Chapter 23: World War 1 - (3)
The first casualties the Filipinos suffered in Africa was a German raid on part of the Ugandan railway they were tasked to protect. A small number of German raiders ambushed the Filipinos, and British in the early morning then retreated back into their territory.
A handful of Filipinos were killed while more than a dozen were wounded by the raid.
A series of raids by the Germans slowly raised the number of casualties, and threatened British supplies in the region. In order secure their territory, the British commanders launched an invasion of German East Africa (Tanzania) with plans to capture the port town of Tanga.
The plan is to launch a two-pronged attack on the town, one from the north taking the area around the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The second and main attack is a British Naval invasion of the port town of Tanga.
As for the Filipinos, they were originally meant to be merged with the Punjabi forces to simplify the chain of command.
After few training exercises, the British realized that the language barrier is a major problem as almost none of the Filipinos spoke, or even understood English save for their commanding officer.
Also none of the British personnel who can speak Spanish are willing to translate for a few thousand soldiers thus it was decided that the Filipinos will be led separately, but will still be under British command.
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Encounter at Kilimanjaro
The northern prong, where the Filipinos are assigned, requires invading the south around the area of Mount Longido, then east towards Tanga. This is meant to be a diversion so that Tanga can be taken relatively easier by the main forces.
As the combined Punjabi and Filipino forces, numbering around 2500, ascended the slope of the mountain, they came under fire from a small, but strong German position adding to the casualty list.
The Indians and Filipinos then counterattacked dealing substantial casualties to the Germans and successfully taking the German camp although this didn't last due to constant attacks from farther up the mountain forcing the combined forces to retreat during the night.
The Filipino commander, Captain Maria Isabella Lacson, hailing from the Visayas region, immediately drew up plans to counter the German resistance taking lessons from her own region's experiences during the Philippine-American War
Noticing that the Germans are indeed using guerilla tactics, she had ordered all her troops to protect the caravans supplying their area of operation, and deployed small reconnaissance parties along the caravan's route to watch out for potential raiders.
Although these orders didn't sit well with the British as it meant that Filipinos will have to leave their assigned groups and posts, they still gave it the green light, albeit reluctantly.
Captain Lacson's explanation and comparisons with how her countrymen used Guerilla tactics somehow managed to convince the British command though with the condition that if she's wrong, they will relieve her of command and send her back to the Philippines.
Later in the day, the Filipinos have repositioned in various areas along the route the supply caravan is expected to take while some of them walked alongside it, ready to fire at a moments notice.
As though fate is helping increase Captain Lacson's reputation, the escorts of the caravan heard strings of gunshots a short distance away alerting them of the presence of raiders. This also indicated that one or more of the small Filipino reconnaissance teams directly engaged an unknown number of enemy soldiers.
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Somewhere near the supply caravan
By sheer coincidence, the Filipinos ran into a German raiding force while they are following the supply caravan. One of the Filipinos spotted and started firing on the enemy force alerting everyone on his team.
As each recon team are designed to be a small force, the Filipinos were quickly overwhelmed even though other nearby recon teams joined in the fight. The Filipino escorts of the caravan didn't join as the plan called for them to be the last line of defense, though they did ready their rifles just in case.
The engagement lasted for a few minutes before dying down. The Germans knew that the fight alerted all nearby British forces so they made the decision to call off the raid as they couldn't risk their many more of their men being killed or captured.
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Back with the caravan
The alerted escorts didn't relax for quite some time until a Filipino unit investigated the scene and confirmed that the German raiders had retreated. They also reported a number of wounded and dead soldiers, both Filipino and African.
It is also reported to Captain Lacson that a third of the recon teams had been killed with the rest being wounded. Some of their wounded died as they are being transported back to British East Africa (Kenya) while some died as they are being treated due to the severity of their wounds.
The encounter prompted the British to order Captain Lacson to continue what they are doing permanently giving the Filipinos the task of securing the routes of the supply caravans while their main forces continued further into German East Africa (Tanzania).
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With the raiding parties failing to cause major disruptions on British supplies, the Germans ordered their forces who were supposed to be transported to Tanga to reinforce its defenders to stay and tie the British down with as few casualties as possible.
Unfortunately for the Germans however, many of their raids on the British, even inside British East Africa (Kenya) ended up with them taking more casualties than they would have liked.
Although they were mostly successful especially on smaller raids, the price they paid is unsustainable. Over time, German raids on areas around Southern Kenya decreased putting less pressure on the British and more pressure on the German defenders deep inside Tanzania.
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The pressure put by the British and their allies allowed for the capture of the immediate area west and south of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The task of hunting down remaining German forces in the forests of the mountain is added to the list of orders given to the Filipinos. Easier said than done however as guerilla warfare almost always end with huge casualties for the attackers evident with the hundreds of casualties for the Filipino force.
Captain Lacson has asked her superiors back home for more reinforcements and supplies in order to efficiently support the British. The number they currently have isn't enough to fend off German raids without taking too much casualties.
At the rate things are going, she would need to have her men go back home or else they would lose more than 50% of the forces they initially had in less than a month's time.
The situation back home however isn't the most ideal for sending more troops overseas. Growing resistance against the war had put on hold deployment for those who have signed up for the benefits, although training is still ongoing. The few small arms factories of the country had their efficiency cut in half by worker strikes.
The Philippines, it would seem, would drop out of the war less than 6 months after they joined.
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