Naulila is a town and
commune in the municipality of
Ombadja, province of
Cunene,
Angola
, national_anthem = "Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
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, coordinat ...
.
Located on the
Cunene River which separates Angola and
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 ...
, Naulila was the scene of fighting between
Portuguese Angola
Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa).
I ...
and
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
during the early stages of
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, ...
. On 19 October 1914, a German military column crossed the border and entered Angola without authorisation from the Portuguese authorities. The column was intercepted by Portuguese forces and conducted to Fort Naulila. At Naulila, a dispute occurred between the Portuguese and the Germans which resulted in the deaths of three German officers.
On 31 October, the Germans under the command of Oswald Ostermann retaliated, and raided the Portuguese fort at
Cuangar with the use of machine guns, in which the fort was destroyed and the majority of the border guards killed. This was later referred to as the "Cuangar Massacre". On 18/19 December,
Victor Franke led a successful retaliatory attack, defeating the Portuguese at Naulila.
Legacy
Today, in the town of
Outjo, Namibia, there is a monument and a cemetery commemorating German losses in the incidents at Naulila in 1914.
References
Chronology of Events in German Southwest Africa in 1914
* Historicus Africanus: "Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15", Volume 2, "Naulia", Windhoek 2012,
Populated places in Cunene Province
Communes in Cunene Province
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