{"id":55482,"date":"2015-12-26T12:24:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-26T18:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=55482"},"modified":"2015-12-26T12:24:36","modified_gmt":"2015-12-26T18:24:36","slug":"simsons-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=55482","title":{"rendered":"Simson’s Circus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday morning services had already concluded by the time the small British torpedo boats the HMS Mimi<\/em> and HMS Toutou<\/em> had left their port on the massive freshwater Lake Tanganyika in the Belgian Congo. \u00a0Having changed out of his Naval dress uniform and back into his usual garb of short-sleeves and a skirt (which he wrongly thought was a kilt), British Captain Geoffrey Spicer-Simson began hunting his intended prey – the German gunboat Kigani<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the Kigani<\/em> had been on its way to intercept them, and was surprised to see the small British “fleet” racing out to meet them. \u00a0In 11 quick minutes, the Kigani<\/em> had been critically damaged; a shell having ripped through her deck, killing the gunboat’s captain and petty officers. \u00a0The Kigani<\/em> withdrew her colors – a sign she intended to surrender. \u00a0Not content with his prey’s brief battle, Simson ordered the small wooden Mimi<\/em> to ram the metal gunboat. \u00a0The Mimi<\/em>‘s bow was significantly dented; Simson’s ego definitely was not.<\/p>\n

Returning to shore, Simson, wearing a German officer’s ring he stole from one of the dead, proclaimed himself the “Horatio Nelson of Africa.” \u00a0The day after Christmas in 1915, the battle for Lake Tanganyika – the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume – was almost over. \u00a0The battle for historic acclaim from one of the most eccentric (and incompetent) British officers in the Great War had begun.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Graf von Gotzen’s crew loads her 4-inch deck gun. \u00a0The weapon dwarfed anything the British or Belgians could wield in East Africa<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite some of the first shots in the Great War being fired in Africa<\/a>, the Entente had made little progress in removing the German threat to their colonial possessions. \u00a0In German East Africa,\u00a0Lt.\u00a0Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, who would soon become famous for his prolonged defense, had gone on the offensive, attacking and defeating the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to subdue him\u00a0with an army eight times Lettow-Vorbeck’s size. \u00a0<\/p>\n

German dominance in the region extended to the water – both on the ocean and on the interior. \u00a0The German cruiser\u00a0K\u00f6nigsberg\u00a0<\/i>had managed to sneak into the\u00a0Zanzibar harbor and sink a British cruiser at anchor before retreating. \u00a0And on Lake\u00a0Tanganyika, the Germans were looking at total naval control with the gunboats Kigani<\/em>, Hedwig von Wissman<\/em> and a massive re-fitted steamer called the\u00a0Graft von\u00a0<\/em>G\u00f6tzen\u00a0<\/i>– armed with one of the 4-inch gun batteries from the\u00a0K\u00f6nigsberg<\/i>. \u00a0With that kind of fire power, the British and Belgians feared, Germany could swing the war in East Africa in her favor.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dragging the HMS Mimi over shallow waters – these are slides from Simson’s touring presentation given after the war<\/p><\/div>\n

If Germany’s actions were causing alarm in London, the Admiralty’s response didn’t exactly suggest the British were taking the threat all that seriously.<\/p>\n

In fairness, the dispatching of two 40-foot torpedo boats to Lake Tanganyika was probably as much as the British Navy could do, being stretched nearly impossibly thin by the blockade of Germany as it was. \u00a0But the Admiralty’s choice of commanding officer gave truth to the lie that East Africa really mattered to the War Office.<\/p>\n

Captain Geoffrey Spicer-Simson had in a short 10 years managed to nearly sink a British submarine, run aground at Portsmouth Harbor, ram a British destroyer with a cargo ship, sink a small training vessel (killing a man), and watch the HMS Niger<\/em>, a large gunboat under his command, be sunk by the Germans while at a party ashore. \u00a0And what Simson lacked in naval talents, he made up for in being an egoistical braggart. \u00a0He falsely claimed to have shot the largest rhino in the history of the Gold Coast (there are no rhinos in the Gold Coast). \u00a0He claimed he spoke various African dialects, when he spoke none. \u00a0And he was nearly court-martialled twice: once for one of his many ship sinkings, and another for attempting to take command of a ship by force. \u00a0His reason? \u00a0The ship’s commanding officer had insulted him when he barked to stop smoking…next to the gasoline tanks.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The other British “warship” – the HMS Toutou<\/p><\/div>\n

Still, Simson did speak French and German and had spent a few years of his youth in Africa. \u00a0That was all that was necessary to convince the Admiralty to ship him out of England. \u00a0Simson had been a sideshow performer of an officer and was now being sent to a sideshow theatre of a\u00a0sideshow theatre of the war. \u00a0Whether Simson won, lost, lived or died didn’t seem to faze his superiors.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

The first challenge to the British expedition wasn’t Simson’s idiocy, but the elements.<\/p>\n

