Loyal North Lancashires in East Africa

[bushfighter]

King's African Rifles' officers on the Marehan Patrol, Jubaland, 1914
Lt Col B.R.Graham, CO 3KAR & Commander of the Operation, is third from right

[bushfighter]

Caudron G III at Brussels Military Museum

Royal Naval Air Service Aircraft at Maktau, September 1915

After the sinking of the Konigsberg (see Post #458) aviation assets were moved to Maktau.
On 10 September a special train arrived at Maktau with two Caudron G.111 aircraft in crates, two Bessoneau hangars, aviation spirit, stores & a small Royal Naval Air Service party of pilots & mechanics.
Three more Caudrons, spares & a workshops lorry arrived later in the year.

Maktau Camp was too small to contain an airfield & so one 200 yards square was constructed outside the camp by Royal Engineers using African labour.
The hangars were erected inside the camp so that enemy night patrols could not locate & attack the aircraft.
The airfield was checked for enemy mines each morning & a screen of infantrymen searched the surrounding bush for enemy snipers before the aircraft were dragged out of the camp.

Operational flying started in October but the weather that precedes the Short Rains created problems with low cloud & turbulence.
Despite this reconnaissance flights were made over Schutztruppe positions at Mbuyuni, Serengeti & Taveta, but these flights ceased when the rains began.

The introduction of these aircraft gave the British an advantage – probably more for the observation results that the aircrew could achieve than for the armaments that they could drop. Air-to-ground communication was by message thrown out of the aircraft with a streamer attached.
Air photographs were of particular use to the staff, & the famous wildlife photographer Cherry Kearton was transferred from his infantry duties as a company commander with the 25th Royal Fusiliers to join the RNAS detachment for photographic duties.

Initially the British aircraft caused apprehension amongst the Schutztruppe Askari, but Lettow's Germans solved that psychological problem by quickly producing trained teams of anti-aircraft machine gunners who could hit back at the aircraft.

The extra logistical requirements of the British aviators meant more freight traffic on the Uganda Railway & the Voi-Maktau line, & doubtless the presence of the aircraft stimulated the Germans to continue attacking these lines, as Schutztruppe demolition activities increased towards the end of 1916.

("Cross & Cockade" has recently published an excellent series of articles on British air operations in East Africa during the Great War, written by Peter Dye.)

[bushfighter]

Clearing the bush for an airstrip



Crated aircraft being unloaded



Royal Naval Air Service aircraft Hangar

All images are Copyright Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum, Preston

[bushfighter]

Armoured cars & motorcyclist west of Maktau

No. 10 (R.N.) Armoured Car Battery at Maktau, September 1915

In September 1915 the Mombasa Area ORBAT listed "R.N. Armoured Cars" located at Maktau.
The Official History names the unit as No.10 (R.N.) Armoured Car Battery.

No 1 Squadron of the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (formed initially for European airfield defence duties) had been fighting in German South West Africa in support of the South African invasion of that territory.
The cars had played a crucial role in the successful defence of Trekkopies when German air recce had noticed that the South Africans had withdrawn their artillery from that location, & so attacked it. The air recce had seen the armoured cars but identified them as "water trucks".

When the South Africans decided that the armoured cars were no longer needed in GSWA eight of them were returned to the UK but four of them & their crews were despatched to the East African theatre.

The cars, weighing over three tons, had steel-plated bodies built onto rugged Silver Ghost chasses. The 7.4 litre engines had 6 cylinders.
Three men formed the vehicle crew. The driver sat on the floor & the two gunners stood operating the water-cooled Vickers .303 gun mounted in the turret. To dissipate heat the turret top cover was left open when the vehicle was not in combat.

The armoured cars did need firm going so rain & bush slowed them down considerably - in heavy rain ox-teams were needed to move them through the black-cotton soil that was so prevalent in German East Africa.

Initially they had a psychological impact upon the Schutztruppe Askari who called them "Rhinos" & considered them as "evil spirits". When stationary their machine gun fire was accurate & devastating, but the MI Company War Diary noted that the accuracy vanished when they fired on the move over rough ground.

