Clash in March 1917 at St. Moritz Mission in South-West of GEA

[Tanzania]

Clash on 21. March 1917 at St. Moritz Mission between the detachments of
Max Wintgens and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Tomlinson near Lake Rukwa



I think the most of you be aware of the strange Mission of the German commander Captain Max Wintgens
and his `own small campaign´ during spring and summer 1917 in the Western part of GEA. This has been
a temporary source of confusion on both sides. As background info; - Twelve years ago this topic started
in another part of in this axis-history-forum more generally: Strange action in East Africa in 1917
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=24801


(General) Operations against Wintgens
“. . . . . Meanwhile, in the west Colonel Murray had been continuing the pursuit of Wintgens. On the
13th March Wintgens was at Alt-Utengule, on the 18th he had reached St. Moritz Mission. Colonel
Murray, though continually attacking his rear guards, could not bring his main body to battle.
Wintgens stripped the country of food as he advanced, leaving his pursuer dependent on his
supply train. As it was uncertain whether this German force would continue its march northwards
or turn west towards St. Bonifaz Mission, where its patrols had already been seen, I made
arrangements to send a force to Tabora, whence it was to work southwards to the Kitunda Mission;
while another detachment was transported by the assistance of the Belgian Commander via Lake
Tanganyika to Bismarckburg.

On 21st March Colonel Tomlinson with an advanced detachment was within three miles of
St. Moritz when he was heavily attacked and forced to retire after a sharp fight. Colonel
Murray endeavoured to encircle Wintgens at St. Moritz; but the latter slipped away to the east, and,
after crossing the Songwe River on the 1st April, marched by the northern shores of Lake Rukwa to
Uleia, a rich district, whose inhabitants were friendly to the Germans. He then turned north-east,
and by the middle of April was at Nkulu. Major Montgomery, King’s African Rifles, commanding the
detachment sent from Tabora, had reached Kitunda Mission on the 5th April, where he collected
supplies and cattle. Wintgens moved towards Kitunda on the 26th, and Montgomery being in
inferior force fell back towards Sikonge. A mobile column had meanwhile been formed on the
central railway at Itigi; this force reached Kiromo on the 30th April. Murray, however, much delayed
by his increasingly long line of supply, had only reached Nkulu by the end of the month.
The various columns operating in this area were now becoming less separated. This enabled me
to place Brigadier-General Edwards in command with a view to ensuring their co-operation. I
increased as far as possible the forces at his disposal; but his concentration was greatly delayed
through the collapse of a railway bridge between Morogoro and Kilossa on 7th May.
Wintgens remained in the Kitunda neighbourhood until the middle of May. The greater part of his
Askaris were Wanyamwezi, recruited from the Tabora and Muansa districts, and information
showed that they refused to move south again and that there had been some desertions. In spite
of this, their moral appeared to be unimpaired. Murray reached Kitunda on the 19th May, but
Wintgens had moved north-west from that place on the 16th.

The Belgian Commander was now in close touch with General Edwards and co-operating with him.
The latter disposed of his troops to the best advantage in order to attack Wintgens should he move
north. Wintgens himself was so ill as to be forced to surrender to the Belgians; but his force,
moving rapidly by night, eluded our columns and crossed the central railway between Tabora and
Kilimatinde, being too hurried, however, to do any damage to the line. General Edwards’ columns
and the Belgians at once moved north in pursuit.
Source text abstract: http://www.25throyalfusiliers.co.uk/eas ... tch_4.html


St. Moritz is a still working Catholic Mission station, 10km southeast from Lake Rukwa and named today Galula.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/39738345
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Galula ... 99649bc57b



Today I have two questions:

3) Has anybody more detail Information about this fight at St. Moritz.

