The battle of Sandfontein, 26 September 1914: South African military reform and the German South-West Africa campaign, 1914–1915

Abstract

The German South-West Africa campaign and the battle at Sandfontein, which marked the first foreign deployment of the Union Defence Forces (UDF), as well as its first active participation in a war, are now largely forgotten. Yet this belies the importance of the campaign and of the first-battle experience at Sandfontein, for in many ways this was significantly unlike subsequent military operations of the German South-West Africa campaign and the wider South African participation in the First World War. This article uses the campaign as a lens through which to analyse the nature and organization of the UDF in 1914 and to assess the difficulties the South African staffs faced. South African military thinking, in terms of how it shaped Sandfontein and was in turn affected by that first-battle experience, is also investigated.

Keywords::

• African campaigns
• First World War
• German South-West Africa
• Namibia
• Union Defence Force

Notes

^1. Maud Wyndham to Lord Cobham, 28 September 1914, HHA 2/36/69, The 8th Viscount Cobham's Papers, Hagley Hall Archives (HHA), West Midlands. The Honourable Mrs Hugh Wyndham was the wife of the South African shadow defence minister.

^2.General Staff, The Union of South Africa and the Great War; Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa.

^3. See, for example, Hennig, Deutsch-Südwest in Weltkrieg; Seitz, Südafrika im Weltkrieg; and Von Oelhafen, Der Feldzug in Südwest 1914/15, as well as the chapters in Rayner and O'Shaughnessy, How Botha and Smuts Conquered South West Africa; L'Ange, Urgent Imperial Service; Johnston, Ulundi to Delville Wood; and Nasson, Springboks on the Somme.

^4.Scott, ‘The Story of Sandfontein’. The piece was republished, with annotation, as Ploeger, ‘The Action at Sandfontein’.

^5.Warwick, ‘Reconsideration of the Battle of Sandfontein’; ‘The Battle of Sandfontein’.

^6.Cohen and Gooch, Military Misfortunes, 6, 14 passim.

^7. The term ‘first battles’ is used by Charles E. Heller and William A. Stofft to explain that first engagement in a war when the strengths and weaknesses of an army's peacetime preparation, doctrinal development and force design, as well as the mobilization for the war itself, are tested by the exigencies of conflict and are found either to be good or in demand of urgent, wartime adjustment. Heller and Stofft, America's First Battles, ix–x.

^8. On South Africa and the outbreak of war, see Spies, ‘The Outbreak of the First World War’; Garson, ‘South Africa and World War 1’. On the 1915 election, see Marais, ‘Aspekte van die 1915-verskiesing’; Ticktin, ‘The War Issue and the Collapse’. For a general statement, bringing together much of the debate and adding many new insights, see Nasson, Springboks on the Somme.

^9. Diary of F.S. Malan, 9 August 1914, A583 F.S. Malan Collection, vol. 22, National Archives of South Africa, Cape Town (NASAC). On Malan's evolving attitude to the war, see Mouton, Prophet Without Honour, 121 passim.

^10. For the divisions in South African society, see Grundlingh, ‘Black Men in a White Man's War’; Nasson, ‘A Great Divide’; Nasson, ‘War Opinion in South Africa, 1914’; Fedorowich, ‘Sleeping with the Lion?’; and Giliomee, The Afrikaners, 379–84.

^11. Wyndham to Lady Leconfield, 13 August 1914, Hugh Wyndham Papers, Petworth House Archives, (PHA), West Sussex Record Office (WSRO). Wyndham, a former member of Milner's Kindergarten, was the Unionist MP for Turffontein (1910–1920) and from 1918, a member of the Defence Council.

^12. Quoted by Park, ‘German South-West African Campaign’, 115.

^13. Smuts to C.P. Crewe, 11 August 1914, in Hancock and van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers, 186.

