Centre & Eastern Column on 'Hannyngton's Loop' - May 1916
Updated: Jan 13, 2022
This follows on from THE BRITISH ADVANCE FROM MBUYUNI TO THE SOUTH OF LAKE JIPE
When Centre Column reached Same unopposed the British appreciation was that the enemy were likely to defend the area to the south at Bwiko where the Pangani River swings eastwards against the South Pare Mountains.
Brigadier-General Hannyngton, the Commander of Central Column, was ordered to leave his ox-drawn transport and artillery at Same and to move east between the North and South Pares, with his foot soldiers and No 6 (Logan’s) Battery, and to join up with Eastern Column. Hannyngton was to then continue his advance, with the South Pare hills to his right, down to Mkomazi. This diversion was named “Hannyngton’s Loop.”
Hannyngton took with him:
A detachment of East African Mounted Rifles
40th Pathans
129th Baluchis
Half battalion 2nd Kashmir Rifles
No. 6 (Logan's) Battery (2 x 12-pounder guns manned by the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and using Reo lorries)
One section East African Pioneers
Two sections Indian Field Ambulance
The ox-drawn No. 7 Battery (4 x 15-pounder guns manned by details of Indian Infantry and Royal Fusiliers) and ammunition and supply columns continued to plod down the Central route under escort.
Zerizeri
The British tactic was to have a good number of troops east of Bwiko should the Germans make a stand there. On May 27th Hannyngton’s force left Same at 1400 hours, arriving at Mandi at 1730 hours. Here Fitzgerald’s Eastern Column joined it, having established contact by heliograph as the two columns converged, and came under Hannyngton’s command. Logan’s Battery War Diary states that at Same the men were on half rations but now they were down to quarter rations.
The column, with 3 King’s African Rifles as advance guard, then used the track along the Mkomazi River which guaranteed them fresh water.
The withdrawing Schutztruppe troops often felled large trees across the track.
On May 29th the column camped at Gonja where two destroyed bridges were re-built, using 3 KAR’s acetylene signal lamps for night illumination.
Some marching was done at night but Logan’s Battery found that night movement with Reo lorries, along an unknown track, was difficult. The Loyal North Lancashire regimental history states:
“All this time the Reo lorries with drivers from South Africa had done excellent work; the South African drivers, though certainly not used to discipline, behaved well and soon became interested in their work and the Battery never had a breakdown.”
Staff officers also had a tendency to suddenly allocate the Battery’s lorries for other tasks.
Just south of Gonja is a small lake named Lake Kalimawe. On the river running out of the southern end of the lake the Schutztruppe had effectively demolished the bridge at Shegulu. Hannyngton did not have the engineer resources to to re-bridge this gap, and he now moved on tracks east of Lake Kalimawe towards Lasa Hill’s eastern flank.
On 31st May 3 KAR killed an enemy sniper and drove an enemy picquet off Lasa Hill, and a few German 4.1-inch rounds were fired at the column without doing any damage. (At this stage the Schutztruppe had a Konigsberg 4.1-inch gun transported on a railway wagon up and down the line.)
On 1st June at 1030 hours the column reached Mkomazi Station and made contact with the Mounted Infantry Company from River Column which was halted at Bwiko. The men were still on quarter rations. All columns now halted for a few days whilst supplies came forward.
