GERMAN EAST AFRICA.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15746, 13 November 1916, Page 9

GERMAN EAST AFRICA.

NEARING THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN. (FEOM OCR OWN" COnREsrONDivNT.) PIETERMAIMTZBITRG, Sept. A plain mr.n has not had a very straightforward course to steer in endcavouring to follow the devious course of the present- war. All knowledge is deductive, and deduction, which Conan Doyle has so popularised, has had to be made a close study in order to arrive at an intelligent ajid approximately accurate view of the military situation. _ These observations apply, of course, primarily to Europe, but they apply jilso, in a minor degree, to General Smuts'j campaign in German East Africa, now happily drawing to a. close. There, have been many rumours current during the last few weeks of an impending end of hostilities there. But even atter the back of German resistance seemed to have been broken by our capture of Morogoro, the two main bodies of the enemy appear to have ; been able to get away, tor the present at any rate, from tho enveloping movements so skilfully launched against them. Hopes, therefore, of an immc- | diate finish have been disappointed. But to delve into deduction for a moment, General Botha came back from East Africa some weeks ago with a most urgent appeal for recruits at 900 a month to keep General Smuts's South African forces up to strength; and the Government were to set the example, even at the certain risk of dislocating the Union Civil Service. Then comes news of tho demand for the resuscitation of the South African Brigade in France, now reduced to less than half its strength by its losses at Delville Wood. Immediately it- is announced that tho recruiting; for East Africa_ is suspended so as not to interfere with recruiting for Europe. General Smufe will endeavour to "carry on"' with the men iie has got, thongh sadly handicapped bv sickness, in order that our obligations may bo fulfilled in Europe. It is splendid of General Smuts. It is also a happy augury for East Africa. The deduction is that Smuts has got tlie Hun well in hand, and that the end is near. Tho planning of return or rest camps in South Africa is also :v similar indication. The only thing that can upset calculations is the very near approach of another rainy season. THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE CAMPAIGN. German East Africa is a big proposition. It has an area twice tho size of the German Empire, with a 400 mile seaboard, and its physical features present a bewildering variety of factors opposing us ir. tlie form of jungle, swamps, mountains, desert belts, besides tropical rains, wild beasts, and poisonous creeping things that foster and fester in these equatorial regions. A single paragraph in a Keuter's despatch regarding the movements of Bri-gadier-General Beves's Infantry Brigade epitomises in a. few lines some of tho difficulties that our forces have to cope with. The Brigade had abandoned all wheeled transport, were without blankets or great coats, and were cn

half rations. Tho paragraph reads: — ''The Germans sent several of our '.vounded in with a doctor, warning us of the- danger to the wounded at night from lions, throe of -which wcrc_ seen in Lientonant-Coloncl Nusscy's firing-line. Another visitor, in the shape of a huge python, invaded -General lleves's quarters in the riverbed camp, and was despatched with difficulty. Bees also attacked the column, scattering the. ammunition . raules and horses, which for tho timo completely checked tlio infantry advance." 'fn view or tho Hun's character for frightfulness, the unwonted humanity of the Germans in East Africa with regard to our wounded seems to require and this I will suggest in a later paragraph. Then bush fires have at times been troublesome. A ROOSEVELT COUNTRY. t The fauna and insectivora of tho country are factors to be dealt with just as much as with tho enemy. Our camps have been charged by family parties of rhinoceroses. It is a.country after Theodore Roosevelt's own heart. Here is what a canny Scot says about it: —"This is a. terrible country, all bush, and tall grass, and the wonder and marvel of it all is that we have got so far down. General Smuts is certainly a marvellous general. Tlio Germans have taken us through tho worst part of the country, and this is a bad part now. What with malaria and dysentery, the tsetse fly, horse sickness, and all kinds of creepycrawly things imaginable, huge spiders, tarantulas, large lizards, snake lizards, puff-adders, and ante that bite and sting like h— — I tell you it keeps ono cheerful. There ate also lions, leopards, herds of giraffe, wildebeeste, wild boar, etc. It- is a great- country." The writer of this is Captain Dr. Scott Macnab, formerly of Gcrmiston, and now with the S.A.M.C. in German. East Africa. STEADY PROGRESS. "Tlie great thing is that steady Bri- j tish progress has been made, and that the enemy losses have been , heavy. Writing generally, the German forces opposed to Smuts are in full retreat, and while retreating they have, with characteristic blocked tho roads with mighty forest trees, and wrecked the bridges and fords. But vigorous pursuit is the watchword. As Reuter rhetorically puts it:'—"The scarcity of transport, combined with fever, dysentery, flv and horse-sickness, fought for the Boche. but our columns over the berg, river, forest and jungle, pushed ever onward. To-day the knell of the German overseas Empire tolls its insistent admonitory note." The present month records more substantial gains than any previous one. The chief German port. Dar-es-Salaam, has been captured at last. The Belgians were slow in starting, but they have now got from Ujiji and Kigoma, the western termini on Lake Tanganyika of the central railway from Dar-es-Salaam. to Tabora, the old German capital, and these are within near distance of the British. "Ujiji is famous as having been the meeting place of two great explorers, when Stanley said, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." Tho Belgians had some time previously established contact with Brigadier-Gene-ral Crewe's British force. In taking Tabora King Albert's men had captured two hundred miles of the central railway on the western side.

