South West Africa campaign
South West Africa campaign | |||||||||
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Part of African theatre of World War I | |||||||||
The South West Africa campaign in 1915 | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
South African Republic Oukwanyama | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
67,000 South Africans 12,000 Portuguese |
3,000 Schutztruppe 7,000 German militia & settlers 500-600 Boer commandos 50,000–150,000 (<20,000 fully armed)[1] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Union of South Africa:
Portuguese Angola:
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German South West Africa:
South African Republic:
Ovambo
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The South West Africa campaign was the conquest and occupation of
Background
The outbreak of hostilities in Europe in August 1914 had been anticipated and government officials of
Boer revolt
There was considerable sympathy among the Boer population of South Africa for the German cause. Only twelve years had passed since the end of the Second Boer War, in which Germany had offered the two Boer republics unofficial support in their war with the British Empire. Lieutenant-Colonel Manie Maritz, heading commando forces on the border of German South West Africa, declared that
The former South African Republic and Orange Free State, as well as the Cape Province and Natal, are proclaimed free from British control and independent, and every [all] White inhabitant[s] of the mentioned areas, of whatever nationality, are hereby called upon to take their weapons in their hands and realise the long-cherished ideal of a Free and Independent South Africa.
— Manie Maritz.[5]
Maritz and several other high-ranking officers rapidly gathered forces with a total of about 12,000 rebels in the
The government declared martial law on 14 October 1914 and forces loyal to the government under the command of Generals Louis Botha and Jan Smuts proceeded to destroy the rebellion. Maritz was defeated on 24 October and took refuge with the Germans; the rebellion was suppressed by early February 1915. The leading Boer rebels received terms of imprisonment of six and seven years and heavy fines; two years later they were released from prison, as Botha recognised the value of reconciliation.
German and South African hostilities
A first attempt to invade German South West Africa from the south failed at the Battle of Sandfontein, close to the border with the Cape Colony, where on 26 September 1914 German colonial forces defeated the Union Defence Force (UDF), although the surviving UDF troops were left free to return to South Africa.[6] To disrupt South African plans to invade German South West Africa again, the Germans invaded South Africa and the Battle of Kakamas took place over the fords at Kakamas, on 4 February 1915 for control of two fords over the Orange River. The South Africans succeeded in preventing the Germans gaining control of the fords and crossing the river.[7]
By February 1915, with the home front secure, the South Africans were ready to invade again. Botha, as a senior and experienced military commander, took command of the invasion, with Smuts commanding the southern forces while he led the northern forces.
The Germans offered terms under which they would surrender but Botha refused them.[8] On 12 May Botha declared martial law and having cut the colony in half, divided his forces into four contingents under Coen Brits, Lukin, Manie Botha and Myburgh. Brits went north to Otjiwarongo, Outjo and Etosha Pan which cut off German forces in the interior from the coastal regions of Kunene and Kaokoveld. The other three columns fanned out into the north-east. Lukin went along the railway line running from Swakopmund to Tsumeb. The other two columns advanced on Lukin's right flank, Myburgh to Otavi junction and Manie Botha to Tsumeb and the line's terminus. The men who commanded these columns, having fought in Boer commandos, moved rapidly.[9] The German forces in the north-west made a stand at the Battle of Otavi on 1 July but were beaten and surrendered at Khorab on 9 July 1915.[10]
Smuts landed with another South African force at the naval base at
German and Portuguese hostilites
Before an official declaration of
Aftermath
Casualties
South African casualties were 113 killed, 153 died of injury or illness and 263 wounded.[a] German casualties were 103 killed, 890 taken prisoner, 37 field guns and 22 machine-guns captured.[4]
Post-war
After defeating the German force in South West Africa, South Africa occupied the colony and then administered it as a
Notes
- ^ In the official history, J. J. Collyer, the official historian, wrote that the Union forces suffered 88 men killed, 25 died of wounds, 153 died of injuries and illness and 263 men were wounded.[14]
Footnotes
- ^ Zollmann 2016a, p. 212–213.
- ^ Mitchell & Smith 1931, pp. 263–264.
- ^ Fraga 2010.
- ^ a b Strachan 2001, p. 568.
- ^ Bunting 1964, p. 332.
- ^ Strachan 2001, pp. 550, 555.
- ^ Strachan 2001, pp. 550, 552, 554.
