The commanders of detachments on the frontiers, who were far away from Headquarters and beyond the reach of the telegraph, rightly endeavoured to anticipate the enemy and to attack him in his own territory. Owing to the lack of communications on our side this fighting resolved itself into a series of local operations, which were quite independent of each other. It was different with the enemy, who clearly endeavoured to establish a proper relationship between his main operations and the subsidiary enterprises at other points on the frontier. In October, 1914, before the fighting at Tanga, Captain Zimmer reported from Kigoma that there were about 2,000 men on the Belgian frontier; and Captain Braunschweig sent word from Muansa that at Kisumu on Lake Victoria there were also strong hostile forces, about two companies at Kisii, and more troops at Karungu. According to independent native reports, Indian troops landed at Mombasa in October and were then transported towards Voi. In the Bukoba District English troops crossed the Kagera, and the sub-station at Umbulu reported that the enemy was invading the Ssonyo country. Obviously these movements were preparatory to the operations which were to be co-ordinated with the great attack on Tanga in November, 1914. [Illustration: Fig. vi. Subsidiary Actions up to August, 1916.] The means of intercommunication in the Colony were not sufficiently developed to enable us rapidly to concentrate our main force, first against one and then against another of these hostile detachments deploying along the frontier. We had, therefore, to adhere to the fundamental idea of our plan, of vigorously attacking the enemy opposed to us in the area of the Northern Railway and on the Uganda Railway, and of thus indirectly relieving the other points where operations were in progress. Of necessity, however, these subsidiary points had occasionally to be reinforced. Thus, in September, 1914, Captains Falkenstein and Aumann, with portions of the 2nd Company, had moved from Iringa and Ubena into the Langenburg District. In March, 1915, the 26th Field Company was pushed up from Dar-es-Salaam via Tabora to Muansa. In April, 1915, hostile concentration in the Mara Triangle (east of Lake Victoria) and at Bismarckburg caused us to waste much time in moving troops up from Dar-es-Salaam via Muansa to the Mara Triangle, and via Kigoma to Bismarckburg. The latter move was particularly delayed on Lake Tanganyika owing to the slow progress being made on the steamer _Götzen_, which was building at Kigoma. At first, the enemy’s attacks were principally directed against the coast.