Skirmish at Jakalswater

On 20 March 1915 the troops of the Union of South Africa under their prime minister and commander-in-chief, Louis Botha, struck at the German defensive line in the valley of the Swakop river, in German South West Africa. The British chronology of the war calls this engagement the skirmish at Jakalswater, but that day fighting took place simultaneously in three places: at Riet, Pforte and Jakalswater. South African historians consider this action one of the most important of the whole campaign.

The fight for water

At the end of February the Northern Force set out from Swakopmund up the Swakop valley. Further inland its way was barred by a German defensive line resting on Riet on the Swakop, the Pforte pass at the foot of Husab mountain and Jakalswater railway station. All these places had water. To take an army across the Namib desert, Botha had to capture every well in turn and hold it.

The positions were held by part of the Schutztruppe, the German colonial troops, commanded since November 1914 by Victor Franke. South African intelligence, which was reading intercepted German wireless messages, knew their strength fairly accurately: at Pforte there were at least two mounted companies with guns, at Riet four companies and a battery, and in reserve at Jakalswater and Modderfontein further batteries and companies. On 18 March Botha set out with a force that, according to one account, numbered about 7,500 men, many times more than the Germans. The last stage of the march led through waterless desert.

Three engagements

At dawn on 20 March Botha’s troops were in their starting positions. The attack on Riet, where the Germans had dug in on the banks of the Swakop and at the foot of the Langer Heinrich range, was to succeed by an envelopment on both flanks. On the right flank the envelopment stalled, because the horses could not get across the mountains. At Riet itself an artillery duel went on for most of the day. The South African guns fired accurately, while dust and the harsh light made it hard for the German gunners to judge the range. In the afternoon the Germans began to abandon the position.

The decision came in the fighting at Pforte. The mounted commandos of Colonel J. J. Alberts attacked simultaneously the pass at the foot of Husab mountain and the gap through which the railway ran. Dust and the uncertain morning light made it hard for the German machine guns to aim. Alberts’s men took the pass, then the railway gap, and cut off the defenders’ line of retreat. After about two hours of fighting, at 8.30 a.m., the Germans surrendered. 209 men were taken prisoner, and the victors captured two guns.

The third engagement was fought along the railway, near Jakalswater station. The left wing of Alberts’s brigade under Colonel W. R. Collins made a long encircling march and cut the railway line west of Jakalswater. Here it ran into the German reserve. In a short fight German artillery killed the horses of some of the men, and 43 of Collins’s dismounted men were taken prisoner.

The balance

The defeat at Pforte forced the Germans to abandon the position at Riet. They withdrew inland, towards Kubas. The South Africans could not pursue them, because water was short and the horses were exhausted. According to contemporary accounts Botha’s troops lost 15 killed, 39 wounded and 42 missing, most of them taken prisoner at Jakalswater. The exact German losses in killed and wounded are not known. More than 200 of them were taken prisoner (some accounts give as many as about 300), and the victors captured two guns, machine guns and transport.

The most valuable prize came the following day. On 21 March a reconnaissance party occupied the German camp at Modderfontein. There the South Africans seized supplies and documents showing that the Germans intended to draw most of their troops to the north of the colony and leave its south almost undefended. From then on Botha could plan further operations with far greater confidence. The Germans did indeed soon begin to withdraw from the south. The Northern Force, however, still had to rebuild the railway and gather supplies before, at the end of April, it moved on towards Windhuk.