The First World War was truly the first global conflict, touching nearly every corner of the world. Yet, many overlook the battles fought outside the European theatre, particularly those in Africa, where one of Germany’s most remarkable commanders, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, waged an extraordinary campaign. Using a force that never exceeded 14,000 men, he tied down more than 300,000 Allied troops, never losing a single battle. His campaign is widely regarded as one of the most successful examples of guerrilla warfare in modern military history.
Born on 20 March 1870 into minor Pomeranian nobility, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was the son of an officer in the Kaiser’s Imperial Army. Like many young nobles of Imperial Germany, he found his way into the cadet force and was commissioned into the army in 1890. His first posting was to China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, where he first encountered guerrilla warfare. Although he initially disliked this method of warfare—ironically the one that would later define his career—he considered the suppression of the rebellion a waste of German resources. He would once again experience guerrilla warfare in South Africa during the Herero Wars, where he deepened his understanding of its irregular tactics and applications— experience which no doubt came into use during his renowned East African campaign. In 1914, Lettow-Vorbeck was appointed military commander of German East Africa.
When war broke out, Lettow-Vorbeck understood the secondary nature of his campaign as it was merely a sideshow to the immense struggle in Europe. At the time, the colonial powers were deeply apprehensive about fighting in their overseas territories, fearing uprisings that they could not suppress while their main armies were engaged in Europe.. However, Lettow-Vorbeck saw this as a golden opportunity: to tie down as many Triple Entente troops as possible to aid the Kaiser’s army on the European front.
At the outset, Lettow-Vorbeck had a measly force of 2,600 German nationals at his disposal with another 2,500 African soldiers but seized the initiative as he expected an invasion at the port of Tanga. This foresight enabled him to repel the British amphibious assault that occurred on 2 November 1914, admittedly with the unexpected aid of nature, as swarms of African killer bees attacked the British ranks, causing chaos. The engagement became famously know as the “Battle of the Bees”. Poor British tactics and Lettow-Vorbeck’s meticulous preparations produced a decisive victory: the British suffered more than three times as many causalities as the Germans. Capitalising on his success, Lettow-Vorbeck swiftly attacked British supply lines in Uganda, destroying the Allied railway system, a major blow to their efforts to attack German East Africa.
During this period, Lettow-Vorbeck’s Schutztruppe expanded to about 14,000 troops, the largest strength it would reach during the war. Of these, roughly 11,000 were African askaris, highlighting the progressive nature of von Lettow-Vorbeck for an imperialist and colonialist. Fluent in Swahili, he used the language to great effect in commanding troops who possessed an unmatched knowledge of the terrain. His decision to appoint black officers earned him the deep respect of his men and gave him a significant advantage, enabling him to execute guerrilla tactics with remarkable efficiency and precision, something that the British did not fully adopt until the dying embers of the war.
Over the next two years, Lettow-Vorbeck engaged in a series of skirmishes as limited support from Germany led to the inevitable loss of territory to the Triple Entente. Nevertheless, his continued use of guerrilla tactics proved highly effective, giving his army a lifeline through the capture of enemy provisions and ammunition after a string of hard-fought victories against much larger forces. In October 1917, during the Battle of Mahiwa, the largest engagement of the East African campaign to that point, Lettow-Vorbeck transformed a seemingly hopeless situation into a decisive victory over the British. Nigerian battalions threatened to encircle a detached portion of his army, but he personally led a counterattack, breaking through their lines and rescuing his troops in a daring manoeuvre. Despite severe shortages of ammunition, forcing his men to use black powder cartridges, he compelled the British to withdraw after suffering 2,700 casualties, while the Germans lost roughly 500.
However, at this point the war began to take a toll on the German forces. The 500 men lost at Mahiwa represented nearly 30% of the remaining German force, making the battle more of a Pyrrhic victory than a genuine military breakthrough, especially when the force faced doubled their size and the German supply line had long since disintegrated leaving no hope of reinforcement. The Germans were soon forced to withdraw from their territory, retreating into Portuguese Mozambique.
Yet, once again seemingly faced with insurmountable odds, Lettow-Vorbeck lived up to his nickname “The Lion of Africa” by instantly addressing his lack of supplies seizing Portuguese supplies at Ngomano. These sustained his army for the remainder of the war as he continued to move rapidly through East Africa, evading British forces and destroying key positions before vanishing into the African countryside.
Lettow-Vorbeck was never captured or defeated; he agreed to a ceasefire just three days after hostilities ended in mainland Europe. This made him the only German commander to successfully invade a part of the British Empire during the war and left him with an undefeated record throughout the entire four-year conflict.
However, his campaign had a profound impact on German East Africa. Lettow-Vorbeck and his men extorted large masses of food and supplies from the local population. This caused widespread famine and disease throughout the countryside with an aide of Lettow-Vorbeck remarking, “Our track is marked by death,” revealing the extreme extent of the exploitation used to keep his campaign afloat. It is suspected that this exploitation contributed to heightened vulnerability to the Spanish flu of 1919, a disease which devastated East Africa and much of the world.
Throughout the war, Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck executed guerrilla warfare with remarkable skill, consistently defeating the Allied forces despite commanding no more than 14,000 men. His effective use of terrain to gain advantages against the superior enemy numbers, strategies later employed during the Vietnam war, led to the use of a surplus of Triple Entente soldiers to try to contain his minuscule force in comparison. With global attention on the Europe theatre, Lettow-Vorbeck’s campaign quietly became the most successful German operation of the war, showcasing modern day guerrilla war tactics, exploiting every possible advantage, and demonstrating the strategic genius which coined him the title “The Lion of Africa”.
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Bibliography:
https://www.britannica.com/place/German-East-Africa
https://www.thecollector.com/general-paul-von-lettow-vorbeck-lion-of-africa