^14. Lord Harcourt to Lord de Villiers, 8 August 1914 and 23 August 1914, PM 1/1/32, file 4/97/1914 War German South West Expedition & Supply of Ammunition & Guns, National Archives of South Africa, Pretoria (NASAP). Diary of F.S. Malan, 7–10 August 1914, A.583 F.S. Malan Collection, vol. 22, NASAC.

^15. Hugh Wyndham to Lady Leconfield, 20 August 1914, PHA, WSRO.

^16. Union of South Africa, Debates of the House of Assembly, 9–10 September 1914; Spies, ‘The Outbreak of the First World War’.

^17. Inspector General Permanent Force to Secretary for Defence, 1 September 1914, AG 1914–1921, Box 152, file 21/9199 Information passed to Executive Commanders and Others, SANDF Documentation Centre, Pretoria.

^18.Park, ‘German South-West African Campaign’, 123–25. See also Reitz, Trekking On, 42. The line was on two different gauges, see Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 2–3. Some 800 miles of broad gauge (3 foot 6 inches) ran from Lüderitzbucht via Keetmanshoop to Karibib and on to Windhoek, with an extension from Seeheim to Kalkfontein. A narrower, 2-foot-6-inch gauge ran the 420 miles from Swakopmund to Karibib and then northwards to Tsumeb and Grootfontein. See also W.W. Hoy to Secretary for Defence, 3 September 1914, f.20, Smuts Papers, Box 111, NASAP.

^19.Whittal, With Botha and Smuts in Africa, 4.

^20. South African Parliamentary Papers: U.G. 2 – 1914. Rapport van de Direkteur van Besproeïng, 1 Januarie 1912 tot 31 Maart 1913, 111, 117; and Inspector W.S. Bridge, Commanding ‘S’ Division C.M.P., to the Commissioner Commander, Cape Mounted Police, 30 January 1912, DC, Box 798, file 3253 SAMR Camp at Nakob, Gordonia District, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^21. ‘Road Report from Raman's Drift to Keetmashoop’, attached to Acting SO General Staff Duties to Inspector General, 17 August 1914, AG 1914–1921, Box 152, file 21/9199 Information passed to Executive Commanders and Others, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^22.Zirkel, ‘Military Power in German Colonial Policy’, 104.

^23.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 23 passim. See also ‘Memorandum re Offensive Operations – G.S.W.A.’ by Captain J.G.W. Leipoldt, 25 August 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre; Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 3–4.

^24.Rohrbach, Deutsche Kolonialwirtschaft, I Band; Schwabe, Im deutschen Diamantenlande.

^25. Lt Col P. Skinner, General Staff, Intelligence, to Brig-Gen Lukin, 29 August 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre; see also Trew, Botha Treks, 94–5.

^26. South African Parliamentary Papers: U.G. 2 – 1914. Rapport van de Direkteur van Besproeïng, 1 Januarie 1912 tot 31 Maart 1913, appendix ‘C’. I am grateful to Johan Tempelhoff for this reference.

^27. This is an average if the Herero campaign of 1904–1907, a peak of military activity, is disregarded (Zirkel, ‘Military Power in German Colonial Policy’, 91).

^28. The estimated numbers of Schütztruppen in German South-West at the outbreak of war vary according to source. Zirkel, using primary German material, estimates their number to be 5000, of which some 2000 were active. This is in general agreement with South African sources in August 1914 (Zirkel, ‘Military Power in German Colonial Policy’, 104). Capt E.M. Fisher, SAMR, to The Adjutant, 5th Regiment SAMR, 22 August 1914, AG 1914–1921, Box 152, file 21/9199 Information passed to Executive Commanders and Others, SANDF Documentation Centre. See the Minutes of Evidence before the Rebellion Commission (Diverse, Box 3, SANDF Documentation Centre) on the formation of a Boer Vrij Corps.

^29. Character sketches attached to Lt Col P. Skinner, General Staff, Intelligence, to Brig-Gen Lukin, 29 August 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^30.Trew, Botha Treks, 68.

