BLUFF THAT WON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22928, 5 January 1938, Page 8

BLUFF THAT WON

OFFICER AND ORDERLY INCIDENT OF GREAT WAR [fbom oub own cohbespondext] LONDON. Dec. 18 The full account of liow the Germans were bluffed into surrendering; their West African colony of Togoland during the war by a British officer and his orderly is given in a letter to the Daily Telegraph from Captain Alex. Norris, formerly Provincial Commissioner, Gold Coast Colony. Captain Norris says that the declaration of war in 1914 found Captain Bryant, R.F.A., acting Commanding Officer of the Gold Coast Regiment—• West African Frontier Force—the commanding officer and the second in command being on leave. One company -"of the regiment, under Captain "Algy" Barker, of the Middlesex Regiment, was at Accra. "On war being declared," writes Captain Norris, "Captain Barker, acting under orders from Captain Bryant, advanced to the Togoland frontier, halting on the coastal road about seven miles from Lome, capital of Togoland. There he got hold of two bicycles and, with his orderly flying a 'flag of truce," pushed along the sandy road to Lome and the German Government House. "On arrival he 'sprung his bluff.' sending in a message to the acting Governor, I think Herr Baron von Durring. "I well remember Barker's account c»f the incident, given me some months sfterwards. 'T just told them to get cut or get under,' Barker said. 'I was asked to sit down in the hall while they discussed the matter, and not one of them had the decency to offer me a glass of beer'after my hot ride!' "As a result of this bluff the Germans agreed to surrender Lome without resistance if given time to evacuate all their troops and able-bodied German nationals and retire up the railway to the wireless station. "In the meantime Captain Bryant had called in all available troops from the out-stations and was ready to march across country from Kumasi to Togoland. On hearing of Captain Barker's bluff, however, he was able to change his plans and take his regiment by rail to Sekondi and thence - to Lome by. steamer, a saving of five or six days. "The Germans were pursued up the railway by the Gold Coast Regiment. The first action, was fought before the British Expeditionary Force had - landed in France. It is therefore claimed that the first .Army casualties of the war were men of the Gold Coast Regiment, and, that the first Army officer to be killed was a subaltern seconded from his home regiment to the Gold Coast Regiment. Bryant—he had been given the . local rank—fought his way up to the wireless station, where he caused information to be conveyed to the Germans about the strength of a French force which was advancing. "This was another bluff. The Germans, having more faith in the treatment they would receive from the British than from the French, blew up the wireless station and surrendered. "The occupation of Togoland had a far-Teaching result. The Togoland wireless station acted as a relay station between Europe and the German station at Windhoejr, in South-West Africa. Instructions Were sent from Windhoek to German warships in the South Atlantic. Bv the capture of Togoland these warships were isolated and blinded. /, ' 'The German prisoners were transferred to the Gold Coast, and most of them were sent up to Kurnasi to be interned. After a few months it was • decided to transfer them to England, and they were embarked, under guard in the Appam. "Off the Canary Islands the Appam was captured by the German raider Moewe. In one short hour the roles were changed and the Germans mounted guard over the British."