Special thanks are due to Ion Trewin, Anna Hervé and Bea Hemming at Weidenfeld & Nicolson for their ever-wise counsel; to Georgina Capel; to Linden Lawson; to cartographer David Hoxley, indexer David Atkinson and proof-reader Jane Birkett; to Terry Barringer; to my mother, who sadly died before she could scrutinise the draft text with the enthusiasm and sagacity with which she had tackled my previous works; and to my wife, Stephanie, for her extraordinary patience, support and unflagging good spirits. This book is dedicated to her.
GLOSSARY
FOREIGN WORDS
Abteilung – detachment (German)
askari – soldier (Swahili)
baraza – meeting (Swahili)
boma – enclosure, government or police station (Swahili)
bundu – wild region, bush (Swahili)
cacimbo – dry season morning fog and drizzle (Portuguese)
cipais – policeman (Portuguese)
donga – ditch, watercourse (Afrikaans)
dop – brandy (Afrikaans)
impi – regiment (Zulu)
kopje – hill (Afrikaans)
machila – hammock slung between poles (Portuguese)
matoke – plantain, banana (Swahili)
miombo – woodland of trees of Brachystegia genus (Swahili)
nek – pass (Afrikaans)
oom – uncle, term of respect (Afrikaans)
pombe – beer, often distilled from millet (Swahili)
pori – wild uninhabited country, bush (Swahili)
prazo – term, lease (Portuguese)
Reichskolonialamt – Colonial Office (German)
ruga-ruga – levy, mercenary (Swahili)
Schutztruppe – colonial troops (German)
shamba – farm, homestead (Swahili)
slim – cunning, sly (Afrikaans)
subadar – sergeant (Indian Army rank)
taal – vernacular Afrikaans
tenga-tenga – carrier, porter (Swahili)
MILITARY ABBREVIATIONS
British
ADC – aide-de-camp
BSAP – British South Africa Police
CPO – Chief Petty Officer
DCM – Distinguished Conduct Medal
DSO – Distinguished Service Order
EAMR – East African Mounted Rifles
GSO – General Staff Officer
IEF – Indian Expeditionary Force
KAR – King’s African Rifles (1/KAR – 1st Regiment KAR; 1/3KAR – 1st
Battalion of 3rd Regiment)
MC – Military Cross
NCO – Non-commissioned Officer
NRP – Northern Rhodesia Police
QF – Quick-firing (artillery)
RNAS – Royal Naval Air Service
RNR – Rhodesia Native Regiment
RNVR – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
SAFA – South African Field Artillery
SAH – South African Horse (10/SAH – 10th Battalion South African Horse)
SAI – South African Infantry (7/SAI – 7th Battalion South African Infantry)
SAMC – South African Medical Corps
SAMR – South African Mounted Rifles
SAR – South African Rifles
VC – Victoria Cross
German
FK – Feldkompanie, Field Company (17/FK – 17th Field Company)
ResK – Reservekompanie, Reserve Company
SchK – Schützenkompanie, Rifle Company
For German military ranks and their British equivalents, see Appendix One
Belgian Congo – Democratic Republic of Congo
British East Africa – Kenya
Cameroons – Cameroon
German East Africa – Tanzania
German South-West Africa – Namibia
Northern Rhodesia – Zambia
Nyasaland – Malawi
Portuguese East Africa – Mozambique
Portuguese West Africa – Angola
Southern Rhodesia – Zimbabwe
Togo/Togoland – The Togolese Republic
Note on Place Names
The spellings adopted for place names in the text and on the maps are those most commonly used by contemporary British and South African sources.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Adler, Otto – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company commander
Aitken, Arthur – General Officer Commanding, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’
Amorim, Pedro Massano de – commanding officer 1st Portuguese Expeditionary Force (1914), Governor-General Portuguese East Africa (1917–18)
Apel, Hans – gunnery officer of the Königsberg
Arning, Wilhelm – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe medical officer
Aumann, Heinrich – Schutztruppe company commander
Baumstark, Paul – Schutztruppe detachment commander
Belfield, Henry Conway – Governor British East Africa
Berrangé, C.A.L. – brigade commander, South African forces (1916)
