First Indian contingent arrives at Mombasa
On 1 September 1914 the first unit of Indian Expeditionary Force “C” arrived at the port of Mombasa, on the coast of British East Africa. It was the 29th Punjabis, which had set out from India on 19 August as the first unit of the Indian Army sent to the war.
The help was urgently needed. At the start of the war the colony had only a few companies of the King’s African Rifles and volunteers from among the settlers. The German forces of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck had already occupied Taveta on the border and were threatening the Uganda Railway, which linked Mombasa with Nairobi and Lake Victoria. It was the colony’s most important line of communication.
The Punjabis were quickly sent inland to guard the railway line. As early as 6 September they clashed with the Germans in the Tsavo area. In the following weeks further units of Force “C” arrived at Mombasa: a mountain artillery battery, a machine-gun company made up of Indian volunteers, an artillery battery from Calcutta and battalions raised by the Indian princely states. By the end of October the force numbered about 4,000 men.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 1 September 1914 · Western FrontGermans take CraonneOn 1 September 1914 German troops pursuing the French reached the Chemin des Dames heights and took the village of Craonne in the Aisne department.
- 1 September 1914 · Western FrontLord Kitchener arrives in FranceOn 1 September 1914 Lord Kitchener met Field Marshal Sir John French in Paris and stopped the plan to withdraw the British from the front behind the Seine.
- 31 August 1914 · Eastern FrontBattle of Tannenberg endsOn 31 August 1914 Hindenburg reported to the Kaiser the destruction of the Russian 2nd Army. Over 90,000 Russians were captured and Samsonov was dead.
- 31 August 1914 · Western FrontGermans enter AmiensOn 31 August 1914 troops of Kluck's army entered Amiens without a fight. The occupation lasted less than two weeks and ended after the Battle of the Marne.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 16 October 1914 · AfricaIndian Expeditionary Force "B" sails for AfricaOn 16 October 1914 General Aitken's Indian Expeditionary Force "B" sailed from Bombay. Some 8,000 soldiers were to conquer German East Africa.
- 4 December 1914 · AfricaWapshare replaces AitkenAfter the defeat at Tanga Gen. Arthur Aitken was recalled. Command of the British forces in East Africa passed to Gen. Richard Wapshare.
- 21 December 1914 · AfricaBritish take JasinAt the end of December 1914 Gen. Michael Tighe's troops cleared the Germans from the British East Africa border and took Jasin on the Umba river.
- 19 August 1914 · AfricaFirst Indian unit sets out for East AfricaOn 19 August 1914 the 29th Punjabis left India, the first unit of an Indian expeditionary force sent to the front. Its destination was East Africa.