- ^ a b c Tucker & Wood 1996, p. 654.
- ^ a b c Crafford 2005, p. 102.
- ^ Strachan 2001, pp. 556–557.
- ^ Strachan 2001, pp. 559–565.
- ^ Burg & Purcell 2004, p. 59.
- ^ Mansfeld 2017, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Collyer 1997, p. 152.
- ^ ACED 2017.
References
- Bunting, B. (1964). The Rise of the South African Reich. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-904759-74-7– via Archive Foundation.
- Burg, David F.; Purcell, L. Edward (2004). Almanac of World War I (Illus. ed.). University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-9087-7– via Archive Foundation.
- Collyer, John Johnston (1997) [1937]. The Campaign in German South-West Africa 1914–1915 (facs. repr. The Battery Press and the Imperial War Museum, Department of Printed Books, Nashville TN and London ed.). Pretoria: The Government Printing and Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-89839-273-9.
- Crafford, F. S. (2005) [1943]. Jan Smuts: A Biography (repr. ed.). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-9290-4.
- Fraga, L. A. (2010). Do intervencionismo ao sidonismo: os dois segmentos da política de guerra na 1a República, 1916–1918 [From Interventionism to Sidonism: The two Segments of the War Policy in the 1st Republic, 1916–1918] (in Portuguese). Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra. ISBN 978-989-26-0034-5.
- Mansfeld, Eugen (2017). The Autobiography of Eugene Mansfeld: A Settler's Life in Colonial Namibia. London: Jeppestown Press. ISBN 978-0-9570837-4-5.
- Mitchell, Thomas John; Smith, G. M. (1931). Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence. London: HMSO. OCLC 14739880.
- "Namibian War of Independence 1966–1988". Armed Conflict Events Database. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- Strachan, H. (2001). The First World War: To Arms. Vol. I. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926191-1.
- Tucker, S.; Wood, L. M. (1996). Tucker, Spencer; Wood, Laura Matysek; Murphy, Justin D. (eds.). The European powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (illus. ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8153-0399-2.
- Zollmann, Jakob (2016a). Naulila 1914. World War I in Angola and International Law. ISBN 978-3-8452-7160-6.
Further reading
- Cana, Frank Richardson (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 31 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. pp. 223–224. . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
- Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 800–804. . In
- Historicus Africanus (2011), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 1. Band; 2nd edition. Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-872-1-6
- Historicus Africanus (2012), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 2. Band, "Naulila", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-872-3-0
- Historicus Africanus (2014), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 3. Band, "Kämpfe im Süden", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-872-8-5
- Historicus Africanus (2016), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 4. Band, "Der Süden ist verloren", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-909-2-6
- Historicus Africanus (2016), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 5. Band, "Aufgabe der Küste", Windhoek: Glanz 6 Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-909-4-0
- Historicus Africanus (2017), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 6. Band, Aufgabe der Zentralregionen", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-909-5-7
- Historicus Africanus (2018), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 7. Band, Der Ring schließt sich", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-909-7-1
- Historicus Africanus (2018), Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, 8. Band, Das Ende bei Khorab", Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria Verlag. ISBN 978-99916-909-9-5
- Krömer, Bernd; Krömer, Holger (2018). Fotografische Erinnerungen an Deutsch-Südwestafrika: Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Vol. III. Windhoek: Glanz & Gloria. ISBN 978-9-99-169098-8.
- Paice, Edward (2007). Tip and Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-84709-0.
- Patterson, H. "First Allied Victory: The South African Campaign in German South West Africa, 1914–1915". Military History Journal. 13 (2). The South African Military History Society. ISSN 0026-4016. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- Stejskal, James (2014). The Horns of the Beast: The Swakop River Campaign in South West Africa: 1914–1915. Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-19099-827-89.
- Walker, H. F. B. (1917). A Doctor's Diary in Damaraland. London: Edward Arnold. OCLC 3586466. Retrieved 2 March 2014 – via Archive Foundation.
External links
- The Battle of Sandfontein
- Hypertext version of The Rise of the South African Reich, Brian Bunting, Chapter 1. Source for the quotation of Manie Maritz
- Sol Plaatje, Native Life in South Africa: Chapter XXIII — The Boer Rebellion
- 90th anniversary of German defeat in South West Africa from the Great War Society
- Chronology of Events in the Defense of the Portuguese African Colonies, 1914–1920 (in Portuguese)