Beves, Percival Scott – brigade commander, South African forces (1916–17)
Bock, Heinrich Freiherr von – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Bock von Wülfingen, Wilhelm – Schutztruppe company commander
Bockmann, Walther – Engineer Officer on the Königsberg, Schutztruppe company commander Boell, Ludwig – Schutztruppe company commander/staff officer, unofficial historian of the campaign Boemcken, Julius von – active infantry officer returning to Germany in August 1914, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Botha, Louis – Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa Botha, Manie – mounted brigade commander, South African forces (1916)
Brandis, Ernst von – Chief of Police, Dar-es-Salaam, Schutztruppe company commander (1914–16), staff officer Westtruppen (1917)
Braunschweig, Friedrich – Schutztruppe company commander
Bridgeman, R. – Flag Commander HMS Hyacinth
Brits, Coen – divisional commander, British/South African forces (1916)
Burne, N.H.M. – commanding officer 11th South African Infantry (1916)
Byron, J.J. – commanding officer 5th South African Infantry (1916–17)
Capell, Algernon Essex – commanding officer 2nd Rhodesia Regiment
Castro,Álvaro de – Governor-General Portuguese East Africa (1915–18)
Caulfield, Francis – Captain HMS Fox
Chappuis, Udo von – Schutztruppe company commander
Charlewood, C.J. – naval reservist commanding various small craft
Charlton, E.F.B. – Commander-in-Chief Cape Station (1915–17)
Chilembwe, John – missionary, leader of 1915 uprising in Nyasaland
Christiansen, Karl – Captain of blockade-runner Kronborg (1915)
Chwa, Daudi – Kabaka (king) of Baganda
Clayton, C. – commanding officer 2nd Cape Corps (1917–18)
Codrington, H.W. – commanding officer 13th Rajputs (1914)
Cohen, ‘Sos’ – Chief Scout, British forces in Portuguese East Africa (1917–18)
Collyer, J.J. – Chief of Staff to Jan Smuts (1916)
Crewe, Charles – South African politician and newspaper proprietor, commanding officer ‘Lake Force’ (1916)
Crowe, J.H.V. – commanding officer British/South African artillery (1916)
Cull, J.T. – RNAS aviator
Cunliffe, F.H.B. – commanding officer Nigerian Brigade
Dennistoun, G.H. – commander Lake Nyasa flotilla
Deppe, Ludwig – Schutztruppe medical officer
Doering, Robert – Schutztruppe company commander
Drew, A.B.H. – commanding officer 29th Punjabis
Driscoll, Daniel – commanding officer 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
Drought, J.– commanding officer Nandi Scouts (‘Skin Corps’)
Drury-Lowe, Sydney – Captain HMS Chatham
Dyke, P.H. – 30th Punjabis, column commander (
1917)
Edwards, A.H.M. – Commandant-General Rhodesian forces
Edwards, W.F.S. – former Inspector-General Uganda Police, Inspector-General Lines of Communication (1916)
Eliott, F.A.H. – commanding officer 4th South African Horse
Enslin, B.G.L. – mounted brigade commander, South African forces Fair, ‘Jock’ – column commander, ‘Norforce’
Fairweather, J. – commanding officer South African Motor Cyclist Corps
Falkenhausen, Konrad von – naval reservist, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Falkenstein, Walter von – Schutztruppe company commander
Fischer, Erich – Schutztruppe detachment commander
Fitzgerald, T.O. – commanding officer 3rd King’s African Rifles (1916–18), column commander (1918)
Flindt, R.L. – 2nd South African Rifles, column commander, ‘Norforce’ (1916)
Franken, Gotthold – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company commander
Freeth, J.C. – commanding officer 7th South African Infantry
Frobenius, Leo – German anthropologist, envoy to Abyssinia (1916)
Fullerton, E.J.A. – Captain HMS Severn
Giffard, George – commanding officer 2nd King’s African Rifles (1916–18),
column commander, Portuguese East Africa (1918)
Gil, Ferreira – commanding officer 3rd Portuguese Expeditionary Force (1916)
Gordon, R. – RNAS aviator
