Kamerun campaign
Kamerun campaign | |
---|---|
Part of the British Nigeria 03°52′N 11°31′E / 3.867°N 11.517°E | |
Result | Allied victory |
Territorial changes | Kamerun divided into League of Nations mandates under British and French rule (1919) |
- Nigeria
- India
Frederick H. Cunliffe
Joseph G. Aymerich
Félix Fuchs
Carl H. Zimmermann
1,668
French:
7,000
Belgian:
600[2]
Total:
9,000
1,855
1915:
6,000[3]
917
French:
906[4]
The Kamerun campaign took place in the German colony of
Background
The German military forces stationed in the colony at the time consisted of around 1,855 Schutztruppen (protection troops). However, after the outbreak of war by mid-1915, the Germans were able to recruit an army of around 6,000. Allied forces on the other hand in the territories surrounding Kamerun were much larger. French Equatorial Africa alone could mobilize as many as 20,000 soldiers on the eve of war while British Nigeria to the west could raise an army of 7,550.[3]
Operations
Invasion in 1914
At the outbreak of war in Europe in early August 1914, the German colonial administration in Kamerun attempted to offer neutrality with Britain and France in accordance with Articles 10 and 11 of the
By 25 August 1914, British forces in present-day Nigeria had moved into Kamerun from three different points. They pushed into the colony towards Mara in the far north, towards Garua in the centre, and towards Nsanakang in the south. British forces moving towards Garua under the command of Colonel MacLear were ordered to push to the German border post at Tepe near Garua. The first engagement between British and German troops in the campaign took place at the Battle of Tepe, eventually resulting in German withdrawal.[11]
In the far north British forces attempted to take the German fort at Mora but initially failed. This resulted in a long siege of German positions which would last until the end of the campaign.[12] British forces in the south attacking Nsanakang were defeated and almost completely destroyed by German counter-attacks at the Battle of Nsanakong.[13] MacLear then pushed his forces further inland towards the German stronghold of Garua but was repulsed in the First Battle of Garua on 31 August.[14]
In September 1914, the Germans had mined the Kamerun or Wouri estuary and scuttled naval vessels there to protect Douala, the colony's largest city and commercial centre. British and French naval vessels bombarded towns on the coast and by late September had cleared mines and conducted amphibious landings in order to isolate Douala. On 27 September, the city surrendered to Brigadier General Charles Macpherson Dobell, commander of the combined Allied force. The occupation of the entire coast soon followed as the French captured more of the territories to the south-east in an amphibious operation at the Battle of Ukoko.[15]
War in 1915
By 1915, the majority of German forces, except for those holding out at the strongholds of Mora and Garua had withdrawn to the mountainous interior of the colony surrounding the new capital at
When the weather improved, British forces under Cunliffe moved further south, capturing a German fort at the Battle of Banjo in November and occupying a number of other towns by the end of the year.[19] By December, the forces of Cunliffe and Dobell were in contact and ready to conduct an assault of Jaunde.[20] In this year most of Neukamerun was occupied by Belgian and French troops, who also began to prepare for an assault on Jaunde.[21]
Surrender in 1916
In early 1916, the German commander, Carl Zimmermann came to the conclusion that the campaign was lost. With Allied forces pressing in on Jaunde from all sides and German resistance faltering, he ordered all remaining German units and civilians to escape to the neutral
Atrocities
German forces ordered a scorched earth policy against the indigenous
Aftermath
In February 1916, before the campaign ended, Britain and France agreed to divide Kamerun along the Picot Provisional Partition Line.
Notes
- ^ Paice 2007, p. 299.
- ^ Strachan 2004, p. 31.
- ^ a b Killingray 2012, p. 116.
- ^ Moberly 1931, p. 426.
- ^ Erlikman 2004.
- ^ a b Njung, George Ndakwena (2016). Soldiers of their Own: Honor, Violence, Resistance and Conscription in Colonial Cameroon during the First World War (PDF). University of Michigan.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 49–52.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 46, 50.
- ^ a b Ngoh 2005, p. 349.
