Capture of Swakopmund

The British chronology of the war records under 14 January 1915 the capture by the forces of the Union of South Africa of the town of Swakopmund, the main port of German South West Africa. The Germans did not defend the town. Sources differ on the date. According to some of them, a reconnaissance force set out for Swakopmund on 13 January; the German chronology of the colony gives 15 January, and one study even 3 January. The ceremonial annexation of the town to the Union took place on 16 January.

A port without a harbour

Swakopmund lay on the desert coast of the Atlantic, at the mouth of the Swakop river. It had no natural harbour, and ships had to anchor in the open roadstead. Even so, it was the colony’s most important port town. It was the starting point of the railways leading inland, to the capital, Windhuk, and to the mines in the north. Only about 30–35 kilometres to the south lay Walvis Bay, a small enclave belonging to the Union of South Africa.

At the beginning of the war the Union government decided that it was better to take Lüderitzbucht in the south of the colony. Swakopmund was merely shelled from the sea. On 14 September 1914 the British auxiliary cruiser Armadale Castle destroyed the wireless station there with gunfire, and the bombardment also damaged the cargo-handling equipment. The outbreak of the Boer rebellion held up further invasion plans for several months.

Landing at Walvis Bay

As the rebellion in the Union was drawing to an end, Prime Minister Louis Botha decided to strike at the colony from Walvis Bay. On Christmas Day 1914 the forces of Colonel P. C. B. Skinner landed there unopposed: two infantry brigades, a regiment of mounted rifles and seven guns. The official history explains the absence of German resistance by the lack of water in the area, without which it was difficult to maintain a larger force on the coast.

The official history says that Skinner advanced on Swakopmund “a few days later”, but according to other sources he set out only on 13 January. He sent north a strong reconnaissance force, made up mainly of the Imperial Light Horse. The German outposts offered no serious fight. As they fell back, they merely fired on the advancing troops from cover and set off observation mines at points the close columns had to pass. The Union forces’ losses were slight. In the town itself and on the roads the Germans left many mines and dynamite booby traps, which were cleared by the engineers. On 16 January the British flag was raised in front of the town hall, and Swakopmund was formally annexed to the Union.

Base for a great offensive

Swakopmund and Walvis Bay became the base of the northern force, which was to strike at the heart of the colony. The engineers began building a railway from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund and rebuilding the line inland that the Germans had destroyed. Botha himself arrived in Swakopmund in February and took command of the northern force. At the end of February his troops advanced up the Swakop valley. After long marches across the desert they took Windhuk in May, and on 9 July 1915 the German colony capitulated.