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Cam Eroon
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or "CAM EROON io ° 15' Hostilities opened on Aug. 6 1914, when a small French force captured Bonga, at the Sanga-Congo confluence. The next day Zinga, on the Ubangi, was captured. This prompt action anticipated and prevented an offensive planned by the Germans. The operations were directed by Gen. Aymerich, commander-in-chief in French Equatorial Africa. That officer next formed two columns: one under Col. Hutin advanced N. up the Sanga valley, the other under Col. Morrison advanced W. along the Lobaye, which joins the Ubangi near Zinga. Both columns were at first successful; their objectives were Lomie and Dume respectively, posts in the centre of Cameroon. Almost simultaneously with the opening of Gen. Aymerich's campaign in the S.E., Gen. Largeau 1 in the far N. unsuccessfully attacked the post of Kusseri on the Logone river (Lake Chad region). A second attack, on Sept. 21, was successful. Meantime a British column from Nigeria under Capt. R. W. Fox had crossed the frontier (Aug. 25) and had attacked but failed to capture the hill-fort of Mora which was held by Capt. von Raben. Largeau now sent a French column under Col. Brisset to cooperate with Capt. Fox. On Dec. 12 Brisset occupied Marua, a town S. of Mora, and by that date the whole of the Lake Chad region of Cameroon had been cleared of the Germans except the fort of Mora, where the situation remained unchanged to the close of the campaign. For the most part the British were content to blockade the place, though between Aug. 23 and Sept. 15 1915 unsuccessful attempts were made to storm it. Mora had the advantage of a good water supply.
On the same day (Aug. 25 1914) on which Capt. Fox invaded northern Cameroon, two other British columns 2 invaded Cameroon. One, starting from Yola, attempted to capture Garua (Aug. 30), failed, suffered heavily and was compelled to fall back on Yola. Among the killed was the commander, Lt.-Col. P. Maclear. Reorganized and placed under command of Lt.-Col. Webb Bowen, the Yola column later in the year cooperated with Col. Brisset. The other column, which entered Cameroon in the Cross river district, suffered a severe reverse at Nsanakang on Sept. 6, being surprised by a German force brought from Duala and sustaining 168 casual Gen. Largeau (1869-1916) had been a member of the Marchand Expedition to Fashoda and later took a leading part in the conquest and exploration of the central Sudan. It was as commander of the French forces in the Lake Chad region that he directed the French operations in northern Cameroon, later giving Gen. Cunliffe loyal support. In Oct. 1915 he returned to France. He was killed in command of a brigade at Verdun March 26 1916.
2 The operations on this side were under the direction of Col. Sir F. D. Lugard, governor of Nigeria.
ties. All the Nigerian forces were native troops (under British officers), being drawn from the Nigerian Regt. of the West African Frontier Force. Sir F. D. Lugard had contemplated operations on a larger scale than those carried out, but was called upon to supply contingents for an Anglo-French Expeditionary Force, which it had been decided should be dispatched.
The decision to send an expeditionary force was reached by the British and French military authorities in the first month of the war, and Maj.-Gen. Sir Charles M. Dobell, inspector-general of the W.A.F.F., was chosen for the command. His force, which at the outset numbered 4,300, was composed, in almost equal proportions, of British and French negro troops. The French contingent under Col. Mayer embarked mainly at Dakar, the British at Freetown (Sierra Leone) and other ports, and the expedition sailed for Duala about the middle of September. The many creeks along the coast had already been patrolled by light craft and the Nigeria Marine, while the gunboat " Dwarf " and other boats had anchored off the estuary of the Cameroon. The Germans had mined the estuary and had blocked the fairway. On the arrival of Dobell's transports, escorted by the cruisers " Cumberland," " Challenger " and other vessels, including the French cruiser " Bruix," a passage was forced through the barrier and on Sept. 25 Gen. Dobell summoned the commandant to surrender. On his refusal Duala was bombarded on Sept. 26 and surrendered the next day. Over 400 Germans were found in the port and 30,915 tons of shipping were captured.
Col. Zimmerrann had been at Duala from Aug. 4; having decided to conduct the defence of the protectorate from a central position, on the day Duala was bombarded he withdrew by train to Edea, 40 m. to the south-east. The governor, Herr Ebermaier, was already at Edea; there appears to have been close cooperation throughout between the governor and the commander of the forces.
From the coast inland for 150 m. stretches the typical monotonous and almost impenetrable West African forest, fringed seaward by an area of mangrove swamp containing hundreds of creeks. An enemy in this forest could be only a few yards away and still be invisible. Fortunately for the Allies the natives were friendly.
