The Battle of Namutoni fought between the militaries of the

Ondonga Ondonga is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Ondangwa, and the kingdom's palace is at Onambango. Its people call themselves ''Aandonga''. They speak the Ndonga dialect. The Ondonga kingdom ...

kingdoms and

German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

on 28 January 1904 was part of an uprising against German Colonial expansion catalysed by the Herero Uprising to the south that started a few weeks earlier. It was fought at the site of Fort Namutoni in northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The fort was held by four regular soldiers of the German

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...

and three colonial reservists: Fritz Grossman NCO, Jakob Basendowski (NCO), Health Sergeant Bruno Lassmann and soldiers 1st Class Richard Lemke, Albert Lier, Franz Becker and Karl Hartmann. The fort was stocked with 1,500 rounds of ammunition. Chief

Nehale Mpingana Nehale lya Mpingana (died 28 April 1908) was '' Omukwaniilwa'' of Ondonga, a subtribe of the Owambo, in German South West Africa. Their tribal area is situated around Namutoni Namutoni is a restcamp on the edge of Etosha pan in the Oshikoto Reg ...

of the Ondonga people led the attack on the fort. Mpingana was noted for his strongly anti-colonial stance having successfully attacked the Dorsland Trek-Boers in 1886. Continuous attacks on the fort by 500 Ondonga warriors lasted all day until slowing down in frequency as the day went on and eventually stopped in the afternoon. With only 150 rounds of ammunition remaining the defending Germans decided to retreat to the farm Sandhup 40 kilometres to the south on horseback during the night having incurred no casualties. The following morning the fort was sacked and destroyed by Ondonga forces claiming a number of cattle from the fort. Following the battle the fort was rebuilt and greatly expanded by the Germans.

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Namutoni Namutoni is a restcamp on the edge of Etosha pan in the Oshikoto Region in northern Namibia. It is one of the entrance gates to Etosha National Park. The most prominent structure at Namutoni is ''Fort Namutoni'', built in 1896. It was originally ...

January 1904 events Herero Wars