West African Campaign (World War I)

The African Theatre of the First World War comprises campaigns in North Africa instigated by the German and Ottoman empires, local rebellions against European colonial rule and Allied campaigns against the German colonies of Kamerun, Togoland, German South West Africa and German East Africa. The campaigns were fought by German , local resistance movements and forces of the British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.

Background

Strategic context

German colonies in Africa had been acquired in the 1880s and were not well defended. They were also surrounded by territories controlled by Britain, France, Belgium and Portugal. Colonial military forces in Africa were relatively small, poorly equipped and had been created to maintain internal order, rather than conduct military operations against other colonial forces. The Berlin Conference of 1884 had provided for European colonies in Africa to be neutral if war broke out in Europe; in 1914 none of the European powers had plans to challenge their opponents for control of overseas colonies. When news of the outbreak of war reached European colonialists in Africa, it was met by little of the enthusiasm seen in the capital cities of the states which maintained colonies. An editorial in the ''East African Standard'' on 22 August argued that Europeans in Africa should not fight each other but instead collaborate to maintain the repression of the indigenous population. War was against the interest of the white colonialists because they were small in number, many of the European conquests were recent, unstable and operated through existing local structures of power; the organisation of African economic potential for European profit had only recently begun.

In Britain, an Offensive sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence was appointed on 5 August and established a principle that command of the seas was to be ensured and that objectives were considered only if they could be attained with local forces and if the objective assisted the priority of maintaining British sea communications, as British Army garrisons abroad were returned to Europe in an "Imperial Concentration". Attacks on German coaling stations and wireless stations were considered to be important to clear the seas of Imperial German Navy commerce raiders. The objectives were at Luderitz Bay, Windhoek, Duala and Dar-es-Salaam in Africa and a German wireless station in Togoland, next to the British colony of Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, which were considered vulnerable to attack by local or allied forces and in the Far East, which led to the Siege of Tsingtao.

North Africa

Zaian War, 1914–1921

Attempts were made by the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire to influence conditions in the French colonies by intriguing with the potentates who had been ousted by the French. Spanish authorities in the region informally tolerated the distribution of propaganda and money but thwarted a German plot to smuggle 5,000 rifles and 500,000 bullets through Spain. The maintained several agents in North Africa but had only two in Morocco. The Zaian War was fought between France and the Zaian confederation of Berber people in French Morocco between 1914 and 1921. Morocco had become a French protectorate in 1912 and the French Army extended French influence eastwards through the Middle Atlas mountains towards French Algeria. The Zaians, led by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani quickly lost the towns of Taza and Khénifra but managed to inflict many casualties on the French, who responded by establishing , combined arms formations of regular and irregular infantry, cavalry and artillery. By 1914 the French had in Morocco but two-thirds were withdrawn from 1914 to 1915 for service in France and at the Battle of El Herri (13 November 1914) more than soldiers were killed. Hubert Lyautey, the governor, reorganised his forces and pursued a forward policy rather than passive defence. The French regained most of the lost territory, despite intelligence and financial support from the Central Powers to the Zaian Confederation and raids which caused losses to the French when already short of manpower.

Senussi campaign, 1915–1917

Coastal campaign, 1915–1916

On 6 November, the German submarine ''U–35'' torpedoed and sank a steamer, , in the Bay of Sollum. ''U-35'' surfaced, sank the coastguard gunboat ''Abbas'' and badly damaged ''Nur el Bahr'' with its deck gun. On 14 November the Senussi attacked an Egyptian position at Sollum and on the night of 17 November, a party of Senussi fired into Sollum as another party cut the coast telegraph line. Next night a monastery at Sidi Barrani, beyond Sollum, was occupied by 300 and on the night of 19 November, a coastguard was killed. An Egyptian post was attacked east of Sollum on 20 November. The British withdrew from Sollum to Mersa Matruh, further east, which had better facilities for a base and the Western Frontier Force (Major-General A. Wallace) was created. On 11 December, a British column sent to Duwwar Hussein was attacked along the Matruh–Sollum track and in the Affair of Wadi Senba, drove the Senussi out of the wadi. The reconnaissance continued and on 13 December at Wadi Hasheifiat, the British were attacked again and held up until artillery came into action in the afternoon and forced the Senussi to retreat.

