From:
"WW1 Colourised Photos
Like This Page · August 25, 2015 · Edited ·
A Portuguese machine gun post somewhere along the southern shore of the Rovuma River, frontier between Portuguese and German East Africa, 1916.
On this day, 101 years ago, a German surgeon named Weiss led an armed party of askari across the Rovuma River and for reasons unknown attacked the small Portuguese frontier post of Maziúa. Sergeant Eduardo Costa, 27 years old, naval medical orderly and post commander, refused to surrender the post’s supplies, money, weapons and ammo, and in the ensuing discussion was shot dead by a German soldier (some sources refer 6 native soldiers also dead, others that the sergeant stayed behind to allow his 8 askari to escape). Afterwards, Weiss and his men retreated back across the Rovuma, burning the post and a few huts on their way.
Sergeant Costa was the first of 2007 white soldiers, around 6,000 askari and countless native bearers that died during the 4 years of war in Portuguese East Africa (today’s Moçambique), fighting for what was left of the Portuguese Empire. When the guns finally fell silent, the thousands of dead left in Africa and in the trenches of France bought Portugal a seat at the winners’ table and the territory of Kionga, a 398 Km2 triangle of fertile land at the mouth of the Rovuma River, territory lost in 1887 to the Germans.
A note concerning the Portuguese uniforms and rifle in this photo. Unlike the other contenders who wore khaki, troops arriving from Portugal wore a summer version of the infantry grey used by the metropolitan army. The rifle was a new version of the Mauser 98 with an improved bolt system designed in 1904 by José Alberto Vergueiro, an infantry officer. The new weapon became known as the Mauser Vergueiro or simply the Portuguese Mauser. Before Portugal officially entered the war in 1916, around 25,000 Mausers Vergueiro and millions of rounds were supplied to South Africa who used them against the Germans during the 1914-1916 campaigns in German East and West Africa.
(Source - Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino)
(Colorised by Rui Manuel Candeias)
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