outpost. When the Union troops came up they were ambushed at short +range, and the check they got just served the fleeing rebel. In the +pursuit afterwards our parties found traces of buried rations for +horses and men. These had been provided with German thoroughness. + +The second phase of the Free State Rebellion was a pantomime more than +anything else; a week's pantomime acted in the open veld in rain that +never stopped. It was the most miserable week I have known. We left +Upington on the 29th of November, reaching Kroonstad, Orange Free +State, late next evening. Here the Commander-in-Chief was met by +General Smuts, Minister for Defence; a consultation took place, and as +a result we left by train for Bethlehem in the evening. Our arrival +was timely, too. The place was in a perfect uproar. Nobody knew what +was going to happen next. All the loyalistcivilians were under arms. +The large mill of the Kaffrarian Steam Flour Company had been converted +into a fort which was, in case of necessity, impregnable to rifle-fire. +The rebels in the field had declared the New Republic practically +established, with temporary capital at Reitz. Just before we saddled up +to track them the news came of De Wet's capture on the Malopi River, +near Mafeking. The news put everyone in fresher spirits. The charm +around the famous guerilla fighter had broken. That the Rebellion was +doomed we all knew. But most of us were weary, nevertheless. It +furnished a refresher. + +We left a happier Bethlehem at a rainy dawn the next day. Half way to +Reitz we outspanned in the rain. It rained all night. The following +morning came back to mind a talk an old soldier and I had once while +freezing one early morning awaiting the Channel boat at Greenock. +Alluding to cold and misery, he said: "You don't know what it is, my +son, till you've been held up for three nights by rain in war-time in +the South African veld, and spent the time standing in water. I did it +outside Mafeking." Well, I understand a little now. + +The next day our scouts entered Reitz; the rebels had fled. For two +days we operated against them. A day later General Botha returned to +Reitz. Nothing was said at the time. The fact was that before we +entrained at Reitz, on the 7th of December, Wessel Wessels and +Serfontein were surrounded. A day later they surrendered: the Orange +Free State Rebellion, in all its futility, was over. + +[Illustration: The last pursuit of Kemp. Flying column crossing the +Orange River after him] + +[Illustration: Troops returning to Pretoria after Nooitgedacht. +December 16, 1914] + + + +SECTION IV + + +FOURIE + +Just before and during the Commander-in-Chief's long trek, other bodies +of loyalist troops had been engaging the rebels. The most notable of +these actions were against Muller at Bronkhorst Spruit (5th November, +1914; casualties, one killed and three wounded), and against Fourie at +Hamanskraal (22nd November, 1914; casualties, three killed and ten +wounded). Both these actions took place in the neighbourhood of +Pretoria. As a result of them and the death of Beyers in the Vaal +River, the Rebellion in the Transvaal was virtually smashed. There +remained only Fourie to be dealt with. + +Fourie, late Major in the South African Defence Force, possibly the +most fanatical of all the rebels, appears to have been a man of +character and proved courage. Having got away at the action at +Hamanskraal, he and his younger brother were moving about in the veld +with ex-Major Pienaar and a moderate force. Their fantastic purpose was +said to be the taking of Pretoria itself on Dingaan's Day, the 16th of +December. As all the South African world knows, this date marks the +anniversary of the famous fight of the Voortrekkers at Blood River in +1838. The day before a force of South African Police, Defence Force, +and South African Mounted Riflemen left Pretoria, detrained at +Greyling's Post, on the Pietersburg Line, and started in pursuit of the +last big rebel commando at large. In this move we of the Bodyguard +found ourselves acting; General Botha, who had returned to Pretoria +after his severe field work, had gone to his farm for a few days' rest +before the South-West campaign. + +[Illustration: Diagram of Nooitgedacht] + +We trekked at dawn and during the whole of the following day, with one +rain-sodden halt, till four in the afternoon. The rebels had doubled in +their tracks after reaching a large dam at Blaaubank. Late in the +afternoon our scouts returned to the column and reported having located +the enemy three miles ahead, entrenched in a donga, or dried-up stony +river course, on the farm Nooitgedacht No. 4. We prepared for action, +and encountered the rebels in the next half hour. This, the first true +action I had been in, was an extremely dirty affair; a man who had gone +through some of the worst fights in the South African War afterwards +assured me it was the hottest corner he had ever been in. Bush-country +fighting is detestable chiefly because you cannot see your enemy until +you are on top of him. Our centre cantered in extended order up an +avenue flanked by dense bush. We were laughing and asking where the +deuce the rebels were, when a hail of rifle fire at short range greeted +us. Our fellows were out of their saddles in a second, and advanced to +the attack through the bush. Meantime, the South African Police extreme +left had swept round to the head of the spruit on both sides of which +the donga was formed, the South African Mounted Riflemen and more South +African Police closed in, the Defence Force unit getting in rear and in +flank of the rebels to cut them off. The attacking party had to work +their way through open veld before they could charge the enemy; they +made a mark as good as standing game. It was two and a half hours +before the "Cease-fire" whistle sounded. + +[Illustration: General Botha's train leaves the Orange Free State after +the crushing of the Rebellion] + +[Illustration: Exhausted Troops after defeating De Wet in the Orange +Free State] + + +It fell to me to be a horse-holder (one man in each section is, of +course, a horse-holder when mounted infantry are in action) in this +fight. In nightmare I have passed that evening since--and wakened +quickly, too. The worst of rifle fire is that you can hear bullets +whizzing and spitting in trees, but it takes an experienced hand to +divine direction. It was only afterwards I found out that a party of +rebels were firing on our horses in rear. The horses knew it, though, +and shewed it in their eyes. The sun came watery through the clouds +just before sunset; I remember during the lulls in the wicked coughs of +rifle fire hearing doves cooing gently in the sun-pierced trees. + +[Illustration: Leaving Pretoria. General Botha's Bodyguard departing] +[Illustration: Kits aboard. The Troops departing for the Front] +[Illustration: Camp of the Bodyguard at Groote Schuur] + +When darkness fell we had captured Fourie, his brother and all his +following, except nine men who made their escape at the beginning of +the fight. The loyalist casualties in this action were twelve killed +and twenty-four wounded. I saw a man who had shared a last cigarette +with me as we rode into the action that afternoon lying dead on a +blanket three hours later. In that instant I learnt something of the +true meaning of war. + +There are hundreds of brave deeds that must go unrecognised in these +days. But from what I know of this particular action there was an +amount of gallantry and quiet heroism displayed amongst the fellows +that deserved more than casual comment. I could speak of things I saw, +and would like to, moreover. But as for my pains a punched head from +outraged modesty would be the reward I shall say no more. + +A few days later Fourie was tried by court-martial, convicted, and shot +at dawn. In the last days of December the few remaining rebels at large +either surrendered or were captured. As the last days of the Old Year +slipped by, rebellion within the Union of South Africa died out, and +General Botha spent the holidays in peace on his farm at Rusthof--in +the haven where he fain would be. + + + + +PART II + + + + +THE CAMPAIGN OF SOUTH-WEST AFRICA + + + +SECTION I + + +THE PRELIMINARY CANTER + +At the stroke of seven on the evening of January 13, 1915, a train +steamed out of Pretoria station to the accompaniment of roars of +cheering. And few in the imposing string of carriages that made the +train were sober within the meaning of the act. But everyone was in the +highest spirits. The Rebellion was over. The New Year was with us. +After weary days our real business was on hand. We were off to German +West at last. + +We reached Cape Town on the 15th. I am particular about the date, not +entirely as a result of a desire for meticulous accuracy. All who +started on the South-West Campaign will remember their Cape Peninsula +experience after the heat and burden of the Rebellion. The authorities +might have chosen most of our camping grounds about Cape Town with the +genial purpose of providing a kind of military holiday as a preliminary +canter to the campaign proper. The unit to which I was attached had its +temporary resting place on the slopes of Table Mountain at Groote +Schuur, on the Rhodes Estate. And I fancy the world has on its vast +surface few spots more alluring and more bracing to the spirit. + +Up till that time South Africa itself had never put an expeditionary +army, to be shipped by sea, on a war footing, and at Cape Town the work +of equipping the South-West African Expeditionary Force was carried on +and finished during the four weeks we were there. The quiet pine and +fir