In August 1914 Germany held four territories in Africa. German
East Africa, German South West Africa and the Cameroons were large but the
fourth territory, Togoland, was a small oblong-shaped possession on the Gulf of Guinea
that had the approximate land mass of Ireland. Its width averaged 120 miles and its length
300 miles. To the west of Togoland lay
the British Gold Coast, to the east lay French Dahomey and to the north was
French Upper Senegal & Niger.
Above: A pre-war French trading card depicting the German Colony of Togo
By effective
management the Germans had made Togoland into a successful colony that paid all
its own costs. Three short railway lines
had been laid from the capital and chief port of Lome
going northwest, east and north. The
northern line terminated just past Kamina, approximately 110 miles from Lome. At Kamina the construction of a high-power nine-mast wireless station had just
been completed in July 1914. In the
words of the Governor of The Gold Coast, Sir Hugh Clifford, this station was: “destined
to be the pivotal point of the German world-wide wireless system . . . designed to communicate with Berlin on the one hand, with Windhoek
in German South West Africa, and with Dar
Es Salaam on the east coast with the other”. The station could also communicate easily with
the Cameroons and with German ships in the Atlantic Ocean.
In Togoland
there were no German army Schutztruppe units but there were believed to be 800
armed police and 200 or more German civilians who had received some military training.
(A note to collectors, this article will go a long way to helping understand that the document shown HERE, supposedly issued in Lome in 1915, is an outright fake. There are a number of variations of this doc, all are fake. CB)
The coastal belt contained lagoons and
marshes and in the interior a range of mountains ran from the northeast down to
the southwest. Most of the land either
side of the range supported palm oil plantations, native cultivations, virgin
forest, and where this had been burned down, high grass and thick scrub. Away from the mountains August was usually a
rainless month. The temperature in the shade hovered around 90 degrees
Fahrenheit and the high level of humidity sapped strength from men and women
who worked, particularly if they were European.
As the Governor of Togoland, Duke Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, was on
leave in Germany
the military commander and acting governor was Major von Doering.
Above: A map showing the invasion routes.
British planning and initial moves.
August 1914 in
the Gold Coast was holiday season and both the Governor and the Commandant of
the Gold Coast Regiment (GCR),
Lieutenant Colonel R.A. de B. Rose, were enjoying leave in the United Kingdom. Mr. W.C.F. Robertson was the acting Governor
and Captain F.C. Bryant, Royal Artillery, was the acting Commandant. The GCR was part of the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) which drew its troops from
Nigeria (four infantry battalions, a mounted infantry battalion and two
artillery batteries each containing six 2.95 inch mountain guns), Sierra Leone
(one infantry battalion), Gambia (one infantry company) and the Gold
Coast. The GCR was organized into one
pioneer company, seven infantry companies each with one machine gun and one
artillery battery of four 2.95 inch guns.
In 1914 the GCR only recruited volunteers from the tribes of the Northern Territories (although this policy was relaxed
later in the war to allow Ashanti
and other tribes to volunteer). All the
GCR sub-units were in the Gold Coast in August 1914 and like all other WAFF
units the GCR was liable for service beyond the territory to which it
belonged. One other infantry unit, the West Africa Regiment (WAR), was in Sierra Leone. The WAR was recruited from within Sierra Leone and was an Imperial Service unit
paid for by the UK
government, unlike the WAFF whose costs were born by the British colonial
governments in West Africa.
Although help
was requested from other WAFF units the British only used the GCR in the
invasion of Togoland. Also of military
use in the Gold Coast were the 320 men of the Northern Territories Constabulary armed with carbines, three
machine guns and a 7-pounder gun, plus 800 civil
police and 400 men of the Customs
Preventive Service, all semi-militarily trained and mostly armed with
carbines. These three non-GCR units
played useful roles in the forthcoming operations. Also four Volunteer Corps totaling about 900 men (armed with rifles, four
machine guns and four 7-pounder guns) were available in the Gold Coast but
their remit was internal and they were there to be called out in the event of
invasion or rebellion (Volunteers were later to serve in the Cameroons and East
African campaigns). The big weakness of
the GCR was that the Regiment had no military support services. Civilian government officers provided what
supply, transport and medical services were needed within the Gold Coast but no
provision had been made for the delivery of these services during operations
outside the Territory.