The vehicles were best used in conjunction with Mounted Infantry. The cars provided mobile firepower & the MI provided local security in the surrounding bush. They were also used for casualty evacuations under heavy enemy fire.

Lettow's Germans soon developed counter-measures such as laying mines & digging pit-falls & trenches across likely routes, but when the ground allowed the British to deploy them tactically the armoured cars were potent weapons.

[bushfighter]

Anti-armoured car obstacles dug by the Schutztruppe at Salaita

[Helen Bachaus]

Thankyou Bushfighter for sharing this battle where Lt Dartnell among others were killed. Your account is much better than the book of the Royal Fusiliers I've and on the action in question. I sometimes look at his picture when I visit the Australian War Memorial during one of my research visits which is not far from home.

Being an Australian and very much interested in GEA your contributions have been invaluable. I'm co owner of a yahoo group on Sideshows of the Great War and its been very illuminating to say the least. Whilst I do have quite a few books nothing compares with some of the reports here - so I thankyou.

Kevin Patience (Author of the "Konigsberg" along with other books wriiten by himself) indicated to me via e-mail that he had just been to the area where LT Dartnell was killed. I was contacting Kevin if he had plans and measurements for the Konigsberg Gun on wheeled mount -Sadly he had drawings for the barrel, but not for the carriage. Looking at having one designed for wargame purposes. My friend Mike Broadbent the designer had his grandfather being awarded the DCM in GEA for an action that I can't think of at the moment. I'll get back on that.

Thanks again for the contributions to us humble folk.

God Bless

Helen

[bushfighter]

The Mounted Infantry Company rests the mounts

Copyright Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum, Preston

 

Helen
Thanks for the encouragement (please PM me with a web address for your site).

Now I'm retired I can dig into the big library I've accumulated & research all the background things that I didn't really know eg: what were Imperial Service Troops, where was & what happened in Jubaland etc. The discipline needed to produce a little note & a suitable image is good for me, & it's gratifying to know that it's of use or interest elsewhere.
One day I'll consolidate things into a publication or two.

My post #104 of a Giraffe watering the track at:

 

[tonyblackpool]

hi harry, still great reading and enjoy the break you have earned it. tony

[Helen Bachaus]

Hi Bushfighter, many thanks for your kind message. I'm unable to PM you as I'm a newbie and it won't allow me. Anyway here is the Yahoo group site:

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/sideshowsofthegreatwar/

We are currently working on a scenario for this weekend covering another area of the Sideshows of the Great War.

Again I thankyou for your valuable contributions.

God Bless

Helen

The Mounted Infantry Company rests the mounts

Copyright Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum, Preston

Helen

Thanks for the encouragement (please PM me with a web address for your site).

Now I'm retired I can dig into the big library I've accumulated & research all the background things that I didn't really know eg: what were Imperial Service Troops, where was & what happened in Jubaland etc. The discipline needed to produce a little note & a suitable image is good for me, & it's gratifying to know that it's of use or interest elsewhere.

One day I'll consolidate things into a publication or two.

My post #104 of a Giraffe watering the track is the rough area of the Dartnell fight.

For much of the detail on the fight I'm indebted to Peter Dye of Cross & Cockade International as he gave me a copy of the Maktau Post Commandants' War Diary - I hadn't thought of looking there.

I get much satisfaction from being able to post on GWF the names of KIAs, WIAs, MIAs & award recipients, particularly of the Askari & Sepoys as they don't get enough detail allocated to them in most publications on the Campaign, & now I've been able to link at least three people to their ancestors who served in East Africa. That is very pleasing.

Anyway, two more posts then I'll take a break.

Regards

Harry

[bushfighter]

The Kapurthala cap badge, which was in brass, & the Jagatjit Club

Units that served alongside the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment - The Kapurthala Infantry (Jagatjit Regiment)

Kapurthala was a Princely State in the Punjab east of Amritsar & west of Jullunder.
(In fact all the Rulers of the Indian States were Kings in their own lands, but as the Raj only acknowledged one King-Emperor in London, the Rulers were regarded formally as Princes.)
The state had an area of 599 square miles & was inhabited by Rajput Sikhs.