Our ''ancient allies" the Portuguese have ton thousand troops now operating from the south and doing their bit. Having made the Germans abandon their fortified positions on the banks of the Rovuma River —the GermanPortuguese boundary—tho latest news, officially announced from Laurenzo Marques yesterday, is that the Portuguese troops have established communication with a British force at Mikindani, and that their main column has reached twenty kilometres north of the boundary. Mikindani is the southern terminus of tho German east coast telegraph line from Tonga and Dar-cs-Salaam. and is about twenty miles From the border. The British force there /must bo a naval one, as Mikindani is situated at the head of a creek, and the British columns are a good way north RHODESIAX AND BALUCHI AT MOROGORO. The capture of Morogoro. on the central railwav, on the way—not "to Mandalay/' hut to Dar-es-Salaam, and without a shot almost fired in its defence, was a notable event. Morotroro was, it seems, the great "homa, the great redoubt, where the German commander. Colonel von Lettow-Yor-beck, was to have fought to a finish for

tho last remnant of Hun colonial empire. But von L.-Y. evidently believes in expediency, and in the old proverb "Ho who fights and runs away lives to fight another day." And so ho is playing what crickctcrs call a "Barndoor game." The Baluehis and the Rhodesian Regiment wero very proud at being the first to enter Moronoro. The German munition factory, ammunition, and food had been carefully destroyed but tho capture included a 2.4 naval gun. The German women and children had been sent to tho mountains for safety. But they ventured into Morogoro, and, finding the usual British discipline prevailing, they seemed to receivo a pleasant surprise in tho courtesy offered them by the llhodosian and Indian soldiers in occupation. Another of life's paradoxes. The war is being carried on in "Darkest Africa" under civilised conditions, while in Europe it is being ! waged, at least on one side, with acts of frightfulness that would almost make a Zulu blush. THE GERMAN COMMANDER. Colonel von Lottow-Yorbock, the German commander, is the heart ami soul of tlie stubborn defence put up by 'the Huns, harried as they aro by General Smuts from path to precipice and from bnsh to berg. According to the statement of an English nurse, Miss Mabel Packhard. who has been a prisoner for two years, said that the Germans were anxious to keep a footing in East Africa in order to maintain at least a form of order and government until peace cngotiations in Europe were reached. Colonel von Lettow-Volbcck, she said, was tho soul of the defence, and his personal example was keeping his forces together, although tho ranks of the German Europeans were terribly thinned. The colonel certainly deserves admiration for the stubborn stand he has made. Ho has received orders, it is said, to hold on "in the hope of something turning up." And the Micawbcr spirit has upheld him so far. CASUALTIES IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA. Up to tlrrco weeks ago 1270 casualties had been reported from German East Africa. About 250 had been killed or died of wounds, and a greater number had died from other causes— principally dysentery and malarial fever. It would be interesting to know how manv men have been ill in hospital. They would form a large percentage of tho South African force. It is reassuring to hear, however, that while the climate is undoubtedly an unhealthy and trying one, it cannot be described as a deadly one. _ The unhealthiness of the cjimat© has made tho campaign one entailing muc& suffering. Men may not bo in hospital, but bravely doinsr their duty in tlie fir-ing-line. and yet bo suffering from