Re: [WW] Re: The Grat War 1914-1919

[Arne Reuter <reuter@tse-online.de>]

From the Encyclopedia Britannica (www.britannica.com):

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck.

born March 20, 1870, Saarlouis, Rhine Province, Prussia [now in
Germany]
died March 9, 1964, Hamburg

lieutenant colonel commanding Germany's small African
force during World War I, who became a determined and
resourceful guerrilla leader hoping to influence the war in
Europe by pinning down a disproportionately large number of
Allied troops in his area. 

A member of the South West Colonial Forces in 1914,
Lettow-Vorbeck served on the expedition to put down the
Herero and Hottentot rebellion, during which he gained
experience in bush fighting. Appointed commander of the
(German) East African Colonial Forces, he repelled a British
landing at Tanga (Tanzania) in November of that year. For four
years, with a force that never exceeded about 14,000 (3,000
Germans and 11,000 askaris, or native Africans), he held in
check a much larger force (estimates range from 130,000 to
more than 300,000) of British, Belgian, and Portuguese
troops. 

Note: He also learned about British operations, when he was part of
the international expedition force in China 1900/01.

Mit freundlichen Gruessen,

Arne Reuter

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