Siege of Mora facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Siege of Mora |
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| Part of the Kamerun campaign in World War I | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Brigadier General Frederick Hugh Cunliffe Captain R. W. Fox Lieutenant Colonel Brisett Captain Ferrandi |
 Captain Ernst von Raben Lieutenant Siegfried Kallmeyer |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 150 300 |
 204 |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 27 killed 45 wounded 10 captured |
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The Siege of Mora was a very long battle during World War I. It happened in a place called Kamerun, which is now Cameroon. This battle took place on and around the Mora mountain. Allied forces, mainly from Britain and France, surrounded German troops. The siege lasted for a very long time, from August 1914 to February 1916. It was one of the longest sieges of the entire war. The German soldiers eventually gave up, and some even escaped to a nearby neutral country.
Contents
Why the Battle Started
When World War I began in August 1914, the Allies wanted to take over Germany's colonies in Africa. One German colony, Togoland, was defeated quickly. This freed up British and French soldiers to invade Kamerun.
British soldiers from Nigeria moved close to the border with Kamerun. Captain R. W. Fox led the northernmost group. They set up camp near a German fort at Mora. These British soldiers were waiting for orders and gathering information.
The German Fort at Mora
The German fort at Mora was about 100 miles south of Lake Chad. It was guarded by German Schutztruppen, which means "protection troops." Captain Ernst von Raben was their leader.
At first, there were 14 European and 125 African soldiers. Most of these African soldiers, called Askaris, were very tough and well-trained. Captain von Raben managed to get 65 more men before the siege began. On August 13, the German soldiers moved from the fort on the flat ground to positions higher up Mora mountain. This gave them a great view and easy access to water. Mora mountain was like a natural fortress. It was about 30 miles around its base and 1,700 feet high. The Germans made their positions on the steep slopes very strong, ready for a British attack.
British Take Over Sava
On August 19, German lookouts saw about 50 British soldiers on horseback near Mora. Captain von Raben and 30 of his soldiers went down the mountain. After a short fight, they made the British retreat. The German commander then ordered the fort at Sava to be destroyed. This was to stop the Allies from using it.
British scouts kept bothering the German forces in the area. On August 20, Captain Fox got orders to attack Mora. He marched his troops towards the town. They arrived on August 26 and took positions at Sava. This was about three kilometers from the German defenses on the mountain. Sixteen French soldiers from French Equatorial Africa joined them. The Allied position was on the road between Mora and Garua. This stopped the two German groups from contacting each other.
First Allied Attack
On the night of August 27, Captain Fox led some French and British troops. They climbed to the very top of Mora mountain. They hoped to attack the German trenches from above. When morning came, the Allied forces started shooting down into the German trenches. But they were too far away to do much damage.
The Germans then attacked the Allied group. They forced them to go back down the mountain. As they went down, a thick fog appeared. A group of soldiers got lost and wandered away. When the fog lifted, Captain Fox's soldiers saw German troops. They were wearing red hats called fezzes. The British thought they were the lost French soldiers, who wore similar uniforms. So, they did not attack them right away. The German force then surprised the British. They killed three British soldiers, including a doctor, and captured one. The rest had to retreat back to Sava. The Germans lost one African soldier in this fight.
Both Sides Get More Soldiers and Supplies
After their first attack, the British started building defenses on a hill near Sava. This hill was closer to Mora mountain. Captain Fox asked for big guns, called artillery, to be brought from Nigeria. At this time, the small French group went back to Fort Lamy.
The Allied attack made the Germans realize their positions on the mountain slopes were not safe enough. So, in early September, they moved to the very top of the mountain. A German group from Fort Kusseri, led by Lieutenant Kallmeyer, also moved to Mora in late September. This made Captain von Raben's defenses even stronger.
About 300 French soldiers also joined the British force at Mora. They took over several hills around the mountain. By late October 1914, the Allies had machine guns and artillery ready. The Germans prepared for the long siege by gathering as much food as they could. They were quite successful at this.
The Siege in 1914
On October 29, Allied artillery started to fire at the German positions. Machine guns also shot at the German Schutztruppen. Two days later, a French unit tried to storm the German positions on top of the mountain. They were almost completely wiped out. More waves of French troops kept charging up the slopes, but they were also stopped.
Because of this, German troops were able to take supplies from the dead Allied soldiers. They got ammunition and even machine guns. A short break in fighting happened so that both sides could bury the dead.
On November 4, artillery bombed German positions on the north side of Mora. A French attack followed. This led to the death of two German officers and three soldiers. The Allies took over that outpost. The rest of the German force pulled back. But fighting continued all night. Then, German forces led by an African sergeant attacked and took back the position.
