My Reminiscences of East Africa

by Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck

Directly war broke out the fear of a native rising had been expressed in many quarters. Along the Central Railway there were wild rumours about a revolt of the Wahehe—the warlike tribe who had so long defied German authority in the Iringa country—and around Kilima Njaro a rising of the Wajagga was feared. The authorities also thought that the large number of black labourers on the European settlements in the north were unreliable on account of difficulties of subsistence. But none of these fears turned out to be justified. Later, a very intelligent captured Belgian Askari told me outright: “You know quite well that the natives always side with the stronger party,” and an English Masai admitted frankly: “It is all the same to us whether the English or the Germans are our masters.”

General Map of the Campaign in East Africa.
—— Track of the German Main Force. 1916-1918.

The Fallen.
(From a drawing by General von Lettow-Vorbeck’s Adjutant.)

It was not till later, after the enemy had penetrated the country, that the native became a real danger to us: and then it was, indeed, very great. The native has a fine sense of the transfer of real power from one hand to the other.

After returning for a short time to Korogwe, Headquarters moved to New Moshi, and shortly afterwards to Taveta. Three companies who had reached the Northern Railway from the Central Railway were concentrated at Tanga, the remaining five were moved into the Kilima Njaro country. At Dar-es-Salaam there remained for the moment only Captain von Kornatzki with the newly-formed 18th Field Company.

During the following period several enterprises were carried out by flying columns, of the strength of one company each, the intention being to drive away the hostile detachments who were reported to be guarding the watering-places in the adjoining English territory, to inflict losses upon them, and so to open the way for our patrols to operate against the Uganda and Magad Railway. Thus, at the end of September, Captain Schulz had marched with his company from Kilima Njaro down the Tsavo River to the Uganda Railway, where he had met an enemy detachment of several companies, who had probably been concentrated by means of the railway. North of Kilima Njaro Captain Tafel had with his company and a detachment of fifty Europeans pursued a column of English Horse, but had then been attacked by the latter in his camp in the dense bush on Engito Mountain. This was the first serious engagement fought by our Askari in the north. Although the enemy consisted of English and Boer farmers, who were therefore good horsemen and good shots, our Askari attacked them with the bayonet with such dash, that out of a strength of eighty Europeans some twenty dead were left behind, and their total casualties may therefore be estimated at half their number.

In the same way the expeditions undertaken by Captain Baumstark, who commanded the three companies at Tanga, led to fighting in the frontier districts between Jassini and Mombasa. An equally important object of all these enterprises was to secure the most indispensable information about this theatre of operations, as it had not been reconnoitred in time of peace, and the conditions as to water-supply and cultivation were unknown to us. In this manner we gradually obtained a clear idea of the country and its inhabitants. Along the coast the English frontier district was well settled and highly cultivated. Further inland it is a dry desert covered with thorn scrub and partly with thick bush. Out of the desert rise a number of mountain ranges, which often attain the character of steep masses of rock. The troops were quartered in several fortified camps east of Kilima Njaro, but, owing to the difficulty of communication from Taveta, Headquarters were moved back to Moshi. Later, when the Director of the Field Postal Service arrived, and I asked him what he thought of the line between Moshi and Taveta, he could only describe it as “pretty.” The insulators were made from knocked off bottle-necks, fastened to poles or branches of trees, the wire had been taken from the fences of the plantations. But the breakdowns really were so frequent that the great volume of reports and information in connection with the working of Headquarters could not have been carried on this line for a prolonged period.