^31. Character sketches attached to Lt Col P. Skinner, General Staff, Intelligence, to Brig-Gen Lukin, 29 August 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^32.Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 3; Trew, Botha Treks, 94; and Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 20–1.

^33. Merriman to F.C. Mackarness, 16 September 1914, in Lewsen, Selections from the Correspondence, 262–3.

^34.South Africa Defence Act (Act 13 of 1912). These six forces were the South Africa Permanent Force (SAPF), the Active Citizen Force (ACF), the Coast Garrison Force (CGF), the Rifle Associations (or resurrected Commandos), the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and the Cadet Corps.

^35.Van der Waag, ‘Smuts's Generals’. See also the Evidence of Major F.S. van Manen, 14 March 1916, Diverse, Box 3, Minutes of Evidence of the Rebellion Commission, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^36. Beyers to Sir John French, 21 July 1913, General C.F. Beyers Collection, NASAP. There are also numerous references to instances of nepotism and ‘connection’ support in J. Kemp to Beyers, 5 April 1909; M.T. Steyn to Beyers, 30 September 1913; Smuts to Beyers, 27 February 1914; ‘Maurits’ to Beyers, 8 June 1914 (all in Beyers Collection, NASAP); as well as the correspondence between Colonel du Toit and former President M.T. Steyn, 1912, Col M. du Toit Collection, NASAP.

^37. See, for example, Fedorowich, ‘Sleeping with the Lion?’; Swart, ‘The Five Shilling Rebellion’; and Grundlingh and Swart, Radelose Rebellie?. For a fuller exploration of the early historiography, see Grundlingh, ‘Die Rebellie van 1914’.

^38. John X. Merriman to Smuts, 26 September 1914, and Smuts to Merriman, 2 October 1914, in Hancock and van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers, 201–2.

^39. Smuts to Governor General, 16 July 1914, GG24, 1/864, NASAP; Louis Botha to Lord de Villiers, 17 August 1914 (Ministers' Minute 759), PM 1/1/32, file 4/97/1914, NASAP; and J.G.W. Leipoldt, ‘Memorandum re Offensive Operations G.S.W.A.’, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports SWA, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^40. The state of the South African artillery was questionable. The force was new and, the British thought, while not yet efficient, equal the essentials of the task to be faced in South-West. There were only four batteries of South African artillery with only 4000 rounds of ammunition. The immediate need was for 10,000 rounds of 13-pounder Q.F. ammunition. This came from India. Australia promised 5 million rounds of Mark VI .303 ammunition, with the possibility of more coming in later. Louis Botha to Lord de Villiers, 10 August 1914, Harcourt to De Villiers, 12 August 1914, Botha to De Villiers, 13 August 1914, Sir R. Munro Ferguson to De Villiers, 20 August 1914, PM 1/1/32, file 4/97/1914, NASAP.

^41. Harcourt to De Villiers, 8 August 1914 and 23 August 1914, PM 1/1/32, file 4/97/1914, NASAP.

^42.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 27. South African Parliamentary Papers: U.G. 46 – 1916, Union of South Africa, Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Causes of and Circumstances Relating to the Recent Rebellion in South Africa, 7 December 1916.

^43. ‘Memorandum re Offensive Operations – G.S.W.A.’ by Captain J.G.W. Leipoldt, 25 August 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^44. Ibid.

^45. Ibid.

^46. Smuts to Sir Duncan McKenzie, 12 August 1914, in Hancock and van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers, 188.

^47.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 29.

^48. Merriman to Lady Courtney, 20 September 1914, in Lewsen, Selections from the Correspondence, 264.

^49.Robinson, With Botha's Army, Chapter 1.

^50.Trew, Botha Treks, 15.

