Birds -- Tanzania; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Tanzania
Meantime, the Gold Coast Regiment—who had been landed at Dar-es-Salaam
to augment our forces on this trek—engaged the enemy on the right of the
road in open, tree-clear hill country. This engagement, which continued
on through the next two days, was like open guerilla warfare, and
different therefore from all previous encounters which had taken place in
thick bush country. We, from our high position—as all was quiet on this
flank except for one short encounter—watched the fortunes of battle of
our friends across the valley. Artillery was in action on both sides, and
the white puffs of smoke told us plainly where the flying shells burst,
and where the opposing forces were located, and holding on.
Gallantly the Gold Coast blacks, led by British officers, fought
the blacks of the country, and steadily they dislodged them out of
bush-patches, and from behind rocks, to drive them, bit by bit, up the
many hill-slopes toward the Kihunsa ridge; behind which lay the track
to Mgata, and their second road of retreat to the south through Tulo or
Kissaki.
Meantime, on our flank, as I have said, all was quiet except for one
short “dust-up.” This was when, on the evening of the 5th, on a prominent
knoll on the opposite ridge, south of Magali ridge, we discovered and
destroyed, with mountain battery and machine-gun fire, the enemy’s
observation post which had been directing the fire of their naval
guns—long-range guns—which shelled from positions some six miles in
rear, and which our artillery could not attempt to reach, for at best
ours were light pieces which had been got through the part-blocked pass
at Ruwu River. As soon as this vital observation post was wiped out,
the enemy’s guns ceased fire, for there, far forward of the guns, had
hidden the eyes that saw all—eyes that scanned the whole countryside, and
the road, with the intentness of a bird of prey—and there had been the
cunning hand on the wires of the telephone that told off every pulse-beat
of the booming guns.
On the evening of the 6th the troops on the right flank had worked
far out and up to the main ridge crest—some had even gone over it,
in pursuit of fleeing enemy—and, on the approach of dusk, the firing
died down altogether and fighting ceased. Natives whom I questioned,
who live in these hills, and have not deserted their homes in fear of
approaching conflict, state that the force on the right flank is not the
big one, but that the larger force is on the main road between here and
Bukubuku, in which village, where a road joins in from the west, there
is a large camp of enemy. On the last day of the fight the natives, who
are extraordinarily quick in flashing news from hut to hut amongst their
tribes, stated that all the enemy were preparing to leave the hills, and
that they would go toward Kissaki Fort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account