The Tides of War

Part 12

Chapter 45

David decided it was time for action after the seventh day.

Leaving their horses in the rift, he took the troop out during the night and arranged them alongside of the track. They waited concealed until the aircraft had returned back to its base before edging closer to the track and taking up positions.

The ambush was a complete success; at fifty yards the Ghurkhas couldn't miss. The carts were checked; provisions and fodder were quickly dispatched to the rift to supplement their own stocks along with some of the water carts. The rest were destroyed apart from two that were loaded with the dead bodies, which were taken back below the ford and dumped into the river. The empty carts were sent back to the rift were they were broken up for firewood.

Once they were gone, work began on covering their tracks. In three hours nothing remained to show of the ambush. It was noon before ten Uhlans were seen riding back towards the river.

That night, David ordered the mules to be herded back to the crater by a roundabout

route. For four days they stopped any water or supplies reaching the column; by now the number of carts was dwindling.

On the fifth morning they repeated their ambush on only ten carts, guarded by Uhlans with five riding in front and five behind. All the carts bore was water. He noticed the Uhlans horses were European stock with good bloodlines. Again everything was disposed of and their tracks carefully hidden. The wounded, along with the horses and mules sent back to the Crater.

Scouts reported that the column had haltered.

Later, forty Uhlans returned to the river moving slowly; their horse's heads hung low. They were led by an officer whose eyes constantly looked right and left, and he was mounted on a magnificent black stallion,

David held a council of war with Tartrha and his NCOs that night.

"It will be different tomorrow; they are expecting something to happen and will take precautions. If I was that officer I'd put out flankers on each side of the track, as well as front and rear guards. They may well bring more infantry with them. They must be getting desperate for water by now so I intend taking a Lewis gun with us. Make sure you have your best gunner using it," he told Tartrha.

David's premonition proved to be correct. They noticed the aircraft first flying in circles over the track, before a convoy of five heavy wagons drawn by bullocks came into view. They were escorted by the Uhlans, with a company of Askari's formed in front and back.

David ordered the Lewis gun to hold fire until commanded to do so. The first volley from the Ghurkhas downed the two Uhlan out-riders, and a number of the Askari, who dropped to their bellies returning fire wildly.

The Uhlan officer ordered his men into a line to charge. They dropped their lances and started off with a gallop straight towards the kneeling Ghurkhas.

David waited until they were a hundred yards from them, and then ordered the Lewis gun to open fire. Men and horses went down screaming as the charge was halted. The Askari seeing the carnage leapt to their feet and ran back towards the river leaving their weapons behind them in their haste to get away.

The horses were rounded up; miraculously none had been seriously hurt. Five Uhlans were wounded and were taken care of by a Ghurkha first-aid man. The aircraft circling above had witnessed the entire ambush, and now flew off in the direction of the German column.

The wagons were destroyed and set on fire and the water jugs smashed. The bullocks were driven back to the rift; they would supplement their rations. The dead were stripped of anything valuable and quickly buried. David rode the magnificent black stallion back to the camp; ordering the saddle and saddlebags to be taken to his quarters.

Back at the rift he questioned the wounded Uhlans after finding one who spoke English. It seemed they were under the command of Count Rupert Von Hassinberg; the Captain who had been killed. That night he sent the Uhlans back to the crater in a cart guarded by four Ghurkhas.

David was impressed by the quality of the saddle and saddlebags; made from the finest black leather. Inside the saddlebags he found a crude map of the track to Nairobi but with a mark on it in the hills near the crater. There appeared to be some letters written in German along with a pair of matching cutthroat razors with ivory handles, brush and soap. In addition there was silk underwear and a change of shirts also in silk, along with six magazines of bullets. On examining the saddle he found a pistol holster containing a long barrelled automatic pistol called a Luger, which had a very good balance in his hand.