^51. Summary of Intelligence, 14 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre. The destruction of water resources was a real threat. As the war progressed, the Germans, as they retired, poisoned the wells, although often courtesy notices were left as warning that this had been done. See, for example, Reitz, Trekking On, 43; as well as Franke to Botha, 11 March 1915, DC 668, file M822 Infection of Water by enemy during hostilities in SWA; and Assistant Director Medical Service to Staff Officer General Staff, 15 June 1915, DC, Box 719, file G.1229/9199 Analysis of Water, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^52. Summary of Intelligence, No. 5, 17 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^53.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 35.

^54. Quoted in Ploeger, ‘The Action at Sandfontein’, 39.

^55. This account was shared with Trew by an unnamed friend; see Trew, Botha Treks, 15–16.

^56. Quoted in Ploeger, ‘The Action at Sandfontein’, 44.

^57. Evidence of Brig-Gen B.G.L. Enslin, 17 April 1916, Diverse, Box 3, Minutes of Evidence of the Rebellion Commission, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^58. See also the evidence of D.P. Rousseau, 12 February 1916; I.M. Botes, 21 February 1916; S.J. Heyns, 22 February 1916; and dominee J.A. van Zyl Viljoen, 26 February 1916, Diverse, Box 3, Minutes of Evidence of the Rebellion Commission, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^59. The exception here was the Anglo-Boer War fought in South Africa between 1899 and 1902.

^60. Senator Dr Viljoen speaking in the Senate; Anonymous, ‘Nationalist Attack on Premier’.

^61.Calpin, There Are No South Africans, 102 passim.

^62.Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 1.

^63.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 44.

^64. Ibid., 46.

^65. Smuts to Denys Reitz, 22 September 1914, in Hancock and van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers, 198.

^66.Nasson, ‘A Great Divide’, 50.

^67. This, as a British diplomat observed in 1939, led to accusations of his ‘leaning towards dictatorial and undemocratic methods’. DO 35/1003/6, WG 3/4/1, The National Archives, United Kingdom (NAUK).

^68. Merriman to Lady Courtney, 20 September 1914, in Lewsen, Selections from the Correspondence, 264.

^69. Carter to Algernon Lawley, 18 December 1914, Archbishop William Carter Papers, William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Carter had previously been Bishop of Zululand.

^70. Editor of the Transvaal Leader to Smuts, 7 January 1915, DC, Box 573, file D.9199 European Crisis General, vol. 7, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^71. Carter to Lawley, 11 February 1915, Archbishop William Carter Papers, Wits.

^72. After-action report by Lt R. Tomlinson (A Squadron) 1st mounted Rifles (NC) Gibeon, Natal Carbineers Archives, Pietermaritzburg.

^73. Smuts to Sir A. Murray, 17 August 1914, in Hancock and van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers, 190.

^74.Van der Byl, From Playgrounds to Battlefields, 129.

^75.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 48.

^76. Memorandum Intelligence Units (c.1915), and Secretary for Defence to Walter B. Madeley, MP, 19 April 1915, DC, Box 708, File DC 1065/9199 Rand Intelligence Corps, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^77. Note written by Capt P.E. Erasmus, 11 December 1915, Max Levin to Adjutant General, UDF, 27 August 1915, and a declaration by V.H. Uekerman and S. Solomon, dated 26 September 1915, DC, Box 187, File 10693 Pay of Members of Intelligence Units, SANDF Documentation Centre. See also the evidence of Brig-Gen B.G.L. Enslin, 17 April 1916, Diverse, Box 3, Minutes of Evidence of the Rebellion Commission, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^78. Acting Adjutant General to Quartermaster General, 23 October 1916, DC, Box 860, File 22849 Disbandment of Intelligence Units, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^79. Acting Staff Officer General Staff to Secretary for Defence, 21 September 1914; Bourne to Staff Officer General Staff, 22 September 1914, Personnel Archives and Reserves, file 196 Lt Col Hon. H.A. Wyndham, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^80. H.A. Wyndham, ‘Summary of Intelligence N°6’, 10 pm, 21 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^81. Major W. Tanner to Staff Officer Citizen Force, 17 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^82. H.A. Wyndham, ‘Intelligence Summary N°8’, 10 pm, 24 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^83. Note by Smuts, dated 7 October 1914, on H.A. Wyndham, Intelligence Summary No. 8, 10 pm, 24 September 1914, Diverse, Box 1, file 2493 Intelligence Reports, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^84.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 48. Collyer was Lukin's brother-in-law.

