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DAVID AND GOLIATH; German East Africa

© Dennis Morehouse

On November 3, 1914, war came to German East Africa.

Though all the warring nations attempted to maintain the moral high ground, all were, naturally, looking out for number one. The British and French were a little more obvious than most of the others, when they focused significant effort on the various 'under defended' German colonies including Cameroon, Togoland, German South-West Africa, German East Africa, and a variety of small holdings in the Pacific Ocean. Britain used the war to gain control over most of these colonies, with France getting most of the rest. Most of the colonies fell rapidly, but the military commander in German East Africa, Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was an exceptional officer.

Tanga Bay, German East Africa, was the site of the initial invasion. A force of nearly 30,000 British and Indian troops landed in early November to bring the colony into the British fold. Von Lettow-Vorbeck, with his 4,000 soldiers, (German and native Askaris) caught the British in an ambush after the landing and drove them back to their landing ships. The British suffered several thousand total casualties, while the German force suffered less than one hundred. The British did not return for eighteen months.

Lettow-Vorbeck recognized the imbalance between the forces. It was obvious that Britain could mass more than enough troops to defeat him in open battle. Their initial probe had outnumbered him by nearly eight to one, and should have been enough to close the issue then, had they been better handled.

Lettow-Vorbeck decided to conserve his strengths, trade space for time, and force the British to commit as many troops as possible to defeat him; thereby pulling troops away from the main effort in Europe. His troops remained mobile and retained the initiative. He could do this because of the superior training of the German force, the superb leadership provided by his officers, and the vision provided by himself. Also, the native Askari troops were treated the same way that the white troops were; there was no discrimination between black and white. This removed a potential morale warstopper.

While the British recovered from their failed invasion, Von Lettow-Vorbeck's troops conducted raids against British targets in Kenya and Rhodesia to keep the enemy off balance. Railroads were favorite targets, with the Uganda railroad being cut five times during one busy week; but enemy garrisons and outposts were also attacked. The more active British commanders reciprocated with raids of their own, but had much less success because of poorer training and other internal problems. The remainder of 1914 and all of 1915 were punctuated with these minor actions.

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