Chapter XIII (1)

1914-1915

In May, 1914, Selous went to Texel Island, on the coast of Holland, where he took a few eggs and enjoyed watching the Ruffs, Avocets, Godwits, Turnstones, and Spoonbills. In June and July he was making preparations for an expedition with his friend Abel Chapman to the Sudan and White Nile, with the object of collecting Gazelles and eventually, if possible, the Giant Eland. The plan was to enter via Port Sudan, shoot Ibex and Gazelles between that port and Khartoum and then go south in January, 1915, to Lake No, where Mrs. Gray's Lechwe could be found. Selous would then leave his friend and go to Wau for the Elands, and afterwards to the hinterland of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and search for the various local races of Uganda Kob found there and still imperfectly known.[66]

Other events of greater importance, however, put an end to this proposed trip. In August commenced the Great War, in which Selous at first had no thought of taking part, but as a succession of adverse circumstances multiplied, he felt that interest and responsibility in the conflict of nations that true men of whatever rank or station must experience. Foresight, common sense, and a knowledge of the great power of the Central Empires soon convinced him that in order to beat them, sooner or later we should have to enrol every fit man in the United Kingdom. He was not a man to delay once his mind was made up. The question was only how and where his services could be of most use. He understood "the bush" and "bush fighting" better than most men and he resolved to try and join the forces fighting in East Africa.

Soon he learned that it was probable that his friend Colonel Driscoll was about to organize a force, perhaps for service in East Africa, or even for the front in France.

Writing to Abel Chapman on August 12th, 1914, he says:--

"Before seeking enrolment in the Legion of Frontiersmen, I went
to one of the biggest Life Insurance Companies in London and was
examined by their chief medical officer, and I have got a
splendid certificate of health. After saying that he found all
my organs perfectly sound he goes on, 'his heart in particular,
considering the active life he has led, is in excellent
condition. He is also remarkably active and muscular and in my
opinion fit for service anywhere.' I may say that Colonel
Driscoll has not yet got his authority from the Government to
get his men together, though he has enrolled several thousand
and is prepared to come forward at a moment's notice. I fear
that there will be frightful delay, as I have good reason to
believe that none of our troops have yet left England and the
Government will attend to nothing until they have got all their
regular forces to the front. However, if the war goes on for any
time they will want all the men they can get, and I fully expect
that the Legion of Frontiersmen will get to the front sooner or
later, but perhaps not till the Colonial forces arrive in
England."

Writing on August 14th, 1914, he says:--

"I believe this war will be a terrific business, and that we
shall have to send something like a million of men out of the
country before it is over, so that sooner or later I think I
shall get into the fighting line. Freddy will not be old enough
to volunteer until April 21st next, when he will be seventeen,
and I fully expect that he will be wanted. _If I should be
eliminated it would not matter a bit as I have had my day_, but
it would be a pity if so promising a boy got scuppered at the
outset of his life."

All this time he was fretting at official delays, for writing to Chapman, September 22nd, 1914, he betrays his impatience.

"It passes my understanding why the War Office will not give the
order to Colonel Driscoll to take some of his men, who are all
well disciplined and can shoot, to the front at once.... I am
afraid that Lord Kitchener has no intention of employing
anything in this war but regular troops.... Driscoll offered to
take 1000 men to British East Africa to invade and take German
East Africa,[67] but this offer was also refused."

In October, Colonel Driscoll thought there was no chance of
being employed. "I personally," writes Selous to Chapman,
October 23rd, 1914, "do not think he will ever be employed at
all, so I determined to make an application direct to the War
Office for service at the front with the Army Service Corps, or
as an interpreter, or for any kind of work in which a good
knowledge of French and some German might be useful. I got two
letters of introduction to two members of Parliament who are
working at the War Office and was sympathetically received by
them. I took my health certificate with me. My application for
service was submitted straight to Lord Kitchener, and I have got
his reply from H. J. Tennant, M.P.: 'I spoke to Lord Kitchener
to-day about you and he thought that _your age was prohibitive
against your employment_ here or at the seat of war in Europe.'
Well, I suppose that is the end of it, for I put no faith in
Driscoll's belief that sooner or later his services will be
required, so I suppose that neither you nor I will be allowed to
serve our country in this war. We are looked upon as useless old
buffers."

