When South Africa’s Boers fought in Somaliland

Riftvalley

Riftvalley


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“The Somaliland Burgher Contingent, consisting of Afrikaans and English speaking South Africans, was the first South African volunteer unit who fought on foreign soil. Volunteers hailed not only from South Africa but from Britain, Rhodesia, America, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and Austria as well. This truly cosmopolitan unit fought during the Third Expedition (1902-1903) in Somaliland against Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856-1920) – the so-called Mad Mullah.”

martinplaut.com

When South Africa’s Boers fought in Somaliland

Strange as it may seem, in 1903 there was a contingent of Boer (or Afrikaner) soldiers who served alongside the British in Somaliland. Here is the evidence, from a Reuters Report of the time. Clear…
martinplaut.com martinplaut.com
 
Riftvalley

Riftvalley

The battle of Gumburu
next morning, 17th April, Cobbe sent out two more reconnaissance patrols whilst he waited for Manning to arrive. Captain H.A. Walker (Royal Fusiliers) took a half-company of 1 KAR to a hill 2.5 kilometres to the south-west. Captain H.E. Olivey (Left) took ‘C’ Company 2 KAR five kilometers to the west. Olivey left before dawn and made good progress but had no contacts and started to withdraw. At 0805 hours he sent a message back to Cobbe stating that enemy foot and horsemen were now advancing upon ‘C’ Company and that reinforcements were needed.


Cobbe ordered Plunkett out in support with ‘A’ Company 2 KAR, 5 men from 1 KAR, the water convoy escort of 48 sepoys from 2nd Sikhs and two Maxim guns. Captain Vesey had requested that his 2nd Sikhs party be included. The Maxims were loaded and an extra 50 rounds per rifleman were issued to the KAR Askari only, the Sikhs carried the standard issue of 100 rounds. Plunkett departed at 0915 hours. Two British mounted infantrymen from the 4th Battalion KRRC accompanied Plunkett, as did a Medical Officer from the Indian Medical Service and a Hospital Assistant from 5 KAR. Just before he left Plunkett saw another message from Olivey to Cobbe stating that he was 2.5 kilometres out and not in contact. Cobbe’s orders to Plunkett were to recover ‘C’ Company and bring it back. Neither Plunkett nor any of the officers with him were ever seen again.

Cobbe then recalled Walker’s patrol and strengthened his zareba. Firing was then faintly heard from a distance, and Somali scouts went out to reconnoitre. A scout returned with Plunkett’s guide, who was wounded, across his saddle. The guide reported that Plunkett’s force had been cut up. Cobbe did not have sufficient men with him to leave the zareba, so he entrenched and strengthened it. Wounded Askari from 2 KAR then trickled in, assisted by the mounted infantry.


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It emerged that Plunkett (Left), a tough, brave and experienced but perhaps impetuous soldier, had disobeyed Cobbe’s orders. On reaching Olivey he formed a square with the 2nd Sikhs in the front face and advanced over 6 kilometres through the bush. On reaching an open space partly surrounded by thick bush he halted, perhaps hoping to teach the Dervishes a lesson. After about 5 minutes he was attacked from the bush by the leading elements of up to 8,000 spearmen and horsemen led by the Mullah. At first horsemen assaulted the front and flanks of the square. After repulsing the first attack Plunkett ordered the square to advance into the centre of the open space. This advance left wounded Askari behind on the ground, but this saved the lives of some of them who managed to escape later as the fighting moved away from them. Then spearmen arrived and attacked all sides of the square. The Dervishes cried “Allah! Allah!” whilst their womenfolk ululated shrilly in the background.

Horsemen fired from their saddles into the British troops who returned volley fire into the seething mass of attackers. However the solid rifle bullets of the Sikhs were not knocking down the most fanatical of the Dervishes, who kept charging forward although wounded. At one stage spearmen broke through the face of the square but the Sikhs reformed and killed or drove back the attackers. The British officers were targeted and brought down first. Plunkett was wounded early in the action by a spear thrust but stayed on his feet. The two machine guns, each in a corner of the square, cut swathes through the Dervishes but began to run out of ammunition. As men dropped ranks had to be tightened as there were no supporting troops, but even so Dervishes repeatedly broke into the square before being shot or bayoneted. Cobbe’s orders had been that this was a short recovery patrol and reserve ammunition had not been taken. Eventually when the ammunition was expended a horde of spearmen broke into the square. Prominent amongst these attackers were the ferocious men of the Adonis tribe. Plunkett and Johnston-Stewart ordered those sepoys and Askari still standing to bayonet-charge their way back to Cobbe’s position. A Dervish then shot Plunkett through the head.

