The Battle of Sandfontein was fought between the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

on behalf of the British Imperial Government and the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(modern-day

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

) on 26 September 1914 at Sandfontein, during the first stage of the

South West Africa Campaign The South West Africa campaign was the conquest and occupation of German South West Africa by forces from the Union of South Africa acting on behalf of the British imperial government at the beginning of the First World War. Background Th ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and ended in a German victory.

Background

The outbreak of

led to the transfer of the British Imperial garrison from South Africa to France. Expecting the war to finish quickly, many South Africans also departed for Europe, aiming to take part in the combat. The Union Defence Force took the responsibility of independently protecting South Africa from a possible German offensive. In the meantime, prime minister

Louis Botha Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer Wa ...

found himself in the middle of a confrontation between pro-British loyalists supporting full involvement in the war and

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...

nationalists advocating neutrality. German colonial troops in South West Africa numbered 140 officers, 2,000 regulars, and 2,500 reservists organized into eight mounted companies, a single camel corp, four field batteries, and an air wing. 1,500 policemen and 200 Boer rebels could also be potentially mobilized. The majority of the German army consisted of non

Askari An askari (from Somali, Swahili and Arabic , , meaning "soldier" or "military", which also means "police" in the Somali language) was a local soldier serving in the armies of the European colonial powers in Africa, particularly in the African G ...

s, as the Germans were resented by the African population due to their conduct during the

Herero Wars The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa (present-day Namibia). They took place between 1904 and 1908. Background Pre-colonial South-West Africa The Hereros we ...

. Despite their unpopularity, the German

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...

was well organized and disciplined. The UDF had the ability to mobilize as many as 100,000 troops, yet it had a heterogeneous structure and lacked experienced staff officers. A large portion of the South African-German borderline consisted of a ragged open desert characterized by the absence of water. The difficult terrain enabled the German army to create a defensive frontier along the line of

Windhuk Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

and

Keetmanshoop Keetmanshoop is a city in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and benefactor of the city. History B ...

, and troops were also stationed adjacent to the two regional railroads. Having a limited number of troops in his possession, the German commander, Joachim von Heydebreck, ordered his troops to assume defensive positions and observe predefined routes. The area of Sandfontein held high strategic importance due to the presence of the only high-quality water wells in a 75-kilometer radius, thus being a crucial supply point for any large scale operation. The South African military was well aware of the complicated geographic conditions, possessing a variety of prewar journals and reports concerning German southwest Africa's topology. On 7 August 1914, the British government requested Botha to capture the German communication stations of

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...

and Lüderitzbucht. On 10 August, following intense negotiations, the Botha government reluctantly agreed to create a volunteer expeditionary force, only after the parliament's approval. Mobilization and troop maneuvers ensued even before the parliament's decision, as the government enforced censorship on the press to suppress the spread of rumors. On 21 August 1914, the expeditionary force took its final form. A column consisting of 1,200 soldiers and six artillery pieces known as Force C was to strike Lüderitzbucht. A column consisting of 1,800 soldiers and eight guns known as Force A would land at

Port Nolloth Port Nolloth is a town and small domestic seaport in the Namaqualand region on the northwestern coast of South Africa, northwest of Springbok. It is the seat of the Richtersveld Local Municipality. The port was previously a transshipment point ...

, in support of Force C. Finally, the 1,000-man Force B would invade from the eastern direction, attacking

Upington Upington ( Nama: //Khara hais) is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of ...

. The plans regarding the invasion were revealed during a 9 September parliament session, gaining approval. On 14 September 1914, South Africa officially entered the war; however, the situation was soon complicated by the outbreak of the Maritz Rebellion the following day. The revolt led to the resignation of several high-ranking commanders involved in the expeditionary force, who now rose in an open rebellion against their former colleagues and had to be hastily replaced.

Battle

On 12 September 1914, Force A under Brigadier-General

Tim Lukin Major General Sir Henry Timson Lukin (24 May 1860 – 15 December 1925) was a South African military commander. He fought in the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and the Basutoland Gun War (1880–1881), the Bechuanaland Campaign (1897), and the Anglo ...

arrived at the border post axis of Raman's Drift, Houms Drift, and Gudous. A week later, the 4th and 5th South Africa Mounted Riflemen regiments penetrated the border capturing Sandfontein. Force A proceeded to disperse, occupying Steinkopf and Raman's Drift, as German troops began concentrating on the eastern border. Sandfontein remained isolated and vulnerable to attack as the area was surrounded by hillocks and narrow sand ridges that could be used during an encirclement maneuver. The German command made full use of its superior intelligence, having previously detained a South African scout and holding the allegiance of the rebellious Force B commander Manie Maritz. Sandfontein's garrison of 120 men was hurriedly reinforced by two squadrons of mounted riflemen, two machine guns, an ambulance, and two thirteen pounder artillery pieces on the early morning of 26 September. A force of 1,700 men, ten artillery batteries, and four machine guns gathered at Warmbad, encompassing Sandfontein on the dawn of 26 September. The German column immediately launched a simultaneous attack from Houms Drift and Warmbad, surprising the defenders. The defenders began engaging the German cavalry that emerged from the northeast when another body of troops suddenly appeared from the southwestern direction. At approximately 8 o'clock, fighting intensified with the beginning of an artillery duel. Enjoying numerical superiority, the German troops struck the unprotected flank and rear of the South Africans, who had lost the capacity of breaking through the encirclement. A South African machine-gun section foiled an infantry rush from the northeast, which intended to capture the battlefield's tallest hillock. At the same time, a German machine gunner approached from the south, killing a large pack of horses and scattering the remains, later destroying an enemy machine-gun position. At 8.30, a second German battery made its appearance, suppressing the South African artillery and slaughtering the second pack of horses stationed nearby. At 10.00, German infantry attempted a second charge from the eastern direction, retreating after suffering heavy casualties. At 11.00 transferred their artillery and machine guns to the southwest, concealing them in the stony outcrops. An hour later, the distance separating the two combatants numbered approximately 550 meters. Around the same time, UDF army commander Colonel R. C. Grant was wounded by machine-gun fire and was substituted by Captain E. J. Welby before again assuming command. Between 13.00 – 14.00, the main body of German troops ceased hostilities to have a meal while bombarding the exhausted South African troops, the majority of whom spent the previous night marching. By 17.00, German troops halved the distance separating them from the South African positions, employing high explosive shells. At around 18.00, the South African troops raised the white flag. German casualties amounted to 14 dead and 46 wounded, while the South Africans lost 16 men dead and 51 wounded.

Background

Battle

See also

References

Further reading