Battle for Lake Tanganyika
Battle for Lake Tanganyika | |||||||
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Part of the East African Campaign of the First World War | |||||||
Lake Tanganyika in 1914, contested by Britain, Belgium and Germany | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Geoffrey Spicer-Simson Georges Moulaert | Gustav Zimmer | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
British: 2 shore batteries |
2 steamers 1 fort unknown shore batteries | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
British: No human losses 1 armed boat damaged Belgian: 1 steamer sunk |
~12 killed 2 wounded 32 captured 1 steamer sunk 1 ferry scuttled 1 steamer captured | ||||||
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The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the
In two short engagements, the small motor boats attacked and defeated two of their German opponents. In the first action, on 26 December 1915 Kingani was damaged and captured, becoming
Background
Strategic situation
Lake Tanganyika lies between what was then the Belgian Congo on the western side and German East Africa on the eastern side. By the start of the war, the Germans had two warships on Lake Tanganyika: the 60 t (59 long tons; 66 short tons) Hedwig von Wissmann, and the 45 t (44 long tons; 50 short tons) Kingani.[1][2] Hedwig von Wissmann was quickly armed with four pom-pom guns taken from the scuttled survey ship Möwe and sailed out to the port of Lukuga on the Belgian side of the lake, where on 22 August she attacked the Belgian steamer Alexandre Del Commune, sinking her after two further raids.[1]
This gave the Germans unchallenged superiority on the lake, with their position strengthened further with the sinking of the British
Despite this undertaking, there was little the Belgians or British could do to challenge the Germans. The Belgians had the components for a large steamer, Baron Dhanis, which if it could be assembled would be considerably larger than either Kingani or Hedwig von Wissmann, but did not dare to start construction on her while the Germans patrolled the lake for fear that she would be destroyed before she could be launched.[5] The British had sent two 12-pounder guns to arm her with, but with little prospect of being able to launch her, the Belgians were instead using them as shore batteries to defend Lukuga.[6]
German control of the lake was significant for the whole campaign in the central African theatre. While the British could muster troops to the south of the lake, and the Belgians had troops to the north, neither could push into German East Africa because of the risk that the Germans would use their boats to transport troops across the lake, and use them to cut their supply and communications lines.[2]
Lee's plan
On 21 April 1915, John R. Lee—a big game hunter and veteran of the
To counter this threat, Lee proposed that motor gunboats be sent to Africa and transported through the interior to the lake.[7] They would be small and highly manoeuvrable, and—if armed with a gun with a range of 7,000 yd (6,400 m)—could both outrun and outgun the larger German ships.[10] Using small vessels that could be transported intact meant that they could be launched immediately onto the lake, eliminating the risk of their discovery and destruction while being assembled.[11] Sir Henry considered the plan and approved it with the words "It is both the duty and the tradition of the Royal Navy to engage the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship."[5][12] Jackson passed the task of finalising the details of the operation to his junior, Admiral David Gamble. Gamble appointed Lee second in command of the expedition, and placed Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Spicer-Simson in charge.[2][10][12]
Spicer-Simson was a man described by Giles Foden as "a man court-martialled for wrecking his own ships, an inveterate liar and a wearer of skirts."[13] He had reached the rank of lieutenant-commander but had not progressed further owing to a number of mistakes and disasters, which left him in a small office in the Admiralty assigned to helping with the process of transferring merchant seamen into the navy. In 1905, he had come up with the idea of stringing a cable between two destroyers to sweep for periscopes and nearly sank a submarine.[14] He ran another ship aground while testing the defences of Portsmouth Harbour, and later collided with and sank a small boat, killing a man.[14] By the outbreak of war, he was in command of HMS Niger and a small flotilla at Ramsgate. He went ashore to entertain guests at a nearby hotel, from whose windows he watched Niger being torpedoed and sank.[12][14] He had nevertheless commanded a survey vessel on the Gambia River and, due to a shortage of officers, was selected to take command.[12] Lee went out to prepare the way through Africa, while Spicer-Simson assembled 27 men and two motor boats that had been built by John I. Thornycroft & Company to fulfil an order made by the Greek government before the war.[2][15]
The journey of Mimi and Toutou
The British naval force consisted of two 40-foot-long (12 m) motor boats. Spicer-Simson suggested they be named Cat and Dog, but the names were rejected by the Admiralty.
