erman capital of Buea, and its seaport Victoria. The latter place was
bombarded by the French cruiser _Bruix_ and the yacht _Ivy_; marines
were landed, and after a short and spirited fight it was taken, while
the enemy, who had concentrated on the hills leading to Buea, were
scattered by the Allies' forces advancing from different directions.

The Germans made a determined effort to regain Edea, but were forced
to retire with a loss of 20 Europeans and 54 natives. Meanwhile, in
the hinterland, the French General, Aymerich, with a force of men and
a steamer loaned by the authorities of the Belgian Congo drove the
enemy from the Congo-Ubanghi region, which had been given to Germany
in 1911. After two days of strenuous fighting the German posts of
Numen and Nola were taken, and some officers, guns, and ammunition.

The greatest campaign in December, 1914, was the capture of the entire
northern railway line, with rolling stock, locomotives, two
aeroplanes, and about sixty white men. Mendawi, Bare, and Nkongsamba
were other posts taken at this period.

At the close of the year the Cameroons were not conquered, but the
Germans had been driven into the interior, could not secure supplies,
and it was only a question of time when they must surrender or be
annihilated. The allied forces were constantly harrying their enemy.

The Allies' next movement was an advance in three columns against
Yaunde, where they fought two little battles January 27-28, 1915, and
seized the post of Bersona. Near the coast some important operations
were successful.

CHAPTER XII

GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA--REBELLION IN UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

German Southwest Africa, to which we will now turn, was in a different
situation at the outbreak of the war from that of the German colonies
of the east and west. Over the frontier was a self-governing dominion,
the Union of South Africa, with an independent parliament made up of a
strange mixture of different parties. The irreconcilables in the Dutch
population who had dreamed of a greater Afrikander Republic, would
they not take this opportunity to side with Germany who promised to
further their ambitions? Great Britain expected some trouble from this
element in the Union, and prepared for the worst, while Germany was
equally active, and there was much intriguing to persuade the Dutch
to cast in their lot with them. In other parts of Africa, Germany had
to fight her battles unaided, but here in the en