Siege of Mora

The Siege of Mora or Siege of Moraberg, between

Allied and besieged German troops, took place from Au-
gust 1914 to February 1916 on and around the Mora
mountain in northern Kamerun during the Kamerun
Campaign of the First World War. After more than a year
of siege German forces on the mountain surrendered, fol-
lowing the escape of many German troops to the neutral
Spanish colony of Rio Muni.
1 Background
In early August 1914 the First World War broke out
in Europe, and the Allies began the task of conquering
Germanys African colonies. The German West African
colony of Togoland was defeated on 26 August, freeing
up British and French troops for the invasion of Kamerun.
In preparation, British columns had stationed themselves
at various intervals along Nigerias border with the Ger-
man colony, the northernmost of which, commanded by
Captain R. W. Fox, was stationed at Maiduguri, across
the border from the German fort at Mora. This Nigerian
detachment, consisting of one infantry and one mounted
company, had entrenched itself on the frontier while
awaiting orders and gathering intelligence on German
forces in the region.
[1]
The fort at Mora, about 100 miles south of Lake
Chad, near the colonys western border with Nigeria,
was guarded by a company of Schutztruppen (protec-
tion troops) under the command of Captain Ernst von
Raben.
[2]
Initially the garrison consisted of 14 European
and 125 African soldiers, most of whom were tough,
well-trained Askaris. Von Raben managed to recruit 65
more men before the Allied siege began.
[3]
On 13 Au-
gust, the German commander relocated the garrison from
the fort on the plain to positions partway up Mora moun-
tain. This gave them a commanding view over the sur-
rounding area and easy access to water. Mora moun-
tain, which would become a fortress during the siege,
was approximately 30 miles around at its base and 1,700
feet high.
[5]
German forces prepared for British attack by
heavily fortifying their positions on its steep slopes.
[6]
2 British occupation of Sava
On the morning of 19 August, German sentries detected
around 50 mounted British soldiers near Mora. Captain
von Raben and 30 of his soldiers descended from the
mountain and, after a reght, forced the British to re-
treat. The German commander then ordered the destruc-
tion of the fort at Sava, to prevent its use by the Allies.
[3]
British scouts continued to harass German forces in the
region. On 20 August, upon receiving orders to attack
Mora from Colonel C. H. P. Carter, Captain Fox sent his
forces marching towards the town. They arrived on 26
August and occupied positions at Sava, about three kilo-
meters from the German defenses on the mountain. They
were joined by 16 French soldiers from French Equato-
rial Africa. The Allied position was on the road between
Mora and Garua, thus preventing any contact between the
two German garrisons.
[7]
3 First allied attack
On the night of 27 August, Captain Fox led a detach-
ment of French and British troops to the very top of Mora
mountain, in hopes of attacking the German trenches
from above.
[3]
When morning came the Allied forces be-
gan to re down into the German trenches, but found
they were beyond eective range. The Allied detach-
ment was then counter-attacked by the Germans, who
forced them to retreat back down the mountain. As they
made their way down a thick mist fell, causing a group to
become disoriented and wander away from the main de-
tachment. When the fog rose, Captain Foxs soldiers saw
counter-attacking German troops in the distance wear-
ing red fezzes, and, mistaking them for the similarly-
uniformed French troops who had gone astray, did not
initially engage them. The German force overwhelmed
the British, killing three, including a doctor, capturing
1
2 5 SIEGE IN 1914
one, and forcing the rest to retreat back to Sava. The
Germans lost one African soldier in this encounter.
[1]
4 Both sides reinforce their posi-
tions
After returning from their rst attack on the German
positions, the British began building defenses on a hill
near Sava, closer to Mora mountain, and Captain Fox re-
quested that artillery be brought up from Nigeria. At this
time, the small French force under Captain Ferrandi re-
turned to Fort Lamy in French Equatorial Africa. The Al-
lied attack having made them aware of the vulnerabilities
of their position on the slopes of the mountain, the Ger-
mans relocated to the summit in early September. AGer-
man force at Fort Kusseri, under Lieutenant Kallmeyer,
withdrew to Mora in late September, further strengthen-
ing von Rabens defences.