The British returned to Matruh until 25 December and then made a night advance to surprise the Senussi. At the Affair of Wadi Majid, the Senussi were defeated but were able to withdraw to the west. Air reconnaissance found more Senussi encampments in the vicinity of Matruh at Halazin, which was attacked on 23 January, in the Affair of Halazin. The Senussi fell back skilfully and then attempted to envelop the British flanks. The British were pushed back on the flanks as the centre advanced and defeated the main body of Senussi, who were again able to withdraw. In February 1916, the Western Frontier Force was reinforced and a British column was sent west along the coast to re-capture Sollum. Air reconnaissance discovered a Senussi encampment at Agagia, which was attacked in the action of Agagia on 26 February. The Senussi were defeated and then intercepted by the Dorset Yeomanry as they withdrew; the Yeomanry charged across open ground swept by machine-gun and rifle fire. The British lost half their horses and men but prevented the Senussi from slipping away. Jafar Pasha, the commander of the Senussi forces on the coast, was captured and Sollum was re-occupied by British forces on 14 March 1916, which concluded the coastal campaign.

Band of Oases campaign, 1916–1917

On 11 February 1916 Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, leader of the Senussi order in Cyrenaica, occupied Bahariya Oasis in Giza, which was then attacked by British Royal Flying Corps bombers. Farafra Oasis was occupied at the same time and then the Senussi moved on to Dakhla Oasis on 27 February. The British responded by forming the Southern Force at Beni Suef. Egyptian officials at Kharga Oasis were withdrawn and the oasis was occupied by the Senussi until they withdrew without being attacked. The British reoccupied the oasis on 15 April and began to extend the light railway terminus at Kharga to the Moghara Oasis. The mainly Australian Imperial Camel Corps patrolled on camels and in light Ford Motor Company cars to cut off the Senussi from the Nile Valley. Preparations to attack Bahariya Oasis were detected by the Senussi garrison, which withdrew to Siwa in early October. The Southern Force attacked the Senussi in the Affairs in the Dakhla Oasis , after which the Senussi retreated to their base at Siwa.

In January 1917, a British column including the Light Armoured Car Brigade with Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars and three Light Car Patrols was dispatched to Siwa. On 3 February the armoured cars surprised and engaged the Senussi at Girba, who retreated overnight. Siwa was entered on 4 February without opposition but a British ambush party at the Munassib Pass was foiled, when the escarpment was found to be too steep for the armoured cars. The light cars managed to descend the escarpment and captured a convoy on 4 February. Next day the Senussi from Girba were intercepted but managed to establish a post the cars were unable to reach and then warned the rest of the Senussi. The British force returned to Matruh on 8 February and Sayyid Ahmed withdrew to Jaghbub. Negotiations between Sayed Idris and the Anglo-Italians which had begun in late January were galvanised by news of the Senussi defeat at Siwa. In the accords of Akramah, Idris accepted the British terms on 12 April and those of Italy on 14 April.

Volta-Bani War, 1915–1917

The Volta-Bani War was an anti-colonial rebellion that took place in parts of French West Africa (now Burkina Faso and Mali) between 1915 and 1917. It was a war between an indigenous African army, a heterogeneous coalition of peoples against the French Army. At its height in 1916, the indigenous forces mustered from 15,000–20,000 men and fought on several fronts. After about a year and several setbacks, the French army defeated the insurgents and jailed or executed their leaders but resistance continued until 1917.

Darfur Expedition, 1916

On 1 March 1916 hostilities began between the Sudanese government and the Sultanate of Darfur. The Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition was conducted to forestall an imagined invasion of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Sultanate of Egypt by the Darfurian leader, Sultan Ali Dinar, which was believed to have been synchronised with a Senussi advance into Egypt from the west. The Sirdar (commander) of the Egyptian Army organised a force of men at Rahad, a railhead east of the Darfur frontier. On 16 March, the force crossed the frontier mounted in lorries from a forward base established at Nahud, from the border, with the support of four aircraft. By May the force was close to the Darfur capital of El Fasher. At the Affair of Beringia on 22 May, the Fur Army was defeated and the Anglo-Egyptian force captured the capital the next day. Dinar and had left before their arrival and as they moved south, were bombed from the air.

