German Motorized Company
In Italian Eritrea 1940 to 1942
A.O.I = German code for Eritrea
The German Motorized Company
In Italian Eritrea 1940 to 1942
La Deutsche Motorisierte Kompanie, ovvero i tedeschi che combatterono nel Regio Esercito in Eritrea 1940 – 1942.
The German Motorized Company or the Germans that Fought in The Royal Italian Army in Eritrea 1940 – 1942.
Die Duitse Gemotoriseerde Kompanie of die Duitsers wat in die Koninklike Leër in Eritrea Geveg het 1940 – 1942.
Wolfgang Witschas
Introduction
The Second World War in Africa is a fascinating subject full of unpublished facts of human stories that were either ignored but often hidden or in most cases not understood by today’s society.
Within a nation’s profound deterioration, it is not surprising when ignorance dictates the time or the society that has to handle the issues, but it is still 'important that society should handle these historic events, although they are connected to the era where the ideology of Fascism and Nazism ruled most societies, these historic events should not be forgotten and should dutifully be recorded as the truth.
This is the story of an historical event were humans desperately associated themselves as "foreigners in their own house" to fight a common enemy in a foreign continent.
This is an extraordinary human story in a geographical place and in a war called a "side show" that according to my view neither the victors nor the defeated, are remembered.
This is a story of shedding Blood, Sweat and Tears.
The German Motorized Company in Italian Eritrea
The German Motorized Company in Italian Eritrea was formed from about 140 Germans who had fled from British-held Kenya and Tanganyika. A large number of the Germans arrived in Italian East Africa on the Italian ship Piave.
According to information from available documentation, it seems that the majority of these German volunteers however originated from German merchant seamen of 12 German merchant ships that docked in Italian harbours of Massawa and Assab in Eritrea and Kismayo in Italian Somaliland and were stranded.
On 25 August 1939 about a dozen of German merchant ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean received an emergency message "QWA 7 from the "Ober Kommando der Marine" - Supreme Command of the German Navy warning that war was imminent and instructed to immediately turn around and seek shelter by heading for the Italian East African harbours Kismayo, Italian Somaliland, Assab and Massawa in Eritrea, to prevent that the British capture or sink the ships or that when they enter neutral harbours to prevent bring interned. The Italians confined the German merchant seamen to their ships.
When Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 some of the Germans believed that they should join and assist the Italians in their fight against the British, Dominion and Imperial forces.
The German Consul General in Addis Ababa in Abyssinia gave permission that the German Merchant Seamen could be recruited to join the Italian military in East Africa.
German Merchant Ships trapped in Italian East African Harbours
Background
The Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Hansa DDG Hansa, (German Steamship Company Hansa) in the early 1930s after the Great Depression DDG Hansa expanded once more, to become the largest heavy freight shipping line in the world. At the start of World War II in 1939, the company were operating several lines to India, a monthly service between the US and the Persian Gulf, and a bimonthly service between the US and southern and East Africa.
Twelve German Merchant Ships trapped in Italian East Africa Harbours
Harbour of Massawa, Eritrea ten ships:
▪ DS Wartenfels
• DS Gera
• DS Frauenfels
• DS Liebenfels
• DS Crefeld
• DS Lichtenfels
• DS Oliva
• DS Oder
• DS Coburg
• DS Bertrand Rickmers
Harbour of Kismayo, Italian Somaliland two ships:
• DS Uckermark
• DS Tannenfels
The German Merchant Ship DS Wartenfels and HE WITSCHAS
The German Merchant ship, Damf Schiff (DS) Wartenfels was launched during 1921, was a coal fired steam ship and is one twelve ships in the same class and joined many other DDG Hansa ships for Germany’s worldwide commercial shipping. In 1935 the ship was modernised as it received a new and stronger steam engine.
The ship had a total crew of 72, of which 25 Europeans were on deck, 8 in the engine room, and 39 Indians in the engine room.
On 06 February 1939 at the age of 19 my father, Herbert Ernst Witschas, joined the German DDG Hansa as young sailor in Hamburg Germany and was assigned as "Schiffsjunge"/cadet to be trained as a sailor to the Wartenfels. He spent the next six months at see as the ship travelled regularly from Germany to South Africa and the far east.
DS (Damf Schiff/Steam Ship) Wartenfels
Prior to World War ll
On 25 August 1939 the Wartenfels having rounded the Horn of Africa and sailing in the Red Sea just north of the Eritrean port of Massawa towards the Suez Canal, the ship received an emergency message "QWA 7 from the "Ober Kommando der Marine" - Supreme Command of the German Navy to immediately turn around and head for the port of Massawa in Italian Eritrea and stay there until further instructions. Late afternoon on 25 August 1939 the Wartenfels docked in the port of Massawa. In total 10 German merchant ships had docked in Massawa harbour a week after WW ll started.
