The History of the SMS Königsberg
and the First World War in East Africa
Photo from the American Library of Congress on Wikimedia

At the beginning of the twentieth century the Imperial German navy went through a period of rapid expansion as part of an arms race with the British Royal Navy. One of many new ships built in time was the SMS Königsberg, launched at Kiel on 12 December 1905 and named after the East Prussian capital, now known as Kaliningrad in Russia. She was the first of four Königsberg class light cruisers, her sister ships being the Stettin, Stuttgart, and Nürnberg.

The crew consisted of 14 officers and 308 other ranks. She had an impressive maximum speed of 24 knots, displacing over 3,500 tons and was armed with ten deadly 10.5cm quick firing guns and two 45cm torpedo-tubes with five torpedoes. The Königsberg also had two 5.2cm quick firing guns mounted in the stern but these were removed before the First World War. Two 8.8cm guns were later added intended to arm an auxiliary cruiser in the event of war. Her speed and firepower made her the ultimate naval hunter of the day.

The SMS Königsberg was originally part of the Imperial German home fleet renamed the High Seas Fleet in 1907. On several occasions she served as an escort to Kaiser Wilhelm II in his yacht, Hohenzollern. This included two voyages to England in 1907 and again in 1910. The following year she accompanied Wilhelm on a tour of the Mediterranean.

In early 1914 it was decided to send the SMS Königsberg to German East Africa to replace the ancient steam and sail ship SMS Geier, which was currently Germany's only naval presence on the East African coast. This was planned to be a two year mission. A new ship's captain was appointed for the task, Fregattenkapitän Max Looff. Although Looff was an experienced naval officer it was his first ship's command. As fate would have it, it also proved to be his last command.

The Königsberg set sail from Kiel on 25 April 1914 and travelled through the Mediterranean into the Suez canal and down the East African coast, arriving in Dar Es Salaam on 6 June to a rapturous welcome. The first task of the newly arrived ship was to cruise the colony's coastline as show of strength to the locals, to familiarise herself with the waters and to be greeted by local German dignitaries in each port they visited. The peace of those first few weeks in East African waters for the Königsberg crew was soon shattered by the outbreak of the First World War.

German East Africa before the First World War
The colony of German East Africa was established in by the raising of a flag in 1884 and confirmed on a map by the European powers at the Treaty of Berlin the following year. It consisted of most of modern Tanzania (minus the eastern offshore islands of Zanzibar and Pemba which were British) and Rwanda. As such was the largest of the four German African colonies, the others being Togo, Cameroon and German South West Africa (modern Namibia).

German rule had gradually spread inland since the first trading posts on the coastline, often accompanied by violent resistance from the existing population which was harshly suppressed by the German authorities. The most recent and most widespread revolt was the Maji-Maji Rebellion of 1905-07 in the aftermath of which it is estimated that tens of thousands of Africans were either killed or died of starvation caused by the war.

After the Maji-Maji Rebellion (and the almost simultaneous Herero and Nama Rebellions in German South West Africa which were crushed with even more severity) German colonial rule became more moderate and power was entrusted to civilian governors rather than military officers. Agreements were reached with local tribal leaders, although usually heavily weighted to the colonial powers benefit. Infrastructure received investment, railways and schools were built. An effort was made to inoculate and educate the African population. This was not an entirely philanthropic enterprise however as it was realised that a healthy and literate workforce could earn more profits for German traders.

Early in the colonies establishment an armed force had been formed to fight against the rebellions and prevent further ones, the Schutztruppe. The peacetime strength of the Schutztruppe in 1914 consisted of around 300 German officers, NCOs and staff with 2,700 African other ranks or Askari. These were divided into 14.field companies spread over the colony to prevent outbreaks of rebellion. The artillery of the Schutztruppe consisted of outdated recoilless guns, C73 8.8cm and 7.85cm field guns (which were mostly formed as a single artillery Abteilung in Dar Es Salaam) and some smaller 6cm and 3.7cm guns (assigned to the individual field companies). There was also an armed police force (the Polizeitruppe) with another 2,000 askaris spread across the colony. The Schutztruppe was adequate to deal with local minor rebellions but was not prepared to fight a European enemy or another colonial power.

