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Colonial and Japanese Campaigns
a. Togoland
b. Cameroons
c. German Southwest Africa
d. German East Africa
e. Kiaochow
f. German Pacific Islands
In 1914, Germany possessed a vast colonial empire with
territories in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Its area exceeded 1,000,000
square miles, and its population was about 15,000,000. Less than 25,000
of the inhabitants of the various colonies were German nationals, and
these were mostly administrators and settlers. In Africa the colonies
were Togoland, Kamerun (Cameroons), German Southwest Africa, and German
East Africa (Tanganyika); in Asia, Kiaochow, a protectorate in China's
Shantung Province; and in the Pacific, the Bismarck Archipelago, Western
Samoa, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland (northeastern New Guinea), the Caroline,
Marshall, and Mariana Islands ( except Guam, a United States possession),
and part of the Solomon Islands. Although the eventual fate of these
colonies would depend on the outcome of the war in Europe, the Allies
could not allow them to remain unmolested, for they provided excellent
bases for German warships and commerce raiders and had' longrange wireless
communications systems. The Germans had a grand plan for the mastery
of Central Africa from coast. to coast, including the Belgian and Portuguese
possessions. This aim was to be furthered as the fortunes of war in
Europe permitted.
The nature of the military campaigns in Africa differed
sharply from those in other areas. Roads and trails were few and poor;
whenever possible, operations were conducted either along the rivers,
receiving their support by boat, or along the few railroad lines. Logistical
support of overland operations was provided primarily by native carriers,
who generally far outnumbered the combat troops they supported. (The
tsetse fly abounded in many areas and quickly killed any transport animals
or cattle brought in.) The military forces on both sides consisted chiefly
of trained natives formed into companies officered by Europeans, with,
on occasion, a leavening of white units. Native police forces of the
German colonies had received some military training and were employed
at times. Advances were of necessity difficult and slow, the relatively
small forces operating in the vast tropical areas could evade each other
easily, and disease killed and incapacitated far more combatants and
carriers than battle did.
Togoland
Togoland (now divided between Ghana and the Republic
of Togo) had a maximum width of 90 miles and extended inland for 330
miles from the Gulf of Guinea. About 100 miles from the coast the Germans
had installed a powerful wireless station that gathered information
from the other German African colonies and relayed it to Berlin. On
Aug. 7, 1914, British and French forces attacked Togoland from the west
and east, respectively. The small garrison of 200 Germans and about
1,000 native troops withdrew before the advancing Allied forces toward
the wireless station at Kamina, where, on August 26, it was penned in
and surrendered after destroying the wireless facilities. A FrancoBritish
administration was set up, and. in a few weeks normal peace conditions
again prevailed.
Cameroons
The Cameroons (now divided between the Republic of Cameroun
and Nigeria) occupied 200,881 square miles in the Gulf of Guinea. Inland
the country consists mostly of forest, bush, and grassland, with a hilly
area in the north. The coastal strip, with its mangrove swamps and heavy
rainfall, was among the most pestilent areas in Africa. On August 20,
two French columns ( including a Belgian contingent) entered the Cameroons
from the southeast, beginning a trek that was to extend for more than
300 miles through desolate and forbidding territory; and between August
25 and August 27, three British columns crossed the Nigerian-Cameroons
border. After modest initial gains, German counterattacks in early September
forced the British back across the border in great disorder. The complete
failure of the attack is attributed to inadequate preparations, topographical
ignorance, and the rainy season then in progress
A Franco-British naval-military expedition up the Wouri
River was now organized. Better prepared, it met with greater success
than the land attack. On September 27, Duala (now Douala) , 20 miles
up the river, was captured, although most of its garrison escaped. The
Allies pursued the Germans to Edea, 35 miles to the southeast, which
they occupied on October 26. After an unsuccessful counterattack on
Edea, the main German forces withdrew toward Yaunde (now Yaounde), 100
miles to the east, where their munitions facilities were located. It
was their plan to hold out on this high ground until the soon-expected
German victory in Europe.
