| Battle of Waterberg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Herero Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 German Empire | Herero | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha | Samuel Maharero | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,000 | 3,500 - 6,000 warriors with their families | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 26 killed 60 wounded | Unknown, but high | ||||||
The Battle of Waterberg (Battle of Ohamakari) [1] took place on August 11, 1904 at the Waterberg, German South West Africa (modern day Namibia), and was the decisive battle in the German campaign against the Herero.
The German Imperial Forces were under the command of Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha and numbered just over 1,500. [2] [3] They were armed with 1,625 modern rifles, 30 artillery pieces and 14 machine guns.
The Herero were under the command of Samuel Maharero and – in expectation of peace negotiations – had assembled some 3,500-6,000 warriors along with their families. [2] [3] The total number of Hereros in the area is estimated at 25,000 to 50,000. Some of them were armed with traditional close combat weapons called kirri.
From the opening of the Herero Revolt in January 1904 until June 11, 1904, the German military efforts had been directed by colonial Governor Colonel Theodor Leutwein. [4] Leutwein combined a policy of military pressure with communication with the Herero to negotiate a settlement to the hostilities. The Germans achieved moderate military success in a series of skirmishes before cornering the Herero at the Waterberg Plateau. However, the Kaiserreich replaced Leutwein with Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha, expecting Trotha to end the revolt with a decisive military victory.
The Waterberg Plateau where the Herero concentrated lay 100 km east of the railhead source of German supplies, so Trotha spent nearly three months (June, July, and part of August) transporting troops and supplies by ox-drawn carts to the site of the expected battle. In the meantime, the Herero, estimated around 60,000 men, women, and children, with an equal number of cattle, drew on meager grass and water supplies while awaiting overtures from the Germans.
Execution of Trotha’s battle plan began on August 11, 1904, after a careful buildup of troops and supplies. The German commander intended part of his force to squeeze the Herero south of the Plateau with columns from the east and west while two more columns would seal off the escape route to the south and southeast. The commander of the southeastern blocking column, however, failed to maneuver his troops into position in a timely fashion, and to communicate that fact to Trotha. Meanwhile, the western advancing column did not stop at the appointed line and pressed the Herero through the unclosed gap created by the failure of the southeastern troops. The bulk of the Herero and their cattle escaped eastward into the Omaheke Desert.
The Waterberg military station was occupied by Herero mounted infantry and irregular guerrilla forces. These Herero forces were quickly defeated by colonial forces using breech-loading artillery and 14 Maxim belt-fed machine guns at the Battle of Waterberg on August 11, but the survivors escaped into the desert. Trotha and his staff were unprepared for their failure to decisively defeat the Herero. At the end of an attenuated supply line and occupying ground thoroughly foraged by the Herero, the Germans could not immediately pursue. While signaling to Berlin a complete victory and subsequent pursuit, Trotha began to move his force westward toward the railroad.
The Germans had won a tactical victory by driving the Herero from Waterberg, but had failed in their intentions to end the Herero Revolt with a decisive battle. Trotha soon thereafter ordered the pursuit of the Herero eastward into the desert, intending to prevent Herero reorganization by depriving them of pastureland and watering holes. This campaign caused most of the deaths of Herero people during the Revolt, and resulted in the notorious extermination order of October 2, 1904. [5]
On 2 October, von Trotha issued the infamous extermination order: "Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot". [6]
While most Herero escaped the battle, their retreat led to the near extinction of their people in an act of genocide. Many of the refugee Hereros died of thirst and exhaustion during their trek through the desert. German patrols later found skeletons around holes 8–16 m (25–50 ft) deep dug in a vain attempt to find water. Tens of thousands of the Herero died of thirst, starvation, or disease. Those who attempted surrender were summarily shot. After Trotha's extermination order was countermanded by Berlin, captured survivors were sent to a concentration camp at Shark Island.
Despite extensive German patrols and a large bounty offered for his capture, Samuel Maharero and about 1,000 of his men managed to cross the Kalahari into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The British offered the Hereros asylum under the condition that they would not continue their revolt on British soil.
