EAST AFRICA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1918, Page 5

EAST AFRICA.

DIFFICULTIES OF CAMPAIGN. TROOPS PASS THROUGH TRACKLESS JUNGLES. London, Dec. 17. A dispatch from General Van de Venter, commanding in East Africa, graphically describes the tremendous difficulties under which the campaign "was conducted. He says it may appear extraordinary that the forces of Colonel von Lettow and Vorbeck should so often have succeeded in evading the Anglo-Portuguese converging columns, but the Germans were well guided, and, generally avoiding the regular tracks, moved by native paths through the heart of the bush.. There are over . 'O,OOO square miles of such bush between the Rovuma and the Zambesi rivers, much of the country is terra incognita and the natives unsubdued or openly rebellious. The campaign of 1916-17 has shown that it is practically impossible to round up a mobile enemy in such difficult terrain, and from the character of the German commander it appeared improt>able that a general surrender would take place until his forces were reduced to innocuousness. The campaign therefore was one of virtual extermination, and these operations were conducted through the heavy rainy season. Some idea of the heavy obstacles encountered is shown by the fact that the troops often had to force a way through such thick jungle that the roads were mere tunnels through bamboo thickets and elephant grass.—Reuter,