lined roads on the Rondebosch side of Table Mountain complained +daily under the traffic of wagons and motors, horses, mules and guns; +it ruined the roads and begot unceasing clouds of dust. + +And from breakfast-time till late afternoon every street leading to +Cape Town and to the great Supply and Ordnance Stores at Maitland and +at Portswood Road was filled with grey and khaki carts and wagons +roaring steadily along in golden dust. In the whole Peninsula the +normal interests of life were for the time being completely +side-tracked. + +Being associated directly with the Commander-in-Chief and Headquarters, +we were fortunate in having our camp on the finest piece of ground on +the estate; our tents stretched down a strip of sloping sward, +sheltered from the wind by the wonderful trees that luxuriate on the +lower falls of Table Mountain; from one's tent entrance the eye was +caught by a panorama sweeping a radius of twenty miles inland. I shall +never forget those days when in the morning wind and sun I helped to +make out requisitions for shirts and breeches and saddlery to the notes +of wood music; nor those nights when we lay in our blankets on the +grass, stars swinging above, the town-lights winking away below us. It +is not often in life that one slips into dreamless slumber on soft +grass, lullabied by the night-song of a south-wester in pine trees +centuries old. + +If we had our discipline and our work at Cape Town, we had our +compensations, too. At that time khaki was completely the fashion +there. On the long promenade down Adderley Street to the pier-head you +could have counted a dozen men in khaki to one in mufti. It reminded +one of the days of the South African War fifteen years ago. There was +naturally a tendency to make much of the soldier-visitor. It did not +spoil him, though. A more orderly lot could not have been found. And +this with the people whose guests we were in indulgent mood, and the +civic authorities throwing open to us every amusement at their +disposal. + +Though there was work ahead we were all sorry to leave Cape Town. + +[Illustration: Brothers in Arms. The British Navy and Botha's Bodyguard +fraternised aboard. Many of the latter are, of course, pure South +African] + +[Illustration: Boxing aboard. En route to German South-West Africa] + +On Friday, the 5th of February, we struck camp at sunrise. All our +horses had been shipped the day before; we proceeded to the Docks by +train and on foot. As showing the kindness with which the troops were +treated I must mention that after the heavy work of embarking horses a +body of one of the Ladies' War Organisations arranged refreshments for +us at the railway station. + +The journey by train from Groote Schuur to the City takes about fifteen +minutes; by motor about a quarter of that time. But war-work is a +trifle different; we were three hours on the heavily laden transport +wagons before we got to the transport _Galway Castle_. + +Many of us who have moved about a good deal and are fond of the sea +were looking forward to that voyage. It was a four days' trip to Walvis +Bay; we thought we would have rather a jolly time. Disillusion is +hateful. And that trip was disillusionment itself. I suppose we +inexperienced ones overlooked automatically the fact that we were in +the ranks and travelling to war by transport. It wasn't a high-browed, +superior outlook that caused our undoing, I fancy. The thing is, you +must rough it soldiering by ship before you grasp the idea. There were +other points, too. + +[Illustration: Awaiting landing from the Transport] + +[Illustration: Trekking over the terrible Sand Dunes near the Coast, +German South-West Africa] + +[Illustration: Some of the first Burghers to land at Walvis] + +When we got safely aboard the _Galway Castle_ many of us fancied, in +expressive phrase, that we were "well away"; that we had struck a good +thing. Our officers were accommodated in befitting state in the first +class; our warrants and staff non-commissioned dignitaries were also +fixed up in correct style; the rest of us had plenty of room and +quietness to ourselves in the third class. All this by 2.30 in the +afternoon. + +And then eighteen hundred more warriors filed down the quays and, like +Mr. Jim Hawkins, came aboard, sir. Now most of these were as good +fellows as you could wish for; but they were landsmen, such as never go +down to the sea in ships. A large proportion, indeed, had never seen +the sea before viewing it at Cape Town. (South Africa is a fair-sized +territory.) Very few of them were good sailors. It is not a man's fault +that he is not a good sailor; nor is he to blame for knowing little of +the ways that make for cleanliness and comfort under even the most +trying conditions on shipboard. But on the whole we did not enjoy that +four days' voyage to Walvis Bay. It was a case of bedlam as to noise, +and "muck in" and take what you can get. + +Though my knowledge of organisation for a campaign is not great, I +would suggest that for campaign work the only kind of ship used should +be a vessel absolutely and completely fitted up as a troopship. If the +ships the Government used for the South-West campaign transport had all +been fitted up uncompromisingly as "troopers" I fancy we should have +fared better. + +At 8 a.m. on the 9th we arrived at Walvis Bay. General Botha, who, with +his Chief of Staff, A.D.C.'s, etc., had embarked at the Cape on the +auxiliary cruiser _Armadale Castle,_ arrived at Walvis later in the +morning. We spent the day on board the _Galway Castle_ awaiting orders +and the disembarkation of horses. + +Since the beginning of the operations in South-West Africa the world +has been flooded with descriptions of Walvis Bay; at least I have seen +two books with long descriptions of the place, and more than a dozen +articles on the subject. I shall not add to this list by any long (and +assuredly unconvincing) attempt at a new picture. When you have left +the green-covered kopjes of the Cape a few days before and come to +anchor in Walvis Bay on a cold morning you think you have reached +No-man's-land after a fast voyage. It is a first impression only. The +place is desolate enough; it suggests the Sahara run straight into the +sea, or the discomforting dreariness of Punta Arenas, in Patagonia. + +But first impressions are not everything. Walvis Bay is desolate; a +study in yellow ochre sands, burnt sienna duns, tin shanties veiled in +hot desert winds, and a sea that seldom knows anything more than a +ripple. But that is the point. Walvis Bay is nothing now--but it is a +bay. As a fact, it looks to be one of the finest natural harbours in +the world. With the South-West interior developing in the future, +Walvis Bay should have something to look forward to. + +[Illustration: Before the Advance. General Botha photographed with the +Red Cross Sisters] + +[Illustration: General Botha and Staff alighting for an Inspection. +(The famous Brigadier-General Brits, who trekked to Namutoni, is the +fourth figure from the right.)] + +We left the _Galway Castle_ on the 11th, disembarking into lighters, to +be towed up the coast to the occupied German port of Swakopmund. Down +to the tender, on to the lighter, kits and equipment, and farewell to +the quietened steamer. For a while we stood away from her, and rose and +fell under no way on the still grey waters. Then we saw a tender from +the _Armadale Castle_ steaming towards us. She came up on our starboard +quarter and made fast. A figure well known to us all crossed the +gangway and climbed to the boat-deck of our steam tender. We had not +seen the Commander-in-Chief in personal command since the past bitter +days of the Rebellion. A great cheer hit the morning silence and echoed +over the bay to each transport at anchor. With a smile of genuine +pleasure, General Botha brought his hand to the salute. And away we +went, the tender steaming full speed ahead, blunt-nosed barges surging +in her wake, for Swakopmund. + +Swakopmund was the first Headquarters of the Northern Force, Union +Expeditionary Army; we made two sojourns at this German port. First we +were there for a period of some five weeks, from February 11 till March +18, whilst awaiting the first advance into the Namib Desert; then we +were there for a further month, from the 27th of March till the 25th of +April, whilst awaiting the general advance to Windhuk and Karibib. + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. The Commander-in-Chief at tea with +the Red Cross Sisters] + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports at Swakopmund. +Start for 100 yards race] + +[Illustration: Awaiting the Advance. Garrison Sports. Winner] + +It is difficult to write about Swakopmund. As a town it is the most +extraordinary place I have seen. I use the superlative deliberately. +But I do not wish to live there. It is purely artificial, and +artificial to a ghastly degree too. There is not a spot of vegetation. +There is not a genuine tree to be seen. The water has a detestable, +unsatisfying blurred taste, to which the adjective "brackish" is +applied. It is probable that a town occupied by enemy troops does not +look at its best; but the fact that it was under such conditions when I +first knew Swakopmund makes no important difference. The place in its +essentials must always be the same. If ever there was a work of bluff +Swakopmund is that thing. One fancies the German commercial expert, a +Government official, or, maybe, a representative of the ubiquitous +Woermann, Brock & Co., looking along this ferocious and awful coast for +a spot to found a town that should appear on the maps and be esteemed a +seaport. The Swakop River? Very well. Was there water there? But +certainly so; water obviously of the worst quality--yet water. Besides, +were there not always refrigerators and condensing machinery? Upon +which Swakopmund was forced into existence--planked down there bit by +bit in the face of circumstance. Walk a trifle over a thousand yards +from the edge of the changeful Atlantic through Swakopmund's deep sandy +streets and you get the key to the town. For it ceases utterly, +abruptly; from the door of its last villa, fitted with perfect +furnishings from Hamburg, the bitter desolation that is the Namib +Desert stretches away from your, very feet. Marvelling at this place, I +was particularly struck by the size of its cemetery. But I was not long +puzzled. If you strike Swakopmund on a fine sunshiny day you will be +pretty favourably impressed with the climate; it seems warm and +temperate, and the sun sparkles on the sea. + +In a week or so you will learn to modify that judgment. More than half +the days we were at Swakopmund a heavy pall of dampness hung over the +place, and after a day or two of it one's system seemed to be badly +affected. Maybe we were not acclimatised, but the fact remains that a +very large proportion of us were down with a kind of dysentery, +attended by vomiting and violent pains in the stomach. Then there are +days when the winds blow from the desert--an indescribable experience. +They bring moths and flies with them, and great clouds of sand; it is a +genuine labour to breathe, and at noon and for two hours after the +temperature in the sun runs up into the "hundred-and-sixties." +Swakopmund is not a health resort; or perhaps we dwelt there in the +wrong season. But it is a monument to Teutonic determination. The +Germans willed this town there, planted it on the edge of the +wilderness; fitted it out, from bioscope theatre to church with organ +and electric organola; and they lived in it, with the climate of +perdition and all the accessories of a suburb of Berlin, and called it +a seaport. It is not a seaport; in a fair gale you can't land a barrel +of corks at the pier. But given time and they would have built in the +face of nature a two million pounds breakwater and everything complete. +Yes, they are a thorough people; they are human ants as regards work. +Nevertheless, it is not colonising. The Germans are not colonists. + +Army Headquarters were fixed at the Damaraland Building close to the +shore--a splendidly equipped edifice, with a tower commanding a +fifteen-mile-radius view of the desert and the sea. General Botha made +the private quarters of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at the +Woermann Line House close by. + +When we arrived at the northern seaport it had been in our possession +many weeks, but our troops were occupying the trenches just outside the +town, and from the Damaralands Building Tower our look-out and +signallers could see through the heat-haze the enemy's patrols moving +to and fro in the glistening sands beyond. + +Whilst awaiting orders for an advance, life at Swakopmund was in some +ways quite good. There were two attractions: regimental concerts, when +sanctioned, and the shore. South Africa at war differs in great degree +from other parts of the world. The country has the germ in its blood. +Men who have campaigned before felt the stirring in them when the +South-West campaign started. The call for volunteers acted like a +magnet. All sorts and conditions of men were found with the Forces in +the South-West. Patriotism called them; but there called them also that +deep-seated spirit of unrest which prompts so powerfully when war drums +sound once again. I used to think Kipling exaggerated a trifle; now I +know the truth. At the concerts on the South-West front the most +astonishing array of talent was to be found. One such function in +particular stands out in mind. The stage was made up of army biscuit +boxes supporting rough planking outside a builder's yard in the deep +sand. At a borrowed piano belonging to some vanished resident a trooper +officiated; he was clothed in a grey back shirt and ammunition boots-- +and displayed the daedal methods of a Fragson. Singers of every type +with every kind of voice, and perfectly trained, performed. Only later +did I learn that amongst the artists were half a dozen of the best +performers in Johannesburg. And at the foreshore, between fatigues, +drills, and spells of duty the fellows used to gather, to enjoy the one +luxury of Swakopmund--the surf-bathing. Here you would meet men upon +whom you never expected again to set eyes assembled literally from all +over South Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi. Belonging to one +regiment I met, in privates and corporals, six well-to-do farmers, a +handful of solicitors, bank clerks, a sub-native commissioner or two, +and the no longer youthful private secretary to one of the most eminent +semi-public companies in Africa. And there we all were cut off from the +outside world. Each evening we got an issue of the official Bulletin-- +six square inches of paper thankfully received. For the rest we had no +change from the perpetual sound of the sea and the mournful note of the +bell-buoy that marks the inshore shoal. Its "dong-dong, dong-dong-dong" +created a perfect illusion of the call to a tiny church through the +country lanes of England. Everyone who was there can still hear the old +bell-buoy at Swakopmund. + +[Illustration: Swakopmund from the Lighthouse: Extreme Right] +[Illustration: Swakopmund: Centre] +[Illustration: Swakopmund: Extreme Left] + +[Illustration: Man and Beast in the Desert: both absolutely spent] +[Illustration: Looking for Water in the River Bed] +[Illustration: A Halt in a River Bed: General Botha has lunch] + + + +SECTION II + + +THE FIRST TREK INTO THE NAMIB DESERT + +There were some skirmishes outside Swakopmund early in February. On the +23rd the Commander-in-Chief took the field; leaving the base shortly +after dawn, he carried out a driving movement which pushed the enemy +back from the outspan at Nonidas to his posts much further into the +desert. In the course of this successful operation we first heard +rumours that the Germans as a whole were not anxious to fight. The +Union patrols captured several prisoners, amongst whom was an officer +with whom I had several chats when I got the opportunity. As was the +case with many of the prisoners afterwards taken, for a while he +feigned total ignorance of English. It was not long before it became +perfectly clear that he of course understood it well. + +Following the operations on the 23rd of February, the mounted troops +pushed steadily into the desert, occupying with merely nominal +resistance Goanikontes, the water-hole and police post at Haigamkhab, +and the water-hole at Husab. + +On the 18th of March the Commander-in-Chief and Staff, with all forces +except those detailed to the base and infantry already holding the line +and stores depots, etc., trekked out from Swakopmund on what was +officially described as a "reconnaissance." It was really the first big +push into the Namib Desert. The enemy had taken up an extremely strong +position on the edge of the desert proper, on the front indicated on +the general diagram of the campaign marked Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet. + +I have little official knowledge on the tactics of the campaign; it is +necessary, however, here to allude to the plan of proceeding known to +every one who took any part in it. The vital consideration to the +advance of any army across the Namib Desert is to secure the +water-holes on the Swakop River. The Swakop is by no means the usual +prepossessing kind of stream that flows efficiently between wide banks. +It flowed actually for a day just after General Botha landed at +Swakopmund--the first and last time, apparently, within the memory of +man. But it has water in it nevertheless; and at fixed and charted +spots are to be found bore-holes and wells for the convenience of +dwellers in the profitless wilderness. The principal wells and holes +are at the places marked on the diagram. General Botha's principal task +was to take an army right across the Namib Desert, and to do that he +had to capture every water-hole and keep it. It is true that at certain +points in the Swakop and other of the large rivers of South-West Africa +you can find water by digging very near the surface--perhaps. But when +you have a parched army at your back you must deal as little as +possible in speculation. At Riet and Jakalswater the enemy had +determined to hold the valuable water-holes at any cost, but especially +at Riet. + +When General Botha treks he treks at express speed. With him the +intention is that the essence of strategy shall be surprise. The +Commander-in-Chief left Swakopmund at 2.30 a.m. on the 18th of March. +We outspanned at Goanikontes, thirty-four kilos, at 10.30 that night. +Goanikontes was left at 6.30 a.m., and the Husab Outspan was made at +10.20 that morning. The rest of the day was spent at Husab; at 6.30 in +the evening the Commander-in-Chief, and with him General Brits, left +for Riet, outspanned for a few hours and attacked the German position +at Riet at dawn on the 20th. The general action which was fought on the +Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front on this day was conceivably the most +important move of the campaign. It was essential that the water-holes +should be secured. + +[Illustration: Main Guard aboard--en route to hunt the Huns] +[Illustration: On the Great Trek--the Chief of the Staff has a +hair-cut] + +[Illustration: Action at Riet] + + +Around