The Rulers acquired a taste for grand architecture & built many buildings in the European & Indo-Saracenic styles, so that Kapurthala city became known as "The Paris of the Punjab".
Kapurthala had assisted British troops at Lucknow during the Mutiny.
The Ruler was entitled to a 13-gun salute.

The Maharajah contributed a half-Battalion of his Imperial Service Jagjit Infantry Regiment to Indian Expeditionary Force "C".

On arrival in British East Africa the unit was sent to Kajiado on the Magadi rail line where it performed security duties alongside the companies of the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment that were stationed in the area from November 1914 onwards.
In early November 1914 the Kapurthalas (nicknamed “The Coppertails” by British troops) took part in the abortive attack on Longido (see Posts #284-296).

In August 1915 the unit moved to the coast to work with the Arab Rifles, relieving the Bhurtpore Infantry.
During 1916 the Kapurthalas served on security duties on the Uganda Railway south of Nairobi.
After the invasion of German East Africa they were deployed into the northeast of the territory, holding isolated posts in remote areas.

The Kapurthalas returned to the Punjab in late 1917.

Battle Honour
The Kapurthala Infantry (Jagatjit Regiment) was awarded the honour:
East Africa 1914-17.

Commemorations
40 deaths are commemorated on the Nairobi British & Indian Memorial & 9 deaths on the Dar Es Salaam British & Indian Memorial.
The last deaths occurred in November 1917.

[bushfighter]

The Other East African Campaign - Somaliland

Somaliland, a possession of Ottoman Egypt, was acquired when Britain occupied Egypt & renamed the possession the British Somaliland Protectorate.
Britain retained the territory because of its strategic position across the mouth of the Red Sea, opposite Aden.

The Protectorate was totally undeveloped & consisted of an arid coastal plain with a depth of up to 50 miles, followed by a broken range of mountains 4,000 - 5,000 feet high. Behind the mountains was a high nearly waterless plateau known as the Haud.
The summer heat was intense & the winters in the mountains & on the plateau created cold swirling mists.
The people were Somali nomads who moved with their flocks of camels, sheep & goats constantly searching for new pastures.
Aden relied upon Berbera for its meat supplies.

The more adventurous Indian Army officers took leave in Somaliland for the hunting, which was superb.

In 1899 a local influential religious leader, Mohamed bin Abdullah Hassan (known by the British as the "Mad Mullah" - as a youth he had undergone primitive tribal surgery to remove a bone from the top of his head) attracted followers who became known as Dervishes, & he openly resisted British Rule.
No Briton ever saw the Mullah & he was never photographed, but for the next 22 years he & his men led British troops on a chase around the Protectorate & in & out of Abyssinia & Italian Somaliland.

When British troops were needed they were deployed from Aden or directly from India. In 1912 a local armed Somaliland Camel Constabulary was raised, later to become part of the King's African Rifles & known as the Somaliland Camel Corps.

The 1915 Army List names these officers as serving with the Somali Indian Contingent:
Captain H.C. Dobbs 124th Duchess of Connaught's Own Baluchistan Infantry
Lieutenant H.L. Ismay 21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Daly's Horse)
Lieutenant C.A.L. Howard 32nd Lancers
Lieutenant H.B. Davidson 10th Gurkha Rifles

The Long Long Trail displays a copy of the Somaliland Despatch of 02 February 1916 at: http://www.1914-1918.net/cubitts_first_despatch.htm & this describes military operations in the Protectorate in 1914 & 1915.

The effect on the campaign further south in British East Africa was to further dissipate resources from India, which was now struggling to cope with all the military demands made from France, Egypt, Mesopotamia, BEA, West Africa, Hong Kong & Aden.

An excellent article by Ian Burns appears in the current "Cross & Cockade" & describes how British air power was used in the final 1919 - 1920 campaign against the Mullah.