continuous recurrences of intermittent and remittent fever, and be run down into the state of mind that impels a man to exclaim "Gotfc strafe everybody." And another torrential rainy reason is just about due. CIVIL ADMINISTRATION. We hear a good deal of German thoroughness, and wo are apt to forget that there is such a thing as British thoroughness, though it may not be so much advertised. Smuts is a man oi method and thoroughness, and, being a. gentleman of the Bar and a King's Counsel, it is not surprising that lio has not forgotten to provide for tlie civil administration of that portion of German East Africa already conquered. And the administration is reported to be proceeding smoothly. A detachment of the 6outh African Mounted Rifles have recently been sent from the Transvaal for the execution of police duties in the Usumbura area at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, and at Wilhelmstal in the east, near Tanga, where there is a numerous German refugee population. NEARING THE END. • Whilo we may say as regards tho gigantic struggle in Europe that tlie end is still hidden from us, and that the Allies are all alike pilgrims of hope—thank Heaven, a "sure and certain hope"—in German East Africa the end is palpably near. It is a privilege to do something, in however minor a degree, to help the dear old Mother Country, tlio chief protagonist in the mighty struggle against the powers of darkness. BRITISH PRISONERS IN EAST AFRICA. It is goou to learn that the Germans in East Africa, contrary to precedents of frightfulness in Europe, are treating British prisoners well, and are restraining their savage Askari troog! from doinsr otherwise. The Hun in £ humane rolo is quite refreshing. r lh< mui-der of Captain Frvatt mado one feel the German Government to be no thing short of a super-criminal, plac ing itself outside of the pale of civi lised nations. In its mad policy o Frightfulness, tho German Govern ment h;is shown no limit to its utter in capacity for appreciating the psycho logy of other nations. It is diffieul to credit the Germans in East Africa with finer feeling than their country men in the Fatherland. Tho 01< Adam is not to bo easily expelled. I ' is, of course, possible that Colonel vol Lettow-Vorbeck is a miraculous am merciful exception to tho general Hun But this is not the accepted explana tion of the unexpected civilised con ! duct of our enemy in East Africa. Th ' explanation is, in a word, expedi ency. There is an old Hindoo proverb "The patience of th 0 British is as loni as a summer day, but their arm is a long as a winter night." "The India: proverb has perhaps not reached Prus siu, but it has been appreciated by th Germans in East Africa. They ar ' well aware that in tho end they wil ! no beaten, and they would like a fai \ treatment of prisoners to be accountei unto thc-m for righteousness when "th ; day" comes. The Hun has been indce ' meticulously careful to let our peopi [ know from'the beginning that our me , who are prisoners ar 0 being properl; ; dealt with, and captured GermansEnropean and Askaris —invariably sa l that this is so. Of course., ther are exceptions to every rule c good conduct. The Germans hav shelled our hospitals, and done so know - inglv. Then a private letter receive > from Blantyre, in Nyasaland. report , that one of our European scouts wa s captured by Germans, who, arte - brutally thrashing him, fired him froi ' the mouth of a cannon. It remint a one of the Indian Mutiny. Happil - tlio German non-com. responsible U r tlie outrage has*been captured, and I

defends his crime by statinir that he hiul to carry out. the orders of his superior officer. The officer's name has been given, and it is to bo hoped ho will be got hold of.