Riet, the principal point of attack and defence, the disposition +of the Germans was as strong as it is possible to imagine. My sketch of +the place should give a fair idea of things. In the technical sense it +is not a true plan; but accuracy is not sacrificed to clearness. The +veld around the Riet water-holes is just a mass of small kopjes and +rocks; it narrows to a small defile that opens suddenly on to the +coverless Husab Road. This defile is the only main approach to the Riet +wells, and it is commanded close up on both flanks--on the right by the +great bare kopje, Langer Heinreich, on the other by small kopjes and a +line of ridges. + +In attacking this position General Botha had to consider not only the +enemy's strength of position, but also the fact that his troops had to +go into action after a waterless twenty-odd mile trek over the desert. +As the Commander-in-Chief got up to his front on the 20th the big guns +had started. The artillery duel continued well into the afternoon. +Every credit is due to the other units, but it was our artillery that +cracked the nut at Riet. The range was 2,700 yards; but the Germans +never got it. Why it is difficult to say; they had every advantage, and +one understands that the Germans are nothing if not artillerists. But +they were a wash-out at Riet; they were over-firing the whole time. On +the other hand, the Union gunners got the range at once and were all +over the enemy. They put an ammunition wagon out of action after three +shots, and did further deadly work. That afternoon General Botha sent a +detachment out to attempt an enveloping movement. But they came back +later, reporting that the slopes of Langer Heinreich on the right and +the sharp kopjes on the left made the thing impossible. + +As the afternoon came on I may say I don't think we knew too much about +the state of affairs with the enemy, and when he ceased artillery fire +about 3.30 p.m. everyone seemed pleased enough. Few knew then that the +German Commander had begun to evacuate the position; his supply of +shells was said to have run short. On account of our numbers, also, he +feared an enfilading movement on his left flank should our mounted +infantry advance to the defile Q. + +In the meantime the authorities had decided we must find water in the +rear; for that purpose a party was at once despatched to Gawieb, in the +Swakop River bed. It was found by a party from the Commander-in-Chief's +Bodyguard, and at the Gawieb Hole the greater part of the forces +watered that night. And they took seven hours to do it. + +Before sundown General Botha, with Staff and Bodyguard, fell back two +miles on the Husab-Riet Road and camped there for the night. Scarcely +had the Headquarters party arrived before news came that the enemy was +in precipitate flight, had evacuated Riet and had blown up his small +ammunition and railway water-tanks at the Riet terminus of the narrow +gauge railway line to Jakalswater. Bodies of the Union troops had +occupied Riet on the evening of the 20th. + +The actions at the Jakalswater and Pforte fronts, to fight which the +columns had swept away to our left the night before, were equally +successful. + +That is the general story of the fight of the 20th March on the inland +edge of the Namib Desert. But how to picture vividly the scene before +Riet that day? At dawn in those parts conditions are bearable enough; +the sun has little strength; the night wind refreshes. From 6.30 till +10 o'clock the desert is endurable. Then comes the change. All along +the front the stark yellow sand is taking on a different hue under the +climbing sun rays. It turns almost to glaring whiteness all around--to +where it stops short at the foot of those scorched and smothered rocks +on the left flank. To our right the members of the Headquarters Staff +are standing--sitting--resting. An officer brings his glasses down +slowly, blinks, feels for a pipe, lights it. Another moves head and +extended arm to the right and makes a remark to a colleague. Along the +ridge we occupy the Bodyguard are standing-to and watching the action; +you see that fellow wearily ease a heavy bandolier; further down +another brings an army biscuit from his haversack and breaks it on his +boot. + +And now look at that little group almost straight ahead of us; as the +tall Chief-of-Staff moves aside you see a figure on a little camp +stool. The left hand is just under the hip, binoculars are in the +right; up go both hands with the glasses; down they come. He speaks to +the Chief-of-Staff; there is the favourite gesture--the arm is jerked +out horizontally, the hand pointing loosely, and dropped again. The +face is powdered with fine sand and dust; during the day he has been +allowed a small beaker of water from the artillery. A favour indeed. +That is Botha--Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief, the man who leads us. +And on either flank, well screened, little knots of men are grouped +round the guns--and "Hampang-ky-yao!" they go in our ears, their report +carrying ten miles back into the desert where our transport hears them +in muffled thunder. And look up as you hear that screeching whistle. +The enemy's shells burst in the depression behind us on both flanks-- +"Pa-ha-ha." They look like slabs of cotton wool against the brazen blue +sky. And all afternoon the heat strikes up at you overpowering, like +the breath of a wild animal. Then the wind rises, and the sand shifts +in eddies. Veils and goggles are useless. They can't keep out that +spinning curtain of grit. The horses rattle the hard, dry bits in their +mouths, trying to get some moisture. + +On the 21st Headquarters moved into Riet. Here we found two water-holes +in the bed of the river; one was a splendid Persian well, with chain +buckets. Riet was no paradise; it was a luxury though, even if the +river sand was blinding, to lie under a wagon and hear the water +running. + +[Illustration: An unique picture of General Botha, the +Commander-in-Chief and his Staff reconnoitring] + +[Illustration: After Riet water in blessed profusion] + +Our casualties in the actions on the Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were +fifteen killed, thirty-nine wounded and forty-two missing. On the 21st +our commandos occupied Salem, eight miles further up the Swakop River. + +The Commander-in-Chief and his party remained at Riet till the 24th. It +was then decided that a supply depot must be established at Riet before +further advance was made. On the evening of the 24th Headquarters +returned to Swakopmund, reaching the coast at 9.30 on the morning of +the 26th--an extremely fast trek. + +Looking out of my window in the heart of civilisation at the evening +sun that glorifies the Pretoria green kopjes, the scene dissolves. In +its place comes the picture of the first gaunt daylight on the 26th of +March last at fifteen kilometres, just going into Swakopmund. The mist +from the coast had rolled inland; through it after dawn came miles of +horsemen and wagons, guns, limbers, lorries, ambulances. Every human +unit in that column was covered in white dust, and every horse was +weary. And except for the staccato "click-click" of bits and an +occasional deep hum from a passing motor the army moved in perfect +silence through the sand. + +The official history of the South-West campaign remains to be written, +of course; in the meantime I am convinced that the actions on the +twenty-one mile Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were practically the +deciding factors of the campaign. + +[Illustration: A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa] + + + +SECTION III + + +THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK + +On the 27th of March General Botha left Northern Force Headquarters at +Swakopmund for Luderitzbucht, the landing-place of the Central Force +under the commands of Brigadier-General Mackenzie. + +The whole plan of campaign was very much this. The Protectorate was to +be invaded from several angles, the route of these various forces being +quite clear, I hope, in the diagram given. Roughly speaking there were +three forces: the Northern (General Botha, Commander-in-Chief), working +inland from Swakopmund; the Central (Brigadier-General Mackenzie) +working inland from Luderitzbucht; and the Southern and South-Eastern +converging on Keetmanshoop from Raman's Drift-Warmbad-Kalkfontein +(Hartigan's Horse), from Upington (Brigadier-General van Deventer and +Colonel Celliers) and from Kimberley-Hasuur (Colonel Berrange's +column). As a result of this great concentration on Keetmanshoop and +northwards from all sides, the Germans would be forced to decisive +action, to retreat northwards, or be cut off. Upon these forces +reaching a certain distance inland a general move would be made in the +direction of Windhuk--and again the enemy would have to fight or +retreat to the limits of his railway system. + +[Illustration: Typical captured German Infantry] + +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: its Palms and Wells] +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Otjimbingwe: the Commander-in-Chief at +the old German capital] +[Illustration: The Great Trek. Getting Milk from a Goat. Milk was +priced beyond Silver] + +On the 30th of March the Commander-in-Chief returned to Swakopmund, and +the same day news came of the occupation of Aus by the Central Force. +It was now that we heard definitely that General Smuts was in the field +with the forces south of us. + +With the Central and Southern advances, General Mackenzie, from +Luderitzbucht, occupied Garub on the 22nd of February, and Aus on March +31. Colonel Berrange's column, having