The first leg of Mimi and Toutou′s 10,000 mi (16,000 km) journey was completed after 17 days at sea and their arrival at the Cape. From Cape Town, they and the men of the expedition travelled north by railway through Bulawayo to Elisabethville, where they arrived on 26 July.[20][21] After travelling to the railhead at Fungurume, they were detrained and dragged 146 mi (235 km) through the bush by teams of oxen and steam tractors to the beginnings of the railway from Sankisia to Bukama.[22][23] At Bukama, the boats and stores were unloaded and prepared for a voyage down the Lualaba River, where despite running aground several times and being forced to take passage on a Belgian river steamer they completed their journey after sailing through Lake Kisale and arrived at Kabalo on 22 October.[24][25] From there, a small railway took them to just short of the Belgian port of Lukuga, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.[24] Here Spicer-Simson met the Belgian army commander, Commandant Stinghlamber, and the naval commander, Commandant Goor, and preparations were made to launch Mimi and Toutou and to seek out the Germans.[26]
Belgian and German preparations
The Germans had made use of the loss of the survey ship Möwe by taking some of her crew, and men from the merchant ships of the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie, and using them to man their ships.[27] The German position on the lake had been further strengthened with the loss of the cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River in July. Guns from Königsberg arrived at the German base at Kigoma, and the German naval commander on the lake, Captain Gustav Zimmer, had one of Königsberg′s 105 mm (4.1 in) SK L/40 Schnelladekanone (i.e. quick-firing gun) mounted on Götzen.[28] Members of Königsberg′s crew also made their way to join his forces, and Zimmer placed former crewmember Lieutenant Job Rosenthal in command of Kingani.[29] Job Odebrecht commanded Hedwig, while Zimmer himself commanded Götzen.[30]
Against this formidable force, the Belgians could only muster a petrol-driven barge armed with two cannon named Dix-Tonne, a motor boat named Netta, and a whaler fitted with an outboard motor. Goor hoped to bring into commission the as-yet unassembled Baron Dhanis, and the hulk of Alexandre del Commune, which had been sunk early in the war by Hedwig von Wissmann.[31] Zimmer may have been aware that the British were planning to launch ships on the lake, but he was also concerned that Baron Dhanis might be assembled and launched.[32] The 1,500 long tons (1,500 t) Baron Dhanis was not necessarily a threat to Götzen in port, but he was determined to maintain his freedom of movement on the lake.[28] Lacking concrete information he sent Rosenthal aboard Kingani to reconnoitre Lukuga.[33]
The Belgians mounted floatplanes on the lake giving them the ability to observe the German positions and to bomb them.[35]
Battle
Rosenthal investigates
Lieutenant Job Rosenthal, commanding Kingani, made several passes and observed work underway on a new harbour at Kalemie, south of Lukuga, where Spicer-Simson intended to make his base.[33][36] Still lacking detailed information on the enemy's movements, Kingani returned early on the morning of 1 December and attempted to approach the harbour. Rosenthal's vessel was spotted by the shore batteries and driven away, but returned the following night and Rosenthal himself swam to Lukuga to examine the slipways under construction.[37] He also discovered the camps, where the British flag revealed the presence of Spicer-Simson and his expedition. Rosenthal travelled down the railway line and discovered both Mimi and Toutou, and the disassembled parts of Baron Dhanis.[37] Realising that the threat actually lay in the British vessels, he attempted to return to Kingani, but was unable to locate her in the dark. He attempted to conceal himself and hoped that Kingani would return at nightfall, but was discovered by a Belgian patrol and taken prisoner.[33][38] While a captive he succeeded in sending a message, with a secret addendum written in urine to Zimmer warning him of what he had seen, but the message did not reach Kigoma for several months.[33]
Mimi and Toutou are launched
The slipways at Kalemie were ready by mid-December, and on 22 December Toutou was launched onto Lake Tanganyika, with Mimi following the next day.[2][39][40] Final preparations were made on 24 December, including the fuelling and the fitting of guns, after which brief trials were made. On 26 December, Kingani approached Kalemie. Rosenthal's successor – Sub-Lieutenant Junge – had orders to gather information on naval preparations, and at 06:00 in the morning – as Spicer-Simson was conducting morning prayers – she was sighted offshore.[39][41]
Kingani is captured
Mimi and Toutou set out of the harbour after Kingani had passed by. Unexpectedly finding himself pursued by two motor boats flying the
Kingani′s six-pounder gun could only fire forward, however, and the faster and more nimble motor boats were able to close the range and open fire with their three-pounder guns, while avoiding the German's fire. After a short action lasting 11 minutes, Kingani was hit on her gun, the shell passing through the gunshield and killing Junge and two petty officers, Penne and Schwarz.Her six-pounder gun was moved to her stern, while one of the 12-pounder guns that had been mounted ashore was fixed to the bows.
