Osona Scenario Development - Armored Trains and Herero Rifles in 1904 (Part III)

Osona gameboard
Armored Trains and Herero Rifles at Osona Skirmish

Here is a work in progress: the main elements of a scenario I'm designing to wargame Leutnant Voigts' Maschinengewehr Expedition by train to relieve Okahandja on January 13, 1904 and the fight near Osona station.

For scale, the train bridge over the dry Swakop River on the base map at left is 16" on a 3' x 4' table.  There is dense bush near the river on both sides and the cliffs to the East are as steep as those at Otjosongombe described in the Jones/Alvarado Herero Wars Scenario and Rules Book (which forms the basis for the modified rules used for this scenario). The river banks are steep as well.  The stone house near the North edge of the board belongs to Herero Councillor Barnabas.

When play begins there are 3 Schutztruppen scouts in the riverbed at the bridge led by Unteroffizier Bahrs. The rest of the Germans have entered from the South with the train and are repairing the rails at the south end of the bridge.  The Germans have one pair of Zwillinge (twin) locomotive engines pushing from the rear served by two white engineers and two native train crew.  In front of the engines are a water tender and two open cars reenforced with sandbags.  The second car has a machine gun served by 3 men.   The train can be used as excellent cover for men on the far side but must stand still or move slowly.  The machine gun is vulnerable to fire from above if the train stands still. 

Lt. Gustaf Voigts was a resourceful officer and has multizug leadership abilities under the Herero Wars Scenario and Rulebook rules.  He has 28 Schutztruppen on the train in addition to the machine gun crew at the train and enough officers (Lt. Maul, Lt. Boysen and Deckoffizier  Uhlmann) to field 4 Schutztruppe Zuge.   Some of these, however, are needed as laborers assisting noncombatants Eisenbahn-Direktor Henning, Senior Mail Clerk Bartoschad and Postman Wolter with repairing the track and telegraph lines.

The German objective is to repair any breaks in the line or wires and advance off the Board at the north end with the train.  The yoke rails have been repaired at the south end of the bridge when play begins.  They can earn points by repairing track and telegraph wire, clearing any derailed cars, and killing Hereros and Herero leaders.

The Hereros have 8 horsemen who are scouting downriver of the Bridge when play begins, four 8-man Zuge concealed in the dense thorns north of the bridge, and four more Zuge concealed on the cliffs to the East.   There are two more Herero Zug that enter from the NW in turn 3 with Samuel Maherero himself.   Accounts vary as to their actual numbers and for game balance I've kept them lower than the Germans estimated.  We do not know who lead them, but candidates include Ouandja, who was at Okahandja, and both Assa Riarua and Samuel Maharero who were both at their hilltop refuge at Osona (not the station where the action took place but 20K sw of Okahandja.  At the actual fight, the rails had all been disabled when the Germans reached each section (derailing the lead car the final time).  In this scenario, the Germans can discover that the rails north of the bridge are disabled if they scout north of the bridge before the train crosses.  Otherwise the lead car risks derailing and the Germans will have to try to push it over off the embankment and clear the tracks before they can proceed with repairs and advance.  The yoke rails have been removed on the north side of the bridge and the Hereros can disable two more sections of track if they are not interrupted (in the dense thorns north of the bridge and opposite the stone house).  It takes 2 Herero Zuge to remove a section of track each turn and two German Zuge to repair it or overturn a train car.  The Hereros will start to remove rails under cover of the dense thorns closer to the bridge in Turn 1 and will only break off if attacked.

The Herero objective is to drive off the Germans and prevent the train from passing on to Okahandja.   They can earn points by disabling track, killing the train crew and killing Germans.  German wounded rules apply. 

I'm working on rules for train speed, spotting broken track and derailments.  Ideas welcome.

