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56-609: The monument bears a plaque which reads: On this spot at 7.30 am on Thursday 14th November 1918, General von Lettow-Vorbeck , commanding the German forces in East Africa , heard from Mr Hector Croad, then District Commissioner Kasama , of the signing of the Armistice by the German government, which provided for the unconditional evacuation of all German forces from East Africa. A second plaque in

112-418: A battle of wits until December 1916, when Meinertzhagen was invalided. Three years later, Lettow-Vorbeck accepted an invitation to London where he met face-to-face for the first time Jan Smuts ; the two men formed a lasting friendship. When Smuts died in 1950, Lettow-Vorbeck sent his widow a letter expressing his sympathy for her loss. A similar oft-quoted claim states that Lettow-Vorbeck also apologised for

168-736: A captain, was assigned to German Southwest Africa (now Namibia ), during the Herero insurrection and the subsequent genocide . Lettow-Vorbeck saw combat against the Herero at the Battle of Waterberg , which he later called, "something rarely encountered in guerrilla warfare, a chance to defeat them in a single operation." When the Nama people also rose against German rule under the leadership of Hendrik Witbooi , Lettow-Vorbeck remained in German Southwest Africa in order to continue fighting. He played

224-560: A dismal prospect there is in front of me," stated the Allied commander in pursuit, General Jan Smuts, whose new approach was subsequently not to fight the Schutztruppe at all, but to go after their food supply. When the end of the campaign eventually came, Smuts was in London and General J. L. van Deventer commanded East Africa. His actions were described as "a campaign of supreme ruthlessness where

280-751: A hero's welcome. He led the veterans of the Schutztruppe in their tattered tropical uniforms on a victory parade through the Brandenburg Gate , which was decorated in their honour. He was the only German commander to successfully invade the British Empire during the First World War . He remained in the Reichswehr despite attempts to involve him in the politics of the Weimar Republic . Fourteen months after his return to Germany, Lettow-Vorbeck commanded

336-460: A major role in the pursuit of Jacob Morenga . During a 1906 gunfight against Morenga and his men, Lettow-Vorbeck suffered injuries to his left eye, which was left blind, and his chest. He was then evacuated to South Africa for treatment and recovery. Leonard Mosley would later write, however, "It was from these brilliant and fantastic Hottentots that Lettow-Vorbeck learned the Bushcraft that

392-527: A part of the British Empire during the First World War . His exploits in the campaign have been described by historian Edwin Palmer Hoyt as "the greatest single guerrilla operation in history, and the most successful". Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck was son of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1832–1919) and Marie von Eisenhart-Rothe (1842–1919). He was born into the Pomeranian minor nobility , while his father

448-490: A public figure because of the society at the time's desire for a reminder of bygone times. Between May 1928 and July 1930, Lettow-Vorbeck served as a Reichstag deputy for the monarchist German National People's Party . He left the party in 1930, after Alfred Hugenberg became the party leader and drew it increasingly into the far right . Lettow-Vorbeck then joined the Conservative People's Party and ran for it in

504-493: A small, well trained force extorted supplies from civilians to whom it felt no responsibility...it was the climax of Africa's exploitation". Lettow-Vorbeck's tactics led to a famine that killed thousands of Africans and weakened the population, leaving it vulnerable to the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1919. In a book published in 1919, Ludwig Deppe, a doctor of medicine who campaigned with Lettow-Vorbeck and who had formerly headed

560-555: A two-month journey from Wilhelmshaven , and was promptly attacked by the British cruiser HMS Hyacinth . Fortunately for the Germans, Kronborg was scuttled by her captain to avoid a coal fire after repeated hits were scored by the British cruiser, and the ship settled in shallow water. Nearly the entire cargo could then be salvaged. However, when the steamer Marie von Stettin arrived south of Lindi on 17 March 1916, its cargo of 1,500 tons

616-582: Is not the time, then wait until my son grows up to be a warrior and he will take my place and go with you. We will go with the Bwana General, will we not?" Robert Gaudi writes, "To a man, the Askaris stepped forward, ready to follow the commander to the ends of the Earth. But von Lettow held them back with a gesture and kept on marching. His war was over now." Lettow-Vorbeck returned to Germany in early March 1919 to