The site of the battle is today located within Waterberg Plateau Park. A military graveyard exists where the German soldiers who perished in the Battle of Waterberg are buried.
The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.
The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa. They took place between 1904 and 1908.
The Herero and Namaqua genocide was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment which was waged against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama in German South West Africa by the German Empire. It was the first genocide to begin in the 20th century, occurring between 1904 and 1908.
The Herero are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. There were an estimated 250,000 Herero people in Namibia in 2013. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola.
General Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha was a German military commander during the European new colonial era. As a brigade commander of the East Asian Expedition Corps, he was involved in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China, commanding troops which made up the German contribution to the Eight-Nation Alliance. He later served as governor of German South West Africa and Commander in Chief of its colonial forces, in which role he suppressed a native rebellion during the Herero Wars. He was widely condemned for his brutality in the Herero Wars, particularly for his role in the genocide that led to the near-extermination of the Namaqua Khoikhoi and the Herero.
Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama People are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have disappeared as a group, except for the Namas. Many of the Nama clans live in Central Namibia and the other smaller groups live in Namaqualand, which today straddles the Namibian border with South Africa.
Samuel Maharero was a Paramount Chief of the Herero people in German South West Africa during their revolts and in connection with the events surrounding the Herero genocide. Today he is considered a national hero in Namibia.
Waterberg Plateau Park is a national park in central Namibia on the Waterberg Plateau, 68 kilometres (42 mi) south-east of Otjiwarongo. The plateau and the national park are named after the prominent table mountain that rises from the plateau, the Waterberg. The Waterberg Plateau is a particularly prominent landmark, elevating high above the plains of the Kalahari of Eastern Namibia. Waterberg Park and some 405 square kilometres (156 sq mi) of surrounding land were declared a Nature Reserve in 1972. As the plateau is largely inaccessible from beneath, several of Namibia's endangered animal species were relocated into the area during the early 1970s to protect them from predators and poaching to extinction. The programme was very successful and Waterberg now supplies other Namibian parks with rare animals. In 1989, the black rhinoceros was reintroduced to the area from Damaraland.
Maharero kaTjamuaha was one of the most powerful paramount chiefs of the Herero people in South-West Africa, today's Namibia.
Theodor Gotthilf Leutwein was colonial administrator of German Southwest Africa from 1894 to 1904.
Waterberg is the name of two different mountains in Southern Africa, one in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, and one in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia.
It may further refer to:
Chief Hosea Katjikururume Komombumbi Kutako, was an early Namibian nationalist leader and a founder member of Namibia's first nationalist party, the South West African National Union (SWANU).
Germany–Namibia relations are the bilateral relationship of Germany and Namibia. This relationship is of particular importance as Namibia was colonized and occupied by the German Empire in the 19th century. There is also a community of approximately 30,000 German Namibians residing in Namibia today. Both nations are members of the United Nations. Culturally, both countries are part of the Germanosphere.
Herero Day is a gathering of the Herero people of Namibia to commemorate their deceased chieftains. It is held in Okahandja in central Namibia annually on August 26, the day and place Herero chief Samuel Maharero's body was reburied alongside his ancestors in 1923. Accordingly, the celebrations last three days long, although they usually begin on the Sunday nearest August 23.
Heroes' Day is a national public holiday in Namibia. It is recognized by the United Nations as Namibia Day. Celebrated annually on 26 August, the day commemorates the Namibian War of Independence which began on 26 August 1966 at Omugulugwombashe.
Jan Jonker Afrikaner was the second oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois. He became the sixth and last Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in South West Africa, succeeding his brother Christian Afrikaner in 1863. He married Mietje Hendrik in Bethanie in December 1842.
German South West Africa was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
The Khaua-Mbandjeru rebellion was an uprising of Africans in German South West Africa which took place in 1896. The rebellion preceded the Herero and Namaqua Genocide, which began around 1904.
Manasse Tyiseseta was the leader of a group of Herero with their headquarters in Omaruru in what is today Namibia.