(The Somaliland Camel Corps was disbanded in 1944 whilst it was being converted to an Armoured Car regiment.
Military folk-lore has it that one day the Somali became completely disgruntled & under the influence of agitators (they wanted to have status in the British Army as Asians & not as Africans), & without using violence locked up the officers in the Officers Mess. The Askari then looted arms, clothing & rations, & disappeared into the surrounding countryside.
The Regimental History confirms the looting, disappearing & disbandment.)

[bushfighter]

Somali camel-mounted troops

******************************

I'll be away for three or four weeks, gathering research material in Mainland Europe.
Regards
Harry

[Stapleton]

I am trying to contact "AussieChris" (Shirley) re. an earlier post about a relative in the Rhodesia Native Regiment.

Christopher Martin Durrant was a member of the British South Africa Police seconded to the 2nd Battalion, Rhodesia Native Regiment. His home was Victoria (Masvingo, Zimbabwe). He was killed when test firing a Stokes Mortar on 25 July 1918 in Mocubi, Mozambique. A round went off prematurely while still in the tube.

I will provide a quote from the CO's diary if this post works.

Cheers

Tim

[Stapleton]

Here is the section of Lt.Col. C.L. Carbutt's diary that deals with the accident in which Lt. Durrant was killed. Carbutt was CO of 1 RNR and took over 2 RNR in Jan 1918 when both battalions were amalgamated just prior to operations in Mozambique against Von Lettow's last column. 1 RNR had been in the field since July 1916 and was very thin on the ground by that point. 2 RNR (which was Durrant's unit) was a new formation that arrived in East Africa (Mbamba Bay) in late 1917.

"On the 25th, Lt Hopkins, SASSCo. who had now assumed command of our Stokes mortar battery, got permission to fire a few rounds, in order to test the timing of a new type of shell, with which he had been supplied. The practise took place a quarter of a mile from camp. Fourteen shells were successfully fired but the fifteenth, which was to be the last, burst prematurely, before leaving the barrel of the gun, killing Lt CM DURRANT, and GUNNERS, J WILLIAMS, B RANJANGER, J JULRE, all of the 2nd Cape Corps, attached RNR. Lt Hopkins himself was severly wounded together with Gunners CUPIDO and PESCO, all three died during the day. In addition Lt Child and three askari were wounded, more or less severely, and Capt ONYETT, CSM ALEXANDER, SERGT TERWIN, and an askari were slightly wounded. This left us with only one European, a Sergt, of the Stokes gun detachment."

Carbutt's diary is housed in the Zimbabwe National Archives.

Tim

[ShirlD]

Hello Tim,

Just found this information, thank you so much, we get more nuggets of information each time, and this is marvellous. We hope to get to the NA tomorrow. Chris and I really appreciate your interest and time helping us. I am thinking that the School records and CWG may be wrong in stating he was with 2nd Cape Corps, he was in fact with with Rhodesian Native Military, but that is a discussion for another post on the 2nd Cape Corps.

Harry,

Thank you for being a kind and patient vehicle as we discover more about this elusive and rather troubled uncle. We found our first pictures of him last weekend. Those are very interesting pictures above. Yesterday we had a few hours at the British Library and requested a couple of books on the 10th Baluch Regiment, which gave us good info on Chris' dad. Have a good few weeks researching, thanks again.

Cheers

Shirley

[Stapleton]

I do not think that Lt CM Durrant was with 2nd Cape Corps. Carbutt's diary entry seems to mean that the gunners were seconded from Cape Corps, not Durrant. Also, Durrant is clearly recorded in the RNR list of officers as seconded from BSAP, Victoria which meant he was in the police force of Southern Rhodesia and therefore not with the Cape Corps which was a unit of mostly "Cape Coloureds" (mixed race people) from the Cape with white officers. The Cape Corps was operating near RNR in Mozambique at the time of Durrant's death and the two units cooperated.