Schutztruppe Feldkompagnie, 1914
Photograph by Walther Dobbertin from Bundesarchiv / WikiCommons

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Outbreak of the First World War
Aside from the SMS Königsberg, another recent arrival in German East Africa in 1914, was the new commander of the Schutztruppe, Oberstleutnant Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. He was a forty-four year old Prussian army officer with experience of colonial and guerrilla warfare, having served previously in the Boxer Rebellion in China and the Herero Rebellion in South West Africa. Initially he was put forward to command the Cameroon Schutztruppe but his destination and destiny was changed to German East Africa in April 1914.

Upon arrival in East Africa, von Lettow-Vorbeck immediately set to work re-thinking the future role of the Schutztruppe. He toured the colony seeing for himself the railway system, ports and defensive points. He was able to to asses the strengths and weaknesses of the colony and get to know the local Schutztruppe officers. He also encouraged the formation of local shooting clubs where German civilians, farmers and traders did paramilitary firearms training. Von Lettow-Vorbeck foresaw a European war which in his opinion, could potentially spill over into the colonies.

As the new commander was making his notes war was indeed brewing in Europe. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalists. Austria-Hungary demanded justice from Serbia and with Russia backing Serbia and Germany backing Austria-Hungary the world stood on the brink of war for surely France and Britain would not stand by. And what of the Turkish Ottoman Empire? Or the Portuguese to the south in Mozambique?

For a few weeks confused and conflicting reports reached East Africa until finally it was confirmed that Germany was at war with Great Britain. After delivering notice of their intentions, the British Royal Navy began to bombard Dar Es Salaam on 8 August 1914.

The colony's governor Heinrich von Schnee desperately hoped that peace would prevail throughout the colonies despite the European war. German East Africa was surrounded by enemy colonies. To the north were the British Colonies of British East Africa (modern Kenya) and Uganda. To the west were the great lakes with the Belgian Congo bordering the opposing shore and further south British Rhodesia and Nyasaland. South of German East Africa was Portuguese Mozambique. Portugal did not start the war on the allied side but a misunderstanding caused the Germans to raid their territory early in the war and Portugal eventually joined the war on the allied side in March 1916. To complete the isolation of the colony, the British Royal Navy's  Cape of Good Hope Squadron blockaded the coast.

German Reservists on the Kilimanjaro Front shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914
Photo by Walther Dobbertin at the Bundesarchiv / WikiCommons

When the war in Europe did break out von Lettow-Vorbeck had already made contingency plans and German East Africa was put on a total war footing. Retired askaris were recalled to their units, the colonial police force was incorporated into the Schutztruppe and the civilian shooting clubs became armed shooting companies ('Schützenkompanie'). Germans and Austro-Hungarians living in the colony were called up as reservists and all civilian material useful to the war effort was commandeered. This included any motor vehicles, coastal boats, steamships on the lakes bordering enemy colonies, an aeroplane that was visiting for an air show at the time and even steam powered farm machinery. A naval survey ship, the SMS Möwe was scuttled to block Dar Es Salaam harbour and her 3.7cm revolver canons and crew thenceforth served on land, the latter as the Abteilung Möwe. All of the above was useful to the war effort.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck intended not only to prevent the allies capturing the colony but also to tie up large numbers of enemy soldiers and war effort, thereby creating a diversion from their efforts from the all important Western Front. A decisive German victory on the Western Front followed by a peace settlement in Germany's favour would naturally end the war in the colonies, whereas a victory or defeat in the colonies would not effect the outcome of the general war in Europe.

The allies had early successes in conquering all the other German colonies. Togo, New Guinea, Samoa and German port of Tsingtao in China all fell in 1914. German South West Africa surrendered the following year and the last German garrison in Cameroon laid down its arms in February 1916. But in German East Africa the allies had only experienced failure in the opening stages of the war. The Schutztruppe repelled British invasion attempts at the Battles of Tanga and Longido and also raided heavily into British territory and fired at Belgian shipping on Lake Tanganyika.

