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Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1917, Page 2

IN EAST AFRICA. Another instalment of the “History” deals with the gradual conquest of German East Africa. The two are interesting if only for the comparison of the methods of the conqueror. It is no exaggeration to say that as . the Allied forces advanced into German East Africa the natives found themselves freed from slavery. The author does not suggest that in peace the German Colonial Government had misused its authority, but in war Colonel von Eettow Vorbeck, the ' military commandant, had declared a levy on masse, had raised 50,000 Native troops, and had dealt with these levies and their swarm of camp followers in the most brutal fashion—perhaps to encourage the rest. To Lettow Yorbeoji the author attributes the prolonged resistance of this German colony. In the early days of the war the Civn Governor thought that suffering would be avoided if he capitulated on similar terms to Rabaul. But iLettow was of sterner stuff. Whatever hit faults, ho has courage, and it is his organisation and endurance that havo made German East Africa the toughest nut to crack. It is not without significance that three German officers havo committed suicide because they feared his displeasure. General Smuts arrived at this front early in 1916, to find the campaign in a state of temporary stagnation. The Germans, enoouraged by Borne substantial successes and remunitioned by two ships which had eluded the blockade, no longer dreamed of capitulation. They held the whole of their own territory and a comar ol British East Africa. General Smuts’s first task was ono of re-organisation. His troops as dccasion demanded, spoke a perfect babel of languages, and needed to bo regrouped to secure smooth and harmonious working. The extraordinary heterogeneous character of the force can be gathered from the fact that it included “many diverse races from India, Arabs, Boers, representatives of almost every tribe and tongue in East Africa, besides British South Africans, East African settlers (including a number of Canadians Australians and 'Americans), and battalions of the Rogular Army. Again of the East African Native troops the King’s African ‘Rifles were regular troops, and others were local levies who knew scarcely a dozen words of English.” Even the Union troops were not nil European—they included a battalion of “Cape Boys,” to complete the cosmopolitan nature of the enterprise, a Belgian force on the west and a Portuguese ono on the south rendered valuable assistance. At last Genera* Smuts had arranged his army to his satisfaction, and re-organised the transport service. Then began the great converging drive, which little by little compelled the Germans to give up one district after another, and at last to take refuge, those of them who remained, in the most difficult and in" acessible part of the country. 'When General Smuts left he had put out of action two-thirds of the enemy, and practically broken their resistance,, which since then has been an affair ot raids and guerilla fighting. Such fighting is proverbially tedious, and may drag on, as it lias, in East Africa, fa* mouths after all hope ltss vanished. But sooner or later the last roving column must lay down its arms, tnd to judge from the cables that timo is now very near.