left Hasuur on the 3rd of March, +reached Kabus, by Keetmanshoop, on the 19th. Leaving Raman's Drift on +the 2nd of April, Colonel Hartigan's column occupied Kalkfontein on the +14th of April, and reached Keetmanshoop on the 20th of April. Seeheim +was occupied on the 18th of April. The advance to these towns was +achieved by a series of fast treks in which frightful conditions of +thirst and fatigue were encountered. General Mackenzie's troops in +their advance north occupied Bethany on the 13th of April, and +continued northward to Berseba, Gibeon, etc., on the way to Windhuk. + +We now come to the feat that broke all known marching records and +caused two hemispheres to talk. On Sunday and Monday, the 25th and 26th +of April, General Botha's forces left the coast: on the 5th of May they +were outside Windhuk. Striking right across the desert through every +kind of country, General Botha's army marched night and day, and in +five of those days covered a minimum distance of a hundred and ninety +miles. Many units did much more than two hundred miles--over forty +miles per day. + +It was some trekking. + +Swakopmund was left on the 26th of April at dawn. Haigkamchab was +reached by I on the same afternoon, and Husab supply base at 6.30 p.m. +Next day Husab was left at 2.15 p.m.; the column halted for a few +minutes at 5 p.m., and pushed right through to Riet, which was made at +10.20 that evening. Headquarters rested all day on the 28th at Riet, +left it at 8 p.m., trekked by moonlight along the Swakop River for +three hours, outspanned till an hour before dawn, and made Salem at +6.45 a.m. on March 29. At 9.30 that morning the column moved on again, +reached outspan at twenty miles by 1.35 in the afternoon, rested for an +hour and a half and pushed on again till a quarter before midnight, +when it rode into Wilhelmsfeste. But the water was at Kaltenhausen, +some miles further ahead of this military post. We reached it at 1.15 +on the morning of the 30th. Animals took two hours to water in the +bitterly cold morning air. The guards had not taken two steps on their +beat before the sand was littered with sleepers that looked like dead +men. These sleeping columns, some ninety to a hundred miles from the +coast, were now half way to Windhuk. + +[Illustration: The Great Trek. An extempore bath towards the end of the +Trek] + +Two hours after daylight General Headquarters moved to a camping ground +two miles back towards Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), and rested during the +day in the shade of the scant trees with which the veld was covered as +the desert was left behind. The rest of the Northern Army had trekked on +with scarcely any pause. Shortly before sunset, the Commander-in-Chief +set out on a night march of twenty odd miles to Otjimbingwe. The trek +was done at a fierce pace till midnight, when an outspan was ordered; +the party slept for four hours, and made Otjimbingwe just as the dawn of +the 1st of May was breaking. As General Botha rode into this old mission +settlement the rear of the German forces, closely pursued, was galloping +in retreat over the kopjes to the east. Many prisoners were taken here. +General Botha spent the day at Otjimbingwe, left at dawn on the 2nd, and +trekked north-west seventeen miles to Pot Mine, which he reached at 12.45 +p.m. Here the Commander-in-Chief awaited the arrival of General Smuts, +had a conference with him, and moved in force on Karibib at 2 a.m. on the +5th of May. He trekked the whole of that day, with two halts of an hour +each, and entered Karibib on the heels of the enemy at five o'clock in +the afternoon. At the same time the rest of the Northern Force had +entered Okasise, Okahandja, Waldau, and other stations on the railway, +had captured the whole system practically up to Omaruru, and were at the +gates of Windhuk. The German forces were in full retreat to the north and +north-east. Their civilian populations, left behind in the towns, seemed +dumfoundered at the appearance of the Union troops. Meantime the Southern +and Central Armies had approached the German capital on the southern +flank. + +This account of the advance through the desert of General Botha's +Northern Force is purposely bald. The process of a vast flooding of +water over a country is in essence bald and direct. And that is as near +as I can get for comparison. General Botha's advance was like a +well-ordered flood: which, I take it, was exactly the idea. At a fixed +time organised bodies of men, mounted, dismounted and with artillery, +were systematically poured over the German territory. I am sure most of +the fellows who took part in that advance and recall it in detail will in +the future look back and wonder. For it is a subject for wonder, even +if history does contain some marches more eventful. It has been stated +since that all transport was left behind. But that is not strictly +true: a large quantity of transport was brought on by the Union Forces; +passed through the deepest sand in waterless desert, between gorges, +over big kopjes, into almost trackless bushveld--and was never more +than a day and a half behind. At one place out of a convoy of +twenty-seven wagons, seventeen capsized. + +It is hackneyed, I know, but there is only one way to describe the +great trek to Windhuk. It was absolutely "a chequer-board of nights and +days." Looking at my diary just now, that I have had ten years' +practice at keeping, I see a confusion got into the dates. You didn't +know anything about the date or the day of the week. Existence was just +a dateless alternation of light and darkness, of saddle-up and +off-saddle, of cossack-post, of thinking about water--and of yearning +with every fibre of one's being for the ineffable boon of a long sleep. + +It will be seen that the key to the advance over the Namib Desert was +the Swakop River. The water-holes of the Swakop River are very +singular; they form the nucleus of a kind of settlement (even if it be +only a couple of small huts) right in the dry river bed. At +Kaltenhausen, to take but one example, there is a splendid +shooting-lodge slapbang in the centre of the river; it has a fine +courtyard walled and railed in. It seemed extraordinary. At these +water-holes you suddenly leave the stony sand of the desert and come on +to finest soft sand. It is quite pleasant at night, but day tells another +story. Just after sunrise a wind starts blowing down the river valley and +raises this superfine, mineralised sand. To lie exposed to this for a day +is an awful experience; the fine dust will penetrate anywhere. I am sure +it must lead to positive blindness in time. + +I mentioned the water-holes of the Swakop River for the particular +reason that their situation in most cases adds immensely to the merit +of the Northern Army's great trek. The trek-road from Swakopmund +follows the river only in a broad sense; the Haigamkhab, Husab and +Gawieb water-holes are really three to four and five miles from the +road and the camping grounds. That is to say, the columns, after a +twenty mile trek in the sand and sun had another quarter of the +distance to go--_to water_. And to water usually means across the yard +to the troughs, so to speak. We shall remember the water-holes of +South-West Africa. There is many a fellow now back in civilisation who +can recall vividly the tramp over stony, loose gravel through those +great echoing rocks down to the water-holes at Haigamkhab, Husab and +Gawieb. Hour after hour the processions of weary riders passed each +other in a cloud of dust that rose five hundred yards and filled the +choking canyon. The invariable question from him going wearily to water +to him coming refreshed and smothered in water-bottles and with a +livelier horse from it: "Is it far, boy?" And the stereotyped answer of +encouragement was as always: "No, no; just round the corner." All these +water-holes are almost duplicates of each other. I suppose not the echo +of a bird now hurts their pristine and awful quietude. + +[Illustration: A Beauty Spot passed during the last Trek] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Conference at Omaruru. German Staff +lunching] +[Illustration: The General receives his Bodyguard at a Garden Party +after return] + +The marvellous series of changes as one advances constitutes the most +striking feature of the advance to Windhuk from the coast. By rail it +is not so striking; but taking the marching route via the Swakop River +water-holes--Swakopmund, Nonidas, Haigamkhab, Husab, Riet, Salem, +Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis), Otjimbingwe, Windhuk--the changes in the +country and the stages that show them are as palpable as if marked by a +system of parallel walls. I have never seen this feature of the veld so +marked elsewhere in South Africa. + +Swakopmund is the limit in the down-grade--deep sand; brak water; a +treacherous, dreary climate, with visitations of furnace-heat desert +winds; a huge cemetery; moths and flies. From Nonidas to Haigamkhab and +Husab the sand lightens and hardens, the atmosphere improves, rocks, +barren kopjes begin to appear; the little water you get is fairly good. +Riet comes; the barren kopjes are more frequent; the atmosphere, hot in +the day, is beautiful by night; the water is perfect. Salem is a +duplicate Riet; a small settlement in the river bed; but the water is +more plentiful, the vegetation more profuse. Then comes the great trek +to Tsaobis. + +It does not look far on the map; it is a huge stretch nevertheless. For +the first three hours it was Riet-Salem country with extensions and +additions. Vast gorges, black and brown kopjes, boulders, sand +stretches, clumps of bush, minute trees. And then, on Thursday the 29th +of April (memory holds the date like a vice), we saw grass. It was +grass. It was undoubtedly grass--the kind of grass that gave one the +feeling that this particular veld, like a man prematurely bald through +worry or riotous living, had been trying some hair restorer with +ludicrous results--grass whitish, feeble, attenuated, that to be seen +at all wanted an eye levelled along the ground. + +Each half hour brought its surprise as we moved along, General Botha on +his white horse at the head of the column, just visible to the eye +through the thick curtain of white dust our horses' feet flung up into +the sun glare. We rode in great gorges between kopjes. We crossed dry +river courses. We clattered over the hard bosoms of rocks, switchbacked +up and down each hour working out of the desert. Trees began to +appear--caricatures of trees. Then game spoor was reported. And suddenly, +just after noon, rain fell--out of one cloud in a sky otherwise brazenly +clear five drops fell. I counted five on my bridle hand. + +Rain on the edge of the Namib Desert. It was ludicrous, too bizarre; it +was the last straw. We gasped. A deep roar of ironical cheering went +up. The Commander-in-Chief looked round and laughed. When we outspanned +later the horses made a show of grazing for the first time for five +months. The sagacious animals showed plain amazement in their eyes. At +Wilhelmsfeste (Tsaobis) the bushveld begins. The water supply of +Otjimbingwe is the feature of that rather quaint settlement. One must +ever associate it with its fine aeromotor pumping the precious fluid +for parched man and beast to drink their full after the desert passage +in the shade of cool palms many years old. + +[Illustration: German prisoners of war, imprisoned at Karibib] +[Illustration: Karibib] +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. The first troops in Waldau] + +[Illustration: The first South African Engineer Corps Staff at Windhuk] + +During the great trek alarms regarding mines were most frequent. There +were many wonderful escapes. It seems a marvel that the enemy were not +more successful than they were with these deadly machines. Suffer +casualties we did; but if all the mines that were laid had blown up our +casualties would have been formidable indeed. But somehow those mines +seemed foreordained not to act. They were discovered by the merest +chance; or they failed to go off; or they exploded at the wrong time. + +Making for Karibib in the forenoon of the 5th of May, the authorities +naturally showed the greatest caution for the safety of General Botha-- +though a large body of Union mounted troops had passed over the same +ground before the Commander-in-Chief, Staff and Bodyguard traversed the +road. + +In view of the fact that the South African Army was operating against +the forces of the same nation that has ravaged and despoiled Belgium, a +point should be made here. It must be remembered that the armed forces +of the Protectorate simply cleared bag and baggage out of all the +important inland towns in the face of Botha's overwhelming advances. +They left wife and child, the old and infirm, every stick of property +they could not carry, at our mercy. When we entered Karibib at five in +the evening the non-combatant population were moving about the streets, +or standing in best bib and tucker at their doors, calmly gazing at the +trek-stained horsemen that sought the nearest water tanks. They had not +the slightest fear of us. I spoke to a comrade who has seen war +aforetime. He said he had never seen a more orderly occupation of a +town. + +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. A quick railway repair after the +Germans' usual practice of blowing up railway bridges] +[Illustration: Towards Windhuk. The first train to Windhuk. The South +African Engineer Corps Construction Party aboard] +[Illustration: At Windhuk. How we treat the German women. Ten minutes +after occupation] + +[Illustration: At Windhuk. The Commander-in-Chief addresses his massed +troops from the Rathaus ] + +The conduct of the South African troops should assuredly be noted. The +very confidence of these German townspeople that they had nothing to +fear from the hated troops of the British Union of South Africa was +eloquent. The thing stood out, a piece of bitterest irony in connection +with a people whose kindred across the seas were making civilisation +shudder at their atrocities afloat and ashore. The news of the +_Lusitania_ massacre on the high seas reached Karibib just after +occupation. Did one Teuton in the place have to suffer as a consequence +even the insult of a word? No. What would the Germans have done? +General Botha's forces had crossed a desert through which it was the +open boast of the enemy that it was strewn with mines and with every +well poisoned. Was a single defenceless citizen of Windhuk or Karibib +the worse for it after the occupation? Not one. The greater part of +General Botha's forces were on a half--a quarter--an eighth rations +when they made Karibib, Okahandja, Okasise, Waldau and the capital; +they lived until all supplies could come up on less than one biscuit a +day, a pinch or two of meal, and fresh meat. + +How much looting occurred in these towns? + +There was none worthy the name. + +Everyone was guarded. A few hours after the places were entered the +orders were issued threatening severe and instant penalties should any +looting be done by the hungry troops; officers, etc., were quietly +billeted; and to the houses occupied by women and marged with a white +cross no one unauthorised was allowed any approach whatsoever. + +It was magnanimous, it was magnificent. But I wonder if the chivalrous +Teuton would call it war! + +Karibib, the practical junction of the railway running north to +Grootfontein, the enemy's new "capital," was made Army Headquarters. +General Botha hoisted the flag at Karibib and proclaimed it on the 6th +of May, spent a few days settling matters at Karibib, and on the +afternoon of the 11th set out for Windhuk by motor, formally to enter +the capital. With him the Commander-in-Chief took his Chief of Staff +(Colonel Collyer), Lieut.-Colonel de Waal (Provost Marshal), Major Bok +(Military Secretary), Major Trew (Officer Commanding Bodyguard), Major +Liepoldt (Chief Intelligence Officer), Major Esselen (Staff), an escort +from the 4th Battery South African Mounted Riflemen and Bodyguard. +Overnight the Headquarters party "outspanned" at Okasise on a beautiful +camping-ground, and, meeting the Burgomaster of Windhuk under some +trees outside the town, ran into the South-West capital towards noon. +Later in the day the ceremony of formal taking over was performed +before a big crowd at the Rathaus. It was in every way a historic +scene. The mounted troops lined all about the square that fronts the +Rathaus from the roadway, their weary horses and stained uniforms +showing up in the background, with the throng of civilians crowded +amongst the motor-cars and carts in the square itself. A +warrant-officer of the Commander-in-Chief's Bodyguard had the honour of +hoisting the Union Jack over the Rathaus at Windhuk, the capital of +Germany's erstwhile colonial possessions. + +A cheer went up as the flag fluttered up in the noon sunlight. Windhuk +was naturally regarded as the Mecca, so to speak, of the invading army. + +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. Headquarters Staff Motors +awaiting entry] +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha discusses matters +with the Governor of Windhuk] + +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. The Interpreter] +[Illustration: At the Gate of Windhuk. General Botha emphasises] + + +With the interests of the civilised world fixed on the vast +slaughter-grounds of Europe, I shall not spend much time describing +Windhuk. It is a pretty, picturesque little town, built amongst brown and +purple hills. In most ways it is highly finished; reflects the spirit of +German thoroughness that is an admitted attribute of the race. As usual +in South-West Africa, it has nothing of the _colonial_ town about it; +it might be another suburb of Berlin. Many of the houses are thoroughly +built into the sides of the surrounding kopjes--perched like great +red-roofed cages on the hillsides. The place doesn't seem to have a +single industry of its own; but then, as I said elsewhere, there is +hardly an established industry in the Protectorate. + +There is one thing about Windhuk that grips your attention--and holds +it in no uncertain manner, too. One of the great objectives of the +South-West campaign was to secure the Windhuk wireless station. When +you see this--catch a glimpse of it suddenly where it stands on the +veld outside the town--you get a thrill of sheer astonishment. The +thing seems monstrous there. It is foreign to our ideas--a wireless +colossus in such a place. Had I seen this vast piece of work in a +humming city that stands warden to the seas it would have fitted in. +But where it is--well, it just surprised. Fancy a pretty bijou veld +town, red roofs, neat church, pepper trees, aeromotors, sleepy people +and everything--and across the veld, a mile and a half away, darkening +the sky with great vertical lines, five terrific steel lattice pillars, +nearly four hundred feet high, tied by cables with stay bolts as big as +a man; their aerials sweep from pillar to pillar, answer to the wind +the deepest note of a giant 'cello, and eavesdrop and conjure amongst +the news markets of the world. Now there is no electric light in this +village of Windhuk, or Windy Corner, yet. What was the idea with this +stupendous thing? And there are not enough Germans in the place--or in +the whole territory, if it comes to that--to populate a good-sized +town. There is also the usual telegraphic communication to the coast, +etc. Yet--the wireless. + +Its significance could be of one kind only: a military one. + +Leaving the town in the hands of Colonel Mentz, Military Governor, and +Lieut.