Gen. Dobell at once organized three columns to pursue the enemy through the forest at Edea. One column ascended the Sanaga (not to be confused with the Sanga), and others marched overland. Col. Zimmermann had destroyed the railway in his retreat and at Japoma, where a bridge had spanned a creek 900 yd. wide, a German detachment had been posted. The bridge had been broken but the passage was forced by French infantry with the assistance of lightdraught warships and British marines. Opposition to the advance continued the whole way but Edea was occupied on Oct. 26 (1914). But by that time Col. Zimmermann and Herr Ebermaier had retired another loo m. E. to Yaunde, and the Allied columns were too weak to continue the pursuit. The force stationed at Edea consisted of French troops under Col. Mayer. Yaunde, which had become the German headquarters, was well chosen. It was on high tableland, beyond the bounds of the dense forest, and so situated that Col. Zimmermann could from it maintain communication with the German posts in the E. and N. of the protectorate.
While for lack of sufficient men Col. Mayer was compelled to remain inactive at Edea, Gen. Dobell proceeded to clear the region between the Cameroon estuary and Nigeria. Lt.-Col. A. H. Haywood had charge of the principal operations. By the end of 1914 the whole of the northern railway had been occupied, together with Buea, the administrative capital on the slopes of Mt. Cameroon.
Meantime practically no progress had been made by the British and French columns in northern Cameroon, while of Gen. Aymerich's columns advancing from the E. that under Col. Morrison had been checked and that under Col. Hutin was making headway. (Hutin, in Oct. 1914, had been joined by a small contingent of Belgian Congo troops, while the Congo administration placed their river steamers and artillery at the disposal of Gen. Aymerich.) Thus, at the beginning of 1915 the Allied offensive had almost come to a standstill. The forces needed. reorganization, coordination and strengthening, and this was now taken in hand. Brig.-Gen.
F. H. Cunliffe was appointed to command the British and French troops in northern Cameroon, where the Germans were taking the offensive at various points, and instructed to prosecute the campaign with renewed vigour. Dobell called for reinforcements from the French and British West African colonies, and these were sent, the first fresh troops reaching Duala in Feb. (1915). The previous month (on Jan. 5) Col. Mayer had beaten off an attack made on his force at Edea, the Germans losing heavily in killed and wounded. This was the only offensive action taken by the forces under Col. Zimmermann's direct orders.
All the facts pointed clearly to the main lines of the Allied strategy in the future operations, namely a combined and concentric advance on Yaunde. Meanwhile, to prevent Col. Zimmermann, if he broke S'. from Yaunde, from reaching the neutral Spanish territory, a small French column under Col. Miquelard, which had landed at Coco Beach, on the S. shore of the Muni estuary, was advancing along the eastern borders of Spanish Guinea, and another was advancing along the northern border of the Spanish protectorate.
In the result the advance on Yaunde was begun prematurely. It was undertaken as the result of a visit in March 1915 of M. Foureau, lieutenant-governor of the Middle Congo colony, to Gen. Dobell at Duala. NI. Foureau asked Dobell to cooperate with Aymerich in an immediate advance on Yaunde. Dobell demurred (the season was late, the rains were beginning and supply difficulties were great) and wished to be assured that Aymerich would be able to cooperate effectively in the vicinity of Yaunde. But his scruples were overcome and he consented to act at once. As events proved Aymerich was far from being able to give effective support. This Gen. Dobell did not know until May II. In the meanwhile, on April 7 a column under Col. Haywood had moved E. and this enabled Col. Mayer to advance from Edea on May I. On May 3 Haywood, whose line of march was N. of that of the Mayer column, came to Wum Biagas, a strongly entrenched river position. This Haywood captured after an 18 hours' engagement. Thereafter Col. Mayer took over the command of the two columns, British and French, in the further advance on Yaunde. In all he had about 2,000 men, 300 of whom had been brought from Edea and were fresh.
Gen. Dobell, though he now knew that immediate help from Aymerich was not likely, decided to continue operations. Col. Mayer therefore left Wum Biagas on May 25, but from the first he met with strong opposition. In the dense bush, which sheltered an active and elusive enemy, the rate of progress was no more than a mile a day. Yaunde was still 40 m. distant and dysentery had broken out among the troops. Col. Mayer inforned Gen. Lobell that any further advance was impracticable, and received orders to withdraw. This withdrawal was greatly impeded by the Germans, but at a critical moment Mayer was reinforced by son e con panies which had made a fine march in the tropical rain. Ey June 28 Mayer was back in the Edea district and the Germans ceased attacking.