The Establishment of the German Motorized Company
The integration of the German Force within the Royal Italian Army revealed some problems:
• Citizenship
• Language
Weapons
• Uniforms
• Operational utilisation
With regard to citizenship:
With regard to the citizenship matter, the Royal Italian army could only accommodate Italian citizens or Italians living in Italian colonies. Notwithstanding this obstacle it seemed that this matter was overcome as the German Motorized Company was officially established on 02 July 1940, with a parade on Asmara in the presence of general Luigi Frusci, governor of Eritrea.
The German Motorized Company was commanded by the German Wehrmacht, Oberleutnant Gustav Hamel, who was s reservist officer who had served during World War One, was directly assigned to the unit by the German war ministry and arrived in Eritrea from Germany via Libya with another German officer and 4 NCOs (the flights to Eritrea passed over the Libyan desert).
In a letter from a German volunteer that was censored the following was revealed: The German Consul General In Addis Abba, Abyssinia, demanded from all German volunteers had to swear allegiance to the King of Italy notwithstanding that they are Germans and threatened those that would not do so, would be sent to a Concentration camp.
The Italian ministry of Defence on 08 October 1940 recommended to the Italian Royal Army to utilise the German Volunteers to create a small fighting force. The German's ranks they held would be honoured as on the same level they will have in the fighting force.
After being assembled in Massawa between end of June/beginning of July the German volunteers were transferred to the Italian Graziani-Barracks in the capital of Eritrea, Asmara. Most of the volunteers had little to no military background. In addition to being "motorized" (or truck transportable), the unit included some improvised armoured cars.
At the barracks was core group of personnel consisting of a company:
• Company Commander
• Second in Command
• Senior Officer and 16 soldiers
Two Rifle Platoons consisting of 1 Officer, 6 Non-Commissioned officers, 28 soldiers, 1 machine gun platoon consisting of 1 Non-Commissioned Officer, 3 machine gun specialists and 75 soldiers, in total 131 men.
Training
The training was short and only basic elements of warfare were presented as well as physical training. The Italian Fiat 611C lorries were only deployed during September 1941 in Agordat and then in Cheren (Keren) and was the company for some time dependant on General Ugo Fongoli’s 41st brigade.
Fiat 611 C trucks
Italian Africa Uniforms:
White insignia on lapel with red border and red swastika inside. Officer's and Non-Commissioned Officer's swastika was placed at the bottom of lapel
Italian Weapons:
Side arms: Officers and NCOs:
Breda 30 light machine guns
Schwarzlose M.7 machine guns. Machinegun: Maschienengewehr (Schwarzlose) M. 7, is a medium water-cooled machine-gun.
My father, HE Witschas, manning the Schwarzlose M.7, i machinegun.
Remark: "My father was assigned to one of the three machinegun troops, each machinegun was operated by three soldiers, as the machinegun, tripod, water canister and ammunition boxes had to be carried".
Operational Utilisation
While the unit eagerly awaited their operational deployment, only two, Oberleutnant (Lieutenant) Gustav Hamel and an NCO, Hauptfeldwebel, Adolf Bremer, and a few volunteers had served during WWI. 7The majority of the volunteers however had no military training. Hamel was s reservist officer who had served during World War I.
The unit also had a pennant which had been designed by the Eritrean Governor Frusci. On the one side was the Italian flag and on the other side the German Nazi flag. The shaft ended with diverging beam with a swastika.
In October 1940, the German Motorized Company first saw action when they were deployed to the border area between Eritrea and the Sudan. They participated in the occupation of Kassala and the between 15 and 30 November 1940 it seems they moved to Uaccai, together with the XCIX Battalion, but when a strong contingent of English troops arrived the forced the Italians and German to retreat to Agordat. During January 1941 a strong contingent of British troops attacked the fortifications and the 6 to 7000 troops of General Orlando Lorenzini, could not repulse the British.
The first line of defence with a length of 22 kilometers stretched from the Taninai-, Caianaic-, Itaberrè-, Laquatat- and Cochen-mountains and was manned by 5 Italian colonial battalions (III, IV, XXXV, CI, CLI), from the 150ste CC-battalion also the German Motorized Company.
When the Italian army retreated from Kassala on 22 January 1941 the German Motorized Company then provided cover during the retreat from Keren to Asmara, Eritrea. There was heavy fighting in the area around Agordat and the town of Keren in the north of Eritrea. It was mentioned that there were heavy casualties amongst units of the German Motorized Company during the subsequent retreat fighting south to the mountainous parts of Amba Alagi, in die Italian Abyssinia. On 18 May 1941 the Italians capitulated after the battle of Amba Alagi.