In November, 1914, he was doing special constable at Pirbright
and was rather depressed that he could get nothing better to do,
and that his boy Freddy would soon have to go into training as a
soldier. He hoped his son would be able to join the Egyptian
Army and have "a good time in the Sudan or the King's African
Rifles. As I can do nothing that really matters, I often feel
that I should like to go right away--say to the Belgian
Congo--hunting and collecting for a year. But until the war is
over, or nearly over, I am afraid I shall not be able to leave
here, as besides being enrolled myself as a special constable, I
have now undertaken to do a lot of work under the 'Defence of
the Realm' Act. I feel it is all unnecessary fuss and bother, as
even if a raid could be made on the East coast of England, no
invasion could take place south of the Thames until the French
are conquered and crushed, and the Germans take possession of
all the Channel ports opposite our south-eastern shores, and
further until our Navy has lost command of the seas. Personally
I don't believe that either of these disasters can ever happen,
so I must do what the Government requires. Anyhow I feel that it
is a waste of energy." (Letter to Chapman, November 11th, 1914.)

In February, 1915, he still had hopes of going to East Africa with Colonel Driscoll's force, and speaks of the difficulties he had encountered in obtaining his commission in a letter to my wife. (February 18th, 1915.)

"I know absolutely nothing about the 'Legion of Frontiersmen' as
far as service is concerned, but Colonel Driscoll has always
promised me that if he was sent abroad, he would take me with
him as 'Intelligence Officer.' After last September, when he
offered to take 1000 or 2000 men to East Africa and his services
were declined by the War Office and the Colonial Office, I tried
to get a job myself with the Army Service Corps in France. I
went to the War Office and saw Mr. Tennant and said that I could
speak French, a good deal of German and make the Flemish people
understand my South African Dutch. Mr. Tennant laid my
application and my very excellent bill of health before Lord
Kitchener, who wrote me the next day simply saying that 'my age
was prohibitive against giving me any employment either here or
at the seat of war in Europe.' After that I gave up all hope of
being able to do anything and settled down as leader of the
special constables of Pirbright, and also did work for the
'Defence of the Realm' Act. In December, however, I got a letter
from Colonel Driscoll saying, 'If I am ordered out--as is very
probable--to East Africa, will you come with me?' I wired at
once to say I would be ready at very short notice, and went to
see him. I found that the War Office had sent for him and asked
him how long it would take him to get together 1000 men for
service in East Africa. He said that the War Office had already
got 3000 men, originally enrolled in the Legion, who when they
found that they could not be employed in a body had enlisted in
the new army. However, he undertook to get 1000 men by the end
of January, and I can vouch that he was working very hard to
accomplish this, when he got a letter from the W. O. (who had
told him to get on with the enlistment of the men) saying that
for the present his services would not be required, as they were
in communication with the Government of India as to getting more
troops for East Africa from there. Everything seemed over again,
but about three weeks ago, I got another letter from Driscoll
saying, 'Are you available for service at once?' The W. O. had
come to him again and asked _him_ to get 1000 men together by
February 10th. I have been helping him since then in getting
notices in the papers, and receiving the names of men willing to
serve in East Africa. Colonel Driscoll wanted and still wants to
take me with him as Intelligence Officer, so I went last Monday
to the War Office and saw Major Guest (who was with
Major-General Lloyd the other day when he inspected Driscoll's
men) and asked him about maps of German East Africa, and Major
Guest then told me that they were not going to give Driscoll an
Intelligence Officer. He told me that Driscoll would just have
to put down the names of his officers and submit them to the W.
O. for acceptance or rejection. As I told Major Guest, this
would mean that my name would certainly be rejected on account
of my age. I then saw Driscoll again, and found him very much
discouraged, as he said that not only had the W. O. refused to
allow either a signalling officer, a transport, or an
intelligence officer[68] on his strength, but they also wanted
to impose some men of their own choosing on him as officers,
whom he does not know, thereby obliging him to dismiss some of
his company officers, who have served with him, and whom he does
know. I think it quite possible that Driscoll may resign, but he
will not do so until he has got the men the War Office want. As
far as I am concerned I now think my chances of going to Africa
with this force are small, although Major Guest told me that
General Lloyd was in favour of letting me go. I know absolutely
nothing about the Legion of Frontiersmen in this country, nor do
I believe that there is the slightest chance of the Germans
landing any force in this country, as long as our Navy remains
in being."