[3]
Around 300 French troops
under Lieutenant Colonel Brisett were also freed up af-
ter the Battle of Kusseri, and joined the British force at
Mora, occupying several hills around the mountain. By
late October 1914 the Allies had machine guns and ar-
tillery in position. The Germans prepared for the im-
minent siege by sending scavenging parties to gather as
much food as possible, in which they were quite success-
ful.
5 Siege in 1914
On 29 October, Allied artillery began to pound the Ger-
man positions while machine guns red at the Schutztrup-
pen. Two days later a French Senegalese unit attempted
to storm the German positions atop the mountain, and
was almost completely destroyed.
[3]
Further waves of
French troops continued to charge up the slopes, and were
also cut down. One result of this action was that German
troops were able to seize supplies from the Allied dead,
including ammunition and even machine guns. A short
truce ensued for the purpose of burying those who had
died in the attacks.
On 4 November, artillery bombarded German forward
positions on the north side of Mora. A French infantry
attack followed, which resulted in the death of two Ger-
man ocers and three soldiers, and the Allied occupa-
tion of the outpost. The remainder of the German force
withdrew, but ghting continued throughout the night,
German commander at Mora, Major Ernst von Raben
until German forces under the command of an African
sergeant stormed and retook the position.
[4]
As time went on German forces began to run out of
supplies, the shortage of food being particularly serious.
With the Allied encirclement complete, scavenging par-
ties could no longer venture into the countryside. The
horses, donkeys, and camels that had been brought up
to the mountain for transportation were slaughtered and
eaten. Water sources were unprotected and exposed to
machine gun and artillery attacks.
[3]
Nevertheless, fur-
ther Allied attempts to dislodge the Germans from their
trenches failed.
[8]
3
6 Christmas truce
On 24 December 1914, after almost four months of siege,
the German defenders saw a white ag hoisted over the
Allied positions.
[8]
Cut o from any sources of informa-
tion, many in the garrison thought it might mean the war
in Europe had ended; in fact, the British merely wished
to send Sergeant Taylor, who was in German captivity, a
few gifts. The German commander, Captain von Raben,
also received a parcel of gifts from Captain Fox, con-
taining blankets, cigarettes and even a Christmas tree.
The British oered a cease-re for 24 and 25 Decem-
ber, to which the Germans agreed.
[3]
British and Ger-
man ocers met several times on these days to exchange
gifts. On 1 January 1915, the British raised the white
ag once again, and a meeting between von Raben and
Fox, who had been acquaintances before the war, was ar-
ranged. This time, however, French forces did not com-
ply with the cease-re, and continued to shell the German
positions.
[8]
7 Siege in 1915
In early 1915 the Germans faced extreme thirst, as the dry
season was underway and their water sources had been
contaminated by cadavers. On 22 January the nal cow
was slaughtered and rations were cut further.
[3]
Allied
guns continued to target water sources, making it more
dicult for the Germans to retrieve what water there was.
At the end of April the dry season ended, dashing any
Allied hope of thirst forcing a German surrender;
[4]
the
food situation, however, remained desperate. The Ger-
mans began sending patrols down the mountain at night
to attempt to penetrate the Allied lines and scavenge for
food. This was very dangerous work, but yielded some
results for the starving force on the mountain.
By mid June the German fortress at Garua had been taken
in the Second Battle of Garua, and other German forces
were retreating to the center of the colony. The Allies
tightened their lines closer around the mountain, but their
attacks slowed in the Spring. Realizing the situation in the
rest of Kamerun was dire, von Raben oered his African
soldiers freedom to leave, but none accepted.
[3]
Later,
Sergeant Batinga led 13 men on a daring night-time raid
in which they burned down the British camp at Sava. Fur-
ther raids in May and June obtained food, guns, ammu-
nition and other supplies while killing ten Allied troops
and wounding four.
[4]
On 6 August, French forces attempted to take the vil-
lage of Kilwe, belonging to a tribe that supported the
Germans. German forces under Sergeants Weissenberger
and Steens counter-attacked, killing one French soldier
and pushing the rest back to their lines. They left a force
of a dozen soldiers in the village to prevent another Al-
lied attack. On 1 September, the Allies brought up larger
artillery pieces and resumed their bombardment of the
positions on the slopes of the mountain. The next day 42
French soldiers again attacked Kilwe and were repulsed,
leaving seven dead.
