They fought for King and Kaiser – James Ambrose Brown

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They fought for King and Kaiser – James Ambrose Brown (South Africans at War #6)
South Africans in German East Africa 1916

In this book James Ambrose Brown does more than write a campaign history: he draws the reader into the emotional and national frenzy of colonial politics in German East Africa during the 1916 – 1918 campaign and the annexations of African territories that preceded it. This sets the stage for the narrative that chronicles the major role that South Africa played in this war in tropical Africa.

It was a campaign in Tanganyika remarkable for the suffering, hardships and stubborn courage on both sides. This story of human endurance is presented with the freshness of personally recorded experiences of officers and men who fought in what is now called Tanzania, and tells for the first time the important function that South African volunteers played under the command of General Jan Smuts. Smuts’s relentless drive to achieve quick victory was thwarted by the soldierly abilities of Colonel (later General) von Lettow-Vorbeck. There were appalling losses on both sides as men and animals succumbed to tropical diseases and starvation.

German East Africa had the highest losses from sickness of any theatre in World War I, and South Africa alone invalided home 12 000 men unfit for further service in the tropics. A complete list of casualties that resulted from this campaign is included. In twelve months Smuts achieved his territorial objectives: to cross the Rufiji River and occupy most of the country; but it was a war that he would never win.