BRITISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHWEST AFRICA

Our attention is now drawn to Southwest Africa. In the first week of February, 1915, the Germans made a determined effort to break through the encircling armies that were closing in on them. Kakamas on the Orange, where a British garrison was stationed to protect Schuit Drift, was fiercely attacked on February 5 by about 600 Germans, well equipped with Maxims and machine guns. They were beaten off after a short engagement with a loss of nine men killed, twenty-two wounded, and fifteen taken prisoners. On the Union side the casualties were one killed, and two wounded.

On February 22, 1915, General Botha's army being ready, he moved out of Swakopmund, and on the following day occupied the stations of Nonidas and Goanikontes, meeting with only slight resistance. Nearly a month was now spent in preparing for the advance on the capital, Windhoek. Careful reconnoitering of the enemy's positions was made, and an advanced base was established.

On the night of March 19, 1915, two mounted brigades left the post at Husab to clear the railway line. General Botha accompanied the first brigade, which was commanded by Colonel Brits, their object being Riet, an important place south of the railway, where it was known that the enemy was strongly prepared. Riet was of utmost importance to the Union force for it commanded the highway to Windhoek. It was planned that while Colonel Brits's brigade attacked Riet the Bloemhof Commando was to execute a flank movement and seizing Schwarze Kopje to endeavor to cut off the enemy's retreat.

At daybreak on March 20, 1915, the brigade reached the German position. The right rested on the Swakop stream; the left on the foothills of Langer Heinrichberg, while the artillery was effectively placed so as to command the river and highway. Assisted by the guns of the Transvaal Horse Artillery a frontal attack was made, and the fighting became general. With varying fortunes it continued until the evening when the Germans were finally driven out and dispersed.

The second brigade commanded by Colonel Celliers had been directed to cut the railway line between Jakalswater and Sphinx. He was to attack the former place after blocking the way, in case any reenforcements should be sent by the enemy from Windhoek. Celliers succeeded in cutting the railway and seized a train containing supplies for the Germans, but his attack on Jakalswater was a failure, and the enemy made forty-three of his men prisoners.

General Botha was so confident of the ultimate success of his campaign, that he was not disposed to imperil his chances by any hasty operations, and so his progress toward Windhoek was at first necessarily slow. The nature of the country afforded the enemy many natural advantages and unfortunately the Union forces were not provided with aeroplanes, which would have proved invaluable in scouting.

Pforto, a station on the line where the Germans occupied a strong position, was surrounded by a column led by Colonel Alberts. The enemy had two large guns and a number of Maxims. A charge by the Union force and the effective work of their battery soon silenced the enemy's artillery. The Germans had lost twenty killed, of whom three were officers, when they surrendered unconditionally. There were 210 prisoners taken, four guns and a large quantity of ammunition.

General Botha was engaged in April and May, 1915, clearing the railway system of the enemy. To prevent any flank attacks it was necessary to hold the two main lines, which run from Swakopmund north to Grootfontein, Tsumeb, and to Windhoek. This line being cleared for fifty miles, Colonel Skinner and the Kimberley Regiment were stationed at Trekopje, which became the Union railhead.

On April 26, 1915, about 700 Germans and a dozen guns vigorously assailed this encampment and for four hours the fight raged with varying consequences. The Germans under a withering fire from their batteries tried to surround the Union trenches to enfilade them, but were forced to retire, when they had got within 150 feet of their objective, leaving twenty-five killed and wounded behind them. The Union force lost eleven men, of whom three were officers, and forty wounded.

Meanwhile, the southern army was actively engaged. Sir Duncan Mackenzie's column had dispersed the Germans and taken some booty from one or two places near LÜderitz Bay, and had seized many miles of railway. On February 22, 1915, his advance guard occupied Garub, a station seventy miles inland. Here a company of Union scouts pushed after the retiring Germans, and in a skirmish with mounted men protecting a troop train their leader was wounded. They were forced to retire, leaving one of their comrades a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. The British camp at Garub was also attacked by a hostile aeroplane which dropped hand grenades and shells, but there were no casualties.