On February 4th, 1915, he went to see Colonel Driscoll, who said
the War Office had stretched the age-limit in his case, that he
would take him to East Africa as Intelligence Officer. "I hope I
shall not prove too old for the job and break down," he writes.
Colonel Driscoll expected to have two or three months' training
and leave for East Africa in April. On March 7th, Mrs. Selous
went to Havre to work in the Y.M.C.A. hut there. Selous then left
for London. "It was thought that I would start for East Africa
with an advance contingent before she left for France," but he
was delayed, waiting for the whole regiment to go together.
Writing to Chapman, March 21st, 1915, he says: "I understand that
we are to start for East Africa next Saturday, or very soon
afterwards. Well, good-bye, old friend. These troublous times
will be over some day and then if we are still both alive and
have any vitality left, we must do that Nile trip."

Selous landed with his battalion at Mombasa on May 4th, 1915. Colonel R. Meinertzhagen gives a few particulars of the strange assortment of men comprising the force:--

"The battalion (25th Royal Fusiliers) concentrated at Kajiado
soon after landing at Mombasa, when it was inspected by General
Tighe, then Commanding in East Africa. I accompanied Tighe on
this inspection, and we formed a very high opinion of the
officers and men. They were an unpolished lot but real good
business-like men who meant fighting.

"Selous was then in front of his platoon, looking very serious
and standing strictly to attention. We recognized each other at
once and were soon deep in the question of the validity of the
Nakuru Hartebeest and the breeding of the Harlequin Duck in
Iceland. We both forgot we were on parade, much to the amusement
of Selous' platoon, who still stood rigidly to attention
throughout the discussion.

"Selous' company was indeed a mixed lot and contained men from
the French Foreign Legion, ex-Metropolitan policemen, a general
of the Honduras Army, lighthouse keepers, keepers from the Zoo,
Park Lane plutocrats, music-hall acrobats, but none the less
excellent stuff and devoted to their officers."

After some delays the regiment was sent up by the Uganda railway to the Victoria Nyanza, where they went by steamer to attack the German forces on the Western bank of the Great Lake at Bukoba. The following notes are Selous' own account of these operations.

_Personal Experiences, during the Attack on and Capture of the Town
and Wireless Installation at Bukoba, on the Western side of Lake
Victoria Nyanza._

It was about midnight on June 21st, 1915, or very early on the
morning of June 22nd, that we approached an island in the bay of
Bukoba, which, as the captain of our ship no doubt knew very
well, and as we were to find out on the following day, was only
about half a mile from the town, and the fine wireless
installation close to the Lake shore. We had been going very
slowly and quietly for some time before nearing the island, and
the intention of our commander-in-chief may have been to land
his forces in the dark, without the knowledge of the Germans.
But the guard on the island were wide awake, and either heard or
saw our steamer approaching, as they immediately sent up six
blue lights, one after the other, which illuminated the whole
island, and of course, warned the Germans in Bukoba that a
hostile British force was about to attack the town. They no
doubt thought that this attack would be made in the bay itself,
under cover of the ships' guns, as we found later that all their
trenches and block-houses along the shores of the bay had been
manned. After the flashlights had gone up, and it was evident
that a surprise attack on the town was no longer possible, all
our ships retired in the darkness for some little distance, but
before daylight again approached the coast, at a point some
three miles to the north of Bukoba, from which they were hidden
by a point of land. We all stood to arms on the crowded decks at
4 a.m., and silently waited for daylight. At the first streak of
dawn, about 5.30, the disembarkation of our men (400 of the 25th
Battalion Royal Fusiliers) commenced. My Company, A, was the
first to land, a somewhat slow process, as the heavy row-boats
only travelled very slowly and our ship was further than it
looked from the shore. From within a few yards of the water's
edge to the base of a precipitous slope, some 200 yards distant,
which in places was a sheer cliff, some 300 or 400 feet high,
the ground was covered with bush and large banana-plantations,
amongst which were scattered a few large and comfortable-looking
native huts. Had the Germans only known that we were going to
attempt a landing at this spot and brought a machine-gun to the
top of the cliff, or had they even lined the top of the cliff
with riflemen, they would probably have been able to kill every
man in the closely packed boats, and sunk the latter before they
reached the shore. Luckily they did not know where we were going
to land, until too late, for once on shore, we worked our way as
quickly as possible through the banana-plantations, and gained
the top of the cliff unopposed. We were only just in time,
however, as we were soon engaged with the enemy's forces, which,
having now become aware of our intentions, were rapidly
advancing to meet us. The disembarkation of B, C, and D
Companies (100 men each) of our battalion was now proceeding
rapidly, and the advance towards the town commenced.[69]