"It was nearly by a hair that we weren't all killed." - Armored Trains & Herero Rifles in 1904 (Part II)

Detail from Blatt Windhuk, Kriegskarte von Deutsch-Südwestafrika
showing railway line and stations between Winkhuk and Okahandja

In Okahandja during the first weeks of 1904, tensions between the settler community in Deutsch-Südwestafrika and the indigenous Herero people had reached the crisis stage.  On January 11th, Distrikstchef Leutnant Zürn placed a panicky telephone call to headquarters in Windhuk believing that a revolt was imminent, if not already underway.  In response, a train left Windhuk for Okahandja carrying 20 soldiers led by Bergrat Duft, who hoped to negotiate with the Hereros.  Although this train arrived later that afternoon without incident, this proved to be the last time the line would be open for more than a week.  Armed Herero fighters soon surrounded Okahandja and attacked isolated farms throughout the district.

With Governor Leutwein and most of the regular Schutztruppe units far away to the South responding to the Bondalswart uprising that began the previous October, the nearest relief forces were reservists from Windhuk and regular Schutztruppen based in Swakopmund under Oberleutnant Theodor Kurt Hartwig von Zülow.

Conrad Rust's Krieg und Frieden im Hereroland (1905)  provides the most complete account of the first patrols and skirmishes along the railway attempting to reestablish contact with Okahandja from both ends of the line.  Other reports, including the official Generalstab History of the war, are quite brief and pass over many of the details needed to develop a more complete tactical understanding of these engagements.  They also tend to conflate several railroad episodes that took place near Okahandja on January 12th and 13th, and even confuse casualties from other contemporary events with those who fell during these railway actions. 

This post summarizes the opening skirmish on the outskirts of Okahandja on January 12th, and the sharper fight the next day on January 13th beyond the Swakop Bridge.  It is based on my translation of the relevant pages in Rust (pgs. 153 - 156), supplemented where indicated by other contemporary documentation. It describes what happened when reserves from the depleted Windhuk garrison attempted to reach Okahandja by rail.  A subsequent post will address von Zülow's effort to secure the railway from Swakopmund.

Leutnants Voigts and Maul and Deckoffizier Uhlmann, with Schutztruppen
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

On January 11th, a seven-man detachment left Windhoek for Brakwater Station under the command of Leutnant der Landwehr Gustav Voigts.  Leutnant Voigts was a prosperous trader whose business continues today in modern Namibia  as the family-owned Wecke & Voigts department store chain.  Leutnant Voigts summarized the fighting on January 13th in a brief letter to his brother Albert:

"Ich wurde am 13. Januar gegen Okahandja vorgeschickt, um das Maschinengewehr hineinzubringen mit den Reserve leutnants Maul, Boysen, [Director] Henning, Bartotschat und etwa 30 Mann. Bei dem Missionshause waren 60 Meter Schienen ausgerissen, die ich reparieren sollte – ich hatte das Kommando. Aber zwischen Viehe und Barnabas-Klippen faßten mich mehrere hundert Hereros derart hart an mit meinen wenigen Leuten, daß wir um ein Haar fast alle kaput waren. Leider blieb der junge Boysen mit vier Mann und zwei Maschinisten im Feuer."

"I was sent forward on 13 January against Okahandja bringing a machine gun together with Reserve Lieutenants Maul & Boysen, [Director] Henning, Bartotschat and about 30 men. By the Mission House 60 meters of track were torn that I should repair - I was in command. But between Viehe and Barnabas Cliffs I found several hundred Herero who pressed so hard on with my few people that it was nearly by a hair that we weren't all killed. Unfortunately, the young Boysen with four men and two machinists was killed in the fire." (translation mine).

Voigts' letter establishes that he was the senior officer during this engagement and pinpoints the general location of the fiercest fighting, but a carefully reading of Rust reveals that there were actually two engagements, at least two train engines, and several German detachments that came together prior to the second, fiercer combat as Voigts and his force approached "Barnabas Cliffs".

Brakwater bahnstation

According to Rust's account, early on January 12th Leutnant Voigts received a telegraph from Windhuk informing him that the wire had been cut at Okanhandja and that Waffenmeister (Armorer) Trampaneau was heading to Okahandja by train with a machine gun and a seven-man detail to repair the wires.  Learning that Leutnant der Reserve Maul  was also on his way to relieve him at Brakwater with a six-man detachment,  Leutnant Voigts and his men saddled up and headed out to secure the line towards Teufelsbach, using the railway, according to Rust, "als Reitweg" (as a bridle path).