On receipt of
orders from London
Captain Bryant immediately started deploying the GCR and mobilizing its
reservists in accordance with the Territory Defence Plan that envisaged attacks
upon the Gold Coast by German troops from Togoland. Meanwhile in London the Inspector-General of
the WAFF, Brigadier General C.M Dobell, as a member of the interestingly-titled
Offensive Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, submitted a
proposal accepted by the Sub-Committee stating that the GCR should immediately invade
Togoland, capture Lome and advance north to capture Kamina. On the
ground Bryant was of a similar opinion and was making the necessary plans. At this stage the British were working on the
assumption that French troops would not be involved in any operations in
Togoland.
On 5th
August the British and the French received a telegram from Major von Doering
requesting that the colonial territories remain neutral, and not involve
themselves in the European war. This was
viewed as an enemy ploy to keep the Kamina wireless station operating, and was disregarded. The following day and acting purely on his
own initiative, Bryant sent his company commander at Ada,
Captain E. Barker, overland under a flag-of-truce to Lome with an ultimatum that
von Doering surrender his colony. A
reply was to be made within 24 hours during which neither side would move
troops towards the frontier. After
delivering his request Barker, who was accompanied by a fluent German-speaking
District Commissioner, Mr. H.S. Newlands, returned to Gold Coast territory. British wireless intercepts now learned that
von Doering intended to evacuate Lome
and move north to defend Kamina. London, trying hard to catch up with Bryant’s initiative,
ordered that if Lome
was surrendered it must be immediately occupied as a base for an advance on
Kamina.
Barker started
his troops marching eastwards on the coast towards Togoland on 7th
August and returned ahead of them in a lorry to Lome for the German answer. He found von Doering and his troops
gone. The local District Commissioner,
Mr. Clausnitzer, surrendered Lome
and around a hundred German civilians to Barker. Clausnitzer stated that the surrender of the
capital was being made to avoid British naval bombardment, but if the British
advanced more than 75 miles into the interior then the Germans would resist
them. Barker and Newlands and their single
police orderly spent a lonely night in a Lome
bungalow. The next morning a Gold Coast
telegraph operator arrived at Lome
on a bicycle with an instrument and appropriate spares, allowing him to repair the
disabled German telegraph facility and establish communications with the Gold
Coast.
Back in Accra the British had heard from London
that the French had agreed to cooperate and were moving regular troops into southern
Togoland from Dahomey
to the east, whilst irregular mounted troops were moving into the German colony
from the north. Barker’s soldiers
force-marched across the border to Lome on 9th
August, followed by other GCR companies, and a group of Gold Coast officials
arrived by sea from Accra
and set about restoring sanitation, communications and port facilities in the
capital and providing medical services for the troops. (When Sir Hugh Clifford returned to Accra to resume his
Governorship he found considerable disarray within the Gold Coast
administration because of the absence in Togoland of his key officials.)
The advance north.
Bryant was made
a local Lieutenant Colonel and appointed allied commander. By 12th August he was established
in Lome with a
force of over 550 officers, British Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and men of
the GCR, three 2.95 inch guns, four machine guns, 50 Gold Coast police, 34 Gold
Coast civil officials and volunteers and 2,000 carriers and labourers. The Germans were demolishing railway bridges
on the Kamina line and so the British immediately advanced north along a rough
road that ran alongside the railway, supported by civilian railway construction
crews from the Gold Coast who repaired the line.
Raiding parties
totaling 200 men in two trains were sent south by von Doering on 15th
August to disrupt the British advance, but the GCR managed to block the line to
the north, trapping the trains and the troops in them. One train of 20 carriages was derailed at
Ekuni by obstacles placed on the line by Lieutenant H.S. Collins and his men,
and the second train was captured by Captain H.B. Potter at Agbeluvoe after
fierce fighting. Six enemy Europeans
were killed including the German commander Captain Pfaeler and 16 were captured. British casualties in these actions and in
skirmishes involving Bryant’s main column to the south totaled 7 killed and 38
wounded, 30 of the wounded being carriers.
Several of the wounds inflicted on British personnel were very
destructive, signaling that many Germans were using soft-nosed hunting
ammunition. Von Doering later
acknowledged this but disclaimed personal responsibility.
