attack on Namutoni fort
editIt was around 7.00 am on 28 January,when three Ovambo messengers turned up at the fort to announce that Shute, Great Captain of Chief Nehale of the Ndonga tribe of the Ovambo people, was on a hunting trip along the southern edge of Etosha Pan and wished to pay a courtesy visit to the fort. The Germans were understandably suspicious, especially when Captain Shute himself arrived with a large 'hunting party' of 350-400 warriors, approximately three-quarters of whom were openly armed with rifles or muskets. They noted five men mounted on horses and 30 on riding oxen. Shortly afterwards 100-150 unarmed men appeared behind the reeds at the watering-hole. The main body of Ovambo rested some distance away from the fort while Shute and an interpreter approached the gate, saying that they wished to exchange one of their riding oxen for a sack of rice to feed 'Shute's hungry children'.(6) The Germans suspected a ruse and Grossmann politely declined an invitation from Shute to come out of the fort to pick the best ox. During the conversation, the Ovambo began to creep closer to the fort and the stone corral where the cattle were kept but they moved back when it became clear the Germans were not going to be enticed out of the fort.
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