Book: The First World War: A Complete History
Quotes of Book: The First World War: A
That same week, on distant Lake Nyasa, in central Africa, a British naval officer, Commander E.L. Rhoades, sailed his gunboat, the Gwendolen, with its single 3-pounder gun, across the lake from the British port of Nkata Bay to the tiny German port of Sphinxhaven, thirty miles away. There he opened fire on, and captured, the German gunboat Wissman, whose commander, Captain Berndt, had not yet heard that war had broken out between Britain and Germany. 'Naval Victory on Lake Nyasa,' was the headline in The Times. book-quoteMaze also recalled how the sight of the Germans had an immediate effect on the villagers. 'Women started to wail, and rushed for home, followed by the men, while the children, torn by curiosity, lagged behind turning to see.' Then the Germans came nearer and firing broke out. 'At once the atmosphere changed-in a few seconds all these civilians were fleeing along the roads while the invasion, creeping up like a tide, steadily gained ground. In their Sunday clothes, carrying in their hands their feathered hats which they had not stopped to put on, they wheeled perambulators, wheelbarrows, bicycles and anything on wheels, and fled with their babies and terrified men." book-quote