4) Does anybody know where the location of the other mentioned Mission St. Bonifaz is?
(Ludwig Boell show the rough position in the attached map of his book, but not the present name.)
http://www.worldcat.org/title/operation ... referer=di


Cheers Holger

[Tanzania]

– “ THE CLASH EXTENDED TO A BATTLE “ –


Regarding my questions about details, it is sometimes useful to continue with a parallel own search.

Due to this I am happy to found such a detail description in a British source about this action. I was
astonished that these fights were much larger and took longer than primary expected. The actions in
the immediate vicinity of St. Moritz runs more than four days, from the 20th up to 24th April 1917 and
ended with the renewed escape of the detachment Wintgens into the wideness of the GEA steppes.

Below is a text abstract, reduced only on the first days of these fights, which raised up to a real battle,
so far away from the other regularly fronts of the East African campaign during this time period in 1917.



NO INSIGNIFICANT PART - The Rhodesia Native Regiment
and the East Africa Campaign of the First World War,
Timothy J. Stapleton, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006
Chapter 7 – page 97 to 104 – ” DISASTER AT ST. MORITZ”
http://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/no ... -world-war



Tuesday, 20th March 1917 .

At dawn on Tuesday, 20 March Tomlinson led his men across country to Itaka road. His reason for doing this
was to make it easier for Murray´s column, now located two days´ march down that road at Itaka, to come to his
assistance if required. This meant that he was no longer approaching St. Moritz from south but from the west.
Tomlinson was not aware that Murray intended to box the Germans in, with the RNR moving in from the south
and his force from Itaka to the west. Tomlinson also received local reports that an enemy force of unknown
strength had moved down that road towards Itaka the day before. The RNR came out on the Itaka road about
five miles from St. Moritz. Knowing full well that the enemy was “in force at the mission”, Tomlinson decided to
advance and create an entrenched position about two miles from St. Moritz. This would prove to be a terrible
mistake.

In early afternoon, Tomlinson sent two platoon-sized patrols, one consisting of RNR men under Lieutenant
Baker and one of NRP men under Sergeant Bambridge, up the right and left sides of the road, respectively,
as a scouting force. One and a half hours later, Tomlinson followed with the main body, which was divided
into an advance guard of company size under Major Addison, a support element in the middle made of the
NRP company under Captain James, and Major Carbutt´s company following as a reserve / rear guard. About
thirty minutes later, which was around 3:30 pm. Lieutenant Baker´s patrol came under fire and a few minutes
later after that, Addison´s advance guard, which continued to move up the road, also came under fire. The
area was flat but vision was impaired by tall grass and bush. Tomlinson sent James´s NRP company with
several Maxims into the fight but held Carbutt´s men back as a reserve. The firefight lasted for forty-five
minutes with the Germans, who were reinforced twice during this time, attempting to flank the RNR on both
sides. The right flank, which was under the most pressure, was secured by fire from two Maxim guns. On the
left flank, Bambridge´s patrol managed to hold off an enemy attack.

Since dusk was approaching, Tomlinson sent Carbutt, forty riflemen, and all carriers back to the point where
the column had broken out on the Itaka / St. Moritz Road. This detachment began digging trenches for the
rest of the column to withdraw into and the cattle were herded down the road away from the battle.

At 5:10 pm, Tomlinson sent local guide towards Itaka with a message for Colonel Murray informing him the
situation and requesting reinforcements. Around the same time, Captain Wane, the battalion´s adjutant who
Tomlinson later claimed “show great pluck” during this engagement, went up to Addison´s company and gave
them the order to withdraw to the prepared trenches. As the RNR and NRP men began to retire, and with the
light rapidly fading, the Germans charged out of the bush and commenced a fierce attack. Some NRP riflemen
panicked and fled, leaving three RNR maxim teams to be completely overwhelmed by the enemy. One soldier,
Private Nderemani, had the presence of mind to destroy the bolt of his machine gun before it was captured.
He managed to evade the Germans. Corporal Zakeyo and Sergeant Breeden carried their gun away and tried
to hide it in the bush but were captured. As darkness fell, all the RNR and NRP men withdraw quickly to the
new position down the road. However, the aide station, commanded by Surgeon-Captain Murray, had to be
left behind – it was full of wounded men who could not be moved because there was only one stretcher.