Göring, Karl – adjutant in Dar-es-Salaam (1914), Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Grawert, Gideon von – Schutztruppe detachment commander Grogan, Ewart – British liaison officer with Belgian forces (1914–15 and 1917)
Gudowius, Eberhard – Schutztruppe reservist commanding Bukoba district
Hannyngton, Arthur – commanding officer 129th (DCO) Baluchis
Hasslacher, Heinrich – civil servant, Schutztruppe company commander
Hauer, August – Schutztruppe medical officer
Hawkins, Brian – battalion and column commander, 4th King’s African Rifles(1916–18)
Hawthorn, George – commanding officer 1st King’s African Rifles (1914– 1917), commanding officer Nyasaland forces (1917–18)
Haxthausen, Wilhelm von – Schutztruppe company commander
Hazleton, P. – senior officer, Supply and Transport British/South African forces (1916–17)
Henry, Josué – Commissaire-Général Eastern Province, Belgian Congo
Hering, Albrecht – retired artillery officer, commander of Schutztruppe battery
Herm, Walter – Captain of the German steamer Somali
Hertzog, J.B.M. – leader of the South African National Party
Heyden-Linden, Eckard von – Governor’s adjutant (1914), Schutztruppe company commander
Hinrichs, Herbert – Navigating Officer on the Königsberg, Schutztruppe company commander
Hoskins, Reginald – former Inspector-General King’s African Rifles, divisional commander (1916), Commander-in-Chief British/South African forces (1917)
Hübener, Franz – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe recruiting officer and detachment commander Huyghé, Armand – regimental commander, Belgian Brigade Nord (1916), Commander-in-Chief Belgian forces (1917)
Ingles, J.A. – Captain HMS Pegasus
Jollie, F. – commanding officer 17th Cavalry
Jourdain, C.E.A. – commanding officer 2nd Loyal North Lancs (1914–17)
Kaiser, Paul – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Kaltenborn-Stachau, Roland von – artillery officer sent by Berlin on blockade-breaker Marie
Kempner, Franz – civil servant, Schutztruppe company commander
Kepler, Arthur – senior staff officer, Dar-es-Salaam
King, Norman – British Consul, German East Africa (1914)
King-Hall, Herbert – Commander-in-Chief Cape Station (1914–15)
Kirkpatrick, H.J. – commanding officer 9th South African Infantry
Klinghardt, Rudolf – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Koch, Georg – First Officer of the Königsberg, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Kock, Nis – crew member of the blockade-breaker Kronborg
Köhl, Franz – Schutztruppe company commander
Kornatzki, Friedrich von – Schutztruppe company commander
Kraut, Georg – commander Schutztruppe northern border forces (1914–16),
Mahenge forces (1916), staff officer (1916–18)
Krüger, Franz – reservist, Schutztruppe company commander
Küdicke, Robert – Schutztruppe medical officer
Langen, Peter – Schutztruppe company commander Langenn-Steinkeller, Erich von – Schutztruppe company commander (1914), commander of Urundi detachment (1915–16)
Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von – Commander-in-Chief German forces in East Africa
Lieberman, Eberhard von – on hunting trip in GEA in 1914, Schutztruppe company commander
Lincke, Friedrich – Deputy Chief of Police (1914), Schutztruppe company commander
Linde-Suden, Harald von – Schutztruppe company commander
Looff, Max – Captain of the Königsberg, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Lyall, R.A. – commanding officer 2nd Kashmirs
Lyncker, Otto Freiherr von – Schutztruppe company commander
MacDonell, Errol – British Consul in Portuguese East Africa
Mackay, J.D. – senior Intelligence officer, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’
Malfeyt, Justin – Governor of Belgian-occupied German East Africa (1916)
Malleson, Wilfrid – Inspector-General of Communications Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’, brigade commander (1915–16)
Meinertzhagen, Richard – deputy chief of Intelligence Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’ (1914), Chief of Intelligence British forces (1915–16)