Twenty men of the German Motorized Company survived the loss of Eritrea suffered by Italy. This small group of men was with Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, at Amba Alagi during one of the final stages of the East African Campaign.
During this time, it was decided that the German Motorized Company should have greater competence with regard to its line of command. The German Military Attaché in Italian East Africa communicated that two officers and four NCOs have been allocated to the German Motorized Company in Eritrea.
On 19 January 1941 Lieutenant Vellmer Second Lieutenant HeinzWerner Schmidt, Oberveldwebel (Staff Sergeant) Pohl and Sergeants Teichmann, Popping and Rehmann.
Lieutenant HW Schmidt's Mission in Eritrea
Lieutenant Heinz Werner Schimdt (a South African born German) and the four NCOs were sent to Eritrea by the German High Command. Schmidt to replace Oberleutnant Hamel as Officer in command of the German Motorized Company. The group had travelled by civilian airline from Rome via Tripoli to Asmara.
When the situation in Eritrea had deteriorated and the Italians were on the brink of collapse, Schmidt on 09 March 1941 left Asmara on a special civilian airline for Tripoli in Libya and joined the Africa Army of General Erwin Rommel (Deutsches Afrika Korps [DAK]).
What had happened to Hamel and Vellmer, as well as the four NCOs that had accompanied Schmidt is unknown.
Evacuation
of the German Merchant Ships from Massawa and
Kismayo,
Italian Somaliland
Units of the German Motorized Company that were in the vicinity of the Eritrean port of Massawa on the Red Sea received an instruction from the German High Command in Berlin that men of the German Motorized Company must board the German Merchant ships that were in the harbour of Massawa and try to escape through the British blockade and sail to neutral or German harbours to prevent that the British capture the ships or that they scuttle the ships.
The same instructions were given to the two German merchant ships that were hiding in the Italian Somaliland harbour of Kismayo when Italian Somaliland was occupied. The DS Uckermark was
intercepted by the Royal Navy and was scuttled by the crew on 11 February 1941. DS Tannenfels departed from Kismayo on 31 January 1941 and broke through the British blockade. The Tannenfels reached the German occupied harbour of Bordeaux in France on 19 April 1941.
The ten German merchant ships that were stuck in the harbour of Massawa, Eritrea
• DS Wartenfels
• DS Gera
• DS Frauenfels
• DS Liebenfels
• DS Crefeld
• DS Lichtenfels
• DS Oliva
• DS Oder
• DS Coburg
• DS Bertrand Rickmers
Six ships, the DS Gera, DS Frauenfels DS Liebenfels, DS Crefeld, DS Lichtenfels and DS Oliva, were trapped in the harbour of Massawa or sunk in the gulf of Dahlak Kebir.
DS Oder, DS Coburg and DS Bertrand Rickmers were intercepted by the Royal Navy and subsequently were scuttled by the crew.
DS Coburg DS Oder and DS Bertrand Rickmers
On 17 February 1941 the DS Coburg left Massawa and was intercepted by the Australian cruiser HMAS Australia and was scuttled by the crew.
The same happened to the DS Oder on 24 March 2041and DS Bertrand Rickmers on 30 March 1941.
The Escape of DS Wartenfels
On 26 February 1941 the Wartenfels and some if the other German merchant ships left Massawa. (The ship had been docked in Massawa from 25 August 1939 to 26 February 1941: 1 year and 6 months). The Wartenfels sailed for the port of Diego Suarez (since 1975: Antsiranana) on the northern tip of Madagascar, where she docked on 10 March 1941 and was immediately transferred to the dry dock for repairs. On 06 May 1942 just before the allied troops landed in Antsiranana, the crew blew up the engine and set fire to the ship whilst still in the dry-dock.
On 06 May 1942 just before the allied troops landed in Antsiranana, the crew blew up the engine and set fire to the ship whilst still in the dry-dock.
The entire crew of the Wartenfels were taken prisoner and were transported together with a number of Italian prisoners by ship to Durban, South Africa.
Fate of the German Merchant Sailors
The German Merchant Seamen that were taken prisoner in Massawa and from all the scuttled German Merchant ships and taken aboard Allied ships, were offloaded in Durban. From Durban the POWs, including a number of Italian POWs were by train to Pretoria and further on to Zonderwater/Baviaanspoort Prison Camp at Cullinan east of Pretoria.
The Italian remained there, and the German prisoners were sent to the internment camp for German males interned in South Africa, South West Africa and Rhodesia at Andalusia, present day Jan Kempdorp, in the Northern Cape.