All the senior officers of the RNR, Majors Addison and Carbutt, and Captain Wayne, advised Tomlinson to
withdraw further down the road towards Murray´s column at Itaka. At this point the RNR, which had lost half
its machine guns, was vulnerable to being surrounded and annihilated by the German because it was only
five miles from St. Moritz in fairly flat open ground.

Further down the road the valley gave way to hills that could be more easily defended and reinforcements
from Itaka would be closer. Also, causalities had been relatively heavy. The RNR had twenty-nine African
soldiers killed, wounded, or missing. Of the European officers and NCOS, two sergeants had been killed, two
captured, and two wounded, and Lieutenant Baker was also wounded. The NRP company had twenty African
soldiers killed, wounded, or missing and their commander, Captain James, was wounded along with a European
Sergeant. Despite all this, Tomlinson felt he could not abandon the wounded men, the precise number of which
was not known, who had been left behind at the aid station. He was warried that if his force moved back towards
Itaka, it would encounter the enemy patrol said to have moved down the Itaka Road the previous day. As a result
of his concern, Tomlinson led all his men in single file just two miles down the Itaka Road to some “rising ground”
where they dug in. They were still in the fairly flat terrain of the valley only seven miles from St. Moritz and four
miles from the German force that had driven them back. At this point another message, given the RNR´s new
location, was sent off by runner to Colonel Murray.



21st March 1917 .

Early the next morning, on 21 March, Tomlinson sent a reconnaissance patrol up the road towards St. Moritz
but it was fired upon and returned quickly. It did report that Surgeon-Captain Murray and the wounded had
been captured by the Germans and taken to the mission. Subsequently, Lieutenant P.E. Pole, a BSAP man,
was sent forward with a white flag of truce and negotiated the return of the doctor and wounded, which
happened later that day. The rest of the men continued to dig in.



22nd & 23rd March 1917 .

Around mid-morning of 22 March, the Germans launched an attack supported by Maxim and field-gun fire
against the vulnerable RNR / NRP position. Enemy soldiers came within fifty yards of the trenches but were
repelled. This was repeated several times throughout the next forty-eight hours, with the Germans using flares
to illuminate Tomlinson´s position during the night. The defenders huddled in their trenches and their morale
sunk as they took occasional casualties from Maxim and sniper fire. Lieutenant Baker, who had been wounded
on 20 March but continued to fight, was shot in the back by a sniper and died a few days later. Private
Mkulunyelwa Ndiweni, who was the son of an important Ndebele chief and had a pregnant wife at home, was
shot dead as he peered over edge of his trench. While Tomlinson was briefing Lieutenant Booth, a field-gun
shell landed in their trench but failed to explode. Water became scare because anyone who approached the
nearby stream was immediately fired on by the Germans. It was now apparent that the Germans had established
several camps surrounding the position.

According to Tomlinson, his native soldiers had been several shaken in the action with Wintgen´s force on the
20th, and combined with this that had been little to eat, which made them very low spirited, so that to tackle
Wintgen´s highly trained hand-picked Askaris again by assaulting his force in their positions before and behind
us would have been court complete disaster.



24th, 25th & 26th March 1917 .

At dusk on 24 March, the Germans launched a large attack from two directions but they were beaten back.
They continued firing on the trenches with field guns and small arms all the night. On the morning of 25 March,
Lieutenant Booth was called upon to repeat his daring exploits during the siege of Kitanda.

Together with three RNR privates, he was send through the enemy lines towards Itaka to find Murray´s column
which was expected to be on its way up the road. Small-arms and field-gun fire continued to pound the position
throughout the night. Fortunately, towards the end of next day, which was the unit´s fifth day under enemy fire,
a flag message was observed from nearby hill. It indicated that Booth had found Murray´s column which would
relieve the RNR the next day.