Reaching Teufelsbach at 3 o'clock that afternoon, Leutnant Voigts learned from the local inhabitants that"die Weißen sein mit dem Zuge, aus dem sich mit das Maschinengewehr befand, sämtlich nach Okahandja gefahren" (the Whites, together with the train and the machine gun, all went to Okahandja).  A mile further down the track he encountered Waffenmeister Trampaneau coming back with the train and quite a tale to tell. 

Having reached the outskirts of Okahandja, Waffenmeister Trampaneau's train hit a section of torn up track, sending "der erste Wagen" (the first car) off the rails into the sand.  While attempting to repair the rails, Trampaneu's detail came under heavy fire from Hereros concealed in the town.  The machine gun expended more than 2,000 rounds of suppressing fire "eine gute Wirkung" (to good effect), but the Herero gunfire increased in intensity.   After four of his seven men had been wounded, Trampaneau extricated his battered force and retreated with the train, though probably not with that upset first car.  How was that possible?

The best explanation is that that the train actually approached Okahandja in reverse.  If so, then what Rust reported as the "first car" was in fact the last in line and the first to enter.  That is certainly the position of the train during the second attempt to reach Okahandja by rail, as is discussed below.  Quite possibly the train had twin or zwillinge locomotives, coupled end to end to facilitate transitioning from forward to reverse using just a single engine crew. This was the most common configuration for feldbahn engines in use on the Swakopmund-Windhuk line. 

One of the Boysen family is on the horse at left. It is probably Leutnant Boysen's father, but if it is actually the son, this  may have been taken shortly before he lead his reënforcements toward Okahandja, possibly even that very day.
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

Back at Teufelsbach, Leutnant Voigts reported these developments by telegraph to Windhuk.  He learned that a strong reënforcement was on the way by train.  This force of twenty-one men was commanded by Leutnant der Reserve Raimund (Reimund) Boysen, who had settled in the colony with his parents after serving in 1899 as a one-year volunteer and became in the Schutztruppe.  He was,  like Voigts, a merchant and farmer as well as a reserve officer.  Boysen had twenty-one soldiers with him, along with Railroad Director (Eisenbahn-Direktor) Henning, Senior Mail Clerk (Oberpostsekretär) Bartoschad and Postman (Postbeamte) Wolter, who were sent to repair the tracks and communications with Okahandja.  The train included two open provision cars, with the sacks stacked up along the inside walls of the cars to provide cover.  Leutnant Boysen's train would reach Teufelsbach at 7 o'clock that evening.

Leutnant Maul also reported that he was now on his way from Brakwater with his six-man force.  The night, says Rust, was pitch dark and rainy ("regnerisch und stocksinster") and it took Leutant Maul six hours to travel the short distance between Brakwater and Otjihavera Station, at which point the Germans left their fatigued horses and went on toward Teufelsbach on foot.

The second or Okahandja bridge (Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

Voigts understood from past experience that there Hereros were likely to occupy the granite hills near the rail line to the south of Okahandja, and that these offered additional cover to Herero Councillor Barnabas' massive stone house on the outskirts of the settlement that could easily be fortified and defended by the besiegers.  The key to relieving Okahandja was to prevent this from happening and to do that, the line needed to be secured.

At midnight, January 13, Leutnant Voigts send Unteroffizier Bahrs and two men to scout the railway line in the direction of Okahandja and determine whether the tracks were in order.  Leutnant Maul had still not arrived by 3 o'clock in the morning when Leutnant Voigts decided to follow the scouts by train with his strengthened force. It was still very dark and the train moved very slowly. 

As they approached the first (160m long) bridge over the dry, ephemeral Swakop river, one of Unteroffizier Bahrs' men came back and reported that the connecting rails on the near or South side of the bridge had been pulled up.  The train reached the site of the damage at 6:30 in the morning, when the men discovered that not only the rails but the telegraph wire and rods as well had been heavily damaged.  The Hereros evidently took these steps after the fight with Waffenmeister Trampaneau's train on January 12th which had been able to pass over the rails the previous afternoon.

