EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.

Taihape Daily Times, 22 July 1919, Page 6

EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.

..__.__———-4-——-——-"" j " =COMMANDER’S VIEWDIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED. ’ ENEMY’S STOUT RESISTENCE Interesting details of the cimpaign of the East African Force during the war are contained in who final despatch of the officer commanding, ‘LieutenantGeneral Sir J. L. Van Deventer. At the beginning of September last, he says, our troops were trying to round up the enemy in Portuguese East Africa. When the pursuit became too hot he doubled back to German territory, necessitating a re-grouping of our forces, by no means -a simple.operat.ivo.n, having regard to the dearth of transport facilities and the difficulties of {the country. Then, when the British Commander had made all the necessary jdispositions to meet every likely move, .'Von Lettow Vorbeck adopted the unex— ; gpected course of moving s-outh intol North-East Rhodesia 3 which at the time was practically denuded «of troops, Before efilective measures bould be taken against. him in this region, the I armistice was signed, and the German commander formzalfly surrendered a.-t '.Abere/orn, on November 25. In View of ‘ the gallant and prolonged resistance maintained by the German force, General Von Lettow Vorbeck and his ofi"1--eers were allowed lto retain their swords, while -the European rank and file were permitted to carry their arms as far as Dar-es—Salaam. Thus ended, writes General Van Den Tventer. a. rem-al-kable. and, in some I

Ways, a unique campaign. It was unique in civilised warfare in that it was tperforce ad campaign of virtual exte.r—mination. Tt the beginning of the 1916 advance, the German forces amounted to 2700 Europeans and 12,000 Africans. By the end of the year three-quarters of German East Africa was in our hands, and the onemy’s ‘force had been reduced by half. Those remaining WOTC, however, the pick of his troowgé. and were by no -nuns con-que.-red. When General Von Leciew Vorbeek retired across the Ravuma in to .’-ortuguese East Africa, in Nov-em-ber, 1917, he was followed by $2.0 Whites and 2500 black trowps. He, however, possessed a valuable reserve of trained portions of good fighting stock, from whom he enlisted recruits from time to time, and when he surrendered his force numbered 155 European; and 1168 Askari

AN OBSTAOIE TO OPERATIONS Diverse as were the physical features of the East African theatre -of operations, ‘rhere is one feature that, as an obstacle to military operations, var-ice. I.‘.t£c-- —fl:e bush. It stretched over nine truth.»-. of the country. Its extent was In 1:01 ed in hundreds of .thous.au.;l,- of square miles. It enormously increaserl (liffit 1-lfies of movement, made acc-.lr'»lte tixnizvg of combined operatiozrs 211 east in*.}.o:sible. and magnified ten-.“-3':l the 11o1n‘~zv.I “fog of war.” Of the '\\[‘(ill3t of ‘the enemy the despatch sta:tes.——

‘ Germans rewarded their black troops by giving them a free hand in respect. of loot and the treatment of women; but it nevertheless says much for the character of the German commander that he was -able to keep these men with him through four years of most strenuous eampzt-igning. There were oeeasions when atrocities were committed on our wounded, and the -‘lzreatment: of our prisoners—especially In(lians—-was. at times infamous; but the Germans themselves, with rare exceptions, tried to stopythe former, while the latter was -the work of men far bebind the firing line, most of whom have already been punished; and though it is impossible to entirely exonerate athe High German Command with regard to these matters, it must in justice be said that the actual fighting of the; East African Campaign was, 011 the' Ivhole, .;l;;;{n—2iil<_l s_ome_times_ oygu I «ehiv-=lh’ous..” ’

To the troops that achieved and maintained the conquest of German East Africa, the Commandcr—in-Chiof accords unstinted praise. Not. only were they, he says, opposed to an

enemy composed of first-class fighting zmaterial, and especially trained to the peculiar conditions of African bush warfare, but they also had to contend ‘with nature in some of her most dirticult aspects." The mstn-css of the theatre of operations, the difiiculties of supply, and the deaclliness of many parts of the country to all but the indigenous African greatly inhanced the hardships insepar-ziblc fl'om any form of campaigning in the tropics. The distances covered by the troops, especially in the later stages of the camImign; “-’oul<l have been remarkable ‘WOII in «‘2- temperate climate; carried out in the heart of Africa, under a blazing sun or in torential rain, they _V Though few engagements in the East African campaign rose to the ":"'_°T9_ Wonderful feats of endurance.

dignity cf battles, yet the fighfingl was often centiimous and always -‘determined; and there are. perhaps.a few fields of operation more trying‘ vthan the bush, which invaria.blyproduees in time a feeling of depresssiov. in those who have been uaccusatomod ' in more open warfare, while the sen-

sation of"cxontinually groping in the dark tries the moral and physical courage of the bravest. The theatre of wax-.w.as perhaps the most difficult in which any large body of ‘troops has ever fought,,and as 3. test of sheer human induranee the operati-ions in ‘East Africa must rank high among ‘the !(',L‘.lT.lp{lig‘llS‘ of the world.