SMS Königsberg off the coast of German East Africa 1914
Photo by Walther Dobbertin from the Bundesarchiv on Wikimedia

The SMS Königsberg on the Outbreak of War
As the situation in Europe became more tense during the Summer of 1914 and the threat of war loomed after the Sarajevo assassination, the ship's crew began additional gunnery training while Looff and von Lettow-Vorbeck consulted as to their best options if war with Britain did break out.

Looff feared that the Königsberg could be trapped in the harbour at Dar Es Salaam by the superior firepower of the British Royal Navy and so the ship was prepared for war at sea. All excess woodwork was stripped away and every available space filed with coal. War had not been declared when she took to the Indian Ocean on 31 July 1914. A supply ship, the Somali under Korvettenkapitän Zimmer also set sail on 3 August to resupply the Königsberg with coal when needed.

Shortly after leaving port the SMS Königsberg ran into the British Cape Squadron under Vice Admiral King-Hall consisting of three cruisers, HMS  Pegasus, HMS Hyacinth and HMS Astraea. Although war had not yet been declared between Britain and Germany the situation was tense as the announcement was imminently expected by both sides and the Cape Squadron had been specifically sent from their base in Simpsontown, South Africa up the East African coastline to search for the SMS Königsberg and had now found her by accident.

Looff initially kept the Königsberg at a slow cruising speed of 16 knots while the British ships kept pace either side of him. When night was falling and with rain to hide his intentions, Looff suddenly put the Konigsberg into full speed and doubled backed on himself to evade his unwanted escort first turning back to port then again back out to sea when he had lost the British cruisers. When war was declared on 4 August 1914 the British had already lost their best chance of capturing the Königsberg.

Ensign Flag from the SMS Königsberg
Donated by Richard Meinertzhagen to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England

SMS Königsberg's Raiding Career
The Königsberg sailed up to the Horn of Africa, searching for allied shipping to capture. Her first and only catch was off the coast of Oman in the form of the British City of Winchester. The cargo of the City of Winchester was a large stock of tea and was valuable to the English being the first harvest of the season! But unfortunately for the Königsberg the City of Winchester was found to carry very little coal.

By now the Königsberg had been recognised by a neutral Japanese freighter who reported her presence to allied warships. The SMS Königsberg, once the ultimate hunter, was now a hunted ship herself and running dangerously low on coal. She met up with the Somali for a coaling rendezvous off the coast of Somaliland and set out hunting at sea again. This time towards French Madagascar, where again she found no allied shipping.

The Königsberg was now was cut off from radio signals from Dar Es Salaam, having trouble with her engines and worst of all having very little luck finding allied merchant ships to attack. Coal was also again running low. After a failed attempt to refuel from the Somali at Aldabra Island due to bad weather, Looff decided to head for the shelter of the Rufiji Delta in German East Africa for repairs.

The Rufiji is a major river at roughly 370 miles long. It enters the Indian Ocean South of Dar Es Salaam in the form of a wide Delta with densely forested banks. Earlier that year it had been studied by the German survey ship SMS Möwe and found to be largely navigable by a ship of the size of the Königsberg. Looff had been given the charts of the delta and knew that it was the ideal place to hide a battleship. It was also ideal conditions for malarial mosquitoes to breed.

On 3 September 1914 the SMS Königsberg entered the mouth of the Rufiji much to the surprise of the local German authorities there who had no idea she was on her way. Supplies of food and coal were soon provided and maintenance work began.

Sinking of HMS Pegasus
On 19 September 1914 while in the Rufiji Delta, Looff heard news that a single cruiser of the British Cape Squadron had entered Zanzibar harbour. While the SMS Konigsberg alone was not a match for all three cruisers of the Cape Squadron, she was a danger for any ship caught alone.

Meanwhile the British were unaware of the position of the SMS Königsberg assuming her to be still at large in the Indian Ocean. With this in mind they considered Zanzibar to be a safe harbour for the HMS Pegasus to receive repairs and attention to her boilers.

HMS Pegasus
Photo from Wikipedia

The SMS Königsberg set sail for Zanzibar that same afternoon. It was daybreak on 20 September 1914 when she spotted the HMS Pegasus, ran up her battle flags and opened fire with her five 10.5cm port guns at a range of five miles.