Detail from Blatt Winhuk, Kriegskarte von Deutsch-Südwestafrika.
Osona, shown to the West of the rail line, refers to a hill 20 km SW of Okahandja,
not to Osona Station which was a short way beyond the Swakop Bridge

Leutnant Voigts sent six flankers out into the riverbed to either side of the bridge and across toward the far shore where they found the connecting rails had been torn up and removed a considerable distance away.  They could see a few Hereros also, withdrawing deeper into the bush   A few distant shots came from the direction of Okahandja, and they learned from Unteroffizier Bahrs that there had been heavy firing in the town all through the night.  Herero horsemen also appeared in the riverbed in the distance.

Oberpostsekretär Bartoschad attached a telephone to the damaged wire and reestablished contact with Windhuk.  Because the track proved to be more severely damaged than had been previously thought, Direktor Henning odered up an engine car with replacement track yokes from Teufelsbach.  The engine that brought these supplies forward also carried Leutnant Maul and his half dozen men.  The rails were reconnected at the South end of the bridge and the train with the machine gun started across at a slow pace so the six flankers could make use of it for cover.

Machine gun emplacement with a low barrier of sacks
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

There was dense bush on the far side, and as the engine entered the thickets it came under brief but heavy fire from up ahead, though this was quickly silenced when the machine gun came into action.  Reports from Okahandja later stated that machine gun firing was heard at 9:30 coming from the direction of Osona (station), which helps to establish when the fighting began along the rail line.As the train approached the granite cliffs that came near the track, it once again came under brisk attack by Hereros firing from good cover above.  Ten more rails had been removed at this point and the train could not proceed until these had been repaired.  It was going to be very hard work under enemy fire, but Leutnant Boysen had brought with him instructions from Windhuk that the work parties must advance and repairs go forward under all circumstances.  

The train slowed.  Those in charge intended to bring the train as close as possible to the place where the rails had been removed since the replacements were so heavy.  The signal of the platoon leaders was heard but the engine failed to stop in time, and three axles of the first carriage went of the tracks so that only one remained on the rails.  The situation was critical and the Hereros took advantage of the situation and to increase their fire.  The Germans hurriedly brought out the machine gun and 18,000 cartridges in the second car, piling sacks of rice from the first car around it to provide hasty protection. 

To make the line free, there was nothing for it but to quickly decouple the derailed first car and heave it over the embankment.  This was a piece of work, says Rust, that proved to be "schwierig als gefährlich" (as difficult as it was dangerous), and it took three attempts under heavy fire for a combined effort to overturn the car.

Rust reports that the Hereros responded to the disorder on the tracks with "Größerem Wagemut" (greater daring).  Just how many Herero fighters were involved at this point is not known beyond Voigt's estimate of "several hundred", nor is it clear who led them.  Samuel Maharero was not in Okahanda at this time but instead gathered with hundreds of armed supporters at Osona, a defendable hilltop 20 kilometers to the Southwest of the settlement.  This put them well in range of the action on the rail line on January 13th that the Germans came to call Osona because Osona Station was a short distance further down the tracks.  Samuel would later write; "Here in Okahandja we have fought three times with the machines and I won", a statement that historian Jan-Bart Gewald believes refers to separate engagements against German trains.  Whether the paramount chief as actually in command during these actions is not clear.  He very well could have been, but he had many of his Councillors with him at Osona and some of these were excellent war leaders.

The German leaders at this point, including Leuntants Voigts, Maul and Boysen, Deckoffizier Uhlmann and Direcktor Henning, were on either side of the railway line in the riverbed.  The enemy fire came from the Viehe house about 250 meters ahead and also rattled down from the hilltops above.  Leutant Voigts ordered the machine gun in the second car to come into action but it remained silent.  The weaponmaster reported that despite the rail car being well entrenched, it was impossible to bring the machine gun into position while it was under heavy fire.  Going back down the track, however, was going to be difficult, for by this time the train crew was taking heavy casualties.  One locomotive operator (Phillip Fackert) was dead, and the second (Maschinenführer Feldmann) severely wounded.  Rust makes it clear that Voigts went to the rear to confirm this was the case, proof that the train had approached Okahandja with the locomotive(s) behind.