Meanwhile in
the north of Togoland British and French troops, constabulary and irregulars
had occupied Yendi and Sansanne Mangu respectively. Further south a GCR detachment occupied Kete
Krachi and French troops occupied German posts on and near the Dahomey
border. On 17th August
Bryant’s force was reinforced by Captain Castaing and his 150 Tirailleurs Senegalaise (French
colonial infantry) with seven French officers and NCOs. Two days later a large column of 345
Senegalese soldiers and 23 French whites left Tchetti at Bryant’s request to
advance on Kamina from the east. From
the west the “Krachi Column” of three GCR companies moved from Kete Krachi towards
Kamina. Von Doering was being threatened
on all sides. But the better German
troops maintained a good fighting spirit and their commander chose a
battlefield that lay across Bryant’s route.
Above: Chra Bridge and Village
The action at Chra.
None of the
Allied invasion columns appear to have encountered hostility from the Togolese
villagers that they encountered, but hearing that the Germans were distributing
rifles to some tribesmen Lieutenant Colonel Bryant now requested that tribal
levies be raised and armed in the Gold Coast.
He wanted to use these levies to secure the various British Lines of
Communications within Togoland. Despite
the eagerness of some Gold Coast Chiefs to mobilize their men the acting
Governor Mr. Robertson was adamant that this was politically undesirable. Reinforcements were requested from the WAFF
in Nigeria and Sierra Leone but these did not arrive at Lome in time to be deployed
on operations.
After resting
his men and obtaining a re-supply of ammunition and rations that were transported
forward from the railhead on the heads of the carriers, Bryant advanced
again. The Gold Coast Assistant
Commissioner of Police, Captain A.F. Redfern, was commanding patrols ahead of
the main column and on 21st August his men found the railway bridge
500 yards south of Chra village to be demolished. As the patrols moved towards the village two
mines were exploded in their path and two German machine guns opened fire. The scouts continued probing until they
established that a strong German entrenched position was located in the village
which lay on a rise in the ground. Here
the road passed through the west of the village whilst the railway used a
cutting on the east side. Dense bush
encroached on both flanks which were covered by three German machine guns. Von Doering had placed over 40 German whites
and around 300 Togolese soldiers at Chra (more arrived during the fighting).
Above: A sketch map showing the action at Chra
Bryant attacked
on the following day with two columns and an advance screen of scouts. His plan was poor as it divided his force and
he made little use of his best asset, the artillery. The western column used
half a GCR company to engage the enemy frontally whilst another GCR company
attempted to get around the enemy right flank.
The three mountain guns under the command of Lieutenant W.L. St. Clair supported
this column but their fire was not effective.
The eastern column used the GCR Pioneer Company to hold the enemy
frontally whilst half a GCR company (consisting of only 22 men) and the
Senegalese tried to turn the German left flank.
Bryant’s left and right flanking parties disappeared into the thick bush
and out of his sight and control.
Messages had to be sent with runners who made good targets for enemy
marksmen. The Allied troops in the bush
could not observe more than a few feet forward and this prevented platoons from
supporting each other’s movement with aimed fire. The tactical initiative was held by the
Germans who had spent three days preparing their defensive positions and fields
of fire, and whose re-supply was delivered by train from Kamina. Bryant’s men were attacking with whatever
carrier loads of ammunition accompanied his column.
The GCR company
on the west worked its way round the enemy flank until it was confronted by a
German trench line. This was judged to
be impossible to assault without more fire support, and at dusk this company
moved 300 yards west of the village and entrenched itself in a river bed. Captain Castaing led the troops on the east
flank and he had allocated 17 of his Senegalese soldiers to be under the
command of Lieutenant G.M. Thompson, Royal Scots, who commanded the weak GCR
half-company. Castaing’s men moved
through the bush until at 1100 hours they encountered strong German defences
east of the railway cutting. At around 1530 hours Lieutenant Thompson judged
that the enemy fire had slackened sufficiently for an assault to be practical,
and he charged the enemy trenches with his men.
However the German defenders had just been reinforced by a company that
arrived by train from Kamina, and they shot the assaulting Allied troops down at
50 yards range. Lieutenant Thompson,
Lieutenant Guillemart of the French Colonial Infantry, one GCR sergeant and 12
Senegalese soldiers were killed and many more were wounded. Castaing’s surviving men entrenched
themselves east of the railway cutting.
Bryant’s losses
during the day had been 23 dead and 52 wounded, 17% of the strength of his
column. The Official History
comments: “The three enemy machine guns, well concealed and skillfully handled by
German ranks, had fired many thousands of rounds and had contributed largely to
the successful defence. Their effect on
the men of the WAFF, who were facing machine gun fire for the first time, had
been distinctly demoralizing, and had called for the highest qualities of
leadership on the part of their British commanders. Moreover, the old pattern British machine
guns, although well handled, had not been nearly so effective.”