The Allied plan was to converge on Yaunde from all directions,
but it was to be more than a year before they reached the town. The
advance was conducted under the most demoralizing conditions. Swamps,
forests, and tropical heat impeded progress; columns had to travel great
distances without transportation and communications; small German detachments
harassed the troops in guerrilla operations, and hostile natives set
up ambushes, making it necessary to build and garrison blockhouses every
20 miles; the rainy season intervened to halt the advance completely
for a long period; and tropical diseases, principally dysentery, thinned
the Allied ranks. On Jan. 1, 1916, the British entered Yaunde from the
north, only to find the town evacuated; the German forces had begun
a 125-mile march to neutral Spanish Guinea in the south. Efforts to
cut them off failed, and they were interned safely by the Spaniards.
Oddly enough, marching and fighting far apart and without communications
for almost a year and a half, the Allied columns converged on their
objective, Yaunde, within a few days of each other. By mid-February
1916, the last of the small isolated garrisons had been captured. White
prisoners were sent to England, and natives to their homes. A joint
Franco-British administration was established.
The maximum German strength in the Cameroons reached
8,000 white and native troops; in the final advance the Allies employed
24,000 troops (10,000 French, 8,000 British, and 6,000 Belgian), in
addition to 40,000 native carriers. Battle losses were small on both
sides; disease exacted the major toll, particularly among the native
carriers.
German Southwest Africa
German Southwest Africa (now South West Africa) covers
317,725 square miles on the Atlantic coast of the continent. Primarily
desert and bush, it has few rivers and meager rainfall. In 1914 it had
a population of about 15,000 whites and 100,000 natives, chiefly Hottentots,
Bushmen, and Bantu. Most European powers had shown little interest in
the- area, although the British occupied the fine port of Walvis Bay
and annexed it to Cape Colony in 1878, and Germany took over the territory
in 1884 primarily because it would look imposing on the map. Later the
territory was found to be rich in minerals, particularly diamonds. Railroads
ran several hundred miles inland from the German ports of Swakopmund
and Luderitz. The capital, Windhuk (now Windhoek), lay 170 miles inland
on high ground. There a powerful wireless station had been installed.
Allied operations against the German colony were assigned to the troops
of the Union of South Africa. Originally, it was intended only to capture
the German ports to prevent the supply of naval surface raiders. On
September 19, Liideritz was captured, but further operations were brought
to a halt by the defection of two of the South African military leaders,
Brig. Gen. Christiaan F. Beyers and Lt. Col. Solomon G. Maritz. Beyers
fanned the smoldering disaffection among segments of the Afrikaners,
and Maritz joined the Germans, threatening an invasion of South Africa.
Approximately 30,000 troops were needed to quell the widespread uprisings.
Then, in January 1915, operations in German Southwest Africa were resumed
with vigor under Gen. Louis Botha. A force of 20,000 men, which Botha
commanded personally, landed at Swakopmund and proceeded toward Windhuk;
one of 25,000 advanced inland from Luderitz; another of 8,000 moved
in from the south; and a fourth of 2,000 crossed the eastern border.
More than half of the troops were mounted. Logistical support presented
great problems; for all supplies and much of the water had to be brought
from Cape Town and conveyed inland by oxcarts, mule wagons, and automobiles.
Large groups of natives were employed day and night to shovel shifting
sand from the railroads. All of the native tribes united with an eager
desire to help the South African troops against their former masters.
They were not permitted to fight, but were employed as scouts and transport
drivers.
The advance was slow but inexorable. Once driven from
the railroads, the hopelessly outnumbered Germans were forced to flee,
for they could not establish defensive positions in the desert wastes.
On July 1, 1915, they made a final stand at Otavi, at the end of the
railroad. Cut off from further retreat to the north by Botha's cavalry,
3,500 Germans surrendered unconditionally on July 9 (1,500 others had
been captured previously). The Union of South Africa was assigned the
administration of the territory.