Meixner, Hugo – Schutztruppe Chief Medical Officer
Mendes, Moura – commanding officer 2nd Portuguese Expeditionary Force
Merensky, Albert – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company commander
Mitchell, W.J. – commanding officer 40th Pathans
Molitor, Philippe – commander Belgian Brigade Nord
Molyneux, G.M. – commanding officer 6th South African Infantry
Montgomery, J.W.V. – commanding officer 10th South African Infantry
Moon, E.R. – RNAS aviator
Morris, G.A. – commanding officer 1st Cape Corps
Moulaert, Georges – commanding officer Belgian forces Lake Tanganyika
Muller, Emmanuel – regimental commander, Belgian Brigade Nord
Müller, Erich – staff officer (Ordnance) in Dar-es-Salaam (1914), Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Müller, Paul – Schutztruppe medical officer
Murray, Ronald – column commander, ‘Norforce’
Musinga – paramount chief of Ruanda
Naumann, Heinrich – Schutztruppe company commander
Northey, Edward – Commander-in-Chief ‘Norforce’
Nussey, A.H.M. – Chief of Staff to General van Deventer, mounted brigade commander (1916)
O’Grady, H. de C. – Brigade Major, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’ (1914), column commander (1916–17)
Olsen, Frederik – commander Belgian Brigade Sud
Oppen, Werner von – Schutztruppe company commander
Orr, G.M. – staff officer Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’ (1914), column commander (1917)
Otto, Ernst – Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Phillips, Charles – battalion and column commander, 2nd King’s African Rifles (1916–18)
Poppe, Max – Schutztruppe company commander
Pretorius, Piet – King-Hall’s Chief Scout in the Rufiji delta operations against the Königsberg (1915), Smuts’s Chief Scout (1916)
Price, Charles – commanding officer 130th (KGO) Baluchis (1
915–16), column commander (1916–17)
Ridgway, R. – column commander, British/South African forces (1917)
Rodger, E. – commanding officer 2nd South African Rifles and column commander, ‘Norforce’ (1916)
Rose, Richard – Commandant Gold Coast Regiment (1916–18)
Rothe, Wilhelm – Postmaster-General, Schutztruppe detachment commander
Rothert, Paul – retired infantry officer, Schutztruppe company commander
Routh, G.M. – senior officer (Ordnance) Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’ (1914)
Ruckteschell, Walter von – reservist, Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Sabath, Hermann – civil servant (1914), battery commander (1915–18), company commander (1918)
Scherbening, Otto von – reservist, Schutztruppe company commander
Schimmer, Karl – active infantry officer, Acting Administrator and commander of Schutztruppe Urundi
Schnee, Heinrich – Governor of German East Africa
Schönfeld, Werner – retired naval officer, commander of Schutztruppe Rufiji delta defences (1914–15), commander of sabotage forces on northern border and Lake Tanganyika (1915–16)
Schulz, Hans – Schutztruppe company and detachment commander
Sheppard, S.H. – Chief of Staff Indian Expeditionary Force ‘B’ (1914), divisional commander (1916–17), chief staff officer to van Deventer (1917–18)
Shorthose, W. – battalion and column commander 4th King’s African Rifles (1916–18)
Smith-Dorrien, Horace – appointed Commander-in-Chief British/South
African forces (1915), resigned due to ill-health in January 1916
Smuts, Jan – Cabinet minister in Union of South Africa (1914–15), Commander-in-Chief British/South African forces (1916)
Solf, Wilhelm – Colonial Secretary in Berlin Sorenson, Conrad – Captain of blockade-runner Marie (1916)
Sousa Rosa, Tómas de – commanding officer 4th Portuguese Expeditionary
Force
Spangenburg, Walter – Schutztruppe company commander
Spicer-Simson, Geoffrey – Senior Naval Officer, Lake Tanganyika Expedition (1915–16)
Sprockhoff, Leonhard – merchant marine officer, commander Kilwa detachment (1916)
Stemmermann, Paul – Schutztruppe company commander