From London to Lake\u00a0Tanganyika was a 10,000 mile journey; a combination of ocean-voyage and hiking through the African jungle. \u00a0The two torpedo boats, which Simson wanted to call “Cat” and “Dog”, had to literally be dragged over the ground and shallow river banks by hundreds of African porters. \u00a0Simson, wearing his distinctive skirt and short-sleeves that showed off his tattoos, was more concerned about self-promotion than the self-preservation of his vessels. \u00a0Flying a Vice-Admiral’s flag outside his tent, Simson entertained the locals who soon began calling him\u00a0\u201cBwana Chifunga-tumbo,\u201d or Lord Belly Cloth. \u00a0Simson’s Belgian allies in turn started calling Simson\u00a0\u201ccommandant de la jupe”<\/em> –\u00a0the skirted major; a promotion of sorts for the Captain. \u00a0Simson was appalled and demanded they address him as\u00a0\u201cmon colonel.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>For both the British and the Belgians, the expedition was quickly devolving into “Simson’s Circus.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

Geoffrey Spicer-Simson (far-left). \u00a0His own biographer described him as: “a man court-martialled for wrecking his own ships, an inveterate liar and a wearer of skirts”<\/p><\/div>\n

Simson’s shamelessness did have one positive effect. \u00a0The natives of the region, the Baholoholo, were nominally Germany’s allies. \u00a0But Simson’s bizarre appearance – he wore a gigantic woolly beard for parts of the campaign – and colorful tattoos all impressed the Baholoholo as signs of virility. \u00a0If Simson represented the average Briton, then perhaps the Baholoholo had erred in their choice of allies. \u00a0Valuable ground intelligence soon began arriving at the British\/Belgian camp.<\/p>\n

Of course, whether Simson would listen to the intelligence or not was another matter. \u00a0If anyone appeared to be a threat to Simson’s prestige, he was immediately relieved. \u00a0John R. Lee, the expedition’s second in command, had been the one to discover the German gunboats in East Africa. \u00a0A big game hunter and Boer War veteran, Lee’s advice on how to respond to the threat had become the exact plan being executed. \u00a0If it wasn’t for the fact that Lee was no longer in the service, the operation might have been his to command. \u00a0Lee’s leadership was critical in negotiating with tribes to get assistance through the various rivers and passages. \u00a0But there was to be only one ringmaster in “Simson’s Circus.” \u00a0Simson rewarded Lee by falsely claiming\u00a0dereliction and drunkenness. \u00a0Lee was sent home in disgrace.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Simson aboard the Mimi<\/p><\/div>\n

With the\u00a0Kigani<\/em> captured, and still usable for service, the numerical advantage on Lake Tanganyika had swung to the Entente. \u00a0But the\u00a0Hedwig<\/i> and the large gunboat the\u00a0G\u00f6tzen\u00a0<\/i>remained. \u00a0The Hedwig<\/em>, unwisely separated from the\u00a0G\u00f6tzen<\/i>, would be quickly dispatched as well. \u00a0With her main deck gun jammed, the Hedwig<\/em> was hounded by the Entente armada until the ship was set ablaze. \u00a0Sinking into the lake, only\u00a0the\u00a0G\u00f6tzen<\/i> remained as a naval threat.<\/p>\n

With two victories under his belt, Simson telegraphed London that Lake\u00a0Tanganyika had been claimed for the Crown. \u00a0Simson basked in his smoking jacket with a glass of vermouth while standing on the shore. \u00a0The locals made clay effigies of their new war lord. \u00a0Yet when the\u00a0G\u00f6tzen<\/i> arrived to duel with this “African Admiral Nelson”, Simson’s ships were nowhere to be found. \u00a0Comically, Simson and the German commander merely traded menacing glaces from ship to shore, with the\u00a0G\u00f6tzen<\/i> eventually withdrawing once they realized the British weren’t going to come out and fight.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0G\u00f6tzen<\/i> would fall victim to events on the ground, not the water. \u00a0The advance of Entente troops in East Africa forced\u00a0Lettow-Vorbeck to cannibalize the ship’s crew and armaments for his guerrilla campaign. \u00a0Simson had been pressed by his Belgian allies to attack Lettow-Vorbeck’s fortresses that lined the lake to help limit their ability to escape. \u00a0Unwilling to dent his newfound reputation with a potential loss, Simson declined. \u00a0Thousands of German Askari (native troops) escaped to fight on. \u00a0When the Belgians finally managed to overtake the abandoned forts Simson had refused to engage, they found nothing but cardboard guns pointed at the Lake.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"

Simson waves from the deck of the Belgian torpedo boat Netta<\/p><\/div>\n

Upon his return from Africa, Simson was awarded with the\u00a0Distinguished Service Order. \u00a0His antagonized Belgian allies? \u00a0They gave him the\u00a0Croix de guerre<\/em> and appointed him a\u00a0Commander of the Order of the Crown. \u00a0A war hero in a war with few heroes, Simson was a military celebrity, successfully quashing the stories of his horrid performance of the expedition, at least publicly. \u00a0Simson’s exploits were touted in a book and lecture tour he gave and became the inspiration for the novel and movie The African Queen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Privately, once the Admiralty was informed of Simson’s actions he was quietly\u00a0reprimanded. \u00a0The “circus” was definitely not going to come to London. \u00a0He was never given a command again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday morning services had already concluded by the time the small British torpedo boats the HMS Mimi and HMS Toutou had left their port on the massive freshwater Lake Tanganyika in the Belgian Congo. \u00a0Having changed out of his Naval dress uniform and back into his usual garb of short-sleeves and a skirt (which he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-ringer","category-ww1-fact-and-myth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55482"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56832,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55482\/revisions\/56832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}