East Africa & Von Lettow Vorbeck

[Stratiotes]

One I ran across that is not real easy to find is called
Guerilla by Hoyt, ISBN: 0025552104.

Also, a very nice online bio is at FirstWorldWar online:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/lettowvorbeck.htm

Not only was he a brilliant military commander but also a decent human being who opposed Hitler's rise to power.

[davidbfpo]

The Daily Telegraph (London) today published a book review of 'Tip and Run: the untold tragedy of the Great War in Africa' by Edward Paice, pub. Weidenfield and Nicholson, £25 in the U.K.

I quote 'the story's hero is the one-eyed Schutztruppe chief Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck....one of the greatest guerilla leaders in history'.

Perhaps the book will be available via amzon & others across the water?

Davidbfpo

[Bowman]

I see that Amazon lists the book " Tip & Run " but not yet available .Went through my usual sources but only Amazon listed the book .
Looking forward to that book !!

[tequila]

Hew Strachan's The First World War: To Arms has an outstanding and quite lengthy chapter on WWI operations in Africa, with a lot of info about Lettow-Vorbeck's campaigns.

[wm]

Hew Strachan's The First World War: To Arms has an outstanding and quite lengthy chapter on WWI operations in Africa, with a lot of info about Lettow-Vorbeck's campaigns.

To Arms has been reprinted in pieces by Oxford. You can get a single volume called The First World War in Africa, published in paperback in 2004

[Jim R]

Just finished Guerilla a few days ago. Excellent and easy read. Details regarding some operations were a little thin, but gave a vivid picture of the tactics of both sides and the hardships and cunning of the Germans and Askaries.

I also found A Case study in Leadership from the USAWC.

[TROUFION]

My Reminisence of East Africa, by Lettow Vorbeck. Available on Amazon for @$30.

A good read/a good translation. Compares well to Lawrence's Seven Pillars. The major difference being that he was the Commander of the forces without any real influence from his HHQ in Berlin, not an intel officer-liaison-advisor with an active HHQ in closer Cairo. Further his was the only game in town once the other German colonies fell (all within the first year) he was the only one left. Whereas Allenby's advance on Jerusalem, and the expeditions up the Tigris-Euphrates were the principle efforts of the brits.

WWI.com has a nice biographical sketch and an article on the battle of Tanga available free.

The wikipedia site on him is a good start point for researching.

Of course to really get to know the guy you'd have to know German. My Grandfather (former Luftwaffe Capt. from Hamburg, Vorbeck's home city) was a big fan of the General and used to tell me about him. Including his involvment in Freikorps and the suppression of the Spartacist Rebellion in Hamburg after WWI.