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672-463: Is probable that no white commander of the era had so keen an appreciation of the African's worth not only as a fighting man but as a man." The historian Michael von Herff says the loyalty of Askaris during the campaign was due to them having formed a military caste within the colonial structure, which had largely separated itself from its members' tribal roots. In 1915, he gained the men and artillery of

728-479: The Bemba language ends with the words Twapela umuchinshi kuli bonse abashipa abalwile mu nkondo iyi ("We honour all brave soldiers who fought in this war .) The message given to General von Lettow-Vorbeck was a telegram sent to Croad which read Please send the following to General von Lettow-Vorbeck under a white flag - The English Prime Minister [ sic ] sent notice that on 11th November an Armistice

784-522: The Central Railway , was under British control. The west of the colony was meanwhile occupied by Belgian forces. In December 1917, the German colony was officially declared an Allied protectorate. Lettow-Vorbeck and his caravan of Europeans, Askaris, porters, women, and children marched on, deliberately bypassing the tribal homelands of the native soldiers in an effort to prevent desertions. They traversed difficult territory. "Swamps and jungles ... what

840-438: The Schutztruppe caravan became a completely independent unit. On its first day across the river, the column attacked the newly replenished Portuguese garrison of Ngomano and solved its supply problems for the foreseeable future. The subsequent capture of a river steamer with a load of medical supplies, including quinine , satisfied some of its medical needs as well. For almost a year Lettow-Vorbeck's men had lived off whatever

896-525: The Schutztruppe , this was serious, for there were no reserves with which to replenish their ranks. After news of the battle reached Germany, however, Lettow-Vorbeck was promoted to major-general ( Generalmajor ). Lettow-Vorbeck thus withdrew to the south, with his troops on half rations and the British in pursuit. On 25 November 1917, his advance column waded across the Ruvuma River into Portuguese Mozambique . Having essentially cut their own supply lines,

952-1120: The Second World War . Eisenhart (Adelsgeschlecht) Look for Eisenhart (Adelsgeschlecht) on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Eisenhart (Adelsgeschlecht) in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

1008-741: The Sudan , in a single uninterrupted flight from Bulgaria , where it received a message from the German Admiralty that its planned landing area in East Africa was no longer in Lettow-Vorbeck's hands. Its captain decided to turn back. The British later claimed the about-turn was a result of a fake radio message sent in German by British intelligence in Cairo stating that Lettow-Vorbeck had surrendered, but this has never been proven. By late September 1916, all of coastal German East Africa, including Dar es Salaam and

1064-467: The Uluguru Mountains , writing off famine in neighboring villages as a misfortune of war. Little aid from Germany could penetrate the British naval blockade to alleviate the enormous supply deficiencies facing Lettow-Vorbeck's men in the area, and only two ships succeeded in running the blockade and reaching the colony. On 14 April 1915, the freighter Kronborg arrived off Tanga at Manza Bay after

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1176-518: The election of 1930 , where he gained the best result of the party in his electoral district of Upper Bavaria , but was not re-elected. He intensely "distrusted Hitler and his movement," and approached his relative Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal with an idea to form a coalition with Der Stahlhelm against the Nazis. This resulted in the Vorbeck-Blumenthal Pact . Later, when Hitler offered him

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1232-507: The "splendid Captain Tom von Prince ", whom he could not easily replace. Though casualties were high, Lettow insisted his commanders engage British forces, though they offered few enticing targets. This forced him to conduct raids into British East Africa (later Kenya , Uganda , and Zanzibar ), targeting forts, railways, and communications, still hoping to force the Entente to divert manpower from

1288-534: The "ungentlemanly death" of the British hunter Frederick Selous at the hands of one of his snipers; this claim, however, is not supported by any contemporary evidence. In a review of the work on Lettow-Vorbeck by Uwe Schulte-Varendorff , historian Eckard Michels agrees with Schulte-Varendorff that Lettow-Vorbeck did not directly show susceptibility to far right politics and anti-Semitism . Eckard Michels also writes, however, that Lettow-Vorbeck did not seek publicity out of opportunism or greed and only morphed into

