German campaign in Angola

File:Embarque tropas para angola 2.jpg

From 1911 until July 1914, the German and British governments had held negotiations about the possibility of annexing Portuguese Angola.The Anglo-German Negotiations over the Portuguese Colonies in Africa, 1911-14, J. D. Vincent-Smith, The Historical Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 1974), pp. 620-629. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638392 JStor link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090311/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638392 |date=4 March 2016 }} In such a case most of the colony would fall into the hands of the Germans. Angola-Bund, founded in 1912, was the German organization promoting the takeover.

Even before World War I started (September 1914), the Portuguese government had sent reinforcements to the southern border of Angola. After the war broke out, the border between German South West Africa and Angola remained open. The Germans hoped they would be able to supply food and possibly even arms through it. However, the Portuguese colonial government was rather hostile and attempted to thwart all possible trade. A few German nationals in Angola were interned.

Fighting in southern Portuguese Angola took place before a formal state of war had been declared between Germany and Portugal (Germany declared war on Portugal on 9 March 1916) when clashes occurred between October 1914 and July 1915.

Due to the possibility of an attack from German Southwest Africa, Portuguese forces in southern Angola were reinforced by a military expedition led by Lieutenant-Colonel Alves Roçadas, which arrived at Moçâmedes on 1 October 1914.

Since mid-1914, there had been several incidents between Portuguese and German troops. The first serious one was the Naulila incident on 19 October, in which 3 German officers, heading a military column which had entered Angola without permission from the Portuguese authorities, were killed by Portuguese troops.Fraga, p.127 On 31 October, German troops armed with machine guns launched a surprise attack on the small Portuguese outpost at Cuangar, killing 2 officers, 1 sergeant, 5 soldiers and 1 civilian.Fraga, p.128 The attack became known as the "Cuangar Massacre".

On 18 December the largest clash of the campaign occurred at the Battle of Naulila. A German force of 2,000 men under the command of Major Victor Franke attacked Portuguese forces positioned at Naulila. After stubborn resistance, the Portuguese were forced to withdraw towards the Humbe region, with 69 soldiers dead, among them 3 officers, 76 wounded, among them 1 officer, and 79 prisoners, among them 3 officers, while the Germans had 12 soldiers dead and 30 wounded, among them 10 officers.Fraga, p.128 After the explosion of the munitions magazine at Forte Roçadas base, the Portuguese also left the Humbe, withdrawing farther north.

On 7 July 1915, Portuguese forces under the command of General Pereira d'Eça reoccupied the Humbe region. Two days later, German forces in South West Africa surrendered, ending the South West Africa Campaign.

Until September 1915, the Portuguese continued fighting in southern Angola against local groups who resisted colonial occupation, and who in part had received arms from the Germans.René Pélissier, Les guerres grises: Résistance et revoltes en Angola (1845–1941), Montamets/Orgeval: Éditions Pélissier, 1977

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• {{cite book |last=Fraga |first=L. A. |title=Do intervencionismo ao sidonismo: os dois segmentos da política de guerra na 1a República, 1916–1918 |year=2010 |publisher=Universidade de Coimbra |location=Coimbra |isbn=9789892600345}}
• {{cite book |last=Pélissier |first=R. |title=Les guerres grises: Résistance et revoltes en Angola, 1845–1941 |year=1977 |publisher=Éditions Pélissier |location=Montamets/Orgeval |oclc=4265731}}
• Historicus Africanus, "Naulila", Band II, Der 1. Weltkrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1914/15, Glanz & Gloria Verlag, Bernd Kroemer, Windhoek/Namibia 2012, {{ISBN|978-99916-872-3-0}}

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• [http://www.arqnet.pt/portal/portugal/grandeguerra/pgmafrica.html Chronology of Events in the Defense of the Portuguese African Colonies, 1914 – 1920] (in Portuguese)

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Angola

Category:German South West Africa

Category:1910s in Angola

Category:Military history of Angola

Category:Battles of World War I involving Portugal

Category:1914 in Africa

Category:1915 in Africa

Category:Conflicts in 1914

Category:Conflicts in 1915

Category:Germany–Portugal relations

Category:Angola–Germany relations

Category:Military campaigns involving Portugal

Category:Military campaigns involving Germany