Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/99

AFRICA volunteers and by British and Indian regiments from India. The conquest of Southwest Africa, which by that time had been completed, released the forces that had been there employed, and many of these were transferred to the East African Army, which ultimately reached a strength of 20,000. It had been planned that General Smith-Dorrien should be in command, but ill health prevented, and Gen. Jan C. Smuts was placed at the head of the Expeditionary Force. The first object sought was the conquest of Kilimanjaro, and in pursuance of this plan Smuts reached Mombasa Feb. 9, 1916. On March 9, Taveta was occupied by one of his columns, and on the 11th there was a fiercely contested fight in the mountainous forests of Latema Nek that resulted in a German retreat. In the Kahe hills on March 21, determined resistance was offered, but again the Germans were forced to retire to Usambara, leaving the road to the heart of the country without defense. Smuts decided to strike inland with the Central railway as his objective. General Van Deventer with the 2d Division was sent in a southwest direction to cut the line of communication between the main forces of the Germans and their troops in the lake regions. He reached Kondoa-Irangi on April 9, but here was held up for nearly two months by torrential rains. This was taken advantage of by Von Lettow-Vorbeck, the commander-in-chief of the German forces to concentrate a force of 4,000 men, with whom he attacked Van Deventer, but met with defeat. On Jan 24, the rains having ceased. Van Deventer attained the object of his mission and seized the middle section of the railway.

While he was thus operating, the main army was completing the occupation of Usumbara, capturing Wilhelmstal, its capital, June 13, and Tanga, July 7. An attempt was made to combine with Van Deventer, in the design of surrounding and capturing the army of Von Lettow-Vorbeck, but this was frustrated by the escape of the latter into the Uluguru hills by a road that had been previously unknown to the British. The junction of the two British forces was, however, effected, after the capture of Mrogoro on Sept. 26. The situation was rendered much more favorable for the British, when Dar-es-Salaam, the chief port and capital of the colony, was taken by a naval force Sept. 4. This shortened the British lines of communications by more than 1,000 miles. This success practically ended the campaign for that year, as the troops were exhausted by the frightful conditions under which they had been marching and fighting, and were suffering from dysentery and other diseases. The army was thoroughly rested and reconstituted, 12,000 white troops being sent back to recuperate while their places were taken by newly raised detachments.

While these operations had been progressing, other important and successful campaigns were being carried on in other sections of the vast territory. A Belgian force under General Tombeur had struck at the northwest district and by the end of June had overrun the region between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria Nyanza. The town of Tabora on the Central railway, after ten days of hard fighting, fell into Belgian hands on Sept. 19.

On May 25, 1915, a force of Union troops, King's African Rifles and Rhodesians, under the command of Brigadier-General Northey, attacked the colony from the southwest. The main body followed the road from Lake Nyassa to Iringa which was occupied on July 29. The Rhodesian column was successful in taking Bismarckburg on Lake Tanganyika, from which place it worked northward until it effected a junction with the Belgian troops. The campaign had now lasted for about seven months, and in that time the combined operations of the Entente forces had conquered two-thirds of the colony.

For a year following little was accomplished besides confining the Germans to the southeast part of the territory and the south central Mahenge plateau. Von Lettow-Vorbeck. whose skill and courage were freely recognized by his enemies, succeeded in avoiding capture and in many actions turned at bay and inflicted severe casualties upon his pursuers. But the odds were too heavy, the toils kept tightening, and in June, 1917, a final offensive was begun by the Allies that was pushed steadily to a conclusion. Mahenge was captured in October by a combined force of British and Belgians, and one of the main German divisions was forced to surrender on Nov. 27. From that time on, the campaign resolved itself into a chase, which, however, the resourceful German commander was able to prolong for nearly a year. With a small force he got over the border into Portuguese East Africa, made his way south nearly to the Zambezi, doubled on his tracks in the following September and again made his way into German East Africa. He ultimately reached northern Rhodesia where he finally surrendered Nov. 14, 1918, three days after the armistice had been signed on the western front.