Aus, an important station fifteen miles from Garub, was next occupied by Mackenzie. The place was evacuated without a struggle, but it showed that much work had been done to fortify it, and that the enemy had intended to resist. Owing to the rapid movements of the British force the Germans had abandoned everything, though several mines exploded when the town was occupied.

Turning now to the movements of General Smut's army in the south. Colonel Van der Venter, who commanded an important section of the army, crossed the Orange River and occupied a group of stations, including Nabas, Velloor, Ukamas, Jerusalem, and Heirachabis. On the last day of March, 1915, Van der Venter's force was engaged in several skirmishes in which one man was killed and two wounded, while six of the enemy were killed and twenty-eight taken prisoners. At this price the stations of Platbeen and Geitsaud which yielded a great quantity of supplies and horses and live-stock were occupied.

On April 30, 1915, Van der Venter occupied Warmbad, the railway terminus, without opposition and pushing forward along the line his men entered Kabus, a station sixty-five miles to the north, two days later.

General Smut met Van der Venter at Kalkfontein on April 11, 1915, where plans were laid to drive the Germans from Karas Mountains where they occupied some strong positions. The enemy was attacked in three columns, advancing from different points. Finding themselves threatened on all sides, the Germans made no resistance and abandoned everything.

On April 17, 1915, Van der Venter entered Seeheim, the Germans fleeing in such hot haste that they could not stop to destroy the bridge over the Great Fish River. Colonel Berrange's force which had set out from Kimberley was now in touch with Van der Venter's column. At Hasnur near Rietfontein, Berrange took an intrenched position with slight losses and after frequent skirmishes and hard fighting joined Van der Venter's forces near Keetmanshoop, which surrendered to the combined forces April 20, 1915.

Sir Duncan Mackenzie's column left at Aus now struck out to the northeast with his mounted men and occupied the towns of Bethany and Berseba without meeting resistance and April 24, 1915, reached Aritetis on the railway, seventy miles north of Keetmanshoop, General Mackenzie could now act in conjunction with Van der Venter against the Germans retreating from Seeheim and Keetmanshoop. At Kabus, twenty miles north, in an indecisive engagement with the enemy, the Union forces lost twenty-two men taken prisoners, while the Germans numbering about 600, continued their retreat, their objective being Gibeon, where they hoped to entrain for the capital, Windhoek. General Mackenzie therefore sent a small party to destroy the railway to the north of Gibeon, while the Ninth Brigade was to engage the enemy. This body was defeated by the Germans with severe loss. They took some seventy prisoners and forced the Ninth Brigade to fall back on the main body.

On the morning of April 28, 1915, Mackenzie led his whole force against the Germans in a dashing attack that drove them from the field, and his cavalry continued to pursue them over twenty miles of country. The rocky and irregular character of the ground in this neighborhood made it difficult for cavalry operations, and the Germans made good their escape. The British lost three officers and twenty men killed; the wounded numbered fifty-five, of whom eight were officers. Among the killed was Major J. H. Watt of the Natal Light Horse. The British captured from the enemy seven officers, and about 200 men. They also released seventy of their own soldiers who had been made prisoners by the Germans on the previous day.

The booty that fell to the victors included field guns and Maxims, transport wagons, and large numbers of live stock. It was at Gibeon, where this battle was fought, that Sir George Farrar was killed in a railroad accident on May 18, 1915. His important services in the Commissariat Department during the invasion of the colony had contributed to making the successes of the Union forces possible. His career had been full of adventure. He was sentenced to death for the part he had taken in the Jamieson raid, and had fought against the Boers in 1899-02.

