I'm going to lay out all the information myself and Bob Wagner have been able to attain so far in the hopes that one of you might be able to spot a few more clues that we've overlooked. Much of the German side of this research was done by Holger Kotthaus on the Panzer Archiv Forum (
http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic.php?t=9020). There's more great discussion at
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... opic=88530
We know that the ten guns were salvaged from the wreck of the SMS Konigsberg in the Rufiji Delta in July 1915 and that they were dragged overland to Dar Es Salaam where the Germans set to work building gun carriages and limbers for some of them. They were then deployed for land use. Five were mounted on their original naval C06 fixed pivot stands to defend Dar Es Salaam, two on their pivot stands went to Tanga. Three were sent Westwards to Mwanza, Kigoma and to serve on the SS Graf von Götzen.
In March 1916 the SS Marie arrived in East Africa with supplies from Germany. Included with the supplies were four gun carriages made by Krupp specifically for the Königsberg's guns. This made more of them mobile and able to carry on the war as the Schutztruppe retreated. One by one the guns were destroyed or were captured as the campaign went on. All of them had fallen into allied hands after being disabled by the Germans before the end of 1917.
It is reported that the ten guns were captured at-
1 Kahe
2 Kondoa Irangi
3 Mwanza
4 Bagamoyo
5 Mkuyuni
6 Korogwe
7 Tabora
8 Kibata
9 Mahiwa
10 Massassi
Further to that we have the researches of Holger Kotthaus from various sources-
1.) – 21. März 1916 – Kahe – Bezirk XVII Moshi – Auf Mittelpivotlafette
Daressalam - Tanga - Korogwe (Usambara) - Kahe
Artillerieführer: Korvetten-Kapitän a.D. Werner Schönfeld
bei Abteilung Stemmermann / Nordtruppen unter Hauptmann Kraut
2.) – 18. Mai 1916 – Kondoa-Irangi – Bezirk XVI Kondoa-Irangi – Auf Krupp Lafette
Daressalam - Dodoma - Kondoa-Irangi
Geschützführer: Leutnant z.S. Reinhold Kohtz
bei Abteilung v. Chappuis / Kommando unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
3.) – 14. Juli 1916 – Muansa – Bezirk XIX Muansa – Auf Mittelpivotlafette
Daressalam - Tabora - Muansa
Artillerieführer: Oberleutnant d.R. Dr. Alfred Vogel
bei Abteilung Muansa - / v. Oppen / Westtruppen unter Generalmajor Wahle
4.) – 15. August 1916 – Bagamojo – Bezirk IV Bagamojo – Auf Krupp Lafette
Daressalam - Bagamojo
Geschützführer: Leutnant d.R. d. Matr.Art. Dr. Paul Friedrich
bei Abteilung von Bock / Osttruppen unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
5.) – 30. August 1916 – Mkuyuni – Bezirk V Morogoro – Auf selbstgebauter Lafette
Daressalam - Lembeni - Korogwe - Handeni - Mlembule - Kanga - Kwedihombo - Morogoro - Mkuyuni
Geschützführer: Leutnant z.S. a.D. Udo v. Eucken-Addenhausen
bei Abteilung Stemmermann / Osttruppen unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
6.) – 2. September 1916 – Korogwe – Bezirk XIV Tabora – Auf Krupp Lafette
Daressalam - Kigoma - ,,Götzen´´ - Dodoma - Kondoa-Irangi - Tabora - Korogwe (Kahama)
Geschützführer: Leutnant z.S. Reinhold Kohtz
bei Abteilung v. Linde-Suden / Westtruppen unter Generalmajor Wahle
7.) – 18. September 1916 – Tabora – Bezirk XIV Tabora – Auf selbstgebauter Lafette
Daressalam - Kigoma - ,,Elefantenfuß´´- Gottorp - Ussoke - Lulanguru - Tabora (Itaga / Ngeruka Hügel)
Geschützführer: Leutnant z.S. Reinhold Kohtz
beim Kommando der Westtruppen unter Generalmajor Wahle
8.) – 15. Januar 1917 – Kibata – Bezirk VIII Kilwa – Auf selbstgebauter Lafette
Daressalam - Kissidju - Utete - Rufidji - Mohoro - Kibata (Mbwara)
Geschützführer: Oberleutnant z.S. Hans Apel
bei Abteilung Schulz / Osttruppen unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
9.) – 27. Oktober 1917– Mahiwa – Bezirk IX Lindi – Auf selbstgebauter Lafette
Daressalam - Utete - Liwale - Lukuledi - Newala - Mpotora - Lindi - Narunju - Mahiwa
Artillerie- und Geschützführer: Oberleutnant z.S. Richard Wenig
bei Abteilung Wahle / Osttruppen unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
10.) – 28. Oktober 1917 – Massassi – Bezirk IX Lindi – Auf Krupp Lafette
Daressalam - Tanga - Pangani - Mlembule - Kwedihombo - Kilossa - Kidodi - Ifakara - Saidi - Liwale - Massassi
Geschützführer: Leutnant z.S. d.R. Wilhelm Frankenberg
bei Abteilung Kraut / Osttruppen unter Oberstleutnant von Lettow-Vorbeck
For those of you who speak no German the list gives the date and place of capture, which district it was in, the type of gun carriage (Mittelpivotlafette- naval fixed pivot stand, selbstgebauter Lafette- Gun Carriage made in Dar Es Salaam, Krupp Lafette- Krupp Gun Carriage from the SS Marie), the places the gun served in and its commander and unit.
