First attack on Mora
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Africa
- Date:
- 27 August 1914
- Author:
- Natalia
- Tags:
- Kamerun, Great Britain, Germany, German colonies
On 27 August 1914 a British force from Nigeria attacked the German post at Mora in the north of German Kamerun. The attack failed. It was the beginning of the fighting for Mora, which went on intermittently for a year and a half.
A mountain fortress
Mora lies about 160 kilometres south of Lake Chad, close to the border with Nigeria. It was garrisoned by a company of the Schutztruppe, the German colonial troops, under Captain Ernst von Raben. It numbered a dozen or so Europeans and more than a hundred African soldiers (askaris). On hearing of the war the Germans occupied the mountain rising above the town, with its steep, rocky slopes, and turned it into a natural fortress.
A failed assault
A British column of soldiers of the Nigeria Regiment set out from Maiduguri under Captain R. W. Fox. On 26 August it took up positions near the German defences, and during the night of 26–27 August its soldiers forced their way up the mountain. The defenders, however, drove them back and, according to some sources, also captured a machine gun and a supply of ammunition. British losses were small, but Mora could not be taken. At the same time other British columns from Nigeria were attacking Kamerun at several points, also without success. We write more about the Allied preparations in the article General Dobell commands the Cameroon expedition.
The longest defence in Kamerun
French troops from Chad soon joined the siege of Mora. The Allies brought up machine guns and artillery, but successive assaults on the rocky slopes failed. Raben, cut off from the rest of the colony, held out for more than a year. He surrendered to General Frederick Cunliffe only on 18 February 1916, when he learned that the main German forces had left Kamerun. He obtained honourable terms, including payment of wages to his askaris. Mora was the last German post in Kamerun to lay down its arms.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 27 August 1914 · Western FrontGermans take MézièresAt the end of August 1914 the Germans took Mézières and neighbouring Charleville on the Meuse. In September the town became the seat of German headquarters.
- 27 August 1914 · Western FrontGerman cavalry at the gates of LilleIn late August 1914 German cavalry patrols reached undefended Lille. The real occupation of the city began only in October.
- 27 August 1914 · Western FrontBritish marines land at OstendOn 27 August 1914 a Royal Marines brigade landed at Ostend in Belgium, accompanied by Charles Samson's Royal Naval Air Service squadron.
- 27 August 1914 · Western FrontBattle of Mechelen endsOn 27 August 1914 the Belgian army's first sortie from Antwerp ended. After three days of fighting near Mechelen the Belgians returned behind the line of forts.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 30 August 1914 · AfricaFirst attack on GaruaOn the night of 29–30 August 1914 British troops from Nigeria attacked the German forts at Garua in Kamerun. The attack was repulsed and its commander killed.
- 25 August 1914 · AfricaBritish cross the Kamerun border from NigeriaOn 25 August 1914 British columns from Nigeria crossed the border of German Kamerun. The land campaign against the German colony had begun.
- 25 August 1914 · AfricaSkirmish at Tepe. The French enter Kamerun from ChadOn 25 August 1914 the British drove the Germans from the post at Tepe on the Benue, and French troops from Chad attacked the German fort at Kousséri.
- 23 August 1914 · AfricaGeneral Dobell to command the Kamerun expeditionOn 23 August 1914 General Charles Dobell was appointed commander of the Allied land forces against German Kamerun.