On the
declaration of war in August 1914 many men of all races in the British East
Africa Protectorate (now Kenya)
volunteered for military service. One
infantry unit that was formed was titled The East African Regiment. The Regiment contained two rifle companies of
Europeans and one rifle company of Indians, named the Pathan Company.
The Regiment
was quickly trained and deployed onto the defence of the Uganda Railway that
ran from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast to
Kisumu on Lake Victoria. German raiding parties were quick to cross
the nearby border from German East Africa (now Tanzania) intent on setting
demolitions on the railway line. A
Distribution of Troops Report dated 4 September 1915 shows that the two
European companies of the East African Regiment (total 82 men) were positioned at
Bura, just east of Voi, and the Pathan Company (total 80 men) was at Voi on the
railway line.
Right: MG Section training in East Africa
However by
early 1915 enthusiasm for remaining in military service was waning amongst
Europeans and Indians in the Protectorate.
Some men had farms and businesses to attend to that were now important
to the war effort, others went sick from malaria and other tropical ailments
and others obtained release in order to go and fight in Europe. By March the East African Regiment had shrunk
to a strength of 40 Europeans, and the Pathan Company had disappeared
altogether.
The East African Regiment Maxim Gun Company
It was decided
to change the employment and title of the East African Regiment and the
remaining 40 men moved to Nairobi
where they commenced machine gun training on 25 March 1915.
On 1 April the unit was re-titled the East
African Regiment Maxim Gun Company with an establishment of:
4 African
porters per gun to carry gun parts and ammunition
15 African
porters per gun to carry ammunition
3 mules per gun
to carry reserve ammunition.
Above: East Africa MG Company area of operations
The Raid on Bukoba
As machine gun
training at Nairobi was concluded the company
received orders to take part in an operation on Lake
Victoria. The men, guns and
ammunition entrained at Nairobi
on 19 June arriving at Kisumu the following day. Stores, ammunition and mules were loaded
aboard the steamer SSUsoga and then the men marched aboard. Lieutenant J.M. Myles commanded No 1 Section
and Lieutenant F.A. Batchelor commanded No 2 Section.
Major General
M.J. Tighe, the British theatre commander, had received permission from the War
Office to mount a raid on the German port of Bukoba which was located about 30
miles south of the Ugandan border on the west side of Lake Victoria. In Bukoba was an important German signal
station that was to be destroyed. Many
of the German defenders in Bukoba were to be lured north towards the Ugandan
border by British military demonstrations in that area. This ploy worked well.
Brigadier
General J.M. Stewart led the raid. His
force included elements of the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashires,
the 25th Fusiliers (Frontiersmen), the 3rd King’s African
Rifles, the 29th Punjabis, a party of Royal Engineers, the Faridkot
Sappers (an Imperial Service unit provided by the Ruler of Faridkot in India),
a section of the Indian 28th Mountain Battery (screw-guns that could
be disassembled and carried on mules), medical and supply units and the East
African Regiment Maxim Company. Six
steamers of the Royal Navy Lake Flotilla carried the British force.
The Company was
tasked with providing machine gun support to the 25th Fusiliers
(Frontiersmen) who also travelled on the SS
Usoga. At 0530 hours on 22 June the
Fusiliers and the Maxim Company started disembarking at an unopposed landing
site about three miles north of Bukoba town.
The Maxims were mounted on the Usoga
to cover the first boatloads of Fusiliers to land. After a stiff climb up onto a ridge
overlooking the town the Maxim Company came into action alongside the Fusiliers
at 0730 hours. As the German defenders
realised what was happening they deployed machine guns and a local Arab
infantry company to hold the next parallel ridge inland, which became known as
Arab Ridge.
Above: German Fort burning at Bukoba
The Loyal North
Lancashires were tasked with seizing Arab Ridge which was the vital ground on
the battlefield, but this was a lengthy process due to both the craggy outcrops
that provided cover to the enemy and the tough fighting ability of the
Arabs. Meanwhile the Fusiliers could not
execute their task of advancing towards Bukoba down the valley between the two
ridges as the enemy machine guns were dominating the ground. Eventually the Indian mountain guns began to
neutralise the enemy machine guns with direct fire. One of the first Maxim targets was an enemy
machine gun 1,200 yards away in the valley bottom that was holding up the
Fusiliers. By watching the bullet strike
against adjacent rocky outcrops the No 2 Section’s Maxim fire was brought onto
this enemy gun which was forced to change location up onto Arab Ridge.
No 2 Section
then moved forward to support a Fusilier company located about 800 yards
forward and to the left. During this
move enemy machine gun fire was aimed at the Section but went overhead due to
faulty enemy ranging. Around 1630 hours
the Fusiliers mounted a rush forward to seize a knoll, later known as Fusilier
Knoll, and the Maxims supported this successful assault. The company then concentrated near Fusilier
Knoll for the night. No casualties had
been incurred during this first day’s fighting, but the Fusiliers had lost three
men killed and six wounded, two of those wounded later dying because of their
wounds.
The second day’s fighting
At 0600 hours
on 23 June the British advance on Bukoba town began. The mountain guns, now positioned at the
south end of Arab Ridge, engaged a German field gun above the town and also
shelled the German trenches in front of Bukoba.
At 0730 a torrential shower of rain descended for about an hour,
reducing visibility and movement. The
Fusiliers and the Maxim Gun Company advanced along the lake shore, No 1 Section
being on the left and No 2 Section being on the right flank. But here the ground favoured the defender and
small plantations, thickets of woodland and water courses concealed German
troops.