It is unfortunate I did not see the original post about Durrant earlier as I spent 6 weeks at the National Archives of Zimbabwe recently and I know there is a more comprehensive list there of all white servicemen from the Great War which has information I did not record when doing the original research on RNR. I will be back in Zimbabwe next July so can have a look then. I know it is a long time to wait. That list will have exact date of attestation, address of parents, etc. Also, I think there is a picture in "Mapolisa" magazine of 2RNR officers so he would probably be in it. I have a picture in my RNR book of the original 1RNR officers but not 2RNR.

Cheers, Tim

[ShirlD]

Hi Tim,

That is all very interesting. Chris Noble has a thread entitled 2nd Cape Corps, so this is probably a good place to continue this discussion, though Harry might be happy to collect the information here.

We will be very patient! We had a reply from the Zimbabwe NA with details of the incident you mention, and were most appreciative for that in such troubled times for the country.

Thank you again

Cheers

Shirley

[Theo]

NAIROBI AFRICAN MEMORIAL

The memorial commemorates the massive African sacrifice made during the WW1 East African Campaign.

Soon after arrival in British East Africa the Loyal North Lancashires were fighting on operations alongside the King's African Rifles, employing armed African scouts within the Bn, & using many unarmed carriers particularly in the Machine Gun sections.

The thousands of carriers employed centrally to move supplies suffered appallingly from disease, thirst, neglect & starvation. About 60,000 are accepted as having died but probably the real figure is nearer 90,000 for operations throughout East Africa. Fortunately many missionaries, male & female, attached themselves to the carriers to provide support. A leader was the Bishop of Zanzibar whom the Loyal North Lancashires met when the Bn advanced from Bagamoyo to Dar Es Salaam in German East Africa.

These photographs are great. I've only just seen them as I've moved house and haven't visited the forum in a while. I didn't know there were such well maintained CWGC cemeteries or german War Graves in East Africa.

Thanks

[bushfighter]

Theo

Thanks.

Give me about 10 days & I'll have more images ready.

I'm in Nairobi now heading back to Europe after a couple of weeks going down Lake Victoria from Kisumu to Mwanza, then visiting the battlefields around Moshi & down to Mikocheni.

(Bukoba airstrip was out of action.)

The problem I'm seeing about war graves in East Africa is that when Asian entrepreneurs open a scrap metal plant then the adjacent CWGC sites suffer - bronze box door prised off in Jinja, whole metal gate gone in Tanga & the metal cross on the cross of sacrifice gone in Moshi.

But CWGC are doing a great job & replacing decaying headstones all the time - the one at Kisii that I posted an image of is being replaced.

Another old friend on the way out is SS Usoga at Kisumu - being scrapped by a similar entrepreneur, but that at least is not interfering with a last resting place.

Regards

Harry

[KONDOA]

Perhaps you will find "German Bridge" near Mikocheni. I failed as I was limited for time.

Roop

[RodB]

This might be the right forum for me to post this mystery photograph... The Times History places it in East Africa, but we don't have to believe them. Are they overlooking a lake or a bay on the sea ? At first I thought it was a 10 pounder mountain gun, then I noticed it has a shield. Locally added ? And I haven't heard of the 10 pdr being used in E Africa. But it's too small to be the naval 12 pdr. Then I thought Gallipoli but the hills aren't high enough. Are those African or Indian headgear ? There seems an African element to the camouflage screen they've erected - some sort of thatch ? Any suggestions ?

thanks for keeping the "forgotton fronts" remembered.

Rod

[SteveE]

Rod

Could quite possibly be East Africa, there were a couple of Indian Mountain Batteries (27th and 28th?) who served in that particular theatre, perhaps when Roop sees this he'll be able to confirm definitely.

Steve

[KONDOA]

I believe it is East Africa but have not been able to place its location. No references to hand at the moment to narrow down which battery etc. (at work)

Roop

[RodB]

(In May The Calcutta Volunteer Battery had handed over two 15-pounder guns to Logan's Battery for instructional purposes. These guns were returned to stores & then used to form No 2 Light Battery which became part of No 7 Field Battery in early 1916.)

Is this one of them below ? Doesn't look much like a light battery !

cheers

Rod

[KONDOA]

No , that is the SA Field Artillery.

Roop