‘Paice’s fine book is a worthy tribute . . . Exhaustively researched, well written and admirably balanced’ Saul David, Literary Review
‘Engrossing . . . a story of the nightmare shaped by European fantasies and lethally visited on African societies’ Nigel Fountain, Guardian
‘Paice has done his astounding story justice . . . it has never been told so exhaustively, or so well’ Nigel Jones, Sunday Telegraph
‘Now we have in Tip & Run a detailed and fully authoritative account of the 1914–18 African war . . . One feels that this forgotten episode of the great war has now, finally, its own literary-historical monument – in the future, everyone will start with Paice’ William Boyd, Sunday Times
‘Extraordinary, admirably researched history . . . exemplary clarity . . . as a feat of synthesis and co-ordination of sources, Tip & Run is amazing’
Sam Leith, Spectator
‘Now the bloody campaign in Africa has the history and the historian it deserves. Edward Paice has written a superb account that is as moving as it is incisive. His achievement is to take this “forgotten” campaign and make it seem central not just to the First World War, but to the tragedy that would enfold sub-Saharan Africa throughout the rest of the century. Tip & Run is a magnificent achievement’ Richard Aldous, Irish Times
‘There has been no comprehensive history of this shocking episode of warfare until now’ Glasgow Herald
‘Edward Paice’s excellent book Tip & Run is argument enough for making history an obligatory school subject. Tip & Run is the film The African Queen, but Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn pale in comparison to the book’s real-life characters . . . it’s Mimi and Toutou Go Forth before Hollywood has time to make a film . . . and it’s The Dangerous Book For Boys all rolled into one’
David Smith, Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
‘Paice’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in Africa, and makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the continent and its military history’ Wilhelm Snyman, Cape Times
‘This book is that rare combination, scholarly yet utterly engrossing, and it is certain to become the standard work on the subject for many years to come . . . . To call Edward Paice the William Dalrymple of East Africa is high praise indeed, yet, on the evidence of this book, is entirely deserved’
John Pinfold, African Research & Documentation
‘Paice’s new account is as definitive as such a book can be . . . He has emerged as a major popular historian, with academic credibility’
John M. MacKenzie, The Round Table
‘There have been other books on the East Africa campaign – but the depth of research in this volume has hardly been matched before now . . . This is an exemplary volume in every sense . . . If you need a volume on the East Africa campaign this is it. Even if you don’t, this is “proper” history “properly” done’
Friends of the National Army Museum Journal
‘Very well written and researched, and, with a wealth of detail and good maps, it is certainly a good read’ Gary Sheffield, BBC History Magazine
‘It was a real pleasure to review this superb work . . . supremely well written, authoritative and comprehensive . . . If you are looking for a well rounded, thorough and concise history of the war in Africa then this is certainly the book you have been waiting for’ The Great War Magazine
Edward Paice was a History Scholar at Cambridge and winner of the Leman prize. After a decade working in the City he spent four years living and writing in East Africa, and was the author of the first guidebook to newly independent Eritrea. His acclaimed biography Lost Lion of Empire: The Life of ‘Cape-to-Cairo’ Grogan, nominated by The Week as ‘Best Newcomer’, was published in 2001. Paice is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a Visiting Fellowship by Magdalene College, Cambridge in 2003–4. He is married and lives in Kent.
TIP & RUN
THE UNTOLD TRAGEDY OF THE
GREAT WAR IN AFRICA
EDWARD PAICE
To Stephanie
CONTENTS
Illustrations
Maps
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Dramatis Personae
Introduction
PART ONE: 1914
Chapter 1 ‘The Germans Open the Ball’
Chapter 2 Phoney War
Chapter 3 ‘The Action of a Lunatic’
Chapter 4 The Aftermath
Chapter 5 Marking Time
PART TWO: 1915
Chapter 6 The Coast
Chapter 7 The War in the West
Chapter 8 ‘A Brilliant Affair’
Chapter 9 The End of the Königsberg
Chapter 10 ‘The Lion and the Springbok’
Chapter 11 A Velha Aliada –‘The Old Ally’
Chapter 12 Swallows and Amazons
Chapter 13 The African War
PART THREE: 1916
Chapter 14 The Build-up
Chapter 15 The ‘First Salaita Show‘
Chapter 16 The ‘Robbers‘ Raid
Chapter 17 Opsaal! Saddle-up!
