German colonies in Africa

When World War I began, Germany had four colonies in Africa: Tokoland, Cameroon, Germany in South Africa, and Germany in East Africa. German colonization in Africa began relatively late, but the governance of the colonies adhered to the unscrupulous spirit of the Germans, and great efforts were made. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the German colonies were already inferior to the colonies of Britain and France.

Since the outbreak of the European War, the German colonial government has been trying to keep Africa out of the way, trying to protect the colonies by invoking a treaty on African peace. They had three reasons: first, they believed that the war would be resolved on the European theater, and that war was not suitable for war in such a remote place as Africa; Second, they did not want the African natives to see the war between the whites, fearing that the natives would understand that there were contradictions between the whites and would take advantage of the opportunity to start an incident; Third, these four colonies were surrounded by colonies of Britain and France, while the German colonists were few in number, and there were only indigenous police forces, which were responsible for the duties of the police, and had no military force at all. Britain, France, and other countries thought differently, continuing the history of the nineteenth century's struggle for colonies, believing that this was a good opportunity to drive the Germans out of Africa. For the British, these German colonies, although incapable of actually participating in the war, could provide supplies for German trade sabotage ships and submarines, as well as radioless radio stations to communicate with the German mainland. So Britain and France joined forces to attack these German colonies.

Soon, Turkland, Cameroon, and German South-West Africa fell into British and French hands. The few German and indigenous police forces were simply unable to resist, and the German colonizers held out the hope that the European War would decide everything, without causing too much trouble for Britain and France. But when Britain tried to invade German East Africa, it met with serious setbacks.

Leto Verbeck was present

Germany is a fairly large country with an area of about 380,000 square miles and a population of about 7.65 million, with only about 5,300 whites and 15,000 Indians and Arabs. It was surrounded on all sides by enemies, including British East Africa (Kenya), Uganda, North Romania (Sambia), Nigeria Saran (Malave), Belgian Congo (Syria), mostly British colonies, and only Portuguese Africa (Mozambique) in the south was neutral. Therefore, in terms of defense, it can be said that it is almost an embattled situation.

But what set it apart from the rest of the German colonies was its military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck ‧ Van ‧. Born in 1870 into a military family to a general, Leto Verbeck was raised to be a professional soldier from an early age. A native of artillery, he served in the Eight-Nation Coalition in 1900 and was impressed by the incompetence of the British command system. In 1904 he assisted in the suppression of indigenous rebellions in German South-West Africa, and then returned to Germany to coordinate with the navy. He was then sent to Norway as military attaché, then took over the Schutztruppe in Cameroon, and then at the end of 1913 he was transferred to East Africa, Germany, to take over the police force.

Although he, like the military chiefs of the other German colonies, believed that the success or failure of the European war was the decisive factor, he drew different conclusions: he was determined to hold back a large number of enemy forces in Africa by every possible means, and for as long as possible; Because one more British army into the African theater means one less British army into the European war, not to mention the weapons, equipment, supplies, medicines, and so on he needs. He wanted to help Germany win the war in Europe as much as possible.

Thus, when he arrived in Dade in East Africa in early 1914, he worked to reorganize the local police force into a fighting force. He spent several months touring all of German East Africa, familiarizing himself with the geography and communicating with the commanders and reserve officers (German colonists) of the local police forces to understand his principles and ideas and encourage them to be more prepared. On the eve of the war, his forces consisted of 68 Caucasian officers, 60 Caucasian noncommissioned officers, 132 Caucasian medical officers and administrators, 2 black officers, 184 black officers, and 2,286 black soldiers (askaris). In terms of weapons, it was relatively weak, with only 67 machine guns, 31 light field guns from the old era, and soldiers were equipped with old Mauser rifles from 1871, and the ammunition was equipped with black gunpowder that produced a lot of white smoke.

He may not have been a Rommel or Maninstein-esque tactical genius, but his organizational and leadership skills were far from equal. His personality and leadership allowed his men to perform to their best abilities, and his perseverance inspired the admiration of others, allowing them to survive four full years of hard fighting. Soon after the start of the war, he abandoned the seniority system and gave capable officers command, sometimes even lieutenants to command regimental units. He even mixed black and white non-commissioned officers, and in addition to having white soldiers and black soldiers fight side by side in the same unit, he even had black officers command white troops. As a result of his efforts, his troops were integrated into a strong centripetal fighting force that maintained high morale throughout the war.

The British army's precipitous

At the beginning of the war, he adhered to the principle of non-centralized decisive battles, but still took the initiative and took advantage of the fact that British East Africa was not ready to occupy some land and raise the level of conflict. Sure enough, these lands were of little military value, but they caused a moment of panic in British East Africa, where the Germans would invade in a big way. These voices for protection went straight to the heavens and shocked the wartime cabinet in London, England, so that the British leadership decided to send troops to attack German East Africa. Since the British forces in East Africa and Uganda consisted only of the "King's Africa Rifle" (KAR), which was formed by the natives, numbering about 2,000 people, and the "East Africa Rifle Regiment" and the "East Africa Mounted Rifle" (EAMR), which were formed by the volunteers of the white colonists, the British military senior management believed that they could only serve as guards. Unable to carry out offensive operations, the British Foreign Office coordinated with the Indian Army to send two brigades to conduct the operation, designated as Detachment B of the Indian Expeditionary Force.