German East Africa
German East Africa (now Tanganyika), the greatest and
richest of the German colonies, covers 361,800 square miles. Its western
border is mountainous; lakes abound in the west, and rivers in the east.
In 1914 the colony was sparsely settled by a population of about 8,000,000,
including 5,500 whites. The road net was fair by tropical standards,
but few roads were fit for motor transportation. One railroad traversed
the middle of the territory, and another joined the port of Tanga with
the key base of Moshi.
The German garrison, initially small, never exceeded
3,500 white and 12,000 native troops even when augmented. It was commanded
by Lt. Col. (later Maj. Gen.) Paul von LettowVorbeck, a determined and
crafty leader. At the beginning of the war the British forces in the
adjacent colonies were almost negligible. Since the - forces of the
Union of South Africa were occupied in conquering German Southwest Africa
and in suppressing rebellion, a call was made for India to send troops.
Meanwhile, the British enlisted whatever natives they could and assembled
them to -defend the vital Uganda Railway, which paralleled the border
and in places was 50 miles from it.
Hostilities began on Aug. 8, 1914, when British landing parties destroyed
the wireless station and floating dock at Dar es Salaam. Lettow busied
himself with border raids in Rhodesia while preparing for an invasion
of British East Africa to the north. Indian troops arrived just in time
to repel a German attempt against the Uganda Railway in September. In
October, an advance against the key British coastal port of Mombasa
was similarly halted. Additional Indian troops arrived in November and
attempted to capture Tanga. A landing was made on November 2, but, constantly
attacked and harassed by the Germans (and swarms of wild bees), the
troops were forced to return to their ships on November 4 after suffering
severe losses. Sporadic and indecisive fighting took place along the
lakes and frontiers until' the end of 1915. By then the British had
been ejected from German territory, and Lettow held stretches of British
East Africa, including a portion of the Uganda Railway north of Moshi.
The fall of German Southwest Africa in July 1915 had
permitted the transfer of South African troops to the east, and in March
1916 the British, under Lt. Gen. Jan Christiaan Smuts, launched an offensive.
The Germans were driven from the Uganda Railway on March 9, and four
days later their base at Moshi was captured. Then followed a long series
of operations designed to outflank and capture Lettow, in which Belgian
troops from the Belgian Congo and Portuguese from Mozambique joined.
Lettow proved elusive, however, and by the end of 1916 had fallen back
south of the Rufiji River. It had become clear to Smuts that the Indian
and white South African troops, highly vulnerable to disease and roadbound
in their tactics, were unsuited to the prevailing guerrilla type of
operations. They were replaced by Nigerian troops, who could better
match Lettow's forces in bush fighting. In January 1917, Smuts left
for an imperial conference in London and was succeeded by Maj. Gen.
Sir Jacob Louis van Deventer, a South African. In July, when the rainy
season ended, van Deventer took the offensive vigorously. Lettow's principal
force of 5,000 troops was surprised and captured just south of the Rufiji
on November 28. Meanwhile, Lettow and his remaining small force crossed
into Mozambique. Portuguese and British troops pursued him down and
up the length of Mozambique, then back into German East Africa, and
finally into Northern Rhodesia-a distance of 1,600 miles. It was not
until Nov. 25, 1918, almost two weeks after the armistice in East Africa,
that Lettow surrendered his force of 1,300 men. It had been his plan
to wend his way across Africa to Portuguese Angola.
Lettow's campaign in East Africa is a classic of guerrilla
warfare. With only a handful of men, he kept 300,000 enemy troops busily
engaged during most of the war at a cost to Britain alone of about $350
million. He inflicted about 15,000 battle casualties, but casualties
among Allied troops and transport followers caused by disease acquired
in the pursuit totaled almost 700,000.
