German New Guinea capitulates

On 17 September 1914 the acting governor of German New Guinea, Eduard Haber, signed the terms of the colony’s capitulation. On the other side stood Colonel William Holmes, commander of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), who acted in the name of King George V. Less than a week after the Australians landed, Germany’s largest colony in the Pacific ceased to resist.

The siege of Toma

After the fight for the wireless station at Bita Paka on 11 September and the capture of Rabaul a day later, the Australians controlled the coast of New Britain, which the Germans called Neupommern. Haber, however, had no intention of surrendering. He argued that only the Kaiser could decide the fate of the colony, and with the remaining troops he withdrew inland to the settlement of Toma, a dozen or so kilometres from the coast.

On 14 September the cruiser Encounter shelled the hills around Toma, and Australian infantry advanced towards it. No fighting took place. The Germans sent envoys under a white flag, and Haber agreed to talks. The whole siege of Toma passed without bloodshed. Holmes made a tough demand: the capitulation was to cover not only New Britain but all the German possessions administered from Rabaul. After several days of negotiations Haber accepted the terms.

What the capitulation covered

German New Guinea was a vast territory. It comprised the north-eastern part of New Guinea, known as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago with New Britain, New Ireland and the Admiralty Islands, the northern Solomon Islands with Bougainville, and Nauru. The German islands of Micronesia were also administered from Rabaul: the Carolines, the Marianas and the Marshall Islands. These, however, were occupied in October 1914 by Japan, not Australia.

By wartime standards the terms of the capitulation were lenient. The armed German and Melanesian units were to lay down their arms on 21 September at Herbertshöhe, today’s Kokopo, with military honours. Officers of the regular army were to become prisoners of war. Haber, having given his word that he would take no further part in the war, was allowed to return to Germany. German officials and settlers could stay where they were if they swore to remain neutral. Those who refused were sent to Australia and from there to Germany.

Occupation, not annexation

Holmes understood that his troops were carrying out a military occupation, not annexing the colony to the British Empire. He therefore left in place the German administration and the planters, without whom the colony’s economy would have collapsed. In Australia not everyone understood this, and the terms of the capitulation were criticised as too lenient towards the Germans.

In the following weeks the Australians occupied the remaining posts: Madang in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland on 24 September, New Ireland on 17 October, Nauru on 6 November, the Admiralty Islands on 19 November and the northern Solomon Islands on 9 December. After the war Germany renounced the colony, and the League of Nations entrusted Australia with a mandate over its former territories in New Guinea and the surrounding islands. Australia administered them until Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975.