Battle of Nsanakong

Battle of Nsanakong
	Part of the Kamerun campaign in World War I
Date	6 September 1914
Location	Nsanakong, German Kamerun
Result	German victory
Belligerents
British Empire British Nigeria ;	German Empire German Kamerun ;
Commanders and leaders
Lieutenant Colonel C. T. Mair; Captain Milne-Howe	Hauptmann Rausch Emil †
Strength
~200	800
Casualties and losses
8 British officers; 160 Nigerians (95 dead, 16 wounded, 49 captured)	113 (43 dead, 70 wounded)

Last updated January 23, 2025

The Battle of Nsanakong or Battle of Nsanakang took place between defending British and attacking German forces during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. The town of Nsanakong had been occupied by the British on 30 August 1914. On 6 September, German forces attacked, driving the British force over the border back into Nigeria.

Background

Forces from British Nigeria had attempted to move into German Kamerun from a number of points along the colony's northern border. Attempts to do this at the First Battle of Garua and Mora had failed. Further south, a British column from Ikom crossed the Cross River into Kamerun and occupied the station of Nsanakong, 5 kilometers from the Nigerian border on 30 August.^[6]

Battle

A week following the British occupation of Nsanakong, at two o'clock in the morning on 6 September 1914, German forces surrounded the village.^[6] The Germans, armed with machine guns, attacked. The British defenders successfully repulsed this initial attack but in the process exhausted their ammunition. Another German attack came at five o'clock in the morning, this time from higher ground. The British could not repulse this one due to their lack of ammunition and attempted to break out by conducting a bayonet charge.^[7] The result was disastrous for the British. They lost about 100 men which was equivalent to approximately half of their force during the battle, including eight of their eleven British officers.^[3] German losses were also heavy with 40 dead including the commanding officer, Captain Rausch Emil.^[5] After suffering heavy casualties, the remaining British units successfully retreated back into Nigeria.

Aftermath

The few British soldiers who did escape faced harsh conditions during their retreat back into Nigeria.^[7] German units pursued them over the frontier and occupied the British station at Okuri which they later abandoned. This failed invasion, along with the failures of other Allied columns along Kamerun's northwestern border with Nigeria, forced the British to go on the defensive.^[3] German forces gained confidence as a result of this victory and patrols began to make intrusions into British Nigeria as far west as Yola.

Notes

↑ O'Neill 1918, p. 46.
1 2 Hilditch 1915, p. 20.
1 2 3 Strachan 2001, p. 522.
↑ Hilditch, 21
1 2 "Der Raubzug Gegen Unsere Kolonien"
1 2 Buchan 1922, p. 150.
1 2 Reynolds et al. 1916.

Related Research Articles

The African theatre of the First World War comprises campaigns in North Africa instigated by the German and Ottoman empires, local rebellions against European colonial rule and Allied campaigns against the German colonies of Kamerun, Togoland, German South West Africa, and German East Africa. The campaigns were fought by German Schutztruppe, local resistance movements and forces of the British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal.

Mora is a town in northern Cameroon. Mora has a population of 55,216 making it the 5th biggest city in Far North.

The German invasion of Belgium was a military campaign which began on 4 August 1914. On 24 July, the Belgian government had announced that if war came it would uphold its neutrality. The Belgian government mobilised its armed forces on 31 July and a state of heightened alert was proclaimed in Germany. On 2 August, the German government sent an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage through the country and German forces invaded Luxembourg. Two days later, the Belgian government refused the German demands and the British government guaranteed military support to Belgium. The German government declared war on Belgium on 4 August; German troops crossed the border and began the Battle of Liège.

The Togoland campaign was a French and British invasion of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa, which began the West African campaign of the First World War. German colonial forces withdrew from the capital Lomé and the coastal province to fight delaying actions on the route north to Kamina, where the Kamina Funkstation linked the government in Berlin to Togoland, the Atlantic and South America.

The Affair of Agbeluvoe ["affair" a military engagement by a force less than a division] (Agbéluvhoé, Beleaguer or the Battle of Tsewie, was fought during the First World War between invading British Empire soldiers of the West African Rifles and German Polizeitruppen in German Togoland on 15 August 1914. British troops occupying the Togolese capital of Lomé on the coast, had advanced towards a wireless station at Kamina, 100 mi inland on hills near Atakpamé. The only routes inland were by the railway and road, which had been built through dense and almost impassable jungle.

The Affair of Khra [Chra] was fought by British and French troops against German Polizeitruppen in the village of Khra, near the Khra River on 22 August 1914, during the Togoland Campaign of the First World War. The German defenders mined the approaches to the river, blew the bridges and dug in around the village on the far bank, ready to defend the crossing with rifles and three concealed machine-guns. The British–French attack was repulsed and then a German counter-attack was ordered but many troops refused the order and the attack was not delivered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamerun campaign</span> 1914–1916 British, French and Belgian invasion of the German colony of Kamerun

The Kamerun campaign took place in the German colony of Kamerun in the African theatre of the First World War when the British, French and Belgians invaded the German colony from August 1914 to March 1916. Most of the campaign took place in Kamerun but skirmishes also broke out in British Nigeria. By the Spring of 1916, following Allied victories, the majority of German troops and the civil administration fled to the neighbouring neutral colony of Spanish Guinea. The campaign ended in a defeat for Germany and the partition of its former colony between France and Britain.

