By mid-April, 1940, the South African defenders – and they were defending now, giving little mind to offensive moves except at sea, where their cruisers still stalked and occasionally hit a transport or two – had been corralled into two enclaves in the north, plus the retreating frontier in the south.
A South African division was trapped at Oshakati, deep into Angola itself. There was small hope of rescue for them because the “relief force” was itself at risk of being completely surrounded, and was already encircled on three sides. Portuguese units were pushing in on them, trying to drive them out of the Namibian capital at Windhoek. These additional flanking attacks had stopped their pursuit to the north, where they had first caused a Portuguese division to give up and retreat.
To the far north, in northern Nigeria, work was progressing with the goal of surrounding the sole British division there, huddled in the interior of the country. Scouting units were moving across the countryside, capturing territory as they moved.
Oshakati fell a few days later – the first surrender of a South African division in the war. The two divisions near Windhoek began to withdraw to the east, toward British-held Bechuanaland (Botswana), lest they suffer the same fate.
Further south, the Portuguese enclave north of Capetown had expanded, somewhat, but was struggling to achieve the same success as the more developed operations further north. More troops were being landed, but here the South African Navy was being more than a nuisance, causing real damage to Portuguese transports trying to land reinforcements.
One minor defeat at Al-Ais could not change the course of events, though. Even the units here – South African militia, mostly – were weak and/or untrained. Not equipped for the same sort of accomplishments Portuguese militia had achieved mere months earlier.
By the end of April, General Cabral’s two small divisions (the Portuguese divisions of this time mostly consisting of only two brigades) had shifted east, and were were pressing south on a wide front against a division of Portuguese militia at Lambert’s Bay, guarding the approach to Capetown.
By May 2nd, they had dislodged the citizens’ militia, and sent them fleeing south. Pursuit followed. Panic began, in the capital, as most of the real strength of the South African Army was still occupied too far away to be of assistance. It hardly mattered how strong the presence of the Navy if the Portuguese already had enough strength in the south to mount such an offensive.
In mid-May, Gen. Freieria had crossed into British territory, in Bechuanaland, and was hooking north to cut off the two South African divisions. Other units were in close pursuit to the west, having taken Windhoek, and driving after.
To the south, yet another South African division had already been surrounded, having retreated from further north, but finding nowhere to escape. Attempts to break through to them from Karasburg were being mounted by a valiant militia division, but was a hopeless attempt against sa Silva’s 1st Cavalry.
Meanwhile, contact had been made with Portuguese units to the south, so that supply flowed through to support the drive on Capetown. Gen. Cabral’s 6th Infantry was pressing an attack upon the garrison there – the garrison supported by the bloodied militia – by the end of May.
At Al-Ais, the breakthrough attempt had failed on the 30th, and sa Silva had turned against the Citizen Guards trapped at Pomona. While the South African resistance was spirited at first, the lack of training and discipline among these citizen soldiers was quickly taken advantage of, and they failed to hold critical defense points.
In the first week of June, as Portuguese troops moved to the outskirts of Capetown, the situation in Mozambique remained relatively unchanged from April – the colonial capital and other major provinces were occupied by the South Africans, but with news of serious defeats from Africa’s other coast, not to mention general depressive news from the rest of the world, the spirit of South African ebullience had left them.
They refused to advance further, expecting anyday to be called away to defend their homeland. In fact, some wondered if they’d been forgotten about – the moment to make such a recall order seeming long past.
A momentary glance around the world before we leave off until the next update…
Look at those sharks inhabiting the water off the very coasts of the British home islands! I was surprised to find the Royal Navy not very much in evidence, and both an Italian and a German submarine unit cruising in British home waters!
In addition to their first move at Madeira, the British seem to have gained a foothold in formerly Danish Iceland. What they will do from there is unclear, especially since they appear to be outnumbered. The British Empire is in decline, seemingly helpless.