Kiaochow
The German colony of Kiaochow occupied about 200 square
miles on a sheltered bay in the Chinese Province of Shantung. The city
of Tsingtao, at the head of the peninsula, was a naval station garrisoned
by about 4,000 German marines, which had been developed into a strong
fortress at a cost of $100 million. Heavy guns covered the coast, and
three strong and deep defensive zones, extending across the neck of
the peninsula, guarded the base proper. Tsingtao's excellent harbor
made an ideal base for the German Far East Squadron, which sailed for
the high seas at the outbreak of war in 1914. On August 15, Japan delivered
an ultimatum to Germany, demanding the evacuation of Kiaochow. The Japanese
declared war on August 23, and opened the campaign by occupying the
islands outside the harbor four days later. On September 2, Japanese
troops landed at Lungkow, 110 miles north of the fortress, with the
object of isolating and attacking it from the landward side. Heavy rains
thwarted this project, and the Japanese turned to aerial bombardment
of ships in the harbor and military installations. On September 18,
another landing was made, this time closer to the outer defense line.
British forces from Hong Kong landed on the seaward side on September
23, and joined with the Japanese to form a cordon across the peninsula.
Lacking sufficient troops to hold them, the Germans withdrew from the
two forward positions; the British-Japanese forces followed to within
5 miles of Tsingtao. Noncombatants were permitted to leave the town
on October 15, and were conducted through the Allied lines.
The Japanese now began a relentless and deliberate advance, using the
methods of regular siege warfare. On October 31, they opened a bombardment
of the German defenses with heavy howitzers, while British and Japanese
warships pounded key German defensive installations. By November 6,
Japanese siege parallels had reached within 300 yards of the main German
defenses. That night a general assault captured the last infantry redoubts,
and early the next morning the Germans surrendered. They had suffered
700 casualties; the remainder of the 4,000 garrison troops were taken
to Japan as prisoners. The Japanese had employed 23,000 troops, and
the British 1,500; their casualties had been 1,800 and 70, respectively.
Administration of,the German colony was assigned to the Japanese, effective
until the end of the war, when they were to open negotiations with China.
German Pacific Islands
There were very few German nationals in the Pacific
island colonies, and these were primarily civilians. Unable to be reinforced
from the homeland, the islands were easy prey for Allied forces. The
principal German possession in the Pacific was Kaiser-Wilhelmsland,
situated in northeastern New Guinea. It covered 69,700 square miles
and had a population of about 500,000, of whom 300 were Germans. The
large number of German-held islands in the Bismarck Archipelago to the
northeast, ineluding Neu Pommern (New Britain), Neu Mecklenburg (New
Ireland), Neu Lauenburg (Duke of York Islands), the Admiralty Islands,
and Neu Hannover (Lavongai) , were populated by 200;000 natives and
300 Chinese and Germans. The Solomon Islands to the east were partly
German and partly British. The Western Samoa group (the other German
South Sea possession) contained about 500 Europeans ( chiefly British
and German), 1,500 Chinese, and 15,000 natives. Farther out in the Pacific
lay the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the German islands of the Marianas
chain.
While Australian, British, and Japanese warships patrolled
the Pacific hunting for German cruisers in 1914, Allied forces undertook
the capture of the German islands. A New Zealand force of 1,500 landed
at Apia on Upolu Island on August 29 and took possession of Western
Samoa without opposition. On September 11, an Australian expeditionary
force of 1,500 landed unopposed on Neu Pommern. It took possession of
KaiserWilhelmsland on September 17, and subsequently occupied the adjacent
island groups. Meanwhile, the Japanese captured the outlying islands.
By the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was
deprived of all her colonies. France and Great Britain were instructed
to make a joint recommendation as to the future of Togoland and the
Cameroons. Mandates for the rest of the colonies were apportioned as
follows: German East Africa, Great Britain; German Southwest Africa,
the Union of South Africa; Western Samoa, New Zealand; other former
German Pacific possessions north of the equator (the Marshall, Caroline,
and Marianas groups), Japan; other former German Pacific possessions
south of the equator, Australia ( Nauru, assigned to the British Empire,
also was actually under Australian control).
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