Chapter 18 The Advance down the Northern Railway
Chapter 19 The Crescent Flag
Chapter 20 ‘The Cannibals’
Chapter 21 The ‘Ubiquitous Rhodesians’
Chapter 22 ‘Abso-Damn-Lutely Fed Up’
Chapter 23 Smuts’s ‘Final Phase’
Chapter 24 ‘The Condemned’
Chapter 25 The ‘Suicidal System of Supply’
PART FOUR: 1917
Chapter 26 Unfinished Business
Chapter 27 The Raiders
Chapter 28 The Allies
Chapter 29 Into ‘The Unknown’
Chapter 30 The German Pimpernel
Chapter 31 The ‘China Affair’
Chapter 32 The Propaganda War
PART FIVE: 1918
Chapter 33 The Hunt Begins
Chapter 34 Nhamacurra
Chapter 35 Tipperary mbali sana sana!
Epilogue: ‘There Came a Darkness’
Appendicesone:
ONE: German East Africa Schutztruppe:
Dispositions July 1914
TWO: Indian Expeditionary Forces ‘B’ and ‘C’:
Summarised Orders of Battle of 1914
THREE: German East Africa Schutztruppe :
Order of Battle 5 March 1916
FOUR: British Forces in East Africa:
Summarised Order of Battle 4 April 1916
FIVE: British Order of Battle (Main Force),
5 August 1916
SIX: British Forces in East Africa:
Summarised Order of Battle 30 June 1917
SEVEN: German East Africa Schutztruppe :
Order of Battle 14 October 1917
EIGHT: British Forces in East Africa:
Summarised Order of Battle 31 March 1918
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Copyright
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
(BETWEEN PP. 120 AND 121)
1. East African settlers report to Nairobi’s recruitment office
2. Settlers take to the field
3. Execution of spies in Zanzibar
4. SMS Königsberg and (5) Max Looff
6. German lookout posts and (7) entrenchments
8. Arthur Aitken, the commander of Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’
9. Generals Wapshare and Tighe
10. Naval transport ships approaching Tanga, November 1914
11. Men of the Royal Naval Air Service launching a seaplane
12. German shore defences in the Rufiji delta
13. Wounded askari of 4th King’s African Rifles
14. Troopers disguising apony as a zebra
15. Halt
for a Belgian Cyclist Company
16. Indian gunners in action on the Longido front
17. British troops prepare to resist an attack on the Uganda Railway
18. ‘Loyal askari ’
(BETWEEN PP. 184 AND 185)
19. Salvaging the cargo of the German blockade-runner Kronborg
20. Starboard gun crew of HMAS Pioneer with their mascot
21. HMS Mersey and HMS Severn attack the Königsberg
22. The wreck of the Königsberg
23. 29th Punjabis embarking for Bukoba
24. 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers embarking for Bukoba
25. King’s African Rifles’ machine-gun position overlooking Bukoba
26. Looff addressing the crew of the Königsberg as they prepare to fight on land
27. The Goetzen secured German supremacy on Lake Tanganyika until 1916
28. The Daily Mirror lauds Commander Spicer-Simson’s ‘Lake Tanganyika Expedition’
29. Spicer-Simson signalling from the deck of Netta
30. HMS Fifi at anchor
31. A German column makes its way across the pori
32. A Königsberg gun is manhandled into position
33. 1st King’s African Rifles occupying Longido
34. The 2nd Rhodesia Regiment entrains
35. Von Lettow-Vorbeck observing troop movements on the Kilimanjaro front
(BETWEEN PP. 264 AND 265)
36. ‘The Girls They Left Behind’ – King’s African Rifles recruits leave for the war
37. Portuguese troops embarking at Lisbon for East Africa
38. Allied troops prepare to advance by motor, horse (39), and train (40)
41. South Africans bring their guns into action
42. Königsberg gun during the retreat down the Usambara Railway
43. German prisoners being led into captivity
44. Concert hall performance at the Fort Napier prison camp in South Africa
45. Belgian troops commanded by General Tombeur (46) advance towards Tabora