In late 1943 they were moved to Koffiefontein internment camp in the Orange Free State and 1946 to the Jagersfontein camp. The German internees were eventually released in 1948, when the National Party of South Africa won the general election against Field Marshall Jan Smuts' party.
The National government gave the Germans the chance to decide whether they wanted to be repatriated to Germany or want to remain in South Africa.
Remark:
"The Smuts government had intended to deport all German Prisoners of War (POWs) to Germany"
My father, Herbert Ernst WITSCHAS, and a later close family friend, Karl - Heinz LANGE, were amongst those that choose to remain in South Africa and received first temporary residence and later after some time could apply for permanent residence. My father chose to accept a work offer from a company in Windhoek, then SWA. Karrl-Heinz Lange also accepted a work offer in Windhoek where he resided until the late 1950s when he was transferred to Johannesburg. In the late 1990s he and his wife moved to Stellenbosch. Both passed away, my father in 2003 and Lange in 2006.
Documents of Herbert Ernst Witschas
Third Reich: Seafarers Book: Herbert Ernst Witschas: 06 February 1939:
Humour in Uniform
War, the experience of hardship, death and trauma fortunately triggered reactions in men that they often resorted to do silly things thus there were always humoristic stories of things soldiers were involved in to make life easier:
The cooling water in the Machinegun's canister that was not water any more:
Eritrea is a semi desert and very arid, so water was scares. The daily water ration given to the soldiers varied from day to day. Some “very thirsty” German soldiers suddenly remembered the "Water" in the canister to cool the machine guns. They stole the water and exchanged it with their urine... imagine the "stink" when the gun was fired in anger.
The red wine that was part of Italian Officer's rations that mysteriously vanished ... curtesyof German innovation.
Grand dinner for the Italian and German Officers
Orders were given that an antelope had to be hunted and a "grand" dinner had to be prepared for the officers, as the German officers had invited the Italians. The soldiers struggled to find an antelope. Whilst looking for antelopes they saw plenty baboons and it was decided baboon should do it. Two baboons were shot, and a hearty meal was prepared. A German officer asked the hunting party where the horns were, and the answer was:" It was a female antelope". Only weeks later the true story was revealed by accident.
In the south of Sudan near Kassala, an allied mobile patrol was ambushed, and provisions were captured: Four cases of "Good old English Bully", water etc. Before the food and water was handed over to the fighting force's quartermaster, every soldier of the ambush party took enough for himself.
Conclusion
Although as a child and later as a young man my father on occasions talked about events such as his time as a cadet on a ship and the time he and his fellow seamen were involved as a fighting force in Eritrea. He was fortunate to have been in possession of photographs illustrating him and fellow seamen in Italian uniforms, with Italian weapons and as mentioned that they wore swastika armbands to distinguish them from the Italians. There was also a photograph where he was
positioned behind the Schwartzlose M7 machinegun. He also told us the humoristic events that occurred. Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen family dispute some of my father's WWII photographs got lost.
As there is only historic data recorded by Italian military historians available regarding the involvement of German merchant seamen in the East Africa campaign in Eritrea on the side of Italy, I had to rely on what information I had and investigated every clue, that was available. It took me in total five years to acquire relevant information and scrutinised every available database regarding Italian East Africa and possible connection with WWII Germany.
I am grateful that at least I could solve the "enigma" of this historically unknown piece of WWII history of a campaign that was seen as a side show of WWII and my father's and the other German merchant seamen's role in the Italian East African campaign.
This article is dedicated to my father Herbert Ernst Witschas “16 April 1920 to 18 October 2003” and all the other German Merchant Seamen that fought in Eritrea.
References:
Google:/https://www.ilcornodafrica.it/la-deutsche-motorisierte-kompanie-ovvero-i-tedeschi-checombatterono-nel-regio-esercito-in-eritrea/.
Google:/https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Freiwillige_Motorisierte_Kompanie_in_Eritrea
Google:/https://www.passionmilitaria.com/t198991-allemands-sous-I-uniform-italien-deutschefreiwillige-motorisierte-kompanie
Google:/https://en.m.wikepedia.org/wiki/DDG_Hansa
Google:/https://forum.axishistory.com/viewforum.php?f=90 (Articles by magicdragon and Peter H: 17 February 2009),
Google:/https.//samilitaryhistory.com/2018/04/14/rommels-aide-de-camp-was-a-south-african,
Recollection of HE Witschas' involvement in his time as a sea cadet and events in Abyssinia and Eritrea. 1939 to 1941.
Isituto Italiano di cultura di Pretoria,
Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg: Cultural Section.
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