French troops in Chad who had returned from the Kamerun Campaign prevented a Darfurian withdrawal westwards. Dinar withdrew into the Marra Mountains south of El Fasher and sent envoys to discuss terms but the British believed he was prevaricating and ended the talks on 1 August. Internal dissension reduced the force with Dinar to men; Anglo-Egyptian outposts were pushed out from El Fasher to the west and southwest after the August rains. A skirmish took place at Dibbis on 13 October and Dinar opened negotiations but was again suspected of bad faith. Dinar fled southwest to Gyuba and a small force was sent in pursuit. At dawn on 6 November, the Anglo-Egyptians attacked in the Affair of Gyuba and Dinar's remaining followers scattered. The body of the Sultan was found from the camp. After the expedition, Darfur was incorporated into Sudan.

Kaocen revolt, 1916–1917

Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen (1880–1919), the Amenokal (Chief) of the Ikazkazan Tuareg confederation, had attacked French colonial forces from 1909. The Sanusiya leadership in the Fezzan oasis town of Kufra declared Jihad against the French colonialists in October 1914. The Sultan of Agadez convinced the French that the Tuareg confederations remained loyal and Kaocen's forces besieged the garrison on 17 December 1916. Kaocen, his brother Mokhtar Kodogo and Tuareg raiders, armed with rifles and a field gun captured from the Royal Italian Army in Libya, defeated several French relief columns. The Tuareg seized the main towns of the Aïr, including Ingall, Assodé and Aouderas. Modern northern Niger came under rebel control for over three months. On 3 March 1917, a large French force from Zinder relieved the Agadez garrison and began to recapture the towns. Mass reprisals were taken against the town populations, especially against marabouts, though many were neither Tuareg or rebels. The French summarily killed in public in Agadez and Ingal. Kaocen fled north; in 1919 he was killed by local militia in Mourzouk. Kaocen's brother was killed by the French in 1920 after a revolt he led amongst the Toubou and Fula in the Sultanate of Damagaram was defeated.

Somaliland Campaign, 1914–1918

In British Somaliland, Diiriye Guure, sultan of the Dervish state, continued his campaign against Ethiopian and European encroachment. In March 1914, forty Dervishes had ridden to attack Berbera, the capital of British Somaliland, which caused considerable panic; in November, troops of the Somaliland Camel Corps, with 600 Somali and 650 Indian Army troops, captured three forts at Shimber Berris and then had to return in February 1915 to take them again. The British adopted a policy of containment given their slender resources and tried to keep Sayyid and his 6,000 supporters penned in eastern Somaliland, to encourage desertion and ruthless killings of his own men by Sayyid, which succeeded. British prestige depended on the protection of friendly Somali areas and the deterrence of those Somali peoples inspired by Sayyid from crossing into the East Africa Protectorate (British East Africa, now Kenya).

When the Ottoman Empire entered the war in November 1914, the British colonial authorities in British East Africa became apprehensive of attacks from the Muslims of Ethiopia and Somaliland but none transpired until 1916, when trouble also broke out in some Muslim units of the Indian Army stationed in East Africa, including desertions and self-inflicted wounds. In February, about 500 Aulihan warriors from Somaliland captured a British fort at Serenli and killed 65 soldiers of the garrison and their British officer. The British retired from their main fort in the north-east at Wajir and it was not for two years that the Aulihan were defeated. The complications caused by the Ottoman call to Jihad had put the British to considerable trouble in East Africa and elsewhere, to avoid the growth of a pan-Muslim movement. Even when the Ottoman call had little effect, the British were fearful of an African Jihad. To impress the Somali people, some elders were taken to Egypt in 1916 to view the military might of the British empire. The warships, railways and prison camps full of German and Ottoman soldiers made a great impression, which was increased by the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in June.

