NS

The fighting along the African coast during this period was minor but
picturesque. On February 26, 1915, the British military authorities
announced that the coast of German East Africa would be blockaded on
February 28, four days being allowed for the departure of neutral
vessels. Some minor successes, chiefly naval, were obtained by the
British during the month of March, when they occupied Shirati on Lake
Victoria Nyanza and established there a base for armed steamers.

It was here on March 6, 1915, that the _Muanza_, the only German
armed steamer that remained on the lake, was destroyed by the British
steamer _Winifred_.

In April, 1915, Major General Tighe, who had won distinction in the
Indian Service, was appointed to command the British troops in German
East Africa. During this month there was some desultory fighting along
the edges of Kilmanjaro, and repeated but ineffectual attempts were
made to cut the Uganda Railway line; otherwise there were no hostile
movements worthy of note in this region.

On March 9, 1915, a German column, marching along the Maru River to
invade the Karungu district on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria
Nyanza, was defeated and scattered, after a short engagement, by a
force of British troops under Colonel Hickson.

Along the region between the Uganda Railroad and the German frontier
there were frequent skirmishes during May between British patrols and
German troops, in which the losses were trifling on either side. The
German forces had been operating for some time from the fortified port
of Bukoba, and it was important to the future movements of the British
that the place should be destroyed. On June 20 an expedition was
dispatched by steamer from the British port at Kisumu, 240 miles away
on the eastern shore; at the same time it was planned that British
troops on the Kagora River were to cross the thirty miles that divided
them from the German fortified port.

On June 25, 1915, Brigadier General J. A. Stewart, commanding
detachments of the First Loyal North Lancashires, King's African
Rifles, and the Twenty-fifth Royal Fusiliers reached Bukoba. The port
was attacked by land and water. The British were in superior numbers,
having only about 400 against them, but the Germans fought intrepidly,
and their Arab allies showed great bravery. The British success was
not easily won. The Germans lost most of their artillery and there
were heavy casualties. The wireless station was