It is impossible for me to attempt to give any general idea of
the whole engagement, which lasted for two days, and I can only
tell you some of my own experiences and impressions. We fought
in a long thin skirmishing line, which extended from the sea to
over a mile inland, and slowly and gradually pushed our
opponents back towards Bukoba. On the right of our frontiersmen
were 300 men of the Loyal North Lancashire regiment, and
somewhere--I believe near the sea-shore, though I must confess
that I never saw them--was a contingent of the King's African
Rifles--native African troops, commanded by white officers. Our
whole force was supported by four guns of an Indian Mountain
Battery (the 28th) and four machine-guns. The forces opposed to
us were undoubtedly very inferior to ours numerically, and
consisted, I think, entirely of well-trained and well-armed
native and Arab troops, commanded by German commissioned and
non-commissioned officers, and a number of German civilian
sharpshooters (men who no doubt have done a lot of big game
hunting) armed with sporting rifles, fitted with hair-triggers
and telescopic sights. With these rifles they used soft-nosed
expanding bullets.[70] They had two cannons, I do not know of
what calibre,[71] but of quite a considerable range and two
machine-guns. But in another way our opponents had a very great
advantage over us, as they had the benefit of the most splendid
cover, banana-plantations, patches of thick bush, and bits of
ground strewn with rocks, against which we had to advance in the
open. Many bullets seemed to pass very close to me, whilst
others were much too high. Several times, too, a machine-gun was
turned on my platoon, but the range was quite 2000 yards and my
men were very scattered, and the rocks and stones gave us good
cover between our advances. Presently two of our own
machine-guns came up, and searched the hill-side for the enemy's
gun, firing all along the crest of the hill. I do not know if
they actually put any of the German machine-gun contingent out
of action, but they certainly caused them to withdraw their gun.

In the course of the day I had a rather curious experience. I
was expecting to see the men of C Company on my right, when I
suddenly saw two men dressed in khaki and wearing helmets
amongst the rocks, less than 200 yards away from me on my right.
There were also two or three natives in khaki with them. I said
to Corporal Jenner, who was close to me, "Those must be two of
our men with some of the native carriers," and we stepped out
into the open. We were immediately fired on, but still I could
not bring myself to fire back at them, and thinking that they
were our own men and that seeing us suddenly, where they did not
expect any of our men to be, they had mistaken us for Germans, I
took off my helmet and waved it to them. One of them at once
removed his helmet and waved it back to me. I was just putting
on my helmet again, when the Germans--for they were
Germans--fired at me again, and then dived in amongst the rocks.
Their bullets appeared to whistle very close past me, though
they may not have been as near as they seemed. At one point a
lot of the enemy whom my platoon had gradually forced out of the
rocks had to cross the open valley below, but they were then a
long way off, and though we expended a lot of ammunition on them
I only saw one drop. We also killed one black soldier at close
quarters in the rocks, and I have his rifle, which I shall keep
as a souvenir.