Within 45 minutes the HMS Pegasus was sinking with casualties. The captain of the Pegasus, Commander John Ingles ran up the white flag but the burning ship's smoke initially prevented Looff from seeing the surrender signal. He continued shelling the sinking ship. Finally after firing 276 rounds into the Pegasus, Looff ordered the Königsberg to ceasefire and retreat back to the safe waters of the Rufiji. HMS Pegasus sank in Zanzibar harbour on the afternoon of 20 September 1914 having lost 24 dead and 55 wounded. The Königsberg was unharmed, though suffered an engine failure on her way back to the safety of the Rufiji.

The commander of the British Cape Squadron, Vice Admiral King-Hall telegrammed the British Admiralty in London later that day to break the news and to express his displeasure at Commander Ingles' failure to prevent the loss-

"HMS Pegasus sunk in harbour 2pm. HMS Pegasus appears to have been surprised by Konigsberg in an unprepared state and unable to move which I think in the absence of further particulars is inexplicable in view of my orders to Captain. I have directed Commander Ingles report fully by telegram to me and Admiralty."
(Telegram from Commander-in-Chief, Cape to Admiralty 20th September 1914, National Records Office, Kew Ref:- ADM 137/10/10 Folio 336)

Ingles replied to the Admiralty with a report, describing the action as-

"Konigsberg ascertained our correct position during night, approached Effbe lighthouse full speed 5am, disabled patrol launch with 3 shots then opened fire on HMS Pegasus; had range correct with second salvo before we could open fire. Her shooting very accurate; she opened at 9 and closed at 7, all our engagement broadside guns disabled after 15 minutes and fire ceased from us. Nearly all our casualties occurred round the guns and on the upper deck. Ship badly holed on the water line, she eventually sank. Removed 2 3-pdrs and 2 maxims. All survivors camped inland; very few rifles obtained; defences generally poor through lack of guns. Impossible to save 4guns."
(Telegram from Captain, HMS Pegasus Zanzibar to Admiralty 20th September 1914, National Records Office, Kew Ref:- ADM 137/10/10 Folio 336)

The Pegasus had also been armed with 4 inch guns (which is presumably what Ingles was referring to as "4guns" in his telegram) but could not match the range of the of the Königsberg guns and as Ingles stated, were soon put out of action by the German fire.

These 4 inch guns from the Pegasus were later salvaged from the wreck and like the Königsberg guns were given carriages for use on  land. They again duelled with the guns of the SMS Königsberg at the Battle of Kondoa-Irangi in 1916 as they had done at sea at Zanzibar in 1914. Today one of the Pegasus guns stands side by side with a Königsberg gun at Fort Jesus, Mombasa, Kenya.

Battle of the Rufiji and the Sinking of the SMS Königsberg
The Königsberg sailed back to the refuge of the Rufiji Delta for more repairs. The German land defences along the Rufiji consisted of the Abteilung Delta: about 150 sailors and askaris armed with rifles and machine guns under Korvetten-Kapitän a.D. Werner Schönfeld, who would later command the Königsberg railway gun at Tanga and Kahe. Improvised mines were laid across the river mouth to deter British ships from entering the river. Instead the British blockaded the delta to prevent the Königsberg's escape while they planned their next move.

On New Year’s Day 1915 the British Admiral King-Hall sent Looff a message in German wishing the SMS Königsberg a happy new year and hope that they see each other soon. Looff replied in English, “Thanks, same to you, if you want to see me, I am always at home.”
(Quotation from "Der Kreuzerkrieg in den ausländischen Gewässern" by Admiral Erich Raeder at Archive.org)

German Defences on the Banks of the Rufiji
This photograph is sometimes mistakenly captioned as showing one of the Königsberg Guns. In fact it shows a Hotchkiss 4.7cm gun that the Germans had captured from a British vessel, 'Adjutant' on 6 February 1915.
Photo © Imperial War Museum

To hunt the Königsberg further upstream two shallow draught monitors, the Mersey and the Severn were towed from England to East Africa. They had been built in Britain for the Brazilian navy but on the outbreak of war were diverted to the British war effort and were first used bombarding German positions at the 1914 Battle of the Yser in Flanders. They were each armed with two 6 inch guns as their main armament.