Above: Part of Kamina Wireless Station after demolition
Kamina.
Bryant planned
a new attack on Chra to be mounted at first light on the next day. This time he intended to attack only on the
west flank. But Allied patrols found
that the enemy had withdrawn during the night.
Apparently many of the Germans wished to stay and fight at Chra as they
had only taken 13 casualties and their defensive positions were intact. However von Doering, perhaps fearful of the
movements of other Allied columns, withdrew his men to defend the wireless
station at Kamina.
Bryant’s men spent
the next 48 hours at Chra evacuating wounded by an improvised ambulance train
that was not far behind the column, thanks to the rapid repairs made by the
railway engineers, and preparing for a further advance. On the night of 24th August the
Allies heard loud explosions from the direction of Kamina and on the following
morning patrols failed to see the masts of the wireless station. The Germans were becoming demoralised as they
saw the various Allied columns closing in on them at Kamina. Bryant’s column advanced north and two days
later at Glei met two Germans wishing to discuss surrender terms. Bryant insisted on unconditional surrender
and continued his advance. The Allies
had difficulty in crossing the flooded Amu River
but constructed footbridges to replace the demolished German bridge. (Temporary footbridges had to be strong in
order to take the weight of the carriers and their loads.)
On 27th
August both Bryant’s column and the French one from the east entered Kamina and
found all the nine huge wireless masts demolished and everything that was breakable
broken. Fuel oil had been poured over mechanical
and electrical items and ignited. Over
200 Germans surrendered with three machine guns, more than 1,000 rifles and
320,000 rounds of ammunition. The German
Togolese troops had no doubt disappeared into the countryside. German resistance in Togoland ended and the
first Allied victory of the Great War was proclaimed.
Occupation.
The French now
administered the east of Togoland whilst the British administered a smaller
area to the west. The French controlled
Kamina but did not reconstruct the wireless station. After the war Togoland was administered by
the French under a mandate from the League of Nations and in 1960 the country
became the French-speaking independent nation of Togo.
The Gold Coast
Regiment learned tactical lessons from the invasion of Togoland and went on to
serve with distinction in both the Cameroons
and East African campaigns. In 1918 the
Gold Coast was preparing to send an infantry Brigade to Palestine
until the conclusion of an Armistice with Turkey aborted that project. The government of the Gold Coast, with the
help of generous public subscriptions, met the total British cost of the
invasion of Togoland and also of the occupation and administration of the
post-invasion western British sector.
As a reward for
his dash and daring in neutralizing the Kamina wireless station so quickly Temporary
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Carkeet Bryant gained a substantive promotion to
major and was appointed to be a Companion of the Order of St. Michael & St.
George (CMG). His service in France from
1915 to 1919 led to the award of his becoming a Companion of the Distinguished
Service Order (DSO) and to the distinction of becoming an Officer of the Order
of the British Empire (OBE). He retired
as a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel in 1920.
[During the Second World War he was brought out of retirement to be a
Provost Marshall in the UK
and the Middle East as a temporary Colonel. For this he was Mentioned in Despatches and
elevated to becoming a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).]
Commemorations.
George
Masterman Thompson was the first British officer to be killed in action in the
Great War. A Special French Army Order
was published on 20th October 1914 commending his gallantry and the fine
example he gave to the French soldiers temporarily under his command. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre
with Palme. His is the only British
grave in the small Wahala Cemetery near Atakpame,
Togo.
Sergeant Asuri
Moshi, Gold Coast Regiment, who fell at his side is commemorated on the Kumasi
Memorial, Ghana
along with the other Gold Coast Regiment soldiers killed in Togoland.
(Photographs of
the cemetery and the memorial are displayed on the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission internet site.)
SOURCES: Official History, Military Operations, Togoland
& The Cameroons 1914 - 1916. by Brigadier General F.J. Moberley. The Great War in West Africa
by Brigadier General E.
Howard Gorges. From The Ivory Coast
to The Cameroons by A.J. Reynolds. The Empire At War by Sir Charles Lucas KCB KCMG. The History of The Royal West African Frontier
Force by Haywood and
Clark. Lieut. Colonel F.C. Bryant CMG CBE DSO, Gold Coast
Regiment, and the Short Campaign in Togo, August 11 to 26 1914. A
paper by Keith Steward FRGS.