27th March 1917 .

As promised, Murray´s force began to arrive on the morning of 27 March and Tomlinson was ordered to take his entire column six miles down the Itaka Road to Murray´s camp. Captain R.W.M. Langham, an NRP officer who led the advance elements of Murray´s column, described what he saw on approaching the RNR position: “We met the RNR Askaris streaming back in two´s and three´s; some had lost their hats, some had lost their rifles, some their equipment, some all three articles. As stragglers arrived I sent them back to the main body for questioning and food, as they were quite without rations”. Seeing the arrival of the relief force, the Germans offered no resistance an withdrew immediately to St. Moritz.


Online source text abstract: https://books.google.de/books?id=j47zRL ... TZ&f=false



Below an overview-map with location of St. Moritz Mission and the route of detachment Wintgens / Naumann.

[danebrog]

Today I have two questions:

3) Has anybody more detail Information about this fight at St. Moritz.

4) Does anybody know where the location of the other mentioned Mission St. Bonifaz is?
(Ludwig Boell show the rough position in the attached map of his book, but not the present name.)
http://www.worldcat.org/title/operation ... referer=di


Cheers Holger

Hi Holger!
Schön, Dich mal wieder in der alten Heimat anzutreffen

I´m recently swamped with own paperwork, hence short and sweet:

3) The Book "With the Nigerians in German East Africa" should contain something about the incident
https://ia600400.us.archive.org/27/item ... 831860.pdf

4) small excerpt from "Deutsches Kolonialhandbuch:

St Bonifaz. Katholische Mission.
Die Station der Weißen Väter wurde im September 1899 bei Mkulwe errichtet, sie liegt südlich von Ikwa, fünf Tagereisen von Zimba,
an der Stelle, wo der Salsi den Namen Mamba annimmt. Auf der Station wirken 2 Padres und 1 Laienbruder.

picture: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/c ... 3/id/33271

Mission St. Bonifaz (kath. Orden der Weißen Väter) is located at MKULWE, Mbozi District, Mbeya region, southern highlands of Tanzania
Source: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40442404?se ... b_contents
Map: https://www.google.de/maps/place/Mkulwe ... 7b23a95f3e

[Tanzania]

Schön, Dich mal wieder in der alten Heimat anzutreffen

Gelegentlich braucht man mal einen `frischen Kriegsschauplatz´. - -


The reference about the register in the "Deutsches Kolonialhandbuch" was decisive und extremely helpful.



WHERE IS NOWADAYS THE ST. BONIFAZ MISSION?

My original interest awoke two years ago by a question in the Forum of German Colonial history and the thread:
St. Moritz, Tansania: http://www.traditionsverband.de/forum/v ... ?f=1&t=378

The background of my question was that I am not only interested in the History of this military campaign from
an `optimal safety distance´ at home. I also like to research on-site and try to prepare my next trip to this area.
This give me not only a better understanding of the difficult situation at that time and to make photos from the
different locations, sometimes I find further references or even special findings by records in archives or also
sometimes through oral tradition. In this case the location of St. Moritz / Galula could identified clear and should
be achieved on an unpaved track. Also the village Itaka is today shown under the still valid name on most maps.
(By the way; nowadays Itaka include the British Thomas More Parish http://www.st-aug-leeds.co.uk/twinning.htm)



Thanks to danebrog my original presumption that St. Bonifaz is identical with the current Mkulwe was hereby
confirmed. At first I have gone another way and compared different old German, with newer maps of this area,
(see below) which take me although to the same result, but without any confirmation.



Extract from the best available standard tourist map



Extract from an old British Tanganyika map.



Tanzanian government map with the actual road / track conditions and the usual real names.