^85. Telegram Hoofd to Staff Officer, 12 March 1915, J.H.B. (Captain Blainey) to Mr H.D. White, 15 March 1915, J.H.B. (Captain Blainey) to Mr H.D. White, 17 March 1915, Personnel Archives and Reserves, file 196 Lt Col Hon. H.A. Wyndham, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^86.Strachan, The First World War in Africa, 65.

^87. Draft Government Notice, 18 October 1914, AG 1914–1921, Box 164, file 305/9199 Commander-in-Chief and Staff, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^88.Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 4.

^89.Trew, Botha Treks, 60.

^90. Ibid., 64; Van der Byl, From Playgrounds to Battlefields, 140, 167–68; and Van der Waag, ‘Smuts's Generals’, 45.

^91.Wyndham, ‘History of the German South West Campaign’, 14–15.

^92. Report of Major Wallace OC South African Aviation Corps in the Campaign in German South West Africa 1915, 21 January 1916, AIR 1/1247/204/7/1, NAUK.

^93.Maxwell and Smith, Per aspera ad astra, 12; Report of Major Wallace Officer Commanding South African Aviation Corps in the Campaign in German South West Africa 1915, 21 January 1916, AIR 1/1247/204/7/1, NAUK.

^94. Report on a visit to German South West Africa by Major General C.W. Thompson, March 1915, attached to Thompson to Smuts, 5 March 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.22, NASAP.

^95.Orpen and Martin, Salute the Sappers, 1–3.

^96. Botha to (Smuts?), 3 April 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.21, NASAP.

^97. Report on a visit to German South West Africa by Major General C.W. Thompson, March 1915, attached to Thompson to Smuts, 5 March 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.22, NASAP.

^98. Ibid.

^99. Farrar to Botha, 1 March 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.2, NASAP.

^100. Farrar to Botha, 5 March 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.4, NASAP.

^101. Union of South Africa, Debates of the House of Assembly, 9 March 1915, col. 201.

^102. Farrar to Botha, 23 March 1915, Smuts Collection, Box 112, f.13, NASAP.

^103. Report on the Work of Medical Department, March 1918, MD, Box 111, file German South West Africa Campaign, SANDF Documentation Centre; see Van Jaarsveldt, ‘Die Rol van die Suid-Afrikaanse Militêre’, 169–73.

^104. Defence to Lukin, 26 August 1914, and Disso to Defence, 26 August 1914, DC, Box 612, file A.138/9199 Feeding Troops while Travelling and Rations General, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^105. On 1 April 1912, there were 171,784 head of cattle in German South West, an increase of 27,339 since the previous year. Assistant Director of Veterinary Services to Quartermaster General, 17 November 1914, DC, Box 621, file 166/9199 Registration Horses General, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^106. OC Union Expeditionary Base to Quartermaster General, 13 October 1914, DC, Box 631, file 220/9199 Field Canteens established by SAGI; Chebec to Defence, 24 September 1914, DC, Box 631, file 7/220/9199 SAGI copy of correspondence covering agreement on all points, SANDF Documentation Centre.

^107.Van der Byl, From Playgrounds to Battlefields, 152.

^108.Van der Waag, ‘Boer Generalship and the Politics of Command’, 38, 43.

^109.Collyer, The Campaign in German South West Africa, 165.

^110.Reitz, Trekking On, 52.