About 5 o'clock our whole force advanced across the open valley
below the ridges we had taken nearly the whole day to clear. To
do this we had to get through a swamp, intersected by a small
river, which was much more than waist deep. Having negotiated
this, we then took possession of two rocks, hills from which we
drove the enemy just before it got dark. I was standing beside a
stone on the top of the first hill, when a bullet struck a small
dead stump just in front of and within a yard of me. Where the
bullet afterwards went I don't know, but it sent a large chunk
of dead wood against my chest, and another against a man just
behind me, which hit him in the groin. He evidently thought he
was hit and fell to the ground with a groan. But he was no more
hit or hurt than I was, and soon recovered his composure. We had
had a very hard day, having had nothing to eat, and not even a
cup of coffee before leaving the ship. Provisions were to have
been sent on shore for us, but if they were, we never got them.
I had a hard biscuit and a lump of cheese in my pocket, but
these were ruined in the swamp. General Stewart and his Staff
joined us in the evening, and one of his staff gave Major Webb,
Lieutenant Hargraves and myself each a small sausage. Colonel
Kitchener (Lord Kitchener's brother) was with General Stewart's
Staff, and he introduced himself to me, and was as nice as
possible. He insisted on giving me a few thin biscuits which I
shared with my two company officers. The day had been intensely
hot and muggy, but the night was clear and there was a good
moon. Colonel Driscoll wanted to go on and take the town by
storm in the night; but General Stewart thought it better to
wait until the morning. Most of our men were, I think, very much
exhausted, but I, I think, was in as good shape as any of them.
I really was not tired at all. We passed a most uncomfortable
night.[72] As soon as the dew began to fall it got very cold, so
cold that we could not sleep at all. We were wet through too up
to our chests. During the night someone set light to some native
huts in the banana-plantation below our hill, so I took
advantage of the blaze and went down there, and stripping stark
naked dried all my things before going up the hill again. Whilst
I was doing this our dead were taken past on stretchers. The
wounded had been taken on to our hospital-ship in the afternoon.

Before dawn on the morning of June 23rd, we all stood to arms
again on the top of the hills we had occupied the previous
evening, and very glad we all were when at last day broke and
the long, cold, dreary, sleepless night was past. We had nothing
to eat, and nothing to drink but the water in our
water-bottles, and again commenced the day's work on empty
stomachs. Soon after daybreak, our signaller brought a message
to Colonel Driscoll from General Stewart, telling him to send an
officer and twenty men through the bush and banana-plantations
below the hill, in order to find out the line taken by the road
(which we could plainly see passing below our hill and entering
the plantations) through the swamps which lay between us and the
town of Bukoba, and then to approach as near the town as
possible in order to ascertain what forces were defending it.
Colonel Driscoll and Major Webb did me the honour to select me
to lead this patrol, and I lost no time in selecting twenty good
men of my own platoon to accompany me. After getting off the
hill we advanced in single file along the road, I leading, and
my men following, with intervals of about six paces between
them. We followed the road, and it was somewhat jumpy work,
passing along the edge of several banana-plantations, and
patches of bush, as they afforded such ideal cover for
sharpshooters of the type we had encountered on the previous
day. However, there were none there, and we presently emerged on
to an open plain covered with grass about two or two and a half
feet high, and saw the road running through it straight in to
the town. All along the road were posts at intervals of fifty
yards or so supporting a telegraph or telephone wire which was
probably connected up with some fort from which we had compelled
the enemy to retire on the previous day.

On emerging into the open beyond the plantations at the foot of
the hill, we were perhaps twelve or fifteen hundred yards from
the wireless installation and the nearest houses. The sea-shore
was perhaps half a mile to our left, and between us and the lake
ran a reedy swamp, which we could see ran to within some 500
yards of the wireless installation and then curved to the right,
the straight road we were on going right across it over a
bridge. I now followed the road across the open ground,
searching both to right and left and straight in front for any
signs of the enemy. But we could see nothing and hear nothing,
and I began to think that possibly Bukoba had been deserted
during the night, and that I and my patrol might walk right
into it unopposed, But as we approached the bridge over the
swamp, I saw the opportunities it offered for an ambush, and so
passed the word down my line of men telling them to leave the
road, and keeping their relative positions, edge off to the
left, in the direction of the swamp. We had hardly commenced
this movement, when we were fired on from somewhere near the
bridge. "Down," I shouted, and my command was obeyed with the
utmost alacrity. The bullets whistled past us, but no one was
hit, and we then crawled through the grass to the swamp, and
then again advanced along its edge until we were within about
600 yards of the wireless installation. Along the swamp we
usually had good cover, but whenever I tried to reconnoitre and
raised myself above the grass to get a good look round I was
fired on, I could not tell exactly from where. Two or three
times a machine-gun was turned on us, but except when trying to
reconnoitre we were pretty safe, and the bullets really whizzed
over us. I expected that our whole battalion would have received
orders to advance on the town shortly after my patrol had shown
that there were no enemy forces on this side of where the road
crossed the swamp. But before this happened the enemy's gun
positions were shelled both by the Indian Mounted Battery on the
hill, and by the guns on our ships, which were now closing in on
the Bay of Bukoba. The Germans returned the fire of the Mountain
Battery most pluckily with two guns mounted on the hill behind
the town, but did not reply to the fire of the ships' guns. This
artillery duel had gone on for some time when about 9 o'clock a
terrific storm burst over the area of the fighting, accompanied
by torrential rain and partial darkness. In a few minutes my men
and I, and all who were exposed to its violence, were soaked to
the skin. The rain, however, was luckily, if not exactly warm,
not cold and gave us no sense of chill.

