East African campaign (World War I)
The East African campaign in World War I was a series of battles and guerrilla actions, which started in German East Africa (GEA) and spread to portions of Mozambique, Rhodesia, British East Africa, the Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. The campaign all but ended in German East Africa in November 1917 when the Germans entered Mozambique and continued the campaign living off Portuguese supplies.
| East African campaign | |||||||||
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| Part of the African theatre of World War I | |||||||||
An Askari company ready to march in German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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United Kingdom
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Jan Smuts Jacob van Deventer Arthur Hoskins Charles Tombeur Armand Huyghé Ferreira Gil João Teixeira Pinto † |
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Heinrich Schnee (POW) Kurt Wahle | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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British Empire Initially: 2 battalions 12,000–20,000 soldiers Total: 250,000 soldiers 600,000 porters |
Regulars (Schutztruppe) Initially: 2,700 Maximum: 18,000 1918: 1,283 Total: 22,000 Irregulars (Ruga-Ruga) 12,000+ | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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22,000
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365,000 civilians died in war-related famines.
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The strategy of the German colonial forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was to divert Allied forces from the Western Front to Africa. His strategy achieved only mixed results after 1916 when he was driven out of German East Africa. The campaign in Africa consumed considerable amounts of money and war material that could have gone to other fronts.
The Germans in East Africa fought for the whole of the war, receiving word of the armistice on 14 November 1918 at 07:30 hours. Both sides waited for confirmation, with the Germans formally surrendering on 25 November. GEA became two League of Nations Class B Mandates, Tanganyika Territory of the United Kingdom and Ruanda-Urundi of Belgium, while the Kionga Triangle was ceded to Portugal.