He had progressed well inland when, on 4 August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. As World War I spread to the Pacific, Australian troops invaded German New Guinea, taking the German barracks in Herbertshöhe (Kokopo) and forcing the defending German colonial troops to capitulate on 21 September after their defeat at Bita Paka. At the beginning of October, he was still unaware of the state of war that now existed between his country and the Commonwealth.