Another leather case held a pair of binoculars, which, when he tried them out were far superior to his old telescope. The cavalry sword belonging to the Count was of Solingen steel with a razor edge to it. David reasoned the Count had come from a very wealthy family going by the quality of his horse and equipment.

Later he went down to the horse lines to examine the horse the Count had ridden.

It stood at least seventeen hands high; as big as Zeus he realised. Running his hands over its body he could feel the hard muscles in its legs and withers.

"I think I'll call you Diablo, boy," he said stroking its velvet nose.

Talking to Tartrha later that night he said, "Well, the cat is out of the bag now; they know there's someone behind them stopping their supplies, but not where we are yet. The biggest danger is the aircraft. We need to kill it before it discovers the rift so we need to lure it into a trap to do that."

He outlined his plan that they would put into force the following day.

The next morning four Ghurkhas were riding out on the veldt when they heard the aircraft approaching. They immediately spurred their horses, dashing back towards the rift with the aircraft following on behind. On reaching it the net was raised and they rode down the embankment into it with the net closing behind them.

The aircraft flew over it circling and coming back lower and slower as the two men peered down over the sides of it. The troop hidden under the net waited and when it was directly over them David gave the order to fire. Two Lewis guns and forty-four rifles open up as one.

The aircraft wobbled in the air and then smoke started streaming from it followed by flames. The aircraft crashed in a loud explosion some five hundred yards from the rift.

In his quarters that night David reviewed the events of the past days. So far things had gone their way in regard to the enemy, and they had been fortunate that none in his command had been killed or wounded as yet. But the surprise element was now gone. They must know a force was behind them blocking their supply chain.

What would they do now, he pondered? They must be very low on water; none had reached them for over seven days. What he needed was information on what the enemy camp was doing. Would they retreat back to the river or leave the guns and make a dash towards the crater and locate the stream? David thought long into the night, wrestling with the problem before coming to a decision.

The next morning, mounted on Zeus he led the troop out, leaving ten men behind to guard the rift. Six mules each carrying four filled water skins brought up the rear.

It took five hours to reach were the column had laagered up in a depression of the track. David kept the troop below the skyline and went forward on foot with the German binoculars.

He was confused by what he saw. Askari's were laid out under the wagons and carts, many only partially uniformed and there seemed very little order about them. At the top of the laager were tents with a big one with the German Imperial flag flying listlessly. German soldiers guarded the area with machine guns set up pointing down towards the Askari camp.

It took a few moments for him to realise that either the Germans were afraid of the Askari mutinying or they had already done so. He carefully edged back over the skyline before walking back to the troop. To his surprise he found Stanley and two of his troop waiting for him. After a quick embrace, Stanley brought him up to date while David's troop made coffee for them.

"My troop and half of Sultar's are blocking their advance. We have four Vickers set up and the mortars, zeroed in on the laager. They know we have them; they tried to take our positions two days ago using the Askari's but as soon as we opened up on them they dropped their rifles and ran; most of them out into the veldt. The German soldiers executed the few that returned to the camp but that didn't go down well with the remaining Askari's. It seemed to us that they're in open mutiny now within the German command.

"Four days previously twenty German soldiers and a hundred Askari set out for the crater with forty mules in tow. Sultar set up an ambush in the foothills, and between us we wiped them out. The wounded and prisoners were sent back to the Crater under guard along with the mules.

"Since then every night forty or fifty Askari have deserted. We captured some of them, and under interrogation they revealed that there is hardly any water left. Their rations had been cut three times and they were now on half a cup a day. Yet the General was seen shaving and washing so they're sure the whites are getting more water than them. They said they were pressed into service and had, had enough."

David considered this news before asking, "How many do you think they have now Stanley?"

"Including the Staff Officers, no more than 500, the Askari's who are left are mostly regulars. Leave them for a few more days and they'll do our job for us."

David shook his head, "I can't do that Stanley. Those are men down there; most don't even know what they're fighting for. I'll give them a chance to surrender."