Source: TANROADS (Tanzania National Roads Agency) Regional Roads Network / Mbeya Roads Network
http://tanroads.org/index.php# http://tanroads.org/regional%20roads/Mb ... etwork.pdf

[Tanzania]

THE GERMAN DETACHMENT LEADERS



Attached a short supplement with pictures of both slightly eccentric commanders of the German Detachment.

Left: Hauptmann / Captain Max Wintgens
He got hard infected by Typhus into Belgian imprisonment on 21.5.1917 at Lukalanga / Central Railway

Right: Leutnant / Lieutenant Heinrich Naumann (After end of war he was promoted to Hauptmann / Captain)
He was Wintgens successor as detachment leader up to the surrender because lack of water on 2.10.1917


. . .



Maybe someone complement some photos from the British commanders?

[danebrog]

Colonel A J Tomlinson

Ph1TomlinsonLtCol.jpg (31.46 KiB) Viewed 4573 times

source (with additional information): http://rhodesianheritage.blogspot.de/20 ... inson.html

Interesting background history about Hauptmann Max Wintgens:
https://books.google.de/books?id=wp42sg ... ns&f=false

In my eyes one of the most underestimated commanders of the Schutztruppe, who fought virtually single-handedly at an isolated backyard with most remarkable success against overwhelming odds...

[Chris Dale]

Great work as expected from you two. That was a good read...

[Tanzania]

Great work as expected from you two.

“. . . .and through many heavy battles with very high losses, experienced and proven team work.” - -



Regarding danebrog´ s link: https://books.google.de/books?id=wp42sg ... ns&f=false

Rwanda Means the Universe: A Native's Memoir of Blood and Bloodlines
This is a very interesting source with many detail references, even though the text is slightly difficult to read,
confusing in the chronological order and may often appear very down to earth. Maybe I have to buy and read
this, -as it is; - an amendment and not a war diary, and maybe I will achieve then a more comprehensive and
differentiated evaluation. Any way; - I thank you for this note and I shall communicate results; - if existing.

In my eyes one of the most underestimated commanders of the Schutztruppe, who fought virtually
single-handedly at an isolated backyard with most remarkable success against overwhelming odds...

Noted and confirmed . . . and it´s really worth to go in a separate topic into further detail.



Max Wintgens strong and individual character could most likely compared with K.Kpt. a.D. Werner Schönfeld.

[Tanzania]

WAR GRAVES OF THE BATTLE AT ST. MORITZ



Another aspect of this clash between the German and British forces at St. Moritz / Galula are the
level of sustained losses on both sides and to determine the locations of maybe existing graves.




THE BRITISH (COMMENWEALTH) LOSSES AROUND ST.MORITZ

It has to be admitted that the British nation has the best working institute for this issue worldwide:
CWGC (Commonwealth War Grave Commission) http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery.aspx
But the new research system is ineffective in this case, because I don’t know names, only the battle field
and time. If I would be aware of all required data, then I shouldn´t need this online service. Years ago the
search was significant better. (Welcome to modern trends; - to change everything without rhyme or reason.)

Here two other sources, also without any result:
http://www.ww1cemeteries.com/ww1cemeter ... nzania.htm
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/research.htm

Unfortunately I don´t find more information about Lieutenant Baker who have been killed on 22. / 23. March.




THE GERMAN LOSSES AROUND ST.MORITZ

Volksbund Kriegsgräberstätten http://www.volksbund.de/kriegsgraeberstaetten.html
Here is now the same (modern?) situation as above. No result could achieve if you know only a location.

Unfortunately this very informative platform don’t longer exist (?) http://www.weltkriegsopfer.de/
(. . . and all collected datas are now lost!?!)

In this case this Online project offer the best results, but didn´t listed (up to yet!) St. Moritz cemetery.
Onlineprojekt Gefallenendenkmäler http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/covers_intl/tanzania.htm



The following British document is very interesting, because it mentioned a few, very rare locations of Minor
Cemeteries in German East-Africa, British Tanganyika and present Tanzania. The remark in the lower half:
“. . . . . . and German War Graves (but not British) in:” . . . . .“ St. Moritz mission cemetery, Galula (two)”
lead me to suspect that at this time (1956) 2 German soldiers, involved in these fight, have been buried there.



