Battle for Jassini

Battle for Jassini

Part of: First World War

date	January 18th bis 19th January 1915
place	In Jassini , German East Africa (now Tanzania )
output	German victory

Parties to the conflict
German Empire German East Africa	United Kingdom  British India
Commander
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck	Raghbir Singh
Troop strength
1,300 soldiers	2,500 soldiers
losses
86 dead, 200 wounded	500–700 dead and wounded 300 prisoners

First World War outside Europe

The Battle of Jassini was a military conflict between Great Britain and the German Empire during the First World War . It took place between January 18 and 19, 1915 in the East African coastal town of Jassini (now in Tanzania ).

background

The state of war between Germany and Great Britain had existed since the beginning of August 1914 and, despite the neutrality provisions of the Congo Act, extended to the colonies. After the Battle of Tanga , the British assembled a brigade on the border in the northeast of the colony. In January they occupied the coastal town of Jassini and threatened the northern line, which is important for German supplies, and the city of Tanga, 50 km away.

The British had pulled together 2,500 men in the area. Jassini served as an advanced post where three companies of infantry, some 300 Indians, were stationed under the command of Lt. Col. Raghbir Singh. Essentially, the crew consisted of two companies of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles , a company of the 101st Grenadiers and an MG platoon of the King's African Rifles . Most of the British were scattered north of Jassini.

The commandant of the protection force , Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck , decided to take preventive action against this threat. To this end, he put the protection force on Jassini on January 16. On the evening of January 17, nine companies with 1,300 men, four guns and 23 machine guns stood eleven kilometers south of the village. The order to attack provided for two companies each to encircle the place to the west and east and secure it to the north at the beginning of the next day. The majority should advance head-on towards Jassini from the south.

The battle

The British had not seen the German deployment. The occupation of the place was completely taken by surprise by the German attack when they first came into contact with the advancing right wing of the Germans before dawn. Within a very short time there was fighting everywhere, but the surrounding area succeeded. In the following hours, the protection force had to laboriously struggle through the coconut plantation of the German-East African Society surrounding Jassini , in which sisal was planted. She met with greater resistance than expected. The Germans underestimated the number of opponents. In addition, the Indians had entrenched themselves excellently in a trench system. Their targeted fire quickly resulted in casualties in the protection force, which in turn did not see the enemy. The attack got stuck a few hundred meters around the British positions until noon and ammunition and water became scarce. Only because of the persistent leadership of Lettow-Vorbeck, who insisted on a continuation of the battle despite the difficult situation, the fight was not broken off.

In the course of the day there were several uncoordinated British relief attempts from the north, but all of them were repulsed because the Germans were better equipped with machine guns. British support from the sea was also ineffective. The Germans now received the urgently needed supplies of ammunition from the south. Water was obtained from the coconuts on the plantation. At around 4.30 p.m. the British attempted an escape from Jassini, but it was repulsed. As darkness fell, the fighting subsided. The Germans stayed in their positions, but pushed the artillery closer to the enemy positions.

The next morning the British tried another breakout, which again failed due to the better effect of the artillery. Without hope of relief, the remaining occupation of the place surrendered shortly afterwards. Lettow-Vorbeck congratulated the captured British officers for their bravery.

consequences

The British plan to take Tanga from land had initially been foiled. The British losses were significant. Over two hundred dead were counted on the battlefield, including Jassini's commander, Singh. Depending on the source, 500-700 British dead and wounded are named. There are also over three hundred prisoners, with the British officers being released on their word of honor. In addition, a large amount of equipment and material was captured from the Germans. Including 90,000 rounds of urgently needed ammunition and a machine gun.

The Schutztruppe achieved another great success after Tanga, which, however, was bought at a high price. There were 86 dead, including 58 Askari, and over 200 wounded. In addition, the troops lost a seventh of their number of officers. Among them the deputy commander of the protection force, Major Keppler and the personal adjutant Lettow-Vorbeck, Captain Hammerstein. Lettow-Vorbeck was slightly injured in the arm. A total of over 200,000 rounds of ammunition had been consumed, which the captured ammunition could not compensate for.

In the aftermath, despite the success at Lettow-Vorbeck, the realization prevailed that such large-scale companies would no longer be affordable in the future due to the lack of supplies. The Schutztruppe therefore switched to guerrilla tactics in their operations in the following period .

Due to lack of water and constant fire from the British Navy from sea, the protection force had to evacuate Jassini again in the course of the following weeks.

See also

• First World War outside Europe
• Protection force for German East Africa

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck : My memories from East Africa p. 51ff. Koehler, Leipzig, 1920.
2. ↑ Entry at livesofthefirstworldwar.org
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Wolfgang Foerster, Helmuth Greiner, Hans Witte: Fighters on forgotten fronts. Campaign Letters, Diaries and Reports. P. 22ff online via The Digital State Library of Upper Austria
4. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Pesek: The end of a colonial empire: East Africa in the First World War, p. 58 f. online via google books

Web links