[4]
General Frederick Hugh Cunlie, commander of Allied
forces in northern Kamerun, began to push for stronger
eorts to defeat the Germans on the Moraberg. On 7
September Allied guns opened a heavy bombardment
concentrating on Moras northernmost outposts, which
were commanded by Lieutenant Kallmeyer. The barrage
continued throughout the night, followed by a British in-
fantry assault in the morning. The attack fell apart un-
der heavy re from Kallmeyers men, with a British cap-
tain and 15 African soldiers killed, and ve Germans
wounded.
[4]
Two more attempts to storm this German
post were undertaken at night, but collapsed in confu-
sion as troops became lost in the darkness. After this se-
ries of assaults failed, Cunlie elected to reduce the size
and frequency of infantry attacks and instead concentrate
on hammering enemy positions on Mora with increasing
amounts of artillery.
Captain von Raben was wounded by a bullet to the head
on 30 September, while visiting German forward posi-
tions. Due to the lack of adequate medicine at Mora,
he was conned to a sickbed while his second in com-
mand, Lieutenant Siegfried Kallmeyer, took temporary
control of the company. Food stocks continued to dwin-
dle, and on 8 December British troops burned the vil-
lage of Wudume, which had been supplying food to the
Germans.
[4][3]
8 German surrender and after-
math
In early 1916, the German forces had been under siege for
almost a year and a half. Their food stocks had been ex-
hausted, although their munitions were still plentiful (they
still had 37, 000 rounds of ammunition).
[9]
On 15 Febru-
4 10 REFERENCES
ary, 1916, Captain Ernst von Raben received a letter from
General Cunlie oering to return the Askaris safely to
their homes, and the Europeans to internment in England.
At this point, Kamerun had been eectively surrendered
to the Allies, as the colonial government and most of the
remaining army had ed to the neutral Spanish colony
of Ro Muni. Realizing their situation was dire, and that
any continued resistance would be fruitless, the German
commander agreed to capitulate, asking that the British,
in addition to safe passage, provide him with 2000 with
which to pay his Askaris - which they did.
[10]
Von Raben
surrendered along with the remaining 155 men under his
command on 18 February, 1916.
[9]
The surrender of the German force at Mora signaled the
end of German resistance in Kamerun and the begin-
ning of the British and French occupation of the country.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 partitioned the colony
between the two powers, creating the new colonies of
British Cameroon and French Cameroon.
9 Notes
[1] Fecitte.
[2] Henry 1999. pp. 113114.
[3] Dornseif 2010.
[4] Damis 1929.
[5] Dane 1919, p. 167.
[6] Strachan 2001. p. 522
[7] Dane 1919, p. 182.
[8] Robinson 2010.
[9] Strachan 2004. p. 56
[10] Farwell, 1986. p.77
10 References
Damis, Fritz. Auf Dem Moraberge Erinnerungen
an Die Kmpfe Der 3. Kompagnie Der Ehemali-
gen Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe Fr Kamerun. 1929.
Berlin. German soldiers collective account of the
siege
Dane, Edmund. British Campaigns in Africa and
the Pacic, 1914-1918,. London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1919.
Dornseif, Golf. Kameruner Endkampf Um Die Fes-
tung Moraberg. 2 June 2010. Web.
Farwell, Byron.The Great War in Africa. W.W.
Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1986. ISBN
0-393-30564-3
Fecitte, Harry. Lake Chad Area: 1914. Harrys
Africa The Soldiers Burden. Web.
Henry, Helga Bender. Cameroon on a Clear Day.
Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1999.
O'Neill, Herbert C. The War in Africa and the Far
East. London: London Longmans Green, 1918.
Robinson, Dan. Publication. Mandaras Publishing,
2010. Web.
Strachan, Hew. The First World War. Vol. I: To
Arms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Strachan, Hew. The First World War in Africa. Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press. 2004 ISBN 0-199-
25728-0
Coordinates: 1103N 1409E / 11.050N 14.150E
5
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