The situation deteriorated by the second as the Hereros moved closer.  Leutant Voights gave the order to give covering fire and slowly move the train back down the track.  Getting the train in motion had little success. "Unter Wutgeheul" (with a furious howl) the Hereros sprang forward to within 30 paces.  Voigts yelled; "Alle Mann zu den Wagen!  Maschine schneller rückwärts!" (All men back in the carriages! Engine quickly to the rear!). 

It was very difficult both to save the machine gun and its ammunition and provide cover for the soldiers returning on the train, the Hereros all the while converging in a closing ring.  German reports from Okahandja also mention that "Gegen 12 Uhr arbeitet das maschinengewehr nur kurz und unregelmäßig" (at 12 O'Clock the machine gun operated but it was brief and irregular firing).  It seems that the machine gun attempted to give cover as the train withdrew, and that three hours had elapsed between the first shots and the last.  It does not appear to have jammed  but rather that the Germans were only able to bring it to bear as they were coming and going and not when the train was stationary.

Getting the train moving quickly was easier said than done, because one engine had a dead operator and Maschinenführer Feldmann who drove the other was almost unfit for service because of his wound.  These were twin or zwillinge engines, coupled cab to cab, and could therefore be driven by a single operator.  The Germans were lucky that on this day they had two drivers, because without them they would have been stranded, without horses, and surrounded by well concealed enemies.  As it was, they took significant casualties extricating the train.

Finally, the engine started going faster - almost too fast for the soldiers who were still trying to get on board. A native member of the train crew seems to have opened the steam valve too far.  Rust wrote that "nicht alle die mann auf den Zuge zurückerwartete, trafen ein." (not all the men who were expected were met back on the train) and gives the names of five men among the missing who soon proved to be among the fallen.  Whether they were left behind, or were shot down prior to withdrawal, is not clear from his account.

A pair of twin or zwillinge 0-6-0 engines and carriages in front of the Boysen & Wullf Co. store in Windhuk
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

The dead soldiers were Leutnant Reimund Boysen, Unteroffizier Paech (who came to the Schutztruppe from Ulan Regiment No. 1),  Gefreiters August Rudolph and Josef Zülot (both builders) and Reiter Wilhelm Gerwinsky (a Magazin-Aufseher or Magazine Supervisor). Herero losses are unknown, but were likely very slight given that they fired from concealment and from above the stranded train.

After withdrawing about 1500 meters, the train slowed, and the Germans considered making another attempt to press forward.  After cafeful consideration, they concluded the risks were too great and withdrew back toward Windhuk.
"Der Feind erwies sich als übermächtig" says Rust succinctly; "The enemy proved to be overpowering."  He concludes; "Die Maschinengewehr=Expedition schnitt schlecht ab.  Aber es hätte noch ärger kommen können." 

"The Machinegun-Expedition faired poorly.  But it could have been worse."

"We Have Fought Three Times With The Machines, And I Won." - Armored Trains & Herero Rifles in 1904 (Part I)

Illustration by Carl Becker, in Deutsche Reiter in Südwest (1907)

The narrow gauge railway in German Southwest Africa connecting Swakopmund to Windhoek played a significant part  during the opening weeks of the German - Herero War in 1904. At least three times, Herero forces fought off and turned back relief forces trying to reconnect Okahandja and Windhoek by rail.  They tore up tracks and destroyed key bridges at Wilhelmstal and near Osona Station, further hampering German efforts to respond to the widening uprising.  They also attacked a separate rail line then under construction to Otavi.  Even after rail service was restored between the coast and the capital, a considerable number of troops was required to fortify the towns and stations along the railway , as well as several rapid firing artillery pieces that together with the additional manpower might otherwise have been available for combat operations in the field.

The need for a railroad in Southwest Africa had become a transportation necessity following the outbreak of the livestock disease Rinderpest in 1897 which killed at least half of the settlers' oxen and nearly destroyed the vast Herero cattle herds.  By mid June, 1902, the Germans had completed a feldbahn or narrow gauge railway between Swakopmund and Windhoek.  The line gained nearly a mile of elevation (1654 m)  as it traveled inland.  It was operated by the Imperial Railway Command and possessed a small number of passenger carriages (1st and 2nd class) along with more than three hundred (mostly open) goods wagons.