While General Mackenzie was successfully operating around Gibeon, General Botha's troops were active in the north; but nothing of importance occurred until May 1, 1915, when Kubas was hurriedly evacuated by the Germans and occupied by General Brits. Here, it was discovered that the Germans had made elaborate preparations for resistance, but—became panic-stricken by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Union forces. Miles of intrenchments surrounded the place, and a hundred contact mines were discovered and removed. From this point Colonel Brits continued his advance, and encountered the enemy at Otyimbigue, sixty-one miles from the capital of Windhoek. After a spirited skirmish the place was taken, the Germans losing twenty-eight men as prisoners. Continuing their victorious advance the Union forces captured Karibib, an important railroad junction, and Johann AlbrechtshÖhe and Wilhelmstal were next occupied.

With General Botha threatening the capital from the west, and all the colony south of Gibeon in British hands, the greatest difficulties in the way of the invaders had been successfully overcome, and the end seemed to be near.

On May 10, 1915, General Botha was informed that Windhoek, the capital, was prepared to surrender. He set out at once for the town in a motor car accompanied by a small escort, and arranged with the Burgomaster of Windhoek the terms of capitulation.

On May 12, 1915, General Myburgh and a detachment of Union forces entered the town which contained at the time about 3,000 Europeans and some 12,000 natives.

Before the courthouse, in the presence of the town officials, and Union officers and men, a proclamation by General Botha in Dutch, English, and German was read, which placed the conquered districts under martial law, and which further expressed the hope that there would be no attempts to resist the Union forces as they must prove futile. The great wireless station at the capital, which kept the colony in touch with Berlin, was found to be uninjured, and with its capture the Germans lost their last wireless station outside of Europe. Thousands of cases of ammunition and parts of guns were among the prizes taken, while on the railway a number of locomotives and quantities of rolling stock were seized.

It now became the immediate business of General Botha's army to deal with those German straggling forces which remained still under arms in the north. In a few days following the occupation of the capital, Colonel Mentz found part of the enemy at Seeis, and without losing a man took 252 prisoners and a great quantity of booty. General Botha meanwhile occupied Omaruru, a station on the railway, and in the same week took possession of Kalkfield which was strongly intrenched, but which the Germans were compelled to abandon owing to Botha's adroit flanking movements. The Germans declining to make a stand, Botha's army swept victoriously onward.

In the last week in June, 1915, all the districts around Waterberg were cleared of the enemy. Leaving Okaputu in the evening of June 30, 1915, General Manie Botha with the Fifth Brigade got in touch with the Germans at dawn the next day near Osib, after a forced march of forty-two miles in sixteen hours. The Germans were driven off, and before nightfall Otavi was occupied. Here a good supply of water was found and as the country around is arid and like a desert, the loss of the town was a serious one to the enemy.

General Lukin with another brigade had set out from Omarasa at the same time as Manie Botha, and between them came General Botha and the Headquarters Staff.

The fight at Otavi was the last stand of importance made by the Germans. They had shown great bravery, but supplies were failing, they had been driven into the most inhospitable part of the colony, the natives were not always friendly, and during the first days of July, 1915, they made preparations to surrender.

The Union troops under General Myburgh, having left the railway, encountered a body of Germans sixteen miles south of Tsumeb and in the skirmish that followed lost one man and took eighty-six prisoners.

At Tsumeb, which Myburgh entered on July 8, 1915, some 600 more prisoners were taken, while he was able to release a number of Union comrades who had been left behind by the Germans in their hurried retreat. Colonel Brits had by this time reached the German port of Namutoni, where he took 150 prisoners, and released some Union captives, the last that remained in German hands.

Dr. Seitz, the Governor of German Southwest Africa, now opened communications with General Botha concerning a surrender, and received the Union officer's terms in the form of an ultimatum. Botha stated that he and his troops stood ready to fight, if need be, another battle, but his terms were accepted before the time limit he had fixed expired.

Conquest of German Southwest Africa by Union Troops under General Botha.