A white flag was made with a tall stick to support it. David, along with Hans who spoke German, rode out, stopping just out of rifle range; Hans was holding the flag. After a few minutes he saw a white flag being waved in the German camp, and two men stepped out, one carrying the flag.

David and Hans dismounted and walked towards them; stopping when they were five feet from them. They were both German Staff officers; David and Hans saluted them, which was returned. Finding out from Hans they spoke English, David addressed them.

"My name is Colonel Ramage of the 1

st

Nairobi Rifles," he began.

The senior German officer introduced himself as Colonel Branmark of the 10

th

Rineguard.

"Are you empowered to speak for your General?" David asked.

The Colonel clicked his heels, "I am Sir."

David continued, "As you must know you are surrounded, and there is no aid going to reach you. I shall only give you this one opportunity to surrender now; it will not be given again.

My terms are simple; you may hold on to your personal weapons and leave this country. Water will be given to you once you leave this camp, sufficient for you to reach the river once you give your parole never to take up arms across the river again. You have exactly two hours from now in which to decide. After that, if no reply is forthcoming I shall open a bombardment on your camp. Do you understand Colonel?"

"If I can amend your conditions Sir... that the Askari hand over their weapons," he replied.

David nodded, "Agreed," realising that the conditions in the camp were far worse than he had imagined. They returned to their positions, to wait. An hour and a half later the white flag was waved from the camp. David went forward again; this time the General in person was there. David saluted him. "I'm General Otto von Frisburg; reluctantly I accept all of your terms."

"Very well General, tell your Askari's to come out of the camp with their rifles over their heads and carrying their water bottles. They will place their rifles where we tell them, after which we will fill their water bottles and send them down the track to the river. After which we will enter your camp and take the parole of the whites remaining. Water for you and your horses will be distributed. Any damage to your guns or other weapons will negate this surrender. Is that clear General?"

The general bowed his head, "You have my word as a Prussian Officer."

Stanley had sent some of his troop to fill more water skins from the stream as the Askari started to file out of the camp. After they had all gone, David took some of his troop into the camp where he found there were sixty-one Germans left. Water and food was given to them as they gave their parole. The four horses were all that remained; all in a pitiful condition. Fodder and water was given to them but it was apparent that they could not support a rider so mules were exchanged for them.

Before leaving the General complimented David on his tactics, "You fought a good war Colonel, I'm afraid I completely underestimated my enemy."

Chapter 46

It took seven days to transport the guns and weapons along with the ammunition back to Nairobi. The crowds lined the street to cheer as the troops rode by in formation. David was told by the Mayor of Nairobi that troops had arrived from Mombasa.

On finding out where they were billeted, David presented himself to a Major Mainwaring, who it seemed was newly arrived from Australia with two companies of Australian Light Horse, to take over the defence of Nairobi. Seated in his makeshift office David accepted a whisky from the Major.

"Well Colonel Ramage, you have pulled off a fantastic feat against a much larger enemy force. Could you please explain how you did it? I've only held this rank since boarding the ship at Freemantle and have yet to learn the trade of soldiering."

David liked the Major right away due to his friendliness and honest appraisal of himself.

"Not at all Major and the name is David." He then went on to explain in detail how his campaign had been fought. The Australian Major interjected a few times to clarify a point, but otherwise just listened. At the end of David's explanation, he shook his head and smiled. "The name's Bert, David; you make it all seem so simple but there was a lot of background information to it wasn't there?"

David chuckled, "The first thing was know the country that you will be fighting in. The second was to have information on the enemy's numbers and equipment, and thirdly to know your own men."

"Well, we will be starting from scratch," Bert replied. "Most of our horses are down at Mombasa recuperating from the sea voyage."

"Well if I can advise you, I'd have them salted right away," explaining about AHD. "In the meantime your men can join mine on patrol and learn about the country that way."