Zwillinge steam locomotives, water tender and loaded trucks on the Swakopmund - Windhoek line
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

Zwillinge engines, nearly identical except for the overhanging cab of the engine at right
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

The trains were very slow (8.6 mph /14km/hr) but much faster than ox wagons and could make the 237 mile (382 k)  journey in just 2-3 days.  Most were drawn by twin (zwillinge) locomotives with wheels in a 0-6-0 configuration, paired cab to cab so a single engine crew could simply step across overlapping plates to run them forward or in reverse.  There were more than fifty of these steam engines on the line, of which just a single specimen survives and is on display outside the train station in Namibia's capitol Windhoek. 

Wounded soldiers at Abbabis station
(Photo from database maintained by Goethe Universität Frankfort am Main)

The railway featured prominently in the events just prior to and following the Herero uprising. The first of these, centered around a disabled section of track where the line between Windhuk and Okahandja crossed the Swakop River, will be the topic of the next post in this series.

Ambush at Uitkomst by Abbott and Jones: Herero War Skirmish Scenario Playtest Version

Dr. Roy Jones, Jr. and I have finished editing our skirmish scenario: Ambush at Uitkomst; Volkmann's Gambit, and it is now ready for playtesting. Northern Virginia Gamers (NOWAG) will give it a try on January 18th, 2015.  If you would like to do the same, a .pdf can be downloaded here.   Please let us know how it goes.

The scenario is designed for use with  Roy and Eric Alvarado's The Herero War Rules and Scenarios book based on The Sword and the Flame (TSATF) system. You can get a copy of Roy and Eric's Book in the US from Recreational Conflict and On Military Matters and in the UK from Caliver Books.

If you do decide you'd like to ride out into the bush with Oberlt. Volkmann, or lead Mbatona's Herero war band against him, you will need figures representing mounted troops (with foot dismounts and horse holders) for Volkmann's small force of 20 Schutztruppen and war volunteers (including boers), and also for 16 of the 64 Herero and two of their commanders.  If you would prefer to read the extensive documentation for the historic battle that informs this scenario, there is a twelve part series archived with the label Uitkomst that should keep you busy for a while.

More:  A playtested revision of the Uitkomst skirmish scenario is downloadable here: Uitkomst Skirmish Scenario by Abbott & Jones. Thanks again to NOWAG for helping improve it through play!

Decolonizating the Past and Recasting the Present

When I began this project in 2013, the opening post served as a disclaimer.  I have since updated it to reflect the ongoing efforts in Namibia to delist and remove certain national monuments erected during the German colonial period that are now deemed by many Namibians to be inappropriate or insensitive.  The 1912 "Reiterdenkmal" that once stood before the Alte Feste in Windhoek came down from its pedestal over Christmas in 2013, and both the statue of the Schutztruppe horse and rider and commemorative plaque with names of German casualties are currently stored within the courtyard of the old fort.  In its place is a new Namibian Genocide memorial and a statue of founding President Samuel Nujoma holding the Namibian constitution.  Towering over all is the golden Independence Museum.  A greater symbolic contrast before and after would be hard to envision.

Twenty five years after Namibia's UN supported free and fair elections, the injustices of the past still rankle.   Just this past week, one of the younger members of the "old guard" of the liberation movement, 73-yea-old Hage Geingob, was elected President.  Most Namibians, though, were born after Independence (median age 22.8 years), which took place at the end of the Cold War and before the transition to majority rule in South Africa.  Policies of national reconciliation have played out differently in these two countries as well. 

The first time the image of this colonial horse and rider was removed in Namibia actually took place in 1990 when Southwest Breweries became Namibia Breweries and the old logo (above) was updated.  The statue has now been delisted by the National Heritage Council, which stated:

"The Equestrian Statue is viewed to have lost its monumental significance after Namibia gained independence in 1990, therefore, does not have any significance in a liberated Namibia. The public is informed that the National Heritage Council has removed this statue from the National Heritage Register. It is now kept inside the courtyard of the Alte Feste as an ordinary historical object."