Source: https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/



Another old German source confirmed location and date that two German soldiers was killed at St. Moritz.
On the fourth battel day, the 23rd March 1917 the following two NCO´s are mentioned that they lost in combat:

Vizefeldwebel Lech, gefallen 23. März 1917, St. Moritz

Unteroffizier Johannes Lösch, gefallen 23. März 1917, St. Moritz (Sefheim, Kreis Bensberg)

Original source: Namensliste der gefallenen Kolonialhelden des 1. Weltkrieges von Dr. Justus Schottelius.
This source is now also online visible as a list: http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2014/brem ... frika.html



With these names, and dates of death, I am sure to be able to determine more backgrounds of both.
I hope the graves still exist when I visit St. Moritz and I am be able to attach some photos in this Thread.

[danebrog]

Seems most of the Rhodesian Victims are buried at Iringa Cemetery

Captain Wiliam J Baker RNR
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... php?id=964
Staff Serjeant Augustus EH Anderson RNR
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... php?id=444
Serjeant UNKNOWN RNR
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... p?id=25733
Private Pabanga RNR
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... p?id=19550
29 inknown African Soldiers RNR
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... p?id=25731
19 unknown African soldiers NRP
http://www.southafricawargraves.org/sea ... p?id=25730

[Tanzania]

(Confirmed and approved as noted. Please avoid currently any difficult to reverse tattoo of this badge,
Otherwise you can’t promoted later into: – First archivist; – Chief archivist; – General archivist . . . )
__________________________________________________________________________________________

WAR GRAVES OF THE BATTLE AT ST. MORITZ (Part II)
Preliminary establishment of causalities




GERMAN UNITS
[Current summary: 2 European German, and (?) Native German Soldiers]

Unit: Detachment Wintgens (8th-, 26th-, Ruanda-B-, or Machine-Gun-Company?)
Name: Vizefeldwebel Lech
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: St. Moritz / Galula (unendorsed)

Unit: Detachment Wintgens (8th-, 26th-, Ruanda-B-, or Machine-Gun-Company?)
Name: Unteroffizier Johannes Lösch
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: St. Moritz / Galula (unendorsed)




BRITISCH UNITS
[Current summary: 3 European British, and 51 Native British Soldiers (plus unproved 6)]

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Captain William James Backer (No. 1264)
Date of death: 29. March 1917 / wounded on 22. March 1917
Location of current grave: Iringa Cemetery

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Staff Sergeant Augustus Eric Hugh Anderson (No. 1264)
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current grave: Iringa Cemetery

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Unknown European Sergeant
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current grave: Iringa Area Cemetery?

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Pabanga (No. M/427)
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current grave: Unknown

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Pondani (Service No.1571)
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current grave: Livingstone Camp Memorial

Unit: /b]RNR[/b] Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Mkulunyelwa Ndiweni
Date of death: 22./23. March 1917
Location of current cemetery: Unknown

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: 29 Unknown African Soldiers
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current graves: Iringa Area Cemetery?

Unit: NRP Northern Rhodesia Police
Name: 19 Unknown African Soldiers
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current graves: Iringa Area Cemetery?



(It strikes me as odd, that all confirmed causalities should be killed only on the 20. March, even thought
that the fights clear gone on up to the 24. March 1917. Due to this I extended the search up to this date.)

