The official history reported: 'He [Smuts] resolved accordingly while the greater part of his force would have to stand fast along the Ruvu River during the rains, to detach the new 2nd Division under Major-General van Deventer, which was to move southwards towards Kondoa-Irangi and the Central Railway.

This expedition, numbering 1,200 mounted men, plus 8600 artillery and infantry moved southward from Arusha on April 4, 1916, on the start of what was subsequently described as 'a hell of a journey'. Never have local Weather prophets been more wrong. It rained and it rained and it rained.