West Africa

Togoland campaign, 1914

The Togoland Campaign (9–26 August 1914) was a French and British invasion of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa (which became Togo and the Volta Region of Ghana after independence) during the First World War. The colony was invaded on 6 August, by French forces from Dahomey to the east and on 9 August by British forces from Gold Coast to the west. German colonial forces withdrew from the capital Lomé and the coastal province and then fought delaying actions on the route north to Kamina, where a new wireless station linked Berlin to Togoland, the Atlantic and South America. The main British and French force from the neighbouring colonies of Gold Coast and Dahomey advanced from the coast up the road and railway, as smaller forces converged on Kamina from the north. The German defenders were able to delay the invaders for several days at the battles of Bafilo, Agbeluvhoe and Chra but surrendered the colony on 26 August 1914. In 1916, Togoland was partitioned by the victors and in July 1922, British Togoland and French Togoland were created as League of Nations mandates. The French acquisition consisted of of the colony, including the coast. The British received the smaller, less populated and less developed portion of Togoland to the west. The surrender of Togoland was the beginning of the end for the German colonial empire in Africa.

Bussa uprising, 1915

In the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (now Nigeria), the British policy of indirect rule through local proxies was extended after the outbreak of the First World War, when British colonial officers and troops were withdrawn for war service. The British became more dependent on local emirs but in Bussa, the re-organisation of local government in 1912 overthrew the authority of the traditional ruler. The hereditary Emir of Bussa, Kitoro Gani was moved aside and the Borgu Emirate was divided, each area ruled by a (native administration). In June 1915, about 600 rebels, armed with bows and arrows occupied Bussa, captured and killed half of the new native administration; the survivors fled the district. The rebellion caused panic because the British authorities were so short of troops. A small force from the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) and the Nigeria police moved into Bussa and skirmished with the rebels. No soldiers were killed and only 150 shots were fired. Sabukki, one of the ringleaders fled to nearby French Dahomey and the rebellion was suppressed.

The war in Nigeria played a role in British politics during the war. At the beginning of the war, the British government seized foreign expatriate firms in the lucrative palm oil trade owned by the Central Powers. Merchants based in Liverpool wanted to establish a British monopoly over the trade, but the ruling Liberal Party under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith favoured allowing international competition. Although the issue was insignificant, it allowed Conservatives dissatisfied with their party's exclusion from key posts and decision-making in the Asquith coalition ministry to stage a parliamentary revolt. On November 8, 1916, Edward Carson attacked Conservative Party Leader Bonar Law for supporting the Liberal position and led a successful vote against the party leadership on the issue. This began the downfall of Asquith's government and its replacement by a new coalition government of Conservatives and Coalition Liberals led by David Lloyd George, with Asquith and the majority of the Liberals going into opposition.

Kamerun campaign, 1914–1916

By 25 August 1914, British forces in Nigeria had moved into Kamerun towards Mara in the far north, towards Garua in the centre and towards Nsanakang in the south. British forces moving towards Garua under the command of Colonel MacLear were ordered to push to the German border post at Tepe near Garua. The first engagement between British and German troops in the campaign took place at the Battle of Tepe, eventually resulting in German withdrawal. In the far north British forces attempted to take the German fort at Mora but failed and began a siege which lasted until the end of the campaign. British forces in the south attacked Nsanakang and were defeated and almost completely destroyed by German counterattacks at the Battle of Nsanakong. MacLear then pushed his forces further inland towards the German stronghold of Garua but was repulsed in the First Battle of Garua on 31 August.

In 1915 the German forces, except for those at Mora and Garua, withdrew to the mountains near the new capital of Jaunde. In the spring the German forces delayed or repulsed Allied attacks and a force under Captain von Crailsheim from Garua conducted an offensive into Nigeria and fought the Battle of Gurin. General Frederick Hugh Cunliffe began the Second Battle of Garua in June, which was a British victory. Allied units in northern Kamerun were freed to push into the interior, where the Germans were defeated at the Battle of Ngaundere on 29 June. Cunliffe advanced south to Jaunde but was held up by heavy rains and his force joined the Siege of Mora. When the weather improved, Cunliffe moved further south, captured a German fort at the Battle of Banjo on 6 November and occupied several towns by the end of the year. In December, the forces of Cunliffe and Dobell made contact and made ready to conduct an assault on Jaunde. In this year most of had been fully occupied by Belgian and French troops, who also began to prepare for an attack on Jaunde.