- ^ Killingray 2012, p. 117.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 73–93.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 170–173, 228–230, 421.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 106–109.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 93–97.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 129, 156–157.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 268–270.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 294–299.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 300–301, 322–323.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 346–350.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 388–293.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 383–384.
- ^ Moberly 1931, pp. 405–419.
- ^ Moberly 1931, p. 421.
- ^ Moberly 1931, p. 412.
- ^ Quinn 1973, pp. 722–731.
- ^ Moberly 1931, p. 422.
References
- Elango, L. Z. (1985). "The Anglo-French "Condominium" in Cameroon, 1914–1916: The Myth and the Reality". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. XVIII (4). Boston, MA: Boston University African Studies Center: 656–673. JSTOR 218801.
- Erlikman, Vadim (2004). Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik (in Russian). Moscow: Russkai︠a︡ panorama. ISBN 5-93165-107-1.
- Killingray, D. (2012). John Horne (ed.). Companion to World War I. London: Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-2386-0.
- Moberly, F. J. (1995) [1931]. Military Operations Togoland and the Cameroons 1914–1916 (Imperial War Museum and Battery Press ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 0-89839-235-7.
- Ngoh, V. J. (2005). "Cameroon (Kamerun): Colonial Period: German Rule". In Kevin Shillington (ed.). Encyclopedia of African History. Vol. I. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-245-1.
- O'Neill, H. C. (1919) [1918]. The War in Africa 1914–1917 and in the Far East 1914 (reprint ed.). London: Longmans, Green. OCLC 786365389. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- Paice, E. (2009) [2007]. Tip and Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa (Phoenix ed.). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-7538-2349-1.
- Quinn, F. (1973). "An African Reaction to World War I: The Beti of Cameroon". Cahiers d'Études Africaines. XIII (Cahier 52). Paris: Éditions EHESS (France). ISSN 1777-5353.
- Strachan, H. (2004). The First World War In Africa. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-925728-0.
Further reading
- Bryce, J. B.; Thompson, H.; Petrie, W. M. F. (1920). The Causes of the War: The Events of 1914–1915. The Book of History A History of all Nations From the Earliest Times to the Present, With Over 8,000 Illustrations. Vol. XVI. New York: The Grolier Society. OCLC 671596127. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- Burg, D. F.; Purcell, L. Edward (1998). Almanac of World War I. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky. ISBN 0-81312-745-9.
- Damis, F. von (1929). Auf dem Moraberge – Erinnerungen an die Kämpfe der 3. Kompagnie der ehemalige Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe für Kamerun (in German). Berlin: Deuß. OCLC 253272682.
- Dane, E. (1919). British Campaigns in Africa and the Pacific, 1914–1918. London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC 2460289. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- Dornseif, Golf. British-French Rivalry in the Cameroon Campaign.
- Dobell, C. M. (1916). "Cameroons Campaign Army Despatch". The London Gazette (29604). HMSO. )
- ISBN 0-39330-564-3.
- Henry, H. B. (1999). Cameroon on a Clear Day. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. ISBN 0-87808-293-X.
- Hilditch, A. N. (1915). Battle Sketches, 1914–1915. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 697895870. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- Innes, A. D.; Redway, Major; Wilson, H. W.; Low, S.; Wright, E. Hammerton, J. A. (ed.). Britain's Conquest of the German Cameroon. The War Illustrated Album De Luxe; the Story of the Great European War Told by Camera, Pen and Pencil. Vol. IV. pp. 1178–1182. OCLC 6460128. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- Reynolds, F. J.; Churchill, A. L.; Miller, F. T. (1916). "77". The Cameroons. The Story of the Great War. Vol. III. P. F. Collier & Son. OCLC 397036717.
External links
- Timeline of the Conquest of Kamerun
- Kamerun im Spiegel der deutschen Schutztruppe
- Kameruner Endkampf um die Festung Moraberg
- "The German Colony of Cameroon". Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- Soldiers of their Own: Honor, Violence, Resistance and Conscription in Colonial Cameroon during the First World War