47. The capture of Tabora
48. Northey’s troops capture Fort Namema before converging on Iringa
49. Ras Tafari and Wilfred Thesiger after the defeat of Lij lyasu in Abyssinia
50. No let-up in the fighting in German East Africa
51. German askari playing cards in camp
52. Nigerian gunners wrestling
53. Discipline for malefactors was harsh
54. Ratings on the Kinfauns Castle
55. HMS Hyacinth tilted to fire inland at German positions
(BETWEEN PP. 328 AND 329)
57. British airmen celebrate Christmas
58. 1917 brought the worst rains in living memory
59. Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s troops remained as elusive as ever
60. General Hoskins paid the price for the lack of Allied progress
61. Askari of 15 Feldkompanie in camp
62. One of von Lettow-Vorbeck’s indomitable NCOs
63. Max Wintgens remained on the loose until mid 1917
64. Belgian troops capture Mahenge
65. L59, the airship sent with supplies to the beleaguered German troops
66. Indian cavalrymen crossing the Rovuma
67. The German High Command: von Lettow-Vorbeck and Kraut, Governor Schnee (68), General Wahle and Lieutenant Boell (69)
70. Northey, van Deventer, Sheppard and MacDonell
71. Askari of 2/4 KAR in Portuguese East Africa
72. Schnee and the German officers after surrender
73. Schnee, von Lettow-Vorbeck and their men receive a heroes’ welcome
74. M’Ithiria Mukaria, the oldest surviving veteran of the King’s African Rifles
75. The memorial on the Chambezi River
76. Unveiling of the War Memorial in Nairobi in 1927
The author wishes to express his thanks to the following for their kind permission to reproduce photographs:
Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (1, 32, 36, 38); Mrs Ruth Rabb (2); Der Bildbestand der Deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft – Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main (4, 6, 7, 31, 35, 42, 51, 61, 62, 69, 73); the National Army Museum (8, 9); Bundesarchiv Koblenz – Walther Dobbertin Collection (10, 50, 59); the Imperial War Museum (13, 16, 21, 29); Australian War Memorial (20); the Gurkha Museum (23, 24, 25); The National Archives (39); the Peter Liddle Collection, Brotherton Library, University of Leeds (40, 53, 54, 55); the Syndics of Cambridge University Library (52, 66); South African National Museum of Military History (56, 70); Missionari d’Africa Archives (63); Kenya National Archives (76); the Royal Geographical Society for the endpapers.
All other photographs are either in the author’s collection or appeared in many contemporary publications and the copyright holders have been impossible to identify.
Colonial Africa in 1914
Theatre of War: Central and Eastern Africa
The Campaign in the North-East
The Battle of Tanga: 3 November 1914
The Battle of Tanga: 4 November 1914
The Battle of Jasin, 17–18 January 1915
Operations against SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji delta
The Battle of Bukoba, 22–23 June 1915
The Taveta front
British advance in March 1916
The Campaign in the West and North-West
The Campaign in the South-West
Two remarkable raids: the Wintgens-Naumann ‘stunt’ (1917) and (inset) the Lake Tanganyika Naval Expedition (1915)
The Campaign in the South-East
Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s escape route, November 1917
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Duncan Robinson (The Master), Professor Eamon Duffy (President), Dr Ronald Hyam and the Governing Body of Magdalene College, Cambridge for welcoming me so warmly as a Visiting Fellow for the academic year 2003–4. I can imagine no better home in which to have begun the final stages of the work on Tip and Run.