-Colonel de Waal, the Commander-in-Chief returned to Headquarters +at Karibib on the 14th of May. + +[Illustration: The great Wireless Station at Windhuk] +[Illustration: Conference at Omaruru. General Staff lunching] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The BE2 tuning up in shed before flight +over German positions] + +[Illustration: At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law +and order] +[Illustration: The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office, +Windhuk] +[Illustration: The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk] + + + +SECTION IV + + +THE LAST PHASE + +On the 19th of June Brigadier-General Brits, of the Northern Army, +occupied Omaruru, on the Karibib-Grootfontein line. The enemy had +retreated. + +Nearly five weeks had passed since the Commander-in-Chief had +officially proclaimed the capital. During this time much had happened. +An abortive conference had taken place at Omaruru itself, the Germans, +we were informed afterwards, asking for terms that we were in no mind +to give them. The railway line between Swakopmund and Karibib, broken +up by dynamited bridges, had been to a great extent repaired. The +poorly rationed troops were now replenished. The horses, badly knocked +up after the rush through to Windhuk, had had opportunity to mend a +bit. General Botha had proclaimed the country; with refreshed troops +and horses, he was setting out to attempt to spring a final surprise on +the Germans. He had now the Aviation Corps in full working order--had +aerial eyes wherewith to be guided through a subtropical bush country +very full of possible dangers. He had ahead of him an enemy astonished, +yet, if what was rumoured was true, prepared to make a series of fights +and a big stand in country of his own choice. He had with him an army +that had crossed a desert and, arriving in bush country such as you +find in the Rhodesia "low" veld, knew the nature of it as only the +South African can. + +On June 24 Headquarters ran into Kalkfeld just after midnight. The +enemy had retreated. It had been predicted with the utmost confidence +that the Germans would here put up a fight. So confidently was this +expected that the Commander-in-Chief would hardly believe it when the +aeroplanes returned and reported that there were about half a dozen +Germans left in the place. Yet that proved to be exactly the fact, and +so greatly impressed was General Botha with the accuracy of the +observations on this occasion that he emphasised that the skymen were +to receive every possible assistance for the future. + +[Illustration: Panorama of Windhuk] + +[Illustration: Picturesque Windhuk] +[Illustration: Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless +Station] +[Illustration: How the Germans started to try trading with us ten +minutes after we entered the Capital. Note the spelling] + + +On June 26 Headquarters arrived at Okanjande, and pushed through to +Otjiwarongo, arriving there at 12 noon. The pace of the trekking was +now becoming phenomenal, and though the country was quite good, water +was as scarce as ever, the bush being intensely dense, with thick sweet +grass as much as eight feet high in places. It was a country made for +ambushes. In less than a week General Botha had trekked over one +hundred and twenty miles, the distance from Karibib to Otjiwarongo. +During this trek the army had had water only twice on the stretch from +Omaruru. But delay of any kind was now highly undesirable: the columns +could not afford to pause long owing to the consumption of rations. It +was no part of the Commander-in-Chief's policy to make bases and await +the arrival of large supplies; water was uncertain, and congestion of +columns at the watering places had to be avoided as much as possible. + +Near Okanjande the first great development in General Botha's final +strategy occurred. The northern advance was being conducted as follows. +Brigadier-General Brits, on the left, remained at Otjitasu, leaving it +on June 30. General Botha, with his command, in the centre, was holding +to the narrow gauge Karibib-Otavi-Tsumeb-Grootfontein Railway, and +General Myburgh's column to the right. Brigadier-General Brits now +branched away to Otjitasu, making for Outjo, Okanknejo, and across the +Etoscha Pan to Namutoni. The other columns moved on, trekking night and +day, as in the great advance across the Namib Desert. + +Headquarters made Okaputa on June 29; paused the next day, and on July +1 the Staff, leaving Okaputa at 8 o'clock in the morning, reached Otavi +and Otaviafontein at 4.30 p.m., close on the heels of an engagement at +Osib between the Germans and Brigadier-General Manie Botha, who had +pushed on with the Orange Free State Brigade at 6.30 the previous +evening, June 30. This engagement took place in the now intensely thick +bush country. In defeating the enemy, at a cost of a dozen casualties, +Brigadier-General Manie Botha succeeded in securing the finest water +supply the Union Forces had yet seen, and so swift and resolute was the +fighting of the burghers that the enemy fled to their last strong-hold +northward towards Tsumeb. Before striking the enemy in this action the +Free State Brigade, and their accompanying batteries from the 2nd South +African Mounted Riflemen, had trekked forty-two miles in sixteen hours +without halt for any kind of a rest. Behind them, in support, came the +force, consisting of the 6th Mounted Brigade, with the 1st South +African Mounted Riflemen Batteries, who did a similar trek, through +thickest bush, covering almost fifty miles in twenty hours. And the +animals had come through from Karibib--almost two and a half degrees of +latitude south. + +At the same time as Brigadier-General Manie Botha had left Okaputa, +Brigadier-General Lukin, with the 6th Mounted S.A.M.R. Brigade, had +left Omarasa. We had therefore a perfect network of highly mobile +forces advancing on the German position somewhere north. Away on the +right, from Windhuk and Okahandja through the Waterberg, +was Brigadier-General Albert's column. On his left was Brigadier-General +Myburgh. Nearer the railway was Brigadier-General Manie Botha. Next came +the Commander-in-Chief with Headquarters Staff and Bodyguard; and, +further, General Lukin. For the time being Brigadier-General Brits, on +the extreme left, had disappeared. + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Difficulties with General Botha's car +through the thick sand] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The Germans had a hobby of blowing up +bridges. Here is a fine specimen] + +[Illustration: General Frank's house, Windhuk. Photo of the two first +men there taken under the flag hauled down by us] +[Illustration: Windhuk. The first British station-master and one of his +staff] + +Brigadier-General Manie Botha now advanced right into the bush, +supported by Brigadier-General Lukin, who occupied Eisenberg Nek, on +the right flank. Brigadier-General Myburgh, trekking by forced marches, +in the course of his flanking movement on the right cut the line +between Otavi and Grootfontein, and, swerving north, encountered the +enemy at Asis and Gaub. This column, having captured seventy Germans, +marched straight on to Tsumeb, the extreme northerly limit of the +railway, forty miles north of Otavi. Here the enemy was attacked so +resolutely that they surrendered with all arms and four field guns, and +the Union prisoners of war were released. And great was their +rejoicing, too. Other columns marching north had now reached +Rietfontein and Grootfontein. + +It so arose now that General Myburgh, having got for a brief space out +of touch with the Commander-in-Chief, was not aware that the Germans +had opened, on July 5, negotiations with General Botha. General Myburgh +was at once communicated with. As a fact, at the time he entered +Tsumeb, a conference was on hand farther south. + +Why did the German forces in the Protectorate surrender without making +the big stand they threatened? If any proof be needed that they did +intend to make a stand it is necessary only to glance at the plan of +their final dispositions. And that is just where General Botha and his +forces had done their work. There is not the least doubt, not the very +least, that von Franke might have made a stand. It would have been +nothing more than a quixotically honourable waste of life ending in one +only possible way. + +_He was surrounded before he knew it._ + +So neat and swift had been the scheme prepared by the +Commander-in-Chief that the German was incredulous--until his scouts kept +coming in and telling him what the real state of affairs was. For Brits, +after a two hundred mile detour through the wildest country had swept +right north to Namutoni on the Great Etoscha Pan, had released more +prisoners and was swerving further out. Myburgh was in Tsumeb. Both these +generals were behind the Germans, ready to strike out forthwith; and +von Franke was cut off from all his supplies. He had simply been +caught--caught by remorseless forced marches and strategy as neat as a +trivet--in a great fork with bent prongs. On the sketches in this +little book, to which I have sacrificed everything possible for +clearness, the general simple scheme of the