German forces began to cross into the Spanish colony of Rio Muni on 23 December 1915 and with Allied forces pressing in on Jaunde from all sides, the German commander Carl Zimmermann ordered the remaining German units and civilians to escape into Rio Muni. By mid-February, and civilians had reached Spanish territory. On 18 February the Siege of Mora ended with the surrender of the garrison. Most Kamerunians remained in Muni but the Germans eventually moved to Fernando Po and some were allowed by Spain to travel to the Netherlands to go home. Some Kamerunians including the paramount chief of the Beti people moved to Madrid, where they lived as visiting nobility on German funds.

Adubi War, 1918

The Adubi War was an uprising that occurred in June and July 1918 in the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, because of taxation introduced by the colonial government. Direct taxes were introduced by the colonial government along with existing forced labour obligations and various fees. On 7 June, the British arrested 70 Egba chiefs and issued an ultimatum that resisters should lay down their arms, pay the taxes and obey the local leaders. On 11 June, a party of soldiers returned from East Africa were brought in and on 13 July, Egba rebels pulled up railway lines at Agbesi and derailed a train. Other rebels demolished the station at Wasimi and killed the British agent and Oba Osile was attacked. Hostilities between the rebels and colonial troops continued for about three weeks at Otite, Tappona, Mokoloki and Lalako but by 10 July, the rebellion had been put down, the leaders killed or arrested. About 600 people died, including the British agent and the Oba Osile, the African leader of the north-eastern Egba district, although this may have been due to a dispute over land and unconnected to the uprising. The incident led to the abrogation of Abeokutan independence in 1918 and the introduction of forced labor in the region; imposition of the direct taxes was postponed until 1925.

South West Africa

German South West Africa campaign, 1914–1915

An invasion of German South West Africa from the south failed at the Battle of Sandfontein (25 September 1914), close to the border with the Cape Colony. German fusiliers inflicted a serious defeat on the British troops and the survivors returned to British territory. The Germans began an invasion of the Union of South Africa to forestall another invasion attempt and the Battle of Kakamas took place on 4 February 1915, between the South African Union Defence Force and German ''Schutztruppe'', a skirmish for control of two river fords over the Orange River. The South Africans prevented the Germans from gaining control of the fords and crossing the river. By February 1915, the South Africans were ready to occupy German territory. South African Prime Minister Louis Botha put Jan Smuts in command of the southern forces while he commanded the northern forces. Botha arrived at Swakopmund on 11 February and continued to build up his invasion force at Walfish Bay (or Walvis Bay), a South African enclave about halfway along the coast of German South West Africa. In March Botha began an advance from Swakopmund along the Swakop valley with its railway line and captured Otjimbingwe, Karibib, Friedrichsfelde, Wilhelmsthal and Okahandja and then entered Windhuk on 5 May 1915.

The Germans offered surrender terms, which were rejected by Botha and the war continued. On 12 May Botha declared martial law and divided his forces into four contingents, which cut off German forces in the interior from the coastal regions of Kunene and Kaokoveld and fanned out into the north-east. Lukin went along the railway line from Swakopmund to Tsumeb. The other two columns rapidly advanced on the right flank, Myburgh to Otavi junction and Manie Botha to Tsumeb and the terminus of the railway. German forces in the north-west fought the Battle of Otavi on 1 July but were defeated and surrendered at Khorab on 9 July 1915. In the south, Smuts landed at the South West African naval base at Luderitzbucht, then advanced inland and captured Keetmanshoop on 20 May. The South Africans linked with two columns which had advanced over the border from South Africa. Smuts advanced north along the railway line to Berseba and on 26 May, after two days' fighting captured Gibeon. The Germans in the south were forced to retreat northwards towards Windhuk and Botha's force. On 9 July the German forces in the south surrendered.