Over the next week David worked closely with Bert in setting up a citizen's home guard for Nairobi. They armed them with the German rifles and ammunition and Stanley took over as commander of the unit. His troop was issued with six of the German Maxim machine guns.

Bert moved his 190 men to the crater were they set up a tent camp at the bottom of it.

David sent out twenty men patrols comprising of ten Australians and ten Ghurkhas with a Ghurkha NCO in command. Some times larger patrols of over fifty men went out for a number of days with Bert in attendance, but with either himself, Sultar or Tartrha in overall command.

Initially the Australians used Crater horses, but as their own horses recovered from salting they used their own. After six months of this the Australians were finally in a position to take care of themselves.

David gave them thirty mules for pack duty, as they started to set up bases to cover all the fords along the river that bordered German East Africa.

A Signals Platoon arrived from England as well as a shipment that had telegraph equipment, and between them, the Australians, and the Ghurkhas telegraph lines were laid connecting all the main ford lookout posts back to the crater. More substantial buildings were erected for them in the Crater. To keep his own troops busy David would include some of them to join the Australians on lookout duty and to learn Morse code from the signallers.

On another ship, a Lieutenant Norris, a Serjeant and eight Royal Artillery troops arrived to service and train men for the three howitzers. The howitzers were kept in a railway shed in Nairobi along with their ammunition. Stanley billeted the men in town.

News from Europe was grim as the scale of casualties rose. The war seemed to be bogging down into trench warfare, where thousands died for the sake of a few feet of ground taken.

The Ottoman Empire joined the war on the German side, and British troops were sent to Egypt to safe guard the Suez Canal.

A new threat to Britain had developed in the form of submarine warfare. Allied merchant ships were being sunk without any defence against this threat at the moment. The German Navy had also released battle cruisers into the known shipping lanes.

"At least it remained fairly quite here," David thought as he laid the newspaper down.

In the Crater, life went on. Patar had done a wonderful job on the four horses belonging to the General's staff. Two were stallions, the other two mares. All had recovered and now ran tall and sleek with the other horses.

"They're a strain of Andalusian's," Patar had told David, "Bred for strength and endurance and they will make a good addition to the herd."

David had taken to riding Diablo using the German saddle, which he had found more comfortable than his own. Guy who was thirteen now, would ride with him on the grey stallion that had belonged to the German General; he had called it Mist, due to its colouring.

Susan and Yasmin had been kept busy at the hospital tending to the wounded Germans and Askari's. As each recovered they were sent to Nairobi were a prison compound had been built to house them. It was guarded by the home guard.

Bert was a regular caller at the house for dinner, and afterwards out on the stoop with a drink and cheroot would inform David of reports from the lookouts.

"They have been sending aircraft over," he said one night, "They make sure they're out of rifle range when they fly over the posts, but drop down lower as they fly inland. My guess is they're mapping out the land." Bert murmured.

David drew on his cheroot before replying, "They made the mistake of not knowing the country last time, and they won't repeat it again. The Maasi have reported that they're recruiting Askari's and training them again, also they have been erecting fencing around some of the grasslands. I can only surmise that they are paddocks, in which case they're expecting cavalry. It's the logical way to invade, to move fast this time."

Bert looked worried, "The posts don't have enough men to hold off an invasion."

David smiled, "We will be in a better position to make plans if and when the horses arrive. They won't be able to use them for at least two months after the sea voyage and salting them."

David included these views in the monthly report he sent to Robert Keeling, who had now been promoted to Brigadier General. In one of Robert's letters he had said that due to the current trench war that now dominated the European battlefield, that cavalry units were being changed to infantry; in part due to the high casualty rate on all sides. He had gone on to say there was no chance of them receiving more reinforcements but he was sending ten more Lewis guns out.

Chapter 47

The year dragged to a close and information from across the river started to dry up as the tribes either crossed the river or moved further north. The lack of information was brought up at one of the meetings held with senior officers.