campaign may be apparent. +The final position on July 5 was something like the diagram on page 61 +[A]. + +Even guerilla warfare is an unattainable luxury when you are +surrounded. + +[Illustration: [A] The Fork that Caught the Germans] + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Opposite the very spot where surrender +was made. A vast ant-hill at 500 Kilometres] + +[Illustration: South-West Africa. Position of enemy before surrender] + + +At kilometre 500 on the line between Otavi and Korab, at 2 a.m. on the +9th of July 1915, von Franke, the German Commander, and Dr. Seitz, the +Imperial Governor of South-West Africa, discreetly surrendered to Louis +Botha, Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister of the Union of South +Africa. + + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The German white flag train just +arriving] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. General Botha meets Von Franke at 500 +Kilometres] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Troops entraining to return home] + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The famous Rhodesian Regiment that did +so much in the final brilliant movement] +[Illustration: The Last Phase. Isumeh. British prisoners released] + + + + +APPENDIX + + + +THE TERMS OF SURRENDER + + + +PRETORIA, _July_ 10. + +The terms of surrender of the military forces of the Protectorate of +German South-West Africa, as agreed to by the Government of the Union +of South Africa, and accepted by his Excellency Dr. Seitz, the Imperial +Governor of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa, the commander +of the military forces, which was signed on the 9th of July, 1915, are +that-- + +(1) The military forces of the Protectorate of German South-West Africa +(hereinafter referred to as the Protectorate) remaining in the field +under arms and at the disposal and the command of the commander of the +said Protectorate forces, are hereby surrendered to General the Right +Hon. Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Union of +South Africa in the field. Brigadier-General H. T. Lukin, C.M.G., +D.S.O., acting on behalf of General Botha, shall be the officer in +charge with arranging details of the surrender and giving effect to it. + +(2) The active troops of the said forces of the said Protectorate +surrendered in terms of paragraph (1) shall, in the case of officers, +retain their arms and may give parole, being allowed to live each under +that parole at such places as he may select. If for any reason the +Government of the Union is unable to meet the wish of any officer as +regards choice of abode, the officer concerned will choose some place +in respect of which no difficulty exists. In the case of other ranks of +the active troops of the said forces of the Protectorate, such other +ranks shall be interned under proper guard at such place in the +Protectorate as the Union Government shall decide upon. + +(3) Each non-commissioned officer and man of the ranks last referred to +shall be allowed to retain their rifles, but no ammunition. One officer +shall be permitted to be interned with the other ranks of artillery, +and one with the other ranks of the remainder of the active troops, and +one with the other ranks of the police. + +(4) All reservists (Landwehr) of all ranks of the said forces of the +Protectorate now remaining under arms in the field shall, except to the +extent as is provided for in paragraph (6) below, give up their arms +upon being surrendered, in such formations as may be found most +convenient, and after signing the annexed form of parole shall be +allowed to return to their homes and resume civil occupation. + +(5) All reservists (Landwehr and Landsturm) of all ranks of the said +forces of the Protectorate who are now held by the Union Government as +prisoners of war taken from the forces of the Protectorate, upon +signing the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4), shall be +allowed to resume civil occupation in the Protectorate. + +(6) Officers of the Reserve (Landwehr and Landsturm) of the said forces +of the Protectorate who surrender in terms of paragraph (1) above shall +be allowed to retain their arms, provided they sign the parole above +mentioned in paragraph (4). + +(7) All the officers of the said forces of the Protectorate who sign +the form of parole above mentioned in paragraph (4) shall be allowed to +retain their horses, which are nominally allotted to them in the +military establishment. + +(8) The Police of the Protectorate shall be treated, as far as have +been mobilised, as active troops. Those members of the Police who are +on duty on distant stations shall remain at their posts until relieved +by the Union troops, in order that the lives and property of +non-combatants may be protected. + +(9) Civil officials in the employment of the German Government of the +Protectorate shall be allowed to remain in their homes provided they +sign the parole above mentioned in paragraph (4). Nothing, however, in +this statement to be construed as entitling any such official to +exercise the functions of the appointment which he holds in the service +of either of the Governments aforesaid, or to claim from the Union +Government the emoluments of such appointment. + +(10)With the exception of the arms retained by the officers of the +Protectorate forces and by other ranks of the active troops, as +provided in paragraph (2), all war material (including all field guns, +mountain guns, small arms and guns, and small arm ammunition), and the +whole of the property of the Government of the Protectorate, shall be +placed at the disposal of the Union Government. + +[Illustration: The German Staff before surrender] + +[Illustration: General Botha and his brilliant Chief of Staff, Colonel +J.F. Collier, meet Von Franke at 500 Kilometres] + + +(11) His Excellency the Imperial Governor shall appoint a civil +official of the Protectorate Service who shall hand over and keep a +record of all Government property of the Civil Departments, including +records which are handed over to the Union Government in terms of +paragraph (10), and the Commander of the said forces of the +Protectorate shall appoint military officers, who shall hand over and +keep a similar record of all Government Property of the Military +Department of the Protectorate. + +Given under our hand this 19th day of July 1915. + +(Signed) Louis BOTHA, + +General Commanding-in-Chief of the Union Forces in the Field. + +SEITZ, + +Imperial Governor of German South-West Africa. + +FRANKE, + +Lieut.-Colonel, Commander of the Protectorate Forces of German +South-West Africa. + +The form of parole, shown as an annexure, begins-- + +"I, the undersigned, hereby place myself on my honour not to re-engage +in hostilities in the present war between Great Britain and Germany." + +[Illustration: The Last Phase. The Commander-in-Chief, General Botha, +receives an ovation from his Bodyguard after disbanding them] +[Illustration: Generals Botha and Smuts, the Great South Africans, +receive a tremendous ovation from the crowd at the Capital on the +successful conclusion of the Rebellion and the Campaign] + +[Illustration: Homeward bound! General Botha and Staff returning on the +_Ebari_] +[Illustration: The Great Man and the Chips of the Old Block returning +to the Union after Conquest] + + + +TOTAL UNION CASUALTIES. + + +The official report shows that the total casualties of the operations +in South-West Africa in connection with the Union Forces are +approximately as follows-- + +Killed in action 88 +Died of wounds 25 +Wounded in action 263 +Wounded and taken prisoners 48 +Unwounded prisoners in hands of enemy 612 +Total 1,036 + + +Died of disease 97 +Died through accidents and by mis-adventure 56 +Total 153 + + + +TOTAL ENEMY SURRENDERS + + +Immediately after the capitulation of the enemy, Brigadier-General +Lukin reported that he had satisfactorily completed the work of +accepting surrenders. The total number of surrenders amounted to +4,410, made up as follows-- + +Officers of the Active Troops and Police 110 +Officers of the Reserve 177 +Rank and File of Active Troops and Police 1,548 +Rank and File of Reserve 2,575 + + +The Union Forces when at greatest strength numbered 50,000 men. + +The Germans when at full strength numbered 9,000, but a proportion of +these consisted of civilians, who eventually refused to serve. + + + +AMENDMENT + + +In an official _communique_ issued at the end of July, figures were +given of the total number of the enemy included in the general +surrender. The total then given was 4,410, and included the +surrender of the main body at Korab, and also troops captured by +Brigadier-General Myburgh at Tsumeb on July 6, the surrenders at +Grootfontein, Otavifontein, Otavi and Tsumeb, and those who surrendered +at Otjiwarongo. + +The additional numbers captured or surrendered at various points since +General Botha made his advance northwards after occupation of Windhuk +are-- + +To Brigadier-General Myburgh's force, +mostly at Gaub 105 + +To Brigadier-General Manie Botha's +force between Okaputa and Otavifontein 50 + +To Brigadier-General Lukin's force 12 + +To Brigadier-General Brits' force, +mostly at Namutoni 163 + +Total 330 + +Thus the total number of prisoners taken during the last stage of the +campaign, viz. from June 18 to July 9, was 4,740. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH BOTHA IN THE FIELD*** + + +******* This file should be named 15802.txt or 15802.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/0/15802 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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