I believe most of this to be correct, though perhaps not on all the carriages. Holger admits it is not all 100% certain.
Now to try to work out which gun is which from the surviving examples.
We know that gun 3 Mwanza is now in Jinja, Uganda and that gun 4 Bagamoyo is now in Mombassa, Kenya.
The two guns which ended up in the Belgian Congo in Leopoldville and Stanleyville would surely be the ones that were captured by Belgian troops, namely 6 Korogwe and 7 Tabora, though I am not sure which way around they are.
1 Kahe
2 Kondoa Irangi
3 Mwanza (now in Jinja Uganda)
4 Bagamoyo (now in Mombassa)
5 Mkuyuni
6 Korogwe (Belgian Congo)
7 Tabora (Belgian Congo)
8 Kibata
9 Mahiwa
10 Massassi
The gun on display at Pretoria has a plaque saying it was captured at Kahe. This cannot be correct as the Kahe gun is reported by witnesses as having blown its barrel. Photographs also confirm this. The Pretoria gun is therefore unaccounted for.
The Kevin Patience book Konigsberg notes about gun 2 Kondoa Irangi that "The second Dar es Salaam gun under Lt Kohtz, exploded while being used at Kondoa Irangi. The barrel was returned to Dar es Salaam but was unrepairable and buried."
The Panzer Forum quotes several witnesses saying gun 5 Mkuyuni was also destroyed with blown barrel and wheels.
Kaiser's Cross website notes of the gun 8 Kibata "The second position captured had been the firing location for the Konigsberg gun, which now could not be dragged swiftly enough away from the advancing British troops. Two days later scouts found the gun, abandoned and destroyed.
http://www.kaiserscross.com/188001/447622.html
1 Kahe (blown barrel)
2 Kondoa Irangi (blown barrel buried)
3 Mwanza (now in Jinja Uganda)
4 Bagamoyo (now in Mombassa)
5 Mkuyuni (blown barrel)
6 Korogwe (Belgian Congo)
7 Tabora (Belgian Congo)
8 Kibata (destroyed)
9 Mahiwa
10 Massassi
So the 9 Mahiwa and 10 Massassi guns as the only unaccounted intact guns must be the Pretoria and Imperial War Museum Guns. I would suggest that gun 9 Mahiwa probably went to Pretoria as the Battle of Mahiwa was the only one of these actions in which South African troops took part and similarly to the Belgian guns (6 Korogwe and 7 Tabora) it would make sense if that was the gun they took home as a war trophy. Gun 10 Massassi was captured by a British column (including KAR, Baluchis and the Gold Coast Regiment) and would therefore more likely have ended up in British hands.
1 Kahe (blown barrel)
2 Kondoa Irangi (blown barrel buried)
3 Mwanza (now in Jinja Uganda)
4 Bagamoyo (now in Mombassa)
5 Mkuyuni (blown barrel)
6 Korogwe (Belgian Congo)
7 Tabora (Belgian Congo)
8 Kibata (destroyed)
9 Mahiwa (Unknown possibly Pretoria)
10 Massassi (Unknown possibly IWM)
All comments are very welcome!
Cheers
Chris