As time went on, the German soldiers started to run out of supplies. Food was a very serious problem. The Allies had completely surrounded the mountain. So, the Germans could no longer go out to find food. Horses, donkeys, and camels that had been used for transport were killed and eaten. Water sources were not protected and were hit by machine gun and artillery fire. Still, more Allied attempts to force the Germans out of their trenches failed.
A Christmas Truce
On December 24, 1914, after almost four months of fighting, the German defenders saw a white flag. This flag was raised over the Allied positions. Many in the German group thought it meant the war in Europe had ended. But the British only wanted to send gifts to Sergeant Taylor, who was a British prisoner.
The German commander, Captain von Raben, also got a package of gifts from Captain Fox. It had blankets, cigarettes, and even a Christmas tree. The British offered to stop fighting for December 24 and 25. The Germans agreed. British and German officers met several times on these days to exchange gifts. On January 1, 1915, the British raised the white flag again. A meeting was set up between von Raben and Fox, who knew each other before the war. However, this time, French forces did not stop fighting. They kept shelling the German positions.
The Siege in 1915
In early 1915, the Germans faced extreme thirst. The dry season had started, and their water sources were dirty. On January 22, the last cow was killed for food. Rations were cut even more. Allied guns kept targeting water sources. This made it harder for the Germans to get any water. At the end of April, the dry season ended. This meant the Allies could not hope that thirst would force the Germans to surrender. However, the food situation remained very bad. The Germans started sending small groups down the mountain at night. They tried to get past the Allied lines to find food. This was very dangerous, but it helped the starving soldiers on the mountain.
By mid-June, the German fort at Garua had been captured. Other German forces were moving back to the center of the colony. The Allies moved their lines closer around Mora mountain. But their attacks slowed down in the spring. Captain von Raben knew the situation in the rest of Kamerun was bad. He offered his African soldiers the chance to leave, but none of them did. Later, Sergeant Batinga led 13 men on a brave night raid. They burned down the British camp at Sava. More raids in May and June got food, guns, ammunition, and other supplies. These raids also killed ten Allied soldiers and wounded four.
On August 6, French forces tried to take the village of Kilwe. This village belonged to a tribe that supported the Germans. German forces attacked back, killing one French soldier. They pushed the French back to their lines. They left a dozen soldiers in the village to stop another Allied attack. On September 1, the Allies brought up bigger artillery guns. They started bombing the positions on the mountain slopes again. The next day, 42 French soldiers attacked Kilwe again. They were pushed back, and seven of them died.
General Frederick Hugh Cunliffe was the commander of Allied forces in northern Kamerun. He wanted stronger efforts to defeat the Germans on Mora mountain. On September 7, Allied guns began a heavy bombing. They focused on Mora's northernmost outposts, led by Lieutenant Kallmeyer. The bombing continued all night. A British attack followed in the morning. But the attack failed under heavy fire from Kallmeyer's men. A British captain and 15 African soldiers were killed. Five Germans were wounded. Two more attempts to storm this German post happened at night. But they failed as troops got lost in the darkness. After these attacks failed, General Cunliffe decided to reduce the number of attacks. Instead, he focused on bombing German positions with more and more artillery.
Captain von Raben was shot in the head on September 30. This happened while he was visiting German positions. Because there was no good medicine at Mora, he had to stay in bed. His second-in-command, Lieutenant Siegfried Kallmeyer, took temporary control. Food supplies kept getting lower. On December 8, British troops burned the village of Wudume. This village had been supplying food to the Germans.
German Surrender
In early 1916, the German forces had been surrounded for almost a year and a half. They had run out of food. However, they still had plenty of ammunition, about 37,000 rounds. On February 15, 1916, Captain Ernst von Raben received a letter from General Cunliffe. It offered to send the African soldiers safely home. It also offered to send the European soldiers to be held in England.
By this point, Kamerun had mostly been given up to the Allies. The German colonial government and most of the remaining army had run away to a neutral Spanish colony. Captain von Raben realized their situation was hopeless. He knew that fighting on would not help. So, the German commander agreed to give up. He asked the British for safe passage and £2000 to pay his African soldiers. The British agreed to this. Von Raben surrendered with his remaining 155 men on February 18, 1916.
The surrender of the German force at Mora marked the end of German resistance in Kamerun. It also began the British and French control of the country. Later, in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles divided the colony between Britain and France. This created the new colonies of British Cameroon and French Cameroon.