How should such an historical object, so laden with highly charged symbolism, be interpreted?  Its placement within the old fort, itself once a museum that held relics including the uniforms of UNTAG soldiers who helped police Namibia in the transition to its first elections in 1990, consigns it to a discredited and dated version of the colonial past.  Yet the very act of removing it imbues it with contemporary political as well as cultural meanings.

Although South Africa was the colonial power in Southwest Africa from World War I until Namibian Independence in 1990, the country retained a strong German cultural presence and visual identity throughout the modern liberation struggle.  Many streets bore German names, though most of these have been successively renamed since black majority rule.  Colonial architecture is a striking feature of towns like Swakopmund and the constituency that was formerly known as Luderitz but was renamed last year as !Nami≠nûs. 

Decolonization in Namibia is as much about economic disparity as it is about cultural narratives and national identity. Most of the arable land and wealth of Namibia is still held by those of European descent.  Modern South Africa is now an ally and Namibia's most significant trading partner.  While Germany is Namibia's most significant European investor, it is also a lightning rod for the injustices of the colonial past, and a movement to seek reparations and a formal apology from Germany for genocide is ongoing. Efforts to fully repatriate a large number of skulls and human remains from Nama, Herero and Damara prisoners and possibly indigenous San as well who had either been  executed or died under horrible conditions in concentration camps is perhaps the most sensitive element of modern Namibian-German relations.

Namibian historian and former Ambassador to Germany, Dr. Peter Katjavivi, put it succinctly; "With the achievement of independence in Namibia, we declared that we would make every effort to regain our rights, freedoms and our past. The recovery and repatriation of the skulls is an essential component of regaining our past, and consequentially our dignity."

There are dark corners of the Namibian past that cannot be laid solely on the doorstep of the old colonial powers.  Reconciliation in Namibia did not come with a South Africa style Truth Commission which, for better or worse, provided a platform for the public revelation of injustices committed during the apartheid era, sometimes by black South Africans.  Renaming the Namibian panhandle region of Caprivi as Zambezi is resented by some members of the various ethnic groups who identify as Caprivians, but the matter is further politicized by the long running treason trial of Caprivi separatists.  Then, too, there is the unresolved issue of human rights abuses and the alleged murder of SWAPO detainees held in captivity by the liberation movement during the Independence struggle.  These questions have proved intractable and are dismissed by the ruling party as intentionally divisive and disloyal.  For now and for the foreseeable future, these dissenting perspectives are not part of the Namibian creation narrative. 

It is extremely difficult to accept responsibility for one's own offenses when the enormity of the injuries perpetrated by an occupying power is self evident.  Phil ya Nangoloh, himself a SWAPO detainee and Executive Director of the human rights organization NamRights, offered one such statement after it was revealed by founding President Sam Nujoma in 2010 that a German woman, captured during the Ndonga assault on fort Namutoni in late January, 1904, apparently had been given to Ndonga chief Nehale Iya Mpingana as a wife and that her descendants survive today in that region of Namibia.  ya Nangola would later write in 2014:

“As human rights defenders we would fail in our duty to strongly condemn this crime of rape and enslavement. Although quantitatively minimal in comparison to what German troops have done to hundreds of Herero and Nama women, we have found the rape and enslavement of a German prisoner of war (POW) morally and legally indefensible in terms of the very same legal and moral principles under which Germany had to be taken to court to make reparation. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

As Namibians, we share the shame and, hence, we unequivocally apologize to the descendant family of the German POW both in Namibia and Germany, not for the attack on Fort Namutuni and or even for the capture of the said girl, but exclusively for the criminal act of rape and enslavement of the POW”

These are powerful stories, hard to verify and steeped in the values of the present day.  There was a long history of raiding for war captives and slaves in the North - driven, to be sure, by the Portuguese demand for slaves in exchange for alcohol.   ya Nangola's is the only modern voice condemning this one obscure act of white slavery during the year 1904 which saw the deaths of tens of thousands of indigenous people in Southwest Africa and an extermination order by German commander Lothar von Trotha that codified what is widely regarded as systematic genocide.  It does not fit comfortably in the prevailing narrative, any more so than the words on the old Reiterdenkmal commemorating those Germans who fought and fell for emperor and empire.