The total number of this unit was more than 8,000 men, and with the exception of one battalion, which was made up of pure whites, the other battalions were Indian troops under the command of white officers, whose level of training and combat power were questionable. Moreover, due to the complexity of the Indian races, there may be completely different races between the camp and the camp, which not only increases the difficulty of coordination, but also makes the supply of food specific to the tribe a problem. To make matters worse, the British staff's work was in shambles, with many of the troops already on board for a month before the fleet set sail from India, and with the addition of three weeks of sailing, it was worth worrying how much combat power these forces would have left when they arrived in Africa.

However, before the two brigades from India arrived, the British troops there launched an offensive against German East Africa. A force of about 1,500 men, including the East African Rifle Regiment, advanced to Longido, but was repulsed by 600 troops from the German side, greatly boosting the morale of the German side.

When the Indian Expeditionary Force arrived in British East Africa in late October, its British commander made a foolish decision. Instead of disembarking his troops to rest and recuperate for a few weeks before conducting military operations, he sailed directly to the port of Tanga, which belongs to the northern part of Germany, to land. At the time of landing, due to the delay of the British army itself, they missed the opportunity to quickly occupy the defenseless port. It was only after they had stood steady on the shore and transported most of their nourishment to shore that they began to attack the harbor. By this time, Leto-Verbeck himself and the German army of about 1,000 men had arrived.

After understanding the situation, Leto-Vobekma ordered an attack, which instantly caused chaos among the Indian forces. The panicked Indian troops were pushed back from the port, and many soldiers dropped their rifles and retreated to the beach in an attempt to escape. After a day of fighting, the Indian Expeditionary Force collapsed, and if the Germans attacked again, it was almost certain that there would be a massacre. But at this time Leto-Verbeck gave the British an opportunity and asked them to retreat. The British commander had to pull down the shelves to accept the proposal and withdraw all the soldiers, but all the supplies and weapons fell into the hands of the Germans. In this battle, the British suffered about 800 casualties, while the Germans suffered only about 150. What's more, the Germans seized a large number of modern rifles and ammunition, sixteen machine guns, and countless amounts of food, clothing, and other useful provisions; Many of these devices were used by the Germans until the end of the war.

Confrontation on land

After this battle, the morale of the British army was greatly demoralized, and there were not enough troops to go on the offensive again, and the two sides were in a state of confrontation throughout 1915. But the Germans were not idle, and they often sent small units of the squad to infiltrate British East Africa and attack the weakly defended Uganda railways and bridges; For example, in July 1915, the Uganda Railway was blown up five times in a week (usually with the train). This small-scale infiltration made the British defenses invincible, and the number of troops deployed to defend the rails alone reached 8,000, which relatively boosted the morale of the German army.

During this period, both sides are amassing as much force as possible. The British brought in white troops from South Africa and Rhodesia, supplemented by Indian troops, and local indigenous forces made up only a tiny minority; Their nourishment also came from all over the country, and weapons and ammunition were supplied from the British mainland. In terms of resource consumption, Leto-Verbeck's strategy was successful, and Britain not only distributed weapons that could have been used in the European theater to Africa, but also sent forces that could have been mobilized to fight in Europe against him. On the part of the Germans, because they were blocked, they tried to be self-sufficient and did not rely on the German mainland; In terms of military resources, in addition to accepting volunteer service from the white colonists, they also recruited a large number of local indigenous troops. These indigenous forces proved to be more adaptable to the local climate than the white forces in England and were an important factor in future operations.

Confrontation on the water

During this period, in addition to the confrontation on land, there were also confrontations on the water. The German cruiser Königsberg arrived in German East Africa before the start of the war, and after the war it engaged in trade sabotage warfare, capturing the British merchant ship "Winchester" and sinking the British cruiser "Pegaus" and a cruiser. But soon her engine malfunctioned and she had to hide in a waterway in an estuary delta to repair. At this time, the British Navy Department mobilized a large number of ships to search the German East African waters in detail, and finally found its traces. Since the British Navy did not have a hydrographic map of the delta, it was unable to send large ships to attack it, so it sent a fleet to blockade it in the open sea. In order to supplement it and Leto-Verbeck, the German Navy sent a supply ship counterfeit from Denmark to supply it from the German mainland. Unfortunately, the German naval code was deciphered by the British, and the British navy was heavily guarded, and the "Königsberg" could not break through to rendezvous, and the supply ship was instead destroyed by the British cruiser near the shore. But the British navy's primeism was evident here, and the German supply ship rushed to shore after being attacked, sinking in less than 10 meters of water, with most of the structure still exposed, and the British cruiser considered it complete and walked away triumphantly, without completely destroying it. The Germans immediately went to work, and although the ship could not be repaired, most of her supplies, including the new rifles and ammunition, machine guns, and field artillery to be shipped to Leto Verbeck, were all picked up and still functioned as good after being cleaned up, leaving many British soldiers gritted their teeth at their own navy.

