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The Battle of Ngomano or Negomano was fought between the German Empire and Portugal during the East African Campaign of World War I. A force of Germans and Askaris under Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck had just won a costly victory against the British at the Battle of Mahiwa, in present-day Tanzania, and were running critically low on supplies. To remedy the problem, the Germans invaded Portuguese East Africa to the south in an attempt to escape superior British forces to the north and resupply themselves with captured Portuguese materiel. Portugal was part of the Entente and a belligerent, employing troops in France. A Portuguese force under the command of Major João Teixeira Pinto was sent to stop von Lettow-Vorbeck from crossing the border, but was flanked by the Germans while encamped at Ngomano on 25 November 1917. The resulting battle saw the Portuguese force nearly destroyed, with many troops killed and captured. The capitulation of the Portuguese force enabled the Germans to seize a large quantity of supplies, thereby allowing von Lettow-Vorbeck to continue his operations in East Africa until the end of the war. ==Background== (詳細はTheodor Tafel and Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, were completely cut off from each other. Although von Lettow-Vorbeck's column had defeated a large British force at the Battle of Mahiwa he had lost a large number of troops and expended virtually his entire supply of modern ammunition. With only antiquated weapons and no way of resupplying, von Lettow-Vorbeck decided to invade Portuguese East Africa in hopes of acquiring sufficient supplies to continue the war.〔Chisholm 1922, p. 884.〕 There was no legal impediment to this attack; Germany had declared war on Portugal on 9 March 1916. Although Tafel's force was intercepted by the Allies and capitulated before reaching the border, von Lettow-Vorbeck and his column was able to reach the Rovuma River. Facing supply shortages, the German general then reduced his force by dismissing a large number of Askaris, who could not be adequately equipped, as well as a number of camp followers.〔Strachan 2004, p. 175.〕 With his reduced force, von Lettow-Vorbeck made plans to attack the Portuguese garrison across the river at Ngomano. The Portuguese force was a native contingent led by European officers under João Teixeira Pinto, a veteran with experience fighting in Africa.〔Paice (2008, p. 340) states that the garrison commander was a Major Quaresma, who was in command by virtue of his seniority over Pinto, but who lacked any combat experience.〕 Rather than prepare defensive positions, the Portuguese had begun building a large encampment upon their arrival at Ngomano on 20 November. Pinto had at his disposal 900 troops with six machine guns and a large supply cache, but his inexperienced force was no match for von Lettow-Vorbeck's force, which crossed the river with between 1500 and 2000 hardened veterans as well as a large number of porters.〔Downes 1919, p. 180.〕〔Newitt 1995, p. 419.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Ngomano」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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