The graves of two German soldiers near Sir Howard’s Baobab at Tsandi are silent testimony to a little-known event in Namibia’s history. The two soldiers were members of a 500-man-strong punitive German force sent to Naulila in southern Angola in December 1914.
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German administration became concerned that the country would face a shortage of basic supplies in the event of a British naval blockade of the coast of German South West Africa.
Arrangements were made to import supplies through southern Angola, but the export of all goods was prohibited when martial law was declared in the southern Angolan provinces of Huila and Mossamedes on 8 September 1914.
The Naulila incident occurred after a German party of 14 men went to establish the whereabouts of the supply wagons. They camped at Erikksonsdrift on 16 October 1914, not realising that they were in Angolan territory and that the Portuguese had confiscated the wagons.
After a series of misunderstandings, a 31-strong Portuguese force arrived at the camp on 18 October and asked for a delegation to accompany them to Fort Naulila. The party consisted of the District Commissioner of Outjo, Hans Schultze-Jena, Lieutenant Alexander Lösch and Lieutenant Kurt Röder, as well as three “African police servants”. On their arrival at Naulila they were presented with a letter authorising their arrest. Schultze-Jena resisted and was shot when he drew his firearm, while Lösch was shot about 100 metres from the fort as he was riding away. Röder was seriously wounded and died in the fort during the night of 19 October.
Hugo, an “African police servant” was shot while he was trying to escape and thrown into the Kunene River. The other two police servants were captured but August managed to escape the following day, while Andreas escaped later.
The Germans who had remained at Erikksonsdrift had, meanwhile, retreated south and waited in vain for Schultze-Jena’s return. They were joined by August who informed them of the shooting incident and retreated to Outjo, which they reached on 24 October.
While preparations for a punitive expedition against Naulila were underway, the Germans launched a series of attacks on Portuguese military positions in southern Angola from 31 October to 12 November. Meanwhile, a military force of about 450 German troops, under the command of Major Victor Franke, was being transported by rail from Karasburg in the south of the country to Otjiwarongo and proceeded on horseback, with wagons and on foot through western Owambo. By 15 December they were amassed at Erikssonsdrift on the Kunene River.
A two-pronged attack was launched from the south and the east on Fort Naulila, which was manned by 450 Portuguese and 300 armed Angolans, in the early morning hours on 18 December. On the Portuguese side 69 soldiers were killed, 145 wounded and 37 taken prisoner, while several askaris were summarily executed. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were seized, including 70,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, 400 shells and a machine gun, as well as a field hospital cart.
Eight German soldiers were killed in the attack and were buried under a marula tree at Naulila on 19 December, while one was reported missing. It was later established that he was overpowered and killed while he was guarding Portuguese prisoners-of-war. The German casualties also included 25 injured, three of the seriously wounded soldiers died during the expedition’s withdrawal, among them Reiter Warrant Officer August Regenhardt who died on 20/21 December.
Another soldier, Lance Corporal Albert Störmer, died on 26 December 2014 at the Finnish mission hospital at Tsandi and was buried at Tsandi. A memorial stone for Warrant Officer August Regenhardt, was erected next to Störmer’s grave after a search for his grave in 2001 proved fruitless.
A monument erected in honour of the soldiers who died in the attack on Naulila was unveiled in the old military cemetery at Outjo in June 1933 and declared a national monument in June 1971. It is situated next to the Nampost office.