As the remains of the square disintegrated the attackers swarmed over the retreating British soldiers, spearing and hacking them to death. No British or Indians survived, only 47 Yao and Atonga Askari from British Central Africa made it back to Cobbe’s zareba, and 42 of these men were wounded. No. A 759 Private Mandelumba, 2 KAR, was later awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal with the citation:

This man carried into the zareba, a distance of 6 miles from the action at Gumburu on 17th April, 1903, No. 885 Private Gomani, of the same battalion, who was wounded in the arm.
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British personnel killed at Gumburu were:

From 2 KAR: Major and Local Lieutenant Colonel Arthur William Valentine Plunkett (Manchester Regiment), Captain James Johnstone-Stewart (Left) (Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders), Captain Herbert Edward Olivey (Suffolk Regiment), Captain Herbert Humphrey de Bohun Morris (Page bottom Left) (East Kent Regiment), Captain Lachlan M’Kinnon (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), Lieutenant Joseph Aloysius Gaynor (2nd Dragoon Guards), Lieutenant Ernest William Bell (Page Botton Right) (Suffolk Regiment).

From 2nd Sikhs: Captain Herbert Charles Vesey.

From the Indian Medical Service: Lieutenant Francis Wheler Sime.

From the KRRC: Riflemen No. 2176 Laurence Ensor and No. 1589 John Barrow.
Indian personnel killed were: Havildar Major Dewan Singh, 2 KAR and 36th Sikhs; No. 153 Lance-Havildar Khajan Singh, 1 KAR and 3rd Peshawar Battery; 2 un-named officers and 46 sepoys from 2nd Sikhs; one Hospital Assistant from 5 KAR.

The African dead were 117 Askari from 2 KAR; 2 Askari and one Maxim Gun Carrier from 1 KAR; 13 Somali transport drivers and followers.

Dervish losses were never known but mounds of dead lay around the site of the square. One estimate given by Dervish prisoners later was that around 1,000 men were killed and many more were badly wounded.

The Soldier's Burden

Soldiers of the First World War and Colonial wars. Their battles, their units, their awards and their suffering.
www.kaiserscross.com
 
Riftvalley

Riftvalley

“The Dervishes cried “Allah! Allah!” whilst their womenfolk ululated shrilly in the background”,

Imagine being some European, Sikh or black Arican mecenary being stuck in the harsh semi desert of Somalia, in the thick of war: meanwhile, thousands of dervishes chanting “Allah” are charging at you, and some xalimos in the distance doing mushxarad for the mujahideen 🖖
 
Burqad

Burqad

Riftvalley said:
“The Dervishes cried “Allah! Allah!” whilst their womenfolk ululated shrilly in the background”,

Imagine being some European, Sikh or black Arican mecenary being stuck in the harsh semi desert of Somalia, in the thick of war: meanwhile, thousands of dervishes chanting “Allah” are charging at you, and some xalimos in the distance doing mushxarad for the mujahideen 🖖
Click to expand...
The women sometimes fought , or they would be given tent poles and would beat any man who retreated
 
Laser

Laser

Riftvalley said:

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View attachment 330351

“The Somaliland Burgher Contingent, consisting of Afrikaans and English speaking South Africans, was the first South African volunteer unit who fought on foreign soil. Volunteers hailed not only from South Africa but from Britain, Rhodesia, America, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and Austria as well. This truly cosmopolitan unit fought during the Third Expedition (1902-1903) in Somaliland against Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856-1920) – the so-called Mad Mullah.”

martinplaut.com

When South Africa’s Boers fought in Somaliland

Strange as it may seem, in 1903 there was a contingent of Boer (or Afrikaner) soldiers who served alongside the British in Somaliland. Here is the evidence, from a Reuters Report of the time. Clear…
martinplaut.com martinplaut.com
Click to expand...
One of them was captured and became a prisoner
Screenshot_20240531-162301_Gallery.jpg
 