While this first advance on Yaunde failed, Gen. Cunliffe in northern Cameroon achieved several successes. He had taken up his command in Feb. 1915, and his first important operation w as the reduction of Garua, which was defended by Capt. von Crailsheim (with some 40 Germans and 400 native troops) - a man who won the admiration of his foes for his great daring and skill. Garua was invested in the middle of April and surrendered on June to, after an unsuccessful sortie. A little later (June 28) Igaundere (nearly 300 m. N.E. of Yaunde) was occupied and here Gen. Cunliffe paused until Dobell was ready to renew his advance. Fart of the interval was occupied in the unsuccessful attempt to take Mora by storm.
The new advance on Yaunde depended on the progress of Gen. Aymerich's columns. Col. Hutin, having been reinforced, occupied Lomie-150 m. S.S.E. of Yaunde - on June 25 1915, after many engagements. He was joined by over 300 German native troops, who had deserted. A month later, July 25, Col. Morrison occupied Dume - 140 m. N.N.E. of Yaunde. Morrison had had severe fighting and a chequered experience since he began his march the previous Aug., having more than once been compelled to fall back before enemy counter-attacks. On Aug. 25-6 a conference w as held at Duala between Gen. Dobell, Gen. Aymerich and M. Merlin (governor-general of French Equatorial Africa), when arrangements were completed for the final advance. Gen. Dobell renewed his offensive on Sept. 22; Cunliffe moved early in Oct.; Hutin and Morrison steadily pushed on from the east. Dobell had now received considerable reinforcements - his force had reached its greatest strength, 9,700, in November. Cunliffe had from 3,000 to 4,000 men; Aymerich about the same number; the French forces on the Spanish Guinea borders were Boo to i,000; the Belgian column numbered 600 - altogether the maximum Allied strength in the field was about 15,000. Except for a battalion of the Indian Army (sent to Cameroon nearly at the end of the campaign - and as a disciplinary measure) and a battalion of the West India Regt. (negroes) the whole of the rank and file employed were African natives. The German forces, old and newly raised, were estimated at a total of 10,000, including fully 700 white combatants.
For his final operations Gen. Dobell sent forward British and French columns separately - Col. Mayer advancing once more from Edea; the British under Col. Haywood from positions farther north. Again the dense forest was traversed, but now in the dry season and with adequate supply arrangements. 'I he Germans, as before, vigorously opposed both the French and British columns. On Oct. 9 the British retook Wum Biagas, and on Oct. 30 the French took Eseka, the railhead. The British won through the forest first, and by Dec. 17 they were at Mangas, in open country and about 50 m.
W. of Yaunde. Four days later the French column, which had had many casualties, was at Mangelas, 20 m. S.E. of Mangas. The British column, acting upon Dobell's instructions, had not waited for Col. Mayer to reach Mangelas, but pushed on straight for Yaunde which was entered, unopposed, on Jan. 11916, by Col. E. H. Gorges.
From Dec. 22 German opposition had ceased. Col. Zimmermann, as soon as he knew that both the British and French columns were clear of the forest, and aware too of the approach of Cunliffe and Aymerich, had determined to give up the contest. Together with the governor and 823 other Germans (including civilians), his native troops and thousands of carriers, he evacuated Yaunde, making S.W. for Spanish Guinea, the nearest point of which was, however, 125 m. distant. He was at once pursued, and in a rear-guard action fought on Jan. 8 Col. Haywood released 32 British and French who had been held prisoners by the Germans.
Col. Brisset's column coming from the N.E. was the next to reach Yaunde; then came Aymerich's columns, and Col. Morrison was detached to continue the pursuit of the Germans.
Cunliffe's troops had had very stubborn fighting during this closing phase of the campaign, the most difficult operation being the capture (Nov. 4-5) of Banyo, a hill-fortress which lay some 200 m.
N. of Yaunde and on the edge of that corner of Cameroon, the region towards the Cross river, where German resistance was continued to the last. In this quarter the Germans continued to offer determined resistance to Cunliffe's forces, and when on Jan. 2 1916 Cunliffe learned that Yaunde had fallen, his advanced troops were still 40 m. distant from that objective.
The efforts made to cut off Col. Zimmermann before he could reach neutral territory failed; the first part of his force entered Spanish Guinea on Feb. 4 and the other detachments quickly followed, and when on Feb. 18 1916 Capt. von Raben and his gallant garrison at Mora surrendered on terms after nearly 18 months' blockade, the conquest of Cameroon was complete.
See the despatches of Sir C. M. Dobell and Gen. Cunliffe in the London Gazette (4th supplement) of May 31 1916; The Times History of the War, vol. viii., chap. 131 (1916), and L'Illustration (Paris, 1916) which gives valuable particulars of Gen. Aymerich's operations. (F. R. C.)
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Cam Eroon'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/c/cam-eroon.html. 1910.
