Die rol van die seemag in duits Suidwes-Afrika 1914-15

Abstract

At the outbreak of World War I the German colony of South West Africa posed a serious threat to the British war effort. The colony wn situated on the main andsefest British supply and communication route to the east, and it was therefore of the utmost importance that it should fall into Allied hands. Otherwise the harbours of Uideritzbucht, Walflsch Bay and Swakopmund might be used by the German Pacificsquadron - then operating off the South American Coast, and strong radio transmittersof the colony could keep the German High Command well informed of the situation in the southern hemisphere.

General Botha, Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, agreed to a British request to send an expedition against the German colony, but before this could get under way, a serious rebellion broke out in the Union. The defeat of Cradock's squadron at Coronel and the presence of von Spee's warships in the Atlantic added to the anxies in of the South African leaders.

For the next two months the Admiralty's inability to provide an adequate escort for the expeditionary force and the disorganisation of the Union Defence Forces by the rebellion upset the South African plans for the campaign in South West Africa. Only with the defeat of von Spee at the Falkland Islands and the capitulation of the principal rebel forces in South Africa was it possible to launch the expedition effectively.