1344-560: The Armistice. Lettow-Vorbeck agreed to a cease-fire at the spot now marked by the Chambeshi Monument in present-day Zambia . He was instructed by the British to march north to Abercorn to surrender his army, arriving there on 25 November. The remains of his army at the time consisted of 30 German officers, 125 German non-commissioned officers and other enlisted ranks, 1,168 Askaris , and some 3,500 porters. After hostilities ended,

1400-570: The British had prepared in German East Africa. On 13 November 1918, two days after the Armistice , he took the town of Kasama , which the British had evacuated, and continued heading south-west towards Katanga . When he reached the Chambeshi River on the morning of 14 November, the British magistrate Hector Croad appeared under a white flag and delivered a message from South African General Jacob van Deventer , informing Lettow-Vorbeck of

1456-465: The British transferred the German POWs to Dar es Salaam for eventual repatriation. Lettow-Vorbeck made several efforts to secure an early release for his Askaris, who were in a POW camp at Tabora . Before Lettow-Vorbeck was separated from his Askaris, one of them cried out, "I have been asked to say this to you Bwana General. Where do you go now? Where you go, we will go with you! And if this

1512-608: The German cruiser SMS  Königsberg which had been scuttled in the Rufiji River delta. The cruiser had a capable crew under commander Max Looff , and its artillery pieces, converted to land use, became the largest standard guns used in the East African Theatre. In March 1916 British forces under General Jan Smuts and the Belgians under Charles Tombeur launched an offensive with 45,000 men near Tabora . Lettow-Vorbeck used

1568-578: The Imperial German army promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed him to command the German colonial forces, known as the Schutztruppe (protectorate force), in German Kamerun (today's Cameroon , plus a portion of present-day Nigeria ). Before he could assume this command, however, his orders were changed and he was posted — with effect from 13 April 1914 — to German East Africa (Tanganyika,

1624-668: The ambassadorship to the Court of St James's in 1935, he "declined with frigid hauteur"; the suggestion for the nomination as ambassador to the Court of St James had come from retired Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen during a visit to Berlin. During the 1960s, Charles Miller asked the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go fuck himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely." After his blunt refusal, Lettow "was kept under continual surveillance" and his home office

1680-499: The biting cold, regimental maneuvers, glimpses of the luminaries of the day – the Kaiser , Crown Prince Friedrich , the "Man of Gold" Field Marshal Count von Moltke , who was Germany's greatest military strategist, and others. There were drinking parties with fellow officers, card games till all hours, and splendid dances in Berlin – the young women shivering in their off-the-shoulder dresses,

1736-499: The body to go without food or water, and most important of all, how to become so much a part, so absorbed into an unfriendly wilderness that survival is possible as the snakes and land crabs and lizards survive". In 1907 Lettow-Vorbeck was promoted to Major and assigned to the staff of XI Corps at Kassel , Hesse . From March 1909 to January 1913, he was commanding officer of the marines of II. Seebataillon ("2nd Sea Battalion") at Wilhelmshaven , Lower Saxony . In October 1913,

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1792-412: The bush. When an askari returned it to him and enquired why the colonel had removed it, Lettow-Vorbeck replied that "he had placed it there to watch that the askari were doing their duty". On 28 September 1918, Lettow-Vorbeck again crossed the Ruvuma River and returned to German East Africa, with the British still in pursuit. He then turned west and raided Northern Rhodesia , evading an ambush that

1848-597: The climate and terrain to his advantage, engaging the British on his terms. British reinforcements forced Lettow-Vorbeck to yield territory. Continuing his resistance, Lettow-Vorbeck fought a crucial battle at Mahiwa in October 1917, where he inflicted 2,700 casualties on the British. Lettow-Vorbeck himself lost 519 men killed, wounded, or missing while also running critically low on ammunition, forcing him to withdraw. The British would proceed to recover their losses and continue to hold an overwhelming advantage in numbers of men. For

1904-575: The colony, so that the land no longer "basked in a climate of plenty." Lettow-Vorbeck considered his first obligation as a military commander that to his army, over the objections of Governor Heinrich Schnee. The governor regarded war as the worst possible calamity to befall German East Africa, "[undoing] everything his social and economic reforms had accomplished." Lettow-Vorbeck's strategy, meanwhile, held central giving ground and escaping confrontations with Allied forces. He had thus established food depots along his intended line of march from Neu Moshi to

