Missing Gun from the SMS Königsberg

[Chris Dale]

One tantalizing bit of the book says-

"Stories circulated for years of other guns seen in remote areas of the bush. In the 1970's the author heard the story of an abandoned gun that had been found by a game warden in a river bed in one of the Tanzanian Parks, but its inaccessibility meant that it remained where it was".

Cheers
Chris

[CPT Bob]

I see a “barrel without a flange” mounted on a Krupp carriage and a caisson. I also see serious-looking men with a weapon, not victors with a trophy.

My first guess would be the Kondoa-Irangi gun after it was unloaded from the train, but before it was hauled up-country to its demise.

Does this fit with the “Flange-No Flange” list?

[CPT Bob]

The wheel has sunk into the ground; no wonder they all look so happy. Ha!

[CPT Bob]

A second-look and a second-guess.

The wheels are not "stuck in the mud"; the Wedges are to dampen the recoil! I think the gun is prepared to fire in the direction the barrel is pointing.

The tall "L"-shaped pole in the left background indicates the telegraph wire. The retaining wall in the foreground, the crushed gravel and the linear orientation of the buildings & road all suggest a railway depot. The terrain appears to rise in the right-background.

I see a Krupp carriage. The barrel does not have a "flange". Does anyone recognize any of the Faces? Anyone else think it may be the K-I gun before the barrel exploded?

[CPT Bob]

This gentleman looks familiar: Lieutenant Hans Apel is on the Left. Notice the uninjured left foot in the Right photo.

[CPT Bob]

The Railroad Maintenance Shed and Turntable at Tabora (circa 1952-1954).

The caption states: “The sad remains of the historic Tabora shed, which was originally built by the Germans, can be seen on Google Maps at coordinates -5.017802, 32.81864”.

(http://www.energeticproductions.com/EAR ... EAR002.jpg)

If the Germans had that facility in Tabora prior to WW1, then they absolutely could have constructed the Pretoria Gun, or anything else they wanted to!

[Chris Dale]

Good work Cpt Bob, I love your observations! Here's my first thoughts...

OK, no flange...

I hadn't noticed the wedges, yes possibly to stop recoil in firing....

As to the men in the photo... could be German, British or Belgian... it's very difficult to tell. The tall helmets were older types used by all three armies, though probably not in use by the Belgians or British by 1916. The Germans used tall helmets and wider ones as well as captured wide Wolseley British ones.

As to the photos you posted, in the one on the right, that's Wenig not Apel who lost his foot.

And the other photo is the 4. Schützenkompanie not an artillery unit. So that's not Wenig or Apel in it, then...
http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/vollte ... 1/8016838/

Hundreds of European personel in East Africa on both sides wore tropical helmets and slouch hats. I don't think we can identify them by that.

I'll study more... the Tabora pic looks far more developed than I thought. But yes, they must have had a turntable if they ran locos both ways without simply reversing them on the central railway. Luckily my son is into steam trains, so I've had to read up on them a lot for bedtime stories! I think the DOA Central Railway was single track most of the way....
Cheers
Chris

[Chris Dale]

So IF that is 2 Kondoa Irangi, then the "flange - no flange" list looks like this

1 Kahe- flange
2 Kondoa Irangi- no flange
3 Mwanza- no flange
4 Bagamoyo- flange
5 Mkuyuni- no flange
6 Korogwe- flange
7 Tabora- flange
8 Kibata- no flange
9 Mahiwa- flange
10 Massassi- flange

Cheers
Chris

[Chris Dale]

It's very difficult to be certain about these guys...

Is that the chevron of a Feldwebel on the centre left man's left sleeve? Or just his right hand?

Does that slouch hat have the DOA white hatband?

Or does the man next to him have a British/SA army unit patch on his helmet's left side?

What do you think?

Cheers
Chris

[CPT Bob]

Perhaps the entire photo is “posed”, including the cannon. The wedges may be stuffed behind the wheels “just for the Photo”. I do not believe that the Gentleman walked around with the big club all the time, either. The “caisson” did not carry ammunition (the shells were too large), but it may have been used for carrying and setting fuses, or as a desk for a Plotting Board to Adjust Fire, or perhaps it was a giant beer cooler; regardless, I would not park that thing right there when I was setting up the gun. It is too close to the gun, and it is dangerously too close to the “muzzle-blast”. It could have been easily placed further away (in the shade under a tree or next to a building), but it is in the blazing sun, in the gravel at the depot next to the gun, waiting. (They were all waiting-around long enough to take a photograph!) I am sure that the white men in the photo are German, and that they are not smiling.

If this is a photo of the Kondoa-Irangi Gun before the barrel exploded, then it is likely that it was taken at DAR while waiting to be loaded onto a train or perhaps someplace such as Dodoma after it was unloaded. I am unsure of the either the Logistics or the Tactics involving the short life of the Kondoa-Irangi Gun, but I could imagine the gun sitting around the depot waiting for a train to arrive. I could not imagine the gun waiting at the depot for gangs of Native laborers to arrive.

It has the Blast Shield attached. That indicates that no one has had to pull it very far and that it has probably not been used in Combat. Troops soon learned that there was not any “incoming enemy fire & shrapnel” to be protected from, therefore the shields quickly became excess weight.

Additionally, if this is a photo of the Kondoa-Irangi gun, then it is likely that one of those men in the photograph is Lieutenant Reinhold Kohtz.

[danebrog]

The Guy on the left instead Richard Wenig, who lost his feet at the bombardment by HM Monitors "Severn" and "Mersey" in the Rufiji Delta and built afterwards his own prosthetic. But the guy on the Mule is also Richard Wenig. He used it as he had understandable problems to march with his prostetic
Unfortunately I am at the moment swamped with digging, excavating and archiving at an archaeological site near the Elbe river. But I appreciate your posts (late in the evening) and hope I can assist the brilliant research work somewhere in late August
Keep up the good work, mates!

[CPT Bob]

I have also been excavating (in my garden) in a village (Raubsville) next to a river (the Delaware). The weather has been warm recently; that is why I have been Hiding inside the cool house and doing this. Ha!

I found this today!

http://www.moltenofamily.net/picture-gallery/war/

[Chris Dale]

That'll be the Masasi gun in it's sheltered position at Tanga!

Good find Bob!

Cheers
Chris

[Chris Dale]

Back on the topic of the possible Kondoa Gun, good observations all round. One point the Kondoa gun was under fire from British artillery (the Pegasus guns) at the battle of Kondoa Irangi so might well have found the shield useful...

Cheers
Chris

[Chris Dale]

...and another update has just come in. I got a helpful email with an extract from Major J J Drought's diary (British officer) about the storming of Mwanza and the capture of the gun- with 400 rounds!

And the photo of the gun in Kampala...

kampala 3.jpg (40.3 KiB) Viewed 771 times

Cheers
Chris