![]() Thepinnace, however, ran aground and came under a very hot fire.Compelled to give up the task she retreated with her rudderdamaged and her hull punctured in many places. For the Belgian steamer had been repaired andlaunched since the last attack she was now lying mooredinshore and the Germans proposed to take her away. After the range had come down to 1800 yards, andthe raft's guns had for some time been shelling the DelcommuneZimmer ordered Odebrecht to enter the harbour with hispinnace. Additionally the Askaris engaged the Belgians'3-pdrs. Oneof these was now silenced by the 22-pdrs and the Wissmann'spom-poms. Furthermore, after the German craft steamed in to about 4000 yards ofAlbertville harbour they were attacked by two 12-pdrs. The Belgian position was found to be impregnablefrom the land, with wire entanglements, pits and earthworks. Whilst Horn took charge of the Wissmann andOdebrecht commanded the pinnace, Zimmer was on the raft. It was an ingenious method for obtainingsome sort of a gun platform, though the speed of travelunder these circumstances was less than 2 knots even insmooth water. Now theWissmann, having been built as a light passenger steamer for the lake, was too weak to carry any gun heavier than a pompom, so the pair of 22-pdrs, which had been brought up fromDar es Salaam were mounted on a raft which was towed asternof the Wissmann. This was a small but quite intriguing combinedexpedition consisting (a) of the Wissmann and a steam-pinnaceafloat (b) some of Mowe's men and Askaris ashore. ![]() ![]() But this was not enough, for the steel plates werecapable or repair, and another effort had to be made later thatmonth. On the following night Odebrecht with seven more menlanded less than a mile north of the spot, stole into within afew yards of the Delcommune and by the light of the watchfiresascertained that the explosion had certainly damaged herbottom. There was Just time to throw some dynamite into herstokehold and light the fuse before rushing back towards theWissmann. They made their way unseen past thesentries and got right up to the steamer before the alarm wasraised. One October night Horn with a party of menlanded on the silent shore. it was a pluckyintention to blow up the Belgian steamer as she lay theresurrounded by a temporary protective breakwater of sand whichkept off the surf. ![]() She waslying hauled up on the beach at Albertville by the Lukujamouth so reported one of Mowe's steam-pinnaces, whereuponZimmer with two of his officers, Lieutenant Horn and LieutenantOdebrecht, proceeded thither in the Wissmann. Next day Von Lettow, appreciating fully how desirable a natural defence were thewaters of Tanganyika, wisely decided not to waste the other 70of Mowe's men by employing them as soldiers, but ordered themup to the Lake, and appointed Lieutenant-Commander Zimmer to bein command of both the Tanganyika and that smaller Lake Kivuwhich lies to the north.īut the Delcommune was wounded rather than destroyed,and it became Zimmer's duty to wipe her out utterly. Thus in one action the Germansobtained what von Lettow rightly regarded as "the extremely important command of the lake". The Delcommune, being off the Belgian shore andpossessed of superior speed, was able to escape under the coverof the batteries of Lukuja (Lukuga) River, but after an action of twohours the Belgian steamer received from her enemy so many hits in theboiler-room and funnel that she had to be beached, whilst theWissman had not been touched. This Lieutenant Hornwas ordered to seek out and destroy. There was one Belgian steamer, the AlexandreDelcommune, of 90 tons, which on August 6th had called atKigoma but had been allowed to depart. Kigoma harbour was fortified against any attack by lake. This small ship was commissioned as a man-of-war inminiature, though her best speed was 7 knots, and the range ofher guns did not exceed 2200 yards. Some became merged with the GermanEast African Military forces, and others, together with the crewof the small Mowe, scuttled in Dar es Salaam harbour as a blockship on August8th 1914, continued their naval activities on the lakes.ģ0 men of the Mowe contingent, under Lieutenant Horn went by train to Kigoma and went aboard the lake steamer Hedwig von Wissman (60 tons), arming her with four pom-poms brought fromthe Mowe. After the disabling of the Konigsberg up the RufijiRiver on July 11th 1915 its crew, instead of being kepttogether as one compact company after being stranded on theriver bank, was split up.
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