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Page 20
[Illustration: At the Provost Marshal's office at Windhuk--all in Law
and order]
[Illustration: The Union Jack just hoisted at the Governor's office,
Windhuk]
[Illustration: The Great Military Barracks at Windhuk]
SECTION IV
THE LAST PHASE
On the 19th of June Brigadier-General Brits, of the Northern Army,
occupied Omaruru, on the Karibib-Grootfontein line. The enemy had
retreated.
Nearly five weeks had passed since the Commander-in-Chief had
officially proclaimed the capital. During this time much had happened.
An abortive conference had taken place at Omaruru itself, the Germans,
we were informed afterwards, asking for terms that we were in no mind
to give them. The railway line between Swakopmund and Karibib, broken
up by dynamited bridges, had been to a great extent repaired. The
poorly rationed troops were now replenished. The horses, badly knocked
up after the rush through to Windhuk, had had opportunity to mend a
bit. General Botha had proclaimed the country; with refreshed troops
and horses, he was setting out to attempt to spring a final surprise on
the Germans. He had now the Aviation Corps in full working order--had
aerial eyes wherewith to be guided through a subtropical bush country
very full of possible dangers. He had ahead of him an enemy astonished,
yet, if what was rumoured was true, prepared to make a series of fights
and a big stand in country of his own choice. He had with him an army
that had crossed a desert and, arriving in bush country such as you
find in the Rhodesia "low" veld, knew the nature of it as only the
South African can.
On June 24 Headquarters ran into Kalkfeld just after midnight. The
enemy had retreated. It had been predicted with the utmost confidence
that the Germans would here put up a fight. So confidently was this
expected that the Commander-in-Chief would hardly believe it when the
aeroplanes returned and reported that there were about half a dozen
Germans left in the place. Yet that proved to be exactly the fact, and
so greatly impressed was General Botha with the accuracy of the
observations on this occasion that he emphasised that the skymen were
to receive every possible assistance for the future.
[Illustration: Panorama of Windhuk]
[Illustration: Picturesque Windhuk]
[Illustration: Windhuk. Basking in the sun: from the great Wireless
Station]
[Illustration: How the Germans started to try trading with us ten
minutes after we entered the Capital. Note the spelling]
On June 26 Headquarters arrived at Okanjande, and pushed through to
Otjiwarongo, arriving there at 12 noon. The pace of the trekking was
now becoming phenomenal, and though the country was quite good, water
was as scarce as ever, the bush being intensely dense, with thick sweet
grass as much as eight feet high in places. It was a country made for
ambushes. In less than a week General Botha had trekked over one
hundred and twenty miles, the distance from Karibib to Otjiwarongo.
During this trek the army had had water only twice on the stretch from
Omaruru. But delay of any kind was now highly undesirable: the columns
could not afford to pause long owing to the consumption of rations. It
was no part of the Commander-in-Chief's policy to make bases and await
the arrival of large supplies; water was uncertain, and congestion of
columns at the watering places had to be avoided as much as possible.
Near Okanjande the first great development in General Botha's final
strategy occurred. The northern advance was being conducted as follows.
Brigadier-General Brits, on the left, remained at Otjitasu, leaving it
on June 30. General Botha, with his command, in the centre, was holding
to the narrow gauge Karibib-Otavi-Tsumeb-Grootfontein Railway, and
General Myburgh's column to the right. Brigadier-General Brits now
branched away to Otjitasu, making for Outjo, Okanknejo, and across the
Etoscha Pan to Namutoni. The other columns moved on, trekking night and
day, as in the great advance across the Namib Desert.
Headquarters made Okaputa on June 29; paused the next day, and on July
1 the Staff, leaving Okaputa at 8 o'clock in the morning, reached Otavi
and Otaviafontein at 4.30 p.m., close on the heels of an engagement at
Osib between the Germans and Brigadier-General Manie Botha, who had
pushed on with the Orange Free State Brigade at 6.30 the previous
evening, June 30. This engagement took place in the now intensely thick
bush country. In defeating the enemy, at a cost of a dozen casualties,
Brigadier-General Manie Botha succeeded in securing the finest water
supply the Union Forces had yet seen, and so swift and resolute was the
fighting of the burghers that the enemy fled to their last strong-hold
northward towards Tsumeb. Before striking the enemy in this action the
Free State Brigade, and their accompanying batteries from the 2nd South
African Mounted Riflemen, had trekked forty-two miles in sixteen hours
without halt for any kind of a rest. Behind them, in support, came the
force, consisting of the 6th Mounted Brigade, with the 1st South
African Mounted Riflemen Batteries, who did a similar trek, through
thickest bush, covering almost fifty miles in twenty hours. And the
animals had come through from Karibib--almost two and a half degrees of
latitude south.
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