1960-517: The hospital at Tanga, lamented the tragedy that German forces had imposed on East Africa in their war with the Allies: "Behind us we leave destroyed fields, ransacked magazines and, for the immediate future, starvation. We are no longer the agents of culture, our track is marked by death, plundered and evacuated villages, just like the progress of our own and enemy armies in the Thirty Years' War ." When

2016-608: The main theatre of war in Europe. Realizing the critical needs of guerrilla warfare , he used everything available to him to keep his troops supplied. The Schutztruppe recruited new personnel and expanded its size to some 14,000 soldiers, most of them Askaris . Lettow-Vorbeck's fluency in the Swahili language apparently earned the respect and admiration of his African soldiers. He appointed black officers and reportedly stated that "we are all Africans here". In one historian's opinion, "It

2072-429: The mainland territory of present-day Tanzania ). While travelling to his new assignment, Lettow-Vorbeck formed a lifelong friendship with Danish author Karen Blixen (also known by her pen name of Isak Dinesen), who was travelling aboard the same liner. Decades later, she recalled that, "He belonged to the olden days, and I have never met another German who has given me so strong an impression of what Imperial Germany

2128-562: The need to seize the initiative, he disregarded orders from Berlin and the colony's Governor, Heinrich Schnee , who had attempted to achieve neutrality for German East Africa, relying on the Congo Act of 1885, by which the European colonial powers had promised to keep their overseas possessions neutral in any European wars. He thus prepared to repel a major British amphibious assault on the city of Tanga . The attack began on 2 November 1914, and for

2184-523: The new officers in bright stiff uniforms - followed by the mad rush to catch the last train back to Spandau barracks before the last roll call". Lettow-Vorbeck later wrote, "I recall an older officer scolding a younger one because he failed to ask a young woman who was without a partner to dance. Offenses against chivalry were not tolerated". Lt. von Lettow-Vorbeck was assigned to the Great German General Staff . In 1900, Lettow-Vorbeck

2240-450: The next four days the German forces fought the Battle of Tanga . Lettow-Vorbeck then assembled his men and their scant supplies to attack the British railways in East Africa. He scored a second victory over the British at Jassin on 19 January 1915. These victories allowed the Germans to capture much needed rifles and other supplies, in addition to boosting the troops' morale. Lettow-Vorbeck also lost many experienced men, however, including

2296-599: The official surrender on 23 November 1918. The British force had been waiting in the Abercorn area to attack the German forces coming from northern Mozambique, thinking they would make for Lake Tanganyika, but General von Lettow-Vorbeck had evaded them by turning south-west towards Kasama. Its tiny British population evacuated to Mpika, except for nine who set up two Maxim guns at the Chambeshi, but they did not know how to work them. One, Charlie Simpson, had with him about £10,000 which

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2352-790: The troops that ended the Spartacist Uprising in Hamburg . However, Lettow-Vorbeck then lost his commission in the Reichswehr in the summer of 1920 following his involvement in the Kapp Putsch . He subsequently worked in Bremen as an import-export manager. In June 1926, Lettow-Vorbeck met Richard Meinertzhagen in Bremen, the British Intelligence Corps Colonel with whom he had fought

2408-418: The worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic swept into eastern Africa in 1918–1919, it struck down thousands of people. The weakened state of many native Africans, resulting from the war, made them especially susceptible. Lettow-Vorbeck was greatly respected by his white officers, non-commissioned officers and Askaris, and even Allied forces. In the field when rations had to be reduced and supplies dwindled, "It

2464-552: Was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign . For four years, with a force of about 14,000 (3,000 Germans and 11,000 Africans), he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Indian, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. He is known for never being defeated or captured in battle. Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to successfully invade

2520-485: Was a measure of the Askaris' loyalty to their commander that they accepted the cuts and did not desert en masse. Some did desert, of course... But the German Askaris were by far the most loyal as well as the most effective, and it all went back to… Lettow-Vorbeck's brand of discipline, which bound him and his German officers as much as his black soldiers". There is a legend that Lettow-Vorbeck once lost his glass eye in