Hedwig is sunk
It was not until mid-January that Hedwig came to Lukuga to investigate the disappearance of the German ship.[50] By now, Spicer-Simson had been given the repaired Belgian vessel Delcommune—now renamed Vengeur—to add to his flotilla.[53] Odebrecht scouted close to the shore, keeping clear of the shore batteries that were assumed to have sunk Kingani, but could not see anything worth reporting. He was ordered back to Lukuga on 8 February, and told to rendezvous with Zimmer on Götzen the following day.[54] Hedwig was spotted early in the morning and the expedition's forces sallied forth to intercept her. The combined Anglo-Belgian flotilla consisted of Mimi, Fifi, Dix-Tonne, and the whaleboat, Toutou having been damaged and still under repair.[55][b] Odebrecht spotted the approaching vessels, but continued to advance. He initially mistook them for Belgian craft, but the white ensigns revealed that they were British. He continued toward the shore until making a sharp turn to port at 09:30, either attempting to lure them toward Götzen, or having been fooled by an optical illusion into thinking the approaching vessels were larger than he had first thought.[56] The pursuing vessels chased Hedwig, with Fifi opening fire with her bow-mounted 12-pounder. The recoil stopped her dead in her tracks; Odebrecht used this situation to pull away. Hedwig could do 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) to Fifi′s 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), but as Fifi fell behind, Mimi sped past, firing on the retreating German vessel with her three-pounder gun.[45][57] The shots missed, but Hedwig′s stern guns did not have the range of Mimi′s weapon, and Odebrecht was forced to come about and try to hit her with his bow-mounted six-pounder.[57] The two circled for a time, unable to score hits, until Fifi closed. Spicer-Simson, commanding aboard Fifi, was down to three shells on his 12-pounder, and risked being outclassed if Hedwig could bring her own six-pounder to bear.[45] At this moment, a shell jammed in Fifi′s gun, and in the 20 minutes that it took to clear it, Hedwig again pulled away, searching for Götzen.[58] With her second to last shot, Fifi fired again. The shell hit Hedwig′s hull, causing flooding, while moments later her last shell hit the engine room, bursting the boiler and killing five African sailors and two Germans.[59] As fires began to spread through the stricken craft Odebrecht gave the order to abandon ship, and set explosive charges to destroy the sinking vessel.[59] (Three of the dead were the engineer and two native stokers in the boiler room; the others were a warrant officer and three natives). Of the remaining ships company, a European stoker and native seaman were slightly wounded when two of the ships boats were hit by shells; Twelve Europeans, including the captain, and eight natives were captured by the British.[60] Besides the 20 survivors the British also captured a large German naval ensign, the first to be taken in the war.[61]
Götzen is scuttled
The flotilla returned to shore with their prisoners, and the following day Götzen appeared offshore, steaming slowly past in search of the missing Hedwig. Alerted, the crews rushed to man their boats, but Spicer-Simson forbade an attack.[63] Shortly afterward, Spicer-Simson left the lake for Stanleyville, in search of a boat to rival Götzen. He found one such vessel—St George, a steel boat belonging to the British consul at Banana—and had her dismantled, dragged to Lake Tanganyika and reassembled.[64] By the time he returned in May, the German position on the lake had deteriorated further. The Belgians were about to capture Kigoma and a British force was pushing north toward Bismarckburg. The expedition was to support land operations from the lake, and the flotilla, consisting of Mimi, Toutou, Fifi and Vengeur arrived off Bismarckburg on 5 June. Finding the harbour defended by a fort, Spicer-Simson decided not to attack, and withdrew to Kituta.[citation needed]
This allowed the German forces to escape in a fleet of dhows, an act which provoked the anger of the army commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray.[58][65] The naval expeditionary force remained at Bismarckburg, where Spicer-Simson was chastened to learn that the fort's guns were in fact wooden dummies.[65]
Meanwhile, the British had provided the Belgians with four
Aftermath
Anglo-Belgian control of Lake Tanganyika was secured by mid-1916, though the war in Africa dragged on for another two years. Most of the men of the naval expedition returned to Britain, where Spicer-Simson was awarded the
Notes
a. ^ Foden maintains throughout that the Admiralty were unaware of the existence of the Götzen, and that the expedition only became aware of her after their arrival on the lake shore. The presence of Kingani was also a surprise to them. Paice instead claims that Lee was aware of the Götzen from February, when structural work on her was nearing completion, and that he informed the Admiralty of her when he reported to them in April.