Maritz rebellion, 1914–1915

General Koos de la Rey, under the influence of Siener van Rensburg, a "crazed seer", believed that the outbreak of war foreshadowed the return of the republic but was persuaded by Botha and Smuts on 13 August not to rebel and on 15 August told his supporters to disperse. At a congress on 26 August, De la Rey claimed loyalty to South Africa, not Britain or Germany. The Commandant-General of the Union Defence Force, Brigadier-General Christian Frederick Beyers, opposed the war and with the other rebels, resigned his commission on 15 September. General Koos de la Rey joined Beyers and on 15 September they visited Major Jan Kemp in Potchefstroom, who had a large armoury and a force of many of whom were thought to be sympathetic. The South African government believed it to be an attempt to instigate a rebellion. Beyers claimed that it was to discuss plans for a simultaneous resignation of leading army officers, similar to the Curragh incident in Ireland.

During the afternoon De la Rey was mistakenly shot and killed by a policeman, at a roadblock set up to look for the Foster gang; many Afrikaners believed that De la Rey had been assassinated. After the funeral, the rebels condemned the war but when Botha asked them to volunteer for military service in South West Africa they accepted. Manie Maritz, at the head of a commando of Union forces on the border of German South West Africa, allied with the Germans on 7 October and issued a proclamation on behalf of a provisional government and declared war on the British on 9 October. Generals Beyers, De Wet, Maritz, Kemp and Bezuidenhout were to be the first leaders of a new South African Republic. Maritz occupied Keimoes in the Upington area. The Lydenburg commando under General De Wet took possession of the town of Heilbron, held up a train and captured government stores and ammunition.

By the end of the week, De Wet had a force of and Beyers had gathered more in the Magaliesberg. General Louis Botha had pro-government troops. The government declared martial law on 12 October and loyalists under General Louis Botha and Jan Smuts repressed the uprising. Maritz was defeated on 24 October and took refuge with the Germans; the Beyers commando force was dispersed at Commissioners Drift on 28 October, after which Beyers joined forces with Kemp and then was drowned in the Vaal River on 8 December. De Wet was captured in Bechuanaland on 2 December and Kemp, having crossed the Kalahari desert and lost and most of their horses on the journey, joined Maritz in German South West Africa and attacked across the Orange River on 22 December. Maritz advanced south again on 13 January 1915 and with German support attacked Upington on 24 January but was repulsed. Most of the rebels then surrendered on 30 January.

German invasion of Angola, 1914–1915

The campaign in southern Portuguese West Africa (modern-day Angola) took place from Portuguese forces in southern Angola were reinforced by a military expedition led by Lieutenant-Colonel Alves Roçadas, which arrived at Moçâmedes on 1 October 1914. After the loss of the wireless transmitter at Kamina in Togoland, German forces in South West Africa could not communicate easily and until July 1915 the Germans did not know if Germany and Portugal were at war (war was declared by Germany on 9 March 1916.). On 19 October 1914, an incident occurred in which fifteen Germans entered Angola without permission and were arrested at fort Naulila and in a mêlée three Germans were killed by Portuguese troops. On 31 October, German troops armed with machine guns launched a surprise attack, which became known as the ''Cuangar Massacre'', on the small Portuguese Army outpost at Cuangar and killed eight soldiers and a civilian.

On 18 December a German force of under the command of Major Victor Franke attacked Portuguese forces at Naulila. A German shell detonated the munitions magazine at Forte Roçadas and the Portuguese were forced to withdraw from the Ovambo region to Humbe, with and taken prisoner. The Germans lost killed and Local civilians collected Portuguese weapons and rose against the colonial regime. On 7 July 1915, Portuguese forces under the command of General Pereira d'Eça reoccupied the Humbe region and conducted a reign of terror against the population. The Germans retired to the south with the northern border secure during the Ovambo Uprising, which distracted Portuguese forces from operations further south. Two days later German forces in South West Africa surrendered, ending the South West Africa Campaign.

East Africa

East African campaign, 1914–1915

Military operations, 1914–1915

On the outbreak of war there and in the King's African Rifles in East Africa. On 5 August 1914, British troops from the Uganda Protectorate attacked German outposts near Lake Victoria and on 8 August and bombarded Dar es Salaam. On 15 August, German forces in the Neu Moshi

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