The Battle of Tepe on 25 August 1914 was the first skirmish between German and British forces during the Kamerun campaign in of the First World War. The conflict took place on the border between British Nigeria and German Kamerun, ending in British victory and German withdrawal from the station.

The First Battle of Garua took place from 29 to 31 August 1914 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War between German and invading British forces in northern Kamerun at Garua. It was the first significant action to take place in the campaign and resulted in the German repulsion of the British force.

The Battle of Jabassi or Battle of Yabassi was a pair of assaults on German positions at Jabassi on the Wuri river during the Kamerun campaign of World War I between German and British forces on 7 and 14 October 1914. The action resulted in British victory and their occupation of the station.

The Naval operations of the Kamerun campaign were carried out by German and Allied forces during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War from August to September 1914. Naval activity occurred all along the coast of German Kamerun in the Bight of Bonny but most of the action took place in the Wouri estuary. The main event of the campaign were the successful British and French amphibious landings at Duala. The operations carried out by British and French naval forces concluded in securing control over the German colony's entire coastline and the destruction of any German naval vessels that were capable of offering resistance. Allied occupation of the coastline forced the Germans to retreat into the interior of Kamerun where they would meet their defeat in 1916.

The siege of Mora or siege of Moraberg, between Allied and besieged German troops, took place from August 1914 to February 1916 on and around the Mora mountain in northern Kamerun during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. After more than a year of siege German forces on the mountain surrendered, following the escape of many German troops to the neutral Spanish colony of Río Muni. It was the second longest siege of the war, behind the Siege of Medina.

The Battle of Ukoko took place on 21 September 1914 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War between French and German troops in Ukoko, Kamerun or modern day Cocobeach, Gabon.

The Battle of Gurin took place on 29 April 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of World War I in Gurin, British Nigeria near the border with German Kamerun. The battle was one of the largest of the German forays into the British colony. It ended in a successful British repulsion of the German force.

The Second Battle of Garua took place from 31 May to 10 June 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War in Garua, German Kamerun. The battle was between a combined French and British force and defending German garrison and resulted in an Allied victory.

The Battle of Ngaundere or Battle of Ngaoundéré was a small engagement fought between German and British forces on 29 June 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of World War I. It resulted in a German defeat and British occupation of the town.

During the Battle of Banjo or Battle of Banyo, British forces besieged German forces entrenched on the Banjo mountain from 4 to 6 November 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. By 6 November much of the German force had deserted, while the rest surrendered. The battle resulted in victory for the Allies and breakdown of German resistance in northern Kamerun.

The Second Battle of Edea was the German counter-attack against French forces stationed in the village of Edea during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. Allied forces from Duala occupied the town following the First Battle of Edea in October 1914. The Germans, eager to retake the position attacked on 5 January 1915 but were repulsed by the French force.

The Second Battle of Jaunde involved the successful British and French assault on the German capital of Jaunde during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. After the failure of the First Battle of Jaunde during the summer of 1915, the bulk of Allied forces had retreated to the Kele river. Following the Second Duala Conference where Allied commanders discussed the situation, it was decided that another assault should be attempted. Although the columns surrounding Jaunde were not in effective communication with one another, on 1 January 1916, British forces under Colonel Georges occupied the capital. By this time it had been abandoned by the German troops who had fled to the neutral Spanish colony of Río Muni. This Allied victory signaled the end of German resistance in Kamerun apart from the Siege of Mora which would continue for another few months.

The First Battle of Edea involved the British and French assault on German forces stationed in the village of Edea during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. Allied forces from Duala launched their advance on 20 October. Following stiff resistance along the southern railway line between Duala and Edea, German forces withdrew from the town to Jaunde, allowing Allied troops to finally occupy Edea on 26 October 1914.

References

Buchan, John. A History of the Great War. Vol. I. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1922
Der Raubzug Gegen Unsere Kolonien. Der Täglichen Rundschau[Berlin] 1915: n. pag. Web.<>.
Hilditch, A. N. Battle Sketches, 1914–1915. Oxford University Press, 1915.
O'Neill, Herbert C. The War in Africa and the Far East. London: London Longmans Green, 1918.
Reynolds, Francis J., Churchill, Allen L., and Miller, Francis T. Chapter 77 - The Cameroons. The Story of the Great War. Vol. III (of VIII). 1916.
Strachan, Hew. The First World War. Vol. I: To Arms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

5°52.57′N8°58.48′E / 5.87617°N 8.97467°E / 5.87617; 8.97467

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] O'Neill 1918, p. 46.

[H20-2] 1 2 Hilditch 1915, p. 20.

[S522-3] 1 2 3 Strachan 2001, p. 522.

[H22-4] Hilditch, 21

[DRG-5] 1 2 "Der Raubzug Gegen Unsere Kolonien"

[JB150-6] 1 2 Buchan 1922, p. 150.

[RCM-7] 1 2 Reynolds et al. 1916.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]