However, the British Navy was still doing its part. During this period, they took over three river artillery boats (similar to the Monitor) that Brazil had ordered at the British shipyard and towed them from Britain all the way to East Africa via the Gibraltar Strait, the Mediterranean, and the Soviet Union. Since they had a shallow draft, they could enter the waterways of the delta and then launch a cannon on the "Königsberg" with the aircraft observation missile. The British navy's luck was not bad, and after two days of fighting, they sank the "Königsberg" with only a slight wound of their own. But standardism came into effect again, and the British navy, seeing that the "Königsberg" was gone, happily withdrew its troops. The Germans, however, worked hard to pick up the 10 105 mm guns and ammunition on the Königsberg, which were also of great use in future operations. Although the "Königsberg" was sunk, it was fully effective in attracting British military power; During the entire 255-day blockade, the British Navy sent up to 27 ships to carry out the blockade, which consumed a total of 38,000 tons of coal.

At the same time, at the junction of East Africa and Belgium is Lake Tanganica, the second largest lake in Africa. The Germans took control of the enemy in the middle of the war, converted two ferries into artillery boats, and left all the Belgian and British ships on the lake to pieces, and took control of the entire lake. In order to counterbalance, the British brought two small motorboats from the British mainland, and traveled all the way up the Gango River from the west coast of Africa, and then slowly transported by train and tractor to Lake Tanganika by land. They were also very lucky, and they did not suffer any damage in the battle with the German ships, and they captured two converted artillery boats to regain control of the lake.

British offensive

By the end of 1915, the British commanders on the British East African side had been replaced by General Simat, who was born in South Africa. He launched an offensive at the beginning of March 1916 and, despite the rainy season, advanced step by step, and by the end of August had captured the Central Railway, which belonged to northern Germany, East Africa. On paper, this was a great victory, because not only was the region of the German East Africa with a large majority of the population concentrated, but it was so much better than the situation in which the European war had to fight for several months to occupy that few yards; But in reality, this is not the case. On the Germans' side, Leto-Beverk insisted on his strategy of not fighting, but to retreat gradually and planually, and to fight a rear guard ambush if the time and place were suitable, or to clear the ground and burn the things that could not be taken away. The more the British army advanced, the more serious the problem of their supply became, and many troops were toiling to work hard while halving their rations. The lack of food and the bad weather caused the soldiers to fall ill one after another, and the combat strength of many troops was less than 10%, so it was naturally impossible to complete the two-way outflanking planned by Simault and forcing the German army to fight a decisive battle. At this time, the Belgian Ganggo also sent troops to invade the western part of German East Africa, and although they were attacked on both sides, the Germans still maintained a high morale.

In early 1917, the British changed commanders again, and it took a full year to expel the Germans from Germany. Leto Verbeck led his troops into the Portuguese territory of Mozambique and continued to engage the British to the end. What the British leadership could not understand was why Leto-Furbeck could not be dismissed when the whole of Germany had already fallen into British hands. Why did they come back every now and then that they were at war with the Germans somewhere, and then there was no follow-up? At this time, Leto-Verbeck's forces were actually only a few thousand men, but these thousands were already troops who had experienced a hundred battles in the bush, and because of their small numbers and the small supplies they needed, they were able to support the attack and plunder in the Portuguese three places of Mozambique; The huge British forces were again faced with the problem of replenishment, and could not keep up with the erratic German forces.

Expedition of the L95 Qibering spaceship

While Leto Verbeck was working hard in Africa, Germany did not forget him. The German High Command decided to send a Kibling spaceship to carry the necessary medical equipment and tools to supply Leto-Verbeck's troops. Of course, this will be a one-way task, so even the spaceship itself will have to be refitted so that it can be dismantled and used for other purposes after successfully reaching the East Africa. Finally, the Qiberin spaceship L59 took off from Hungary on 21 November 1917, passing through Turkey, the Mediterranean, and Egypt, and received a radio message west of Khartomu, the capital of the Soviet Union, in the early hours of 23 November, ordering it to return; Returned to Hungary at 3 p.m. on November 25. It took 95 "hours" and 4,220 miles, and it did not reach the Equateria (which runs through Uganda and Kenya) as far south as it did so. However, the radio order was suspicious, and to this day it is not known who gave the order to return home, and some historians believe that it was a fake order issued by a British intelligence unit that successfully deceived the German army.

Closing

As such, the war continued until the end of the war in Europe (11 November 1918), and it was not until news of the ceasefire reached Africa that Leto-Verbeck surrendered on 25 November. His force at this time also consisted of 150 Caucasian troops and non-commissioned officers, 1,156 African soldiers, 1,598 porters, one Portuguese wildgun, 37 machine guns (30 of which were British), and about 1,000 British and Portuguese rifles.

The battle, which lasted for more than four years and more than three months, finally came to an end, and Leto Verbeck returned to German soil, where he was greeted with heroic cheer. He had already been awarded the Medal de Merit (nicknamed Blue Max by the German army) and promoted to major general as early as Africa. He later ran for parliament and was quite active in the parliament of the Wima Republic. When Hitler came to power, he faded out of politics and died in 1964 at the age of 94.