During the
advance No 2 Section was subjected to heavy fire from low bushes about 250
yards away on the right. The Section
came into action and returned fire, silencing the enemy. However German snipers had killed Private
P.B. Junor, one of the Section No 1s, seriously wounded Lieutenant Batchelor
and slightly wounded another man.
Lieutenant Myles now ordered No 2 Section to join No 1 Section on the
left flank by the lake shore. The
Fusiliers fought their way forward against a withdrawing enemy, supported by the
Maxims, and at around 1600 hours a man in No 1 Section was seriously wounded in
the leg.
The enemy then totally
withdrew from Bukoba town and the Fusiliers occupied it. The Maxim Gun Company was ordered by
Lieutenant Colonel D.P. Driscoll, Commanding Officer of the Fusiliers, to mount
its guns outside the house of the now departed German Commandant, and to stay
there until further notice. The Sappers
destroyed the German signals station and enemy stores, buildings and
munitions. Brigadier General Stewart is
stated (by Meinertzhagen – a dubious source) to have assented to a request from
Colonel Driscoll for the town to be looted and scenes of drunkenness and
indiscipline followed amongst some elements of the Fusiliers. The Maxim Gun Company stayed at its post as
ordered.
At around 1900
hours the company received orders to report to the town pier where the British
force was arranging an evacuation.
Embarkation was at 1930 hours and the Maxims were deployed aft on the SS Usoga to cover the move out into the
lake. Before embarking eight British
dead soldiers were buried in a mass grave in the town. After the war they were re-buried in Dar Es Salaam War Cemetery.
The Bukoba raid
was well-publicised as a British success, which was needed after a number of
German successes in the early months of the war. The East African Regiment Maxim Gun Company
disembarked at Kisumu and returned by rail to Nairobi.
The Advance into German East
Africa
On 26 October
the unit designation was altered to remove the word “Regiment” and on 4
November the Company moved to Kajiado, south of Nairobi, and in late December it marched a
little further south to Bissil. In late
January the unit moved across the German East African border to the Longido
area. Lieutenant Myles was promoted to
Captain and Sergeants J.M. Morrison and F. Mackey were commissioned as
Lieutenants. The unit establishment was
increased to: 6 machine guns, 1 Captain, 3 Lieutenants, 1 Company Sergeant
Major and 95 Rank and File. The
establishment for Followers was: 6 Stretcher Bearers, 18 Syces (mule handlers),
2 Cooks and 1 Sweeper.
During the
British advance into German East Africa in
March 1916 the Maxim Company was part of Major-General Stewart’s 1 Division.
The Company advanced from Longido to Moshi but did not come into action. Lieutenant Morrison died of dysentery on 31
March and was buried in Voi
Cemetery. The Company was then tasked to be part of
Major-General van Deventer’s advance by the British 2nd Division
from Arusha to Kondoa Irangi. This march
was made in appalling weather and without adequate logistic support (General
Smuts, now the British theatre commander, had been a Boer guerrilla leader and
he never took logistics seriously). On
15 April 1916 a very serious break-down in discipline occurred in the Company
when 29 Non Commissioned Officers and men refused to Saddle Up on morning
parade. It appears that they took
exception to the march, the weather and the orders they were given. These men were placed under arrest and the
Company resumed its march to Kondoa Irangi arriving there on 2 May. The disciplined men who had completed this
march can be applauded for their perseverance in appalling conditions, often on
much reduced rations and without blankets because the transport columns (porters
and Mules) could not catch up.
Above: A British Machine Gun
The Company was
part of the British defence at Kondoa Irangi during the German attacks there in
late May, but does not appear to have fired its guns. On 29 May one man, name unknown, was killed
and three others wounded by a German shell.
The next day Lieutenant F. Winchcombe joined the Company. In a London Gazette Supplement dated 30 June
1916 Captain Myles and Lieutenant Batchelor were Mentioned In Despatches. On 3 July 40 South African infantrymen, ten
coming from the each of the 9th, 10th, 11th
and 12th South African Infantry, were posted into the Company. The unit marched south with General van
Deventer’s advance to the German Central Railway, arriving at Dodoma on 31 July.
The Company was
in action again on 10 August supporting a successful attack by the 10th
South African Infantry on Njangalo. A
larger engagement followed on 15 August when all six guns expended a total of
6890 rounds supporting a South African attack on Kidete. The German defence held its ground but the
defenders withdrew during the hours of darkness. The War Diary reports that the guns fired
well but for two that had problems with the ball firing muzzle attachment. Two MK 1 firing pins broke during the action
and there were one or two circumferential bursts fired. The War Diary entries end on 30 September
1916 with the East African Maxim Company located at Uleia, 25 miles south of
Kilosa in German East Africa. It was raining
heavily, the men had no tents, personal kits or blankets and did not expect any
resupply before 10 October when ox-drawn transport might arrive.
Our knowledge
of this interesting unit ends here. Very
probably the Company stayed with the South African troops until most were
withdrawn in early 1917 because of exhaustion and poor health. It is likely that then the East African Maxim
Gun Company was disbanded.
SOURCES:
Official History.
Military Operations East Africa August
1915 – September 1916 by
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hordern.
War Diary East African Maxim Gun Company (WO
95/5338). HQ Nairobi War Diary (WO 95/5360). Army Diary 1899-1926 by Colonel R. Meinertzhagen (an interesting but now
discredited source).
Commonwealth War Graves
Commission records. London
Gazette. Medal Index Cards.
Right: MG Section training in East Africa