2576-474: Was all the cash from the government offices and businesses in Kasama, which he buried in a goat pen near the rubber factory he ran, thinking that the goats' hoofprints would hide evidence of digging, and that the Germans would probably be more interested in the goats than looking for the money. On arrival at the Chambeshi the Germans machine-gunned the rubber factory before Croad arrived with the telegram. The Monument

2632-564: Was and stood for." Lettow-Vorbeck's plan for the war was relatively simple: knowing that East Africa would only be a sideshow to other theatres of war, he was determined to tie down as many British troops as he could. He intended to keep them away from the Western Front , and in this way to contribute to the German war effort. In August 1914 Lettow-Vorbeck was the commander of a military garrison of 2,600 German nationals and 2,472 African soldiers in fourteen Askari field companies. Feeling

2688-456: Was available, mainly provisions captured from the British and Portuguese; they had replaced their old rifles with new equipment and acquired machine guns and mortars after capturing Namakura ( Namacurra in modern Mozambique) in July 1918. The war in East Africa set off a chain of events with devastating results for the natives and their German overlords. The invasions caused interruptions throughout

2744-650: Was built later, this bridge was destroyed by Rhodesian troops during the Rhodesian Bush War , a new bridge was built further upstream) on the Mpika -Kasama road. Most accounts of the war say that Lettow-Vorbeck surrendered at Abercorn , 250 km to the north, giving the impression that he penetrated just the few kilometres to Abercorn from German East Africa but that is only because he was instructed by Allied commanders in Northern Rhodesia to march his troops there for

2800-566: Was of only very modest help to Lettow-Vorbeck's forces. An attempt in November 1917 to resupply German forces by Zeppelin airship, an operation codenamed "the China Show", failed. The Zeppelin, LZ 104 (L 59) , intended also as a morale-booster to the beleaguered East African troops, was designed to be dismembered on arrival and all its parts cannibalised as spares for the troops - the canvas of its hull used for tents, for example. The airship reached

2856-611: Was posted to China as a member of the international alliance forces to quell the Boxer Rebellion . Although Lettow-Vorbeck was fascinated by the ancient history and elaborate courtesy of Chinese culture , he intensely disliked fighting against guerrillas and considered the war detrimental to the discipline of the German Army. He returned to the German General Staff from China in 1901. Beginning in 1904, Lettow-Vorbeck, now

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2912-515: Was searched. Thanks to his popularity among the German people , he was promoted to the rank of General for Special Purposes in 1938, at the age of 68, but was never recalled to active service. One of Lettow-Vorbeck's junior officers, Theodor von Hippel , used his experiences in East Africa to form the Brandenburgers , the commando unit of the Abwehr , the German military intelligence service during

2968-511: Was signed and that the fighting on all fronts should cease on 11th November at 11 o'clock. I order my troops to end hostilities as from now and I expect you to do the same. General van Deventer . Hence the Memorial marks the cessation of hostilities, not the surrender. The location of the Monument is on the north bank of the Chambeshi River , near the northern end of the old Chambeshi Bridge (which

3024-611: Was stationed as an army officer at Saarlouis in the Prussian Rhine Province . He was educated in boarding schools in Berlin and joined the cadet corps at Potsdam and Berlin-Lichterfelde . In 1890, he was commissioned a Leutnant into the Imperial German Army . According to Robert Gaudi, "In Mein Leben von Lettow writes nostalgically of his decade as a junior officer in the Kaiser's Imperial Army: there were Dawn inspections in

3080-400: Was to prove of such value to him in his war against the British in East Africa. When [Hottentot guerrilla leader] Samuel Isaak was captured and brought in for questioning, it was von Lettow who conducted the interrogations... His questions were how to live off a country which offers no apparent sustenance, how to run in conditions when most men barely have the strength to walk, how to condition

3136-506: Was unveiled on 14 November 1953 as a National Monument of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and consists of a large stone platform with the plaques set into a stone pillar, next to a cannon of the era (but not one used by the Germans). Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964), popularly known as the Lion of Africa ( German : Löwe von Afrika ),

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