In the meantime, prime minister Louis Botha found himself in the middle of a confrontation between pro-British loyalists supporting full involvement in the war and Afrikaner nationalists advocating neutrality.

[3] German colonial troops in South West Africa numbered 140 officers, 2,000 regulars, and 2,500 reservists organized into eight mounted companies, a single camel corp, four field batteries, and an air wing.

The difficult terrain enabled the German army to create a defensive frontier along the line of Windhuk and Keetmanshoop, and troops were also stationed adjacent to the two regional railroads.

The area of Sandfontein held high strategic importance due to the presence of the only high-quality water wells in a 75-kilometer radius, thus being a crucial supply point for any large scale operation.

The South African military was well aware of the complicated geographic conditions, possessing a variety of prewar journals and reports concerning German southwest Africa's topology.

The revolt led to the resignation of several high-ranking commanders involved in the expeditionary force, who now rose in an open rebellion against their former colleagues and had to be hastily replaced.

[2][3] Sandfontein's garrison of 120 men was hurriedly reinforced by two squadrons of mounted riflemen, two machine guns, an ambulance, and two thirteen pounder artillery pieces on the early morning of 26 September.

Enjoying numerical superiority, the German troops struck the unprotected flank and rear of the South Africans, who had lost the capacity of breaking through the encirclement.

At the same time, a German machine gunner approached from the south, killing a large pack of horses and scattering the remains, later destroying an enemy machine-gun position.