When the storm was over, the big guns again opened fire. Several
hours had now passed since I left the hill on which our
battalion had passed the night, and I wondered why no general
advance had been made on the town. I did not think that it
would be either wise or right to advance any further with only
twenty men, as I knew there was a machine-gun in front of us,
somewhere near the wireless installation, and it was impossible
to tell what forces were still holding Bukoba and waiting to
open fire from the shelter of the houses on any men advancing
against it. So I sent one of the men with me--a South African
named Budler--and my native boy Ramazani, with a note to Colonel
Driscoll that there was a good line of advance towards Bukoba,
along the edge of the swamp where my men were lying. My men met
Colonel Driscoll and learnt from him that a general advance was
in fact then taking place. C Company soon came up and took up
their position a little beyond me along the reed-bed, and I
learnt that Major Webb with the rest of A Company was advancing
on our right, and then B and D Companies were still further to
the right. The Adjutant, Captain White, then came along and
thought that some of us ought to cross to the further side of
the swamp. This was at once done by the men of C Company, some
of my men with myself as their leader, and Captain White
himself. The stream in the middle of the swamp was quite deep
and we all got wet up to our breasts. Just before we crossed the
swamp Lieutenant Miles of the King's African Rifles came up with
a machine-gun, with which he opened fire on one of the houses
near the wireless installation, from which we thought that a
German machine-gun had been firing at us. This proved to be
right, but unfortunately the German gun got the range of our gun
first, and when three of his men had been wounded, one very
severely, Lieutenant Miles had to withdraw his gun into the
shelter of the hollow formed by the reed-bed. German
sharpshooters, firing from we could not tell exactly where, were
now sending some bullets disagreeably close to us as we lay flat
just beyond the swamp. These bullets, fortunately in no great
number, seemed to ping past us only a few inches above our
bodies. Presently Sergeant-Major Bottomly of C Company came
across the swamp, and lay down alongside of me, or at least
separated from me by just a yard, my black boy Ramazani lying
between us, but a little lower down, so that his head was on a
line with my hips. I just said a word to Bottomly, and then
turned my head away from him again to look in the direction from
which the bullets were coming. Almost immediately my black boy
Ramazani touched me, and said: "Master, soldier hit, dead." I
had never heard a sound, but turning my head I saw poor Bottomly
lying on his back, stone dead, with a bullet through his head. I
noticed a large signet ring on his right hand, as his arm hung
limp across his body. His head and face were nearly covered by
his helmet, but the blood was trickling down over his throat,
and I knew that he must have been shot through the brain and
killed instantaneously.

Our ships had now crept right into the Bay of Bukoba, and as
they fired on the town, or the enemy's gun positions, their
shells came screaming and whistling over us. The machine-guns
were going too with their wicked rattle, and bullets from
snipers' rifles came with an unpleasant sound, sometimes
apparently within a few inches of our bodies, which were just
then pressed as close to the ground as possible. I thought, as I
lay there only a yard away from the blood-stained corpse of poor
Sergeant-Major Bottomly, listening to the peculiar noise of each
kind of projectile as it found its invisible course through the
air above and around me, that I could recall various half-hours
of my life passed amidst much pleasanter surroundings. And yet
what a small and miserable thing this was, after all, in the way
of a battle compared with the titanic combats which have been
taking place in Europe ever since the greatest war in history
commenced last August. I can well understand how the nerves of
any man, however strong, may be shaken to pieces, by the awful
clamour of the giant shells and the concentrated fire of many
machine-guns, and countless numbers of rifles, and the terrible
havoc wrought by these fearful weapons of destruction.