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Unknown European Sergeant
Date of death: 20. March 1917
Location of current grave: Unknown, but in Tanzania

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Alunamada or Alunanda (M/66)
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: Unknown, but in Tanzania

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Chitinga (M/141)
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: Unknown, but in Tanzania

Unit: RNR Rhodesia Native Regiment
Name: Private Manole (M/443)
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: Unknown, but in Tanzania

Unit: NRP Northern Rhodesia Police
Name: Private Ulaya (No.566)
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: Livingstone Camp Memorial

Unit: NRP Northern Rhodesia Police
Name: Private Gwiranipakamwa (No.367)
Date of death: 23. March 1917
Location of current grave: Livingstone Camp Memorial



I don’t know the numbers of the killed Native German Soldiers, but it begins to emerge by now,
the large discrepancy between the British and German causalities. This relation of causalities
have been much more greater by the later fight at Ikoma; so extremely that the British expected
that Lieutenant Naumann, has given the order to kill the prisoners, what however was wrong.

[danebrog]

Until mid-1916 the Rhodesian Forces were under command of the Colonial Office, so these units had no war diaries. Then all british-led units in GEA came under command of the war ministry. So from this date there are WDs for NORFORCE/Nyasaland Field Force (Gen. Edward Northey) under WO95/xxx
see also: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/ ... 1030014272

[Tanzania]

Dear danebrog, thanks for info. I found also a source for further informations:

The National Archives regarding the Rhodesia Native Regiment between 1900 - 1924

As sample:


Source: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.u ... tes=Refine

[Tanzania]

.

Regarding the search of the Mission Station St. Bonifaz in Mkulwe, let me add an old photo. At this point patrols of
Detachment Wintgens caught for the first time Colonel R. E. Murray´s attention in the third week of March 1917.






Source: http://www.ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankf ... frame.html
Bildnumber:006-1150-08 CD-Code: CD/3317/2014/0659/3317_2014_0659_0033




Here is the current Satellite photo and position. Mkulwe RC (=Roman Catholic) Church



Source: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=-8.58 ... 7&z=19&m=b




Unfortunately I dismiss the idea to visit Mkulwe, because of the heavy influence by El Niño. The bridge over the River
Momba became impassable and the connection from the south would costs me additional four days. Here is a photo of
a typical `District Road´ in Western Tanzania at the end of the rainy season, which was postbonded nowadays to June.



.

[Tanzania]

.

Clash in March 1917 at St. Moritz Mission in South-West of GEA – RESEARCH ON-SITE (Part I)




Here some additions regarding the location of Galula / St. Moritz Mission and the fight in the immediate surroundings.


“On the 13th March Wintgens was at Alt-Utengule, on the 18th he had reached St. Moritz Mission. ”




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is shown and mentioned on the upper map as Utengule, was in the past Alt-Utengule. (In contrast to the eastern
New-Utengule, also on the upper map.) Below, informations from the menu of the presently ``Utengule Coffee Lodge´´.
http://www.riftvalley-zanzibar.com/ucl_index.html




The old German Utengule Farmhouse. Parts of the buildings should originate from the `Berlin Moravian Church´ in 1895.



Further photo sources:
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/searc ... mode/exact
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18359802?v ... d=21546793
A History of the Missions of the Moravian Church during the eighteen and nineteenth Century, p. 194-198, Taylor Hamilton, 1901.
https://ia802700.us.archive.org/19/item ... 00hami.pdf
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The bottom pictures gives an impression about the landscape of the track between Utengule and Galula nowadays.
Wintgens comes almost 100 years before on exactly the same way. This way leads on the eastern side of the River
Songwe which flow into Lake Rukwa. Further to the North the landscape becoming increasingly drily and more dusty.










Only on the last few kilometres when it comes closer to the Songwe River again greener vegetation is visible. The Songwe
is really not a small river with 25 meters width at the narrowest spot of the river with at location of present bridge. During the
rainy season the Songwe River must be almost impassable, (. . . . . but not so for the `Hit and Run´- Detachment Wintgens.)









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Here is as example shown how a River looks with comparable size like the Songwe during Rainy season in January 2016!



Original Source: River in Karatu, Arusha, Tanzania. Photo credit: Stéphan Coquelet http://floodlist.com/tag/tanzania
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