Battle of Mahenge
| date | 29.-31. August 1905 |
|---|---|
| place | Mahenge, Iringa |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
unknown |
|
| Troop strength | |
| several thousand | several hundred (including 5 Europeans and 60 Askaris ) |
| losses | |
|
min. 600 dead (estimate) |
approx. 20 dead |
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The Battle of Mahenge was a battle between Maji Maji supporters and soldiers from the Mahenge station in German East Africa at the end of August 1905. The Germans, armed with machine guns , repulsed the attacking Africans who suffered heavy losses. The battle of Mahenge was the largest battle of the Maji Maji uprising , which then turned into a guerrilla war by the Africans and a war of the scorched earth by the Germans.
background
In July 1905 several peoples rose against German rule in the south of what is now Tanzania . The reasons for the survey were, among other things, the increasing regulation by the colonial administration. The governorate in Dar es Salaam intervened more and more in the traditional ways of life of the East Africans in the form of taxation and planting obligations, through hunting and gun laws, to forced labor . The reason for the uprising was the salvation teachings of the magician Kinjikitile Ngwale , whose magic water was supposed to make Maji-Maji invulnerable. Ngwale was executed by the Germans at the beginning of the uprising. However, his cult lives on and united the peoples of different regions in rare harmony. In his last words before his death, Ngwale is said to have said that the effects of Maji-Maji now extend as far as Mahenge. There was a local administrative and company headquarters, called Boma . Indeed, it should be one of the European branches that were attacked in the first weeks of the uprising.
Attendees
Administration chief and commander of the local 12 peacekeepers - Company was at the time of the Battle Captain Theodor von Hassel - father of the future President of the Bundestag and Minister of Defense, Kai-Uwe von Hassel . The German military members of the 12th Company also included:
- Paymaster- aspirant Voigt,
- Sergeant Münzner,
- Medical Sergeant Max Knispel,
- and Sergeant Friebe.
In addition to the few German and a few dozen African soldiers, the Askaris , auxiliary troops from an allied sultan were among the defenders. In addition, travelers and clergy fled to the station.
Most of the attackers came from the Ngindo and Pogoro people . In contrast to other fighters of the uprising, they were - separated according to ethnic group - commanded by traditional tribal chiefs and not by religious Hongo leaders.
course
Von Hassel had only returned from a campaign against the rebels on August 27, 1905. Alarmed by reports of attacks, he had two machine guns (MG) posted on a wooden raised stand and palisades , trenches, thorn and wire barriers laid. In addition, the clearest possible field of fire was created and distance markings were staked out around the station. A courier was sent to Dar es Salaam with a request for assistance .
On August 29, 1905, the rebels approached the station in several groups. Figures for the total number of attackers range from 3,000 to 20,000. Equipped with traditional stabbing weapons , shields , clubs and outdated muzzleloaders - rifles they trusted in the effects of the magical water Maji-Maji . Soaked wreaths made from millet stems were worn on the heads as a maji-maji symbol. It was supposed to protect them from bullets and even bring walls to collapse.
During the assault on August 30, 1905 in the south of the station, rows of Maji-Maji trailers remained dead in the groomed apron, shot down by wide-ranging machine-gun fire. Eyewitnesses later reported ghostly scenes when the hail of bullets from automatic weapons hit the waves of people. In the close range there were also rifle volleys of the Askaris. After a further approach to the east of the station, the attackers fled without having reached the fortification walls. The following day, another group attacked in the north. Since this area around the station was built on and more confusing, the attackers had more cover here. Therefore von Hassel sent the local auxiliary troops to face close combat. Occasionally, attackers reached the perimeter of the station, but had to find out again that the Maji-Maji had no effect . The use of poisoned arrows was also unsuccessful. After enormous casualties - estimates put at least 600 dead - the Africans refrained from further attacks. Only 20 auxiliary soldiers are said to have died on the German side. However, the ammunition threatened to run out, so that the victory of the protection force was by no means "inevitable".
On September 20, 1905, the crew of the station Mahenge was the 2nd Company of the protection force under the command of Captain Ernst Nigmann horrified . Ammunition supplies arrived at the same time.
consequences
Given their inferiority in field battles and the revealed ineffectiveness of maji-maji magic, the insurgents switched to guerrilla tactics. The Germans' response was the scorched earth tactic : in order to take away any space, villages and fields were destroyed. This made the war more severe and by 1908 resulted in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of civilian deaths.
Others
Among those trapped in Mahenge was the German animal painter Friedrich Wilhelm Kuhnert , who had fled to the German station on a trip to Africa.
The battle of Mahenge was re-enacted as part of the ZDF documentary Kopfjagd in East Africa from the series Das Weltreich der Deutschen .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Knopp 2011, p. 271
- ↑ Längin 2005, p. 203
- ↑ a b c Knopp 2011, p. 273
- ↑ a b Nuhn o. D., p. 4
- ↑ Knispel 1934, p. 1
- ↑ Baldus / Numßen 2005, p. 136
- ↑ Nigmann in: German colonial lexicon . Volume 2, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, p. 653.
literature
- Felicitas Becker, Jigal Beez (ed.): The Maji-Maji-War in German East Africa 1905-1907. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-86153-358-8 .
- Dieter E. Kilian : Kai-Uwe von Hassel and his family. Between the Baltic Sea and East Africa. Military-biographical mosaic. Hartmann, Miles-Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-937885-63-6 .
- Guido Knopp : The World Empire of the Germans - About colonial dreams, wars and adventures. Revised paperback edition, Munich: Piper Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-26489-1 .
- Bernd G. Längin : The German Colonies - Scenes and Fates 1884-1918. Mittler, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-8132-0854-0 .