b. ^ Paice records that Spicer-Simson had Mimi, Toutou, Fifi and 'a Belgian motor boat known only as Vedette'.[54] Vedette is presumably the whaleboat with the outboard motor, identified by Foden as being termed by Commandant Goor as "la vedette (patrol boat)".[31] Foden notes that Toutou had damaged her bows in a collision with the harbour wall, and had then sunk in a storm, before being recovered.[57]
Citations
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 22.
- ^ a b c d e f g Spencer. Encyclopedia of World War I. p. 668.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. p. 98.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. pp. 32–3.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 22.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 151.
- ^ a b c Kiester. An Incomplete History. p. 80.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 99.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. pp. 99–100.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 100.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e Kiester. An Incomplete History. p. 81.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. Back cover.
- ^ a b c Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 15.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 101.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 37.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. pp. 38–9.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 38.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 77.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 81.
- ^ Campbell. Sailormen All. p. 235.
- ^ Campbell. Sailormen All. p. 236.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 128.
- ^ a b Campbell. Sailormen All. p. 241.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 150.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 160.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. p. 145.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 146.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 75.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 76.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 162.
- ^ Kiester. An Incomplete History. p. 83.
- ^ a b c d Paice. Tip & Run. p. 147.
- ^ Early January 1916 the Anversville departed from Falmouth on its expedition to the Belgian Congo, with four unarmed and disassembled seaplanes and four airmen on board.
- ^ Aimé Behaeghe First Pilot in Central Africa in Cross&Cocade 2008 Vol. 39, Nr. 1 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine (PDF; 12.9 MB); The Times vom 16. Juni 1916, P. 8
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 177.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 180.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 181.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 148.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. pp. 184–5.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 192.
- ^ Campbell. Sailormen All. p. 242.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 194.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 195.
- ^ a b c Campbell. Sailormen All. p. 243.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 197.
- ISBN 9780141946573. Archivedfrom the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. pp. 148–9.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 204.
- ^ a b c Paice. Tip & Run. p. 149.
- ^ "No. 29427". The London Gazette. 4 January 1916. p. 181.
- ^ "RN Officer's Service Records—Simson, Geoffrey Basil Spicer". DocumentsOnline. The National Archives. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 218.
- ^ a b Paice. Tip & Run. p. 150.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. pp. 220–3.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 221.
- ^ a b c Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 223.
- ^ a b Kiester. An Incomplete History. p. 85.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 225.
- ^ National Geographic October 1922 .pp.362-363. 1922. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 226.
- ^ Hedwig von Wissmann in the back
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 241.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 245.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. pp. 252–5.
- ^ Paice. Tip & Run. p. 230.
- ^ Leconte: Les ancêtres de notre Force Navale. S. 331; Moulaert: La campagne du Tanganika. S. 119
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 258.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 266.
- ^ Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 267.
- ^ a b Foden. Mimi & Toutou Go Forth. p. 310.
References
- Campbell, Gordon (2008). Sailormen All. READ BOOKS. ISBN 978-1-4437-8153-4.
- ISBN 9780141946573.
- Kiester, Edwin (2007). An Incomplete History of World War I. Murdoch Books. ISBN 978-1-74045-970-9.
- Paice, Edward (2008). Tip & Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa. Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-2349-1.
- Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (2005). Volume 3 of The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-420-2.
External links
- "No. 30182". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 July 1917. pp. 7070–7072. Spicer-Simson's despatch on the progress of the expedition.