had them locked down and the refugees chased away from the few water spots there, so that thousands of Herero along with their families and cattle herds died of thirst. The hunted in the desert, let Trotha in the so-called Vernichtungsbefehl, "Annihilation Command":

Trotha's warfare aimed at the complete annihilation of the Herero ("I believe that the nation must be destroyed as such") and was supported in particular by Alfred von Schlieffen and Kaiser Wilhelm II.