As the advance of the companies of our battalion on the right
seemed to be very slow, and we did not know exactly what
opposition lay in front of us, Colonel Driscoll asked me to call
for three or four volunteers, and crawl forwards in order to
make a reconnaissance. I took four men of my own platoon who
were close to me. We had not proceeded far when a shot was fired
at us from somewhere to our right. This bullet seemed just to
skim over us. We immediately lay flat, and wriggling to the left
got shelter in a slight hollow of the ground. Along this hollow
we advanced to within some three hundred yards of the house
nearest to the wireless installation, when several shots were
fired at us, and we could also hear talking beyond the rising
ground to our left. We could see no sign of the enemy near the
wireless installation, nor anywhere down the main street of the
town, and I think that Bukoba was at that time already deserted,
except for a few sharpshooters who were covering the evacuation,
so I at once crawled back to make my report to Colonel Driscoll.
On our way we passed some of Major Leitch's men (C Company) and
on my reaching Colonel Driscoll and making my report, he asked
me to collect the rest of my own men, and then took one of the
four men with me to guide him to where Major Leitch was, as he
wanted to speak to him. Almost immediately after I had parted
from him, my man, Private Mucklow (from Worcestershire), was
shot dead alongside of Colonel Driscoll, as he had incautiously
stood up. This, I think, was almost if not absolutely the last
shot fired by the enemy, and no opposition whatever was made to
the advance upon, and occupation of the town by our battalion. I
think that both their machine-guns had been put out of action by
shells from the Indian Mounted Battery, but they were carried
away. They abandoned one of their pieces of artillery, however.
We found it with four oxen ready yoked to drag it away, but a
shell from our battery had killed one of the oxen and so in
their hurry the Germans abandoned the gun. The sappers destroyed
most completely the wonderful structure of the wireless
installation, which was something like a small Eiffel Tower, and
nearly if not quite 200 feet high, with immensely strong
concrete foundations. It must have cost a great deal of money to
construct in Germany and then convey over so many thousands of
miles of land and sea to the very heart of Africa all the
component parts of this wonderful example of material
civilization, but I suppose the destruction of this wireless
installation was the chief object of this expedition to Bukoba.

Immediately upon entering the town my company was sent on to the
hill behind it to guard against any attack, and the men of the
Loyal North Lancashire regiment presently worked round along the
ridge of the higher hills beyond, and posted pickets on all
points of vantage. I therefore did not actually witness the
destruction of the wireless installation. Neither I nor my men
had had anything to eat since the previous evening and very
little since the evening before we left the ship, but we got
some bananas in the plantations on the hillsides below us,
though only a few of them were ripe. My men, however, brought me
two fine large ones quite ripe and of a most delicious flavour.

There was a sort of arsenal on the hill we were guarding, and
this was blown up about 5 o'clock, an immense amount of
ammunition being destroyed. The houses of the German residents,
probably Government officials for the most part, were very well
and comfortably built and furnished. The arsenal in the town was
set alight and great quantities of ammunition and some dynamite
destroyed. A good deal of beer and wine and provisions of
various kinds was discovered in Bukoba, but I saw no drunkenness
amongst our men.

Just at sundown the order came from General Stewart that our
battalion was to parade and march to the jetty and re-embark at
once. But at first we had to bury our dead. A great grave was
dug in the sandy soil, between the burning arsenal and the
Governor's house, and in it were laid three deep the bodies of
six Britons, still swathed in their blood-stained clothes, who
had given their lives for King and Country, far, far away from
their native land and all who held them dear. These men had all
been killed outright, but two more who had died of their wounds
after being taken to the hospital-ship were brought ashore and
buried within sound of the murmuring waters of the great inland
lake. Altogether our casualties amounted to twenty; 8 killed and
12 wounded. The re-embarkation of our battalion took a very long
time, and it was not till 2 a.m. on the morning of June 24th
that my company, A, at last got on board. Until then we had been
sitting and lying about on the jetty in our wet clothes, without
food, fire, or warm tea or coffee.

Before midday on the 24th our flotilla started back across the
lake for Kisumu, which we reached on the evening of the 25th.
The authorities had made our men intensely uncomfortable on
board the steamer by putting a lot of mules on the crowded decks
with them. They were able to rest and get food at Kisumu, and
about six o'clock on the evening of the 26th we started by train
for Nairobi. Again the authorities packed our men like sardines
into miserable third-class carriages made for natives. They
could surely have given us two trains and so allowed our tired
men a little space to stretch themselves. We arrived at Nairobi
at 6.30 on the evening of the 27th, and were packed off again at
7 o'clock for Kajiado. One would have thought that as our men
had come out from England to fight for East Africa, and that as
we had just returned from a successful attack on an enemy's
stronghold, and as our time of arrival in Nairobi had been
telegraphed on ahead, that something might have been done by the
townspeople on behalf of our tired and hungry men; or that even
some kind of official welcome might have been accorded them. But
not a bite of food for man or officer was to be had on our
arrival at Nairobi, and not even hot water could be obtained to
make tea with.