Riftvalley

Riftvalley

www.bbc.com

Adrian Carton de Wiart: The unkillable soldier - BBC News

Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart was a one-eyed, one-handed war hero who fought in three major conflicts across six decades.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com


At the outbreak of WW1 in November 1914, Carton de Wiart, now naturalised as a British subject, was serving with the Somaliland Camel Corps, fighting the forces of the Dervish state.
During an attack on an enemy stronghold, he was shot in the arm and in the face, losing his left eye and part of his ear. He received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his exploits.
Speaking in 1964 Lord Ismay, who served alongside Carton de Wiart in Somaliland, described the incident:
"He didn't check his stride but I think the bullet stung him up as his language was awful. The doctor could do nothing for his eye, but we had to keep him with us. He must have been in agony."


Today’s tale picks up 18th November 1914. The setting Shimber Berris, the tallest mountain in the African state of Somaliland. The Kharif, “a hot labouring wind heavy with sand” was in full force, but up in the hills that day the air was quite pleasant… Actually, a slight correction, the air was heavy with waves of red hot bullets flying in around head height. While this kind of weather isn’t to everyone’s tastes – to one man this was paradise. On this day, with little more than a few shrubs for cover, a group of British soldiers stealthily ascended the mountain.

The British had Somaliland in their sights from around 1899. The scramble for Africa was well on, and Somaliland was desirable solely because one could attack ships travelling through the Suez Canal from there. This was a threat to Britain’s trade routes, and that was reason enough for the British to conquer the Dervishes. The Dervishes’ leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan was a Sufi poet in peacetime. Now a freedom fighter, the press dubbed him ‘The Mad Mullah.’ Neither mad, nor a Mullah, he was just a guy who believed his homeland was worth fighting for. The Dervishes of Somaliland would fight on until 1920, when the invaders brought planes to what was till then a gun fight.

But the Dervishes aren’t our protagonists today – our hero (well, ok… he’s well on the wrong side of this one… But bear with me…) is the British officer tasked with taking out the stone blockhouse. With an unobstructed view of the valley, the blockhouse was the perfect base to launch guerrilla attacks from. Today that would end.


As the soldiers crept to within 400 yards of the building, the dervishes unleashed a volley of gunfire. They were fighting with ancient guns, and mixing their shot low to conserve resources- as such their volley fell shy of the target. For a moment both sides positioned themselves and engaged in a flame war- hurling insults back and forth about the opposing sides’ parentage. Our hero turned to his commander, Lord Ismay and begged permission to storm the defences – It was just a 400 yard sprint, then a 3 foot jump across an embankment. All he had to do then was burst through the front door and shoot them all dead. Lord Ismay relented. If Adrian Carton de Wiart wanted to play hero, who was he to stop him?
The charge started off fine, but within metres of his target, Carton de Wiart felt a stinging in his left eye. Full of adrenaline, he returned fire and kept moving. But then second bullet then caught him on the elbow, then a third, glanced the side of his head, going clean through his ear. He stepped back so a medic could sew his ear back up, then re-entered the fray.
This was not to be Adrian Carton de Wiart’s lucky day. As he and his men approached the blockhouse, a ricochet glanced up at him, striking him again in the eye. This finally took him off his feet. As the day wore on, no-one could make headway on the blockhouse. The British fell back, an Indian Battalion stepped up, and also failed to take it. Adrian, and the other walking wounded were taken down the mountain. The following morning, the British re-ascended Shimber Berris, only to find the Dervishes had escaped under cover of darkness.
Carton de Wiart was sent back to London to recuperate. Unsurprisingly he lost the eye. He was fitted for a glass one – on the insistence of the War Department – who felt sending obviously wounded men into battle was a terrible look. But he detested the way it felt and chucked it from the taxi on his way back to the front. For the rest of his life he wore an eye patch – something others stated gave him the air of an elegant pirate. While most people would be depressed at the loss of an eye – Adrian was far too excited at the opportunities his injury opened up. Somaliland was a sideshow. He was now free to take a role in the main event – the First World War in Europe”.
historyandimagination.com

Adrian Carton de Wiart

Today’s tale picks up 18th November 1914. The setting Shimber Berris, the tallest mountain in the African state of Somaliland. The Kharif, “a hot labouring wind heavy with sand” was in full force, …
historyandimagination.com historyandimagination.com
 
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