Many people in Africa and Europe have provided pertinent advice or a place to stay and I am especially grateful to: Alliy Abadou, Richard Ambani, David Anderson, Karen Attar, Rennie Barnes, William Boyd, Anthony Cheetham, Peter Colmore, Alec Cunningham, Tom Donovan, Daniel Fearn, Mark and Lyn Ferguson, David and Sheila Foster, Chris Flatt, Tony and Glenda Lederle, Alan Linsell, John Lonsdale, Daniel M’kimathi, M’Ithiria Mukaria, Phil McComish, David McLennan, Peter Merrington, Bill Nasson,Álvaro Nóbrega, Tom Ofcansky, Ngaiyok Olengunin, Andrew Onyeagbako, Oliver and Natalie Nicholson, Solomon and Ruth Rabb, Rachel Rowe, David Read, Gerald Rilling, Tony Seth-Smith, Aylward Shorter, Keith Steward, June Sutherland, Philip Warhurst, Sara Wheeler, Jeremy Withers-Green and Rashid Yahaya.
One of the great joys of undertaking a project such as this is being the recipient of so many kindnesses from archivists, institutions and a plethora of experts of one sort or another. I would like to thank the following:
In Britain: The Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence; The Royal College of Nursing Archives (Kate Mason); Special Collections, Birmingham University (Phillipa Bassett); Cambridge University Library; British Library; The Peter Liddle Collection, Brotherton Library, University of Leeds (Richard Davies and Jill Winder); The Churchill Archives Centre; The National Archives (William Spencer and Mandy Banton); Royal Air Force Museum (Gordon Leith); the Royal Geographical Society (Eugene Rae); Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (John Pinfold and Lucy McCann); Imperial War Museum; National Army Museum; Gurkha Museum (Gavin Edgerley-Harris).
In Portugal: Biblioteca Nacional; Instituto Superior Naval de Guerra; Arquivo Histórico-Diplomático do Ministério do Negócios Estrangeiros; Serviço Biblioteca e Documentaças Diplomática do MNF (Maria Helena Neves Pinto), Arquivo Histórico Militar; and the Contemporary Portuguese History Research Centre.
In Italy: Fr. Ivan Page and Fr. Johannes Tappeser at the Missionari d’Africa a
rchives in Rome.
In Germany: Bundesarchiv/Militärarchiv (Freiburg im Breisgau); Bundesarchiv/Reichskolonialamt (Koblenz); Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Dorothea Barfknecht); Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek (Frankfurt am Main); Deutsches Historisches Museum (Berlin); Traditionsverband ehemaliger Schutz- und Überseetruppen; Wolfgang Führmann.
In Africa: The South African Library, Cape Town; University of Cape Town Libraries, Manuscripts and Archives Department (Lesley Hart); The South African National Military History Museum (J.F. Keene, Betty de Lange, Rowena Wilkinson and Gerda Viljoen); Joan Marsh of the South African Military History Society; the South African National Archives; Professor Rodney Davenport; M. Musembi, Eliakim Azangu, Evanson Kiiru and Philip Omondi at the Kenya National Archives; the Zimbabwe National Archive and Nicholas Vumbunu.
In Australia: National Archives of Australia; National Library of Australia (Ian Morris); Sea Power Centre, Australian Defence Organisation (Brett Mitchell); Australian War Memorial Archive.
Also: Pascale Bouzanquet (International Hydrographic Bureau, Monaco); Alan Cobley (Senior Lecturer in African History and Dean, University of the West Indies); David H. Gray (Canadian Hydrographic Service); Wenda L. Meyers and Pat Hollis at the journal Field Artillery ; Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University, Illinois (David L. Easterbrook).