Leaving Nairobi on the evening of June 27th, we reached our camp
at Kajiado early the following morning, and our first expedition
against the Germans was at an end.

F. C. SELOUS,
Lieutenant 25th Battalion
Royal Fusiliers.

In a letter to his friend Heatley Noble (July 26th, 1915), Selous, who was then with his battalion guarding the Uganda railway near Voi, speaks of the difficulties lying ahead of our people and the efforts, only partially successful, to hold our territory against the splendidly organized German forces.

"Since our fight at Bukoba we have made an attack on a German
post in British territory on the road from Voi to Taveta. Our
attack in this case failed, as our information seems to have
been all wrong, and the Germans were found to be more strongly
posted than had been supposed. An Indian Punjabi regiment was
badly cut up, the Colonel killed and the Adjutant wounded and
taken prisoner. The native porters, carrying ammunition and
equipment of all kinds, threw down everything and cleared as
soon as the first shots were fired, and the Germans took
possession of everything, including the dead and wounded. They
buried the Colonel with full military honours, and allowed the
Adjutant to send word that he was being well looked after. There
were several other units engaged in this affair, 500 Rhodesians,
some of the Loyal North Lancs, and three companies of the
K.A.R.; but the casualties in all these contingents were very
small, only the Indian regiment apparently having got up against
the machine-guns. Things are now at a standstill out here, and
when there will be another move it is impossible to say. Botha
had 50,000 men, and equipment of all kinds to conquer the
Germans in South-West Africa, and he did his job splendidly.
Here we have under 2000 white troops, some 2000 African blacks
and a considerable number of Indians, most of them very much
demoralized as they caught it badly at Tanga and Jasin. The
Germans are said to have 4000 or 5000 white men in G.E.A. and
nearly 20,000 very well trained black troops under German
officers.[73] They are, too, splendidly equipped in every way,
and have no end of machine-guns and ammunition. Even if we had a
large army here, we could not move it across country to the
vital points in G.E.A., as the difficulties of transport would
be insurmountable. The only way would be to take Dar-es-Salaam
and Tanga, and then advance methodically up their railways, as
Botha did in S.W. Africa. For this we should require at least
20,000 or 30,000 men, and as we are not likely to get them, in
my opinion we shall be stuck out here until peace is made in
Europe. I hope to God that will be before many months are over,
or all our young men will be killed. I hope and trust your sons
are still alive. I often think of them and of your and Mrs.
Noble's terrible anxiety. There has been a lot of
sickness--fever and dysentery--both amongst the officers and men
of this battalion, but only two deaths--two privates died of
dysentery. I think that I am the only one of our officers who
has not suffered at all from either bad diarrhoea, dysentery or
fever. I have been quite well all the time, and have never been
an hour off duty. Bukoba was rather hard, scarcely any food for
two days and nights, up to our chests in the swamps, and then
lying out in our wet clothes without fire or blanket. I did not
suffer any after-effects at all, I am glad to say, and have now
got into very good condition. The long marches do not tire me at
all, and the men now say that when I fall out no one will be
left standing in the battalion. This is, of course, nonsense,
but as far as standing fatigue, sun, thirst, etc., I think that
I am really better than most of them. Three of our officers have
been found unfit for further service, and there are some others
who are weak constitutionally, and will never be able to stand
any really hard work. So we are very short of officers, and
whether Colonel Driscoll's recommendation in my favour for good
conduct in the field is attended to or not, I shall very likely
get to be a captain before long, as I am the senior subaltern in
the battalion. I don't know my drill very well, but my men, I
hear, say they have great confidence in me, and will go anywhere
with me; but once I am through with this job, no more military
duty for me. I hate all the drill and routine-work, and I shall
be far too old to take part in any other war after this one."

In a letter to me, written from Voi (December 8th, 1915), Selous gives a short general survey of the operations since he landed.

"MY DEAR JOHNNY,