west, and all the
colony south of Gibeon in British hands, the greatest difficulties in
the way of the invaders had been successfully overcome, and the end
seemed to be near.

On May 10, 1915, General Botha was informed that Windhoek, the
capital, was prepared to surrender. He set out at once for the town in
a motor car accompanied by a small escort, and arranged with the
Burgomaster of Windhoek the terms of capitulation.

On May 12, 1915, General Myburgh and a detachment of Union forces
entered the town which contained at the time about 3,000 Europeans and
some 12,000 natives.

Before the courthouse, in the presence of the town officials, and
Union officers and men, a proclamation by General Botha in Dutch,
English, and German was read, which placed the conquered districts
under martial law, and which further expressed the hope that there
would be no attempts to resist the Union forces as they must prove
futile. The great wireless station at the capital, which kept the
colony in touch with Berlin, was found to be uninjured, and with its
capture the Germans lost their last wireless station outside of
Europe. Thousands of cases of ammunition and parts of guns were among
the prizes taken, while on the railway a number of locomotives and
quantities of rolling stock were seized.

It now became the immediate business of General Botha's army to deal
with those German straggling forces which remained still under arms in
the north. In a few days following the occupation of the capital,
Colonel Mentz found part of the enemy at Seeis, and without losing a
man took 252 prisoners and a great quantity of booty. General Botha
meanwhile occupied Omaruru, a station on the railway, and in the same
week took possession of Kalkfield which was strongly intrenched, but
which the Germans were compelled to abandon owing to Botha's adroit
flanking movements. The Germans declining to make a stand, Botha's
army swept victoriously onward.

In the last week in June, 1915, all the districts around Waterberg
were cleared of the enemy. Leaving Okaputu in the evening of June 30,
1915, General Manie Botha with the Fifth Brigade got in touch with the
Germans at dawn the next day near Osib, after a forced march of
forty-two miles in sixteen hours. The Germans were driven off, and
before nightfall Otavi was occupied. Here a good supply of water was
found and as the country around is arid and like a desert, the loss of
the town was a serious one to