British Naval Monitor, HMS Severn
Photo from the Imperial War Museum Collection on Wikimedia

To assist the monitors in their search, two seaplanes were requisitioned from a private owner in South Africa and taken to the Rufiji Delta. Admiral King-Hall also hired a Boer elephant hunter, named PJ Pretorius to use his knowledge of the area to scout and gather intelligence on the Königsberg and its whereabouts.

On 6 July 1915 The two monitors HMS Severn and HMS Mersey began their first assault on the Königsberg accompanied up the Rufiji by the spotter planes which also dropped bombs. Despite scoring a few hits on the Königsberg, they were forced to retire by her counter-fire which had disabled one of the two guns on HMS Mersey.

The second attempt by the monitors began on the 11 July 1915. The battle raged for two hours hours in which time the Königsberg was hit again and again by accurate fire from the monitors directed by the spotter planes. A magazine on the Konigsberg was hit and caught fire and a blast hit the bridge injuring Captain Looff.

Eventually Looff wounded ordered the scuttling of the ship. The breech blocks of the guns were thrown overboard,  the remaining crew abandoned ship and the SMS Königsberg was sunk by officer Koch using one of her own torpedo heads to blast a hole in the hull. The Königsberg heeled to port and began to sink into the Rufiji mud at around 1400 on 11 July 1915. Thirty three of the Königsberg's crew had been killed in the bombardment. Looff signalled to Berlin: “Königsberg is destroyed but not conquered.”
(Quotation from "Königsberg- A German East African Raider" by Kevin Patience, Zanzibar Publications, Bahrain 1997)

SMS Königsberg, scuttled in the Rufiji, 1915
Photo from the Australian War Memorial and Wikipedia

Interestingly, although the East African Campaign of the First World War itself is largely forgotten and the ship herself has now sunk into the depths of the Rufiji, the story of the SMS Königsberg has made its way into general twentieth century culture in several ways.

This was partially by inspiriting Hollywood films such as  'The African Queen' starring Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn and 'Shout at the Devil' starring Lee Marvin and Roger Moore and but also by inspiring countless novels, comics and war-game scenarios. The guns may not have altered the course of the war but they did in their own small way alter course of public consciousness about the war in Africa.

Roger Moore takes on the SMS Königsberg (AKA the Blücher) armed only with a rifle!
Photo from 'Shout at The Devil' © Tonav Productions

SOURCES
"Königsberg- A German East African Raider" by Kevin Patience, Zanzibar Publications, Bahrain 1997
"The Germans Who Never Lost" by Edwin P. Hoyt, Leslie Frewin, London, 1969
"The First World War in Africa" by Hew Strachan, Oxford University Press 2004
"Meine Erinnerungen aus Ostafrika" by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, KF Koehler Verlag, Leipzig 1920
"Kampf im Rufiji-Delta, Das Ende des Kleinen Kreuzers Königsberg" by RK Lochner, Wilhelm Heine Verlag, München 1987
"Der Kreuzerkrieg in den ausländischen Gewässern" by Admiral Erich Raeder, EG Mittler and Son, Berlin 1923 at Archive.org
"Das Offizierskorps der Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika im Weltkrieg 1914-1918" by Wolfgang-Eisenhardt Maillard and Jürgen Schröder, Walsrode 2003
"The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud" by Brian Garfield, Potomac Books, Washington DC 2007
"Jungle Man" by PJ Pretorius, Resnick's Library of African Adventure, 2001
HMS Mersey and Severn vs. SMS Königsberg Edited by Gordon Smith
Essay on the Königsberg on the South African Military History Website by Pierre du Toit 2013
Traditionsverband Article on the SMS Königsberg and her Guns by Bernhard Buchholz
Article on the Königsberg Incident at Richthofen.com
Axis History Forum Discussion on the SMS Königsberg Guns
Panzer Archiv Forum Discussion on the SMS Königsberg Guns in German