Historia ya Sajenti Mbavu Moya katika Vita ya Kwanza ya Dunia (WWI)

[bagamoyo]

Nyarugusu, Tanzania

Source : Tanganyika TV​

VITA VYA DUNIA HISTORIA YA MBAVU MOYA​

April 14, 2020
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SHUJAA TOKA TARAFANI FIZI Wakati huu wa kumbukumbu la Vita vya Kwanza vya Dunia (Première Guerre mondiale ) vya 1914-1918 ambavyo uitwa pia "Vita vikuu" (Grande guerre),tumkumbuke afisa (officier) shujaa toka Fizi wa Force Publique ya Congo-Belge,1er Sergent Major Mbavu Ndogo Michel (wengine wanamwita Mbavu Moya).

Kwa mwaka wa 1916, Ubeljiji (Belgique) iliamua kufukuza Wajermani katika inchi zao za ukoloni hasa Urundi (Burundi, kwa leo) na Tanganyika (Tanzania, kwa leo).Kamanda Mkuu wa Force Publique aliitwa Jemadari Charles Henri Marie Ernest Tombeur.

Sergent Mbavu Ndogo alikuwa kamanda wa kikosi kilichoitwa "Brigade du sud ". Le 6 juin 1916, alivamia Usumbura (Bujumbura, kwa leo) na kufukuza wa Allemands, chini ya uongozi wa afisa mbeleji Lieutenant-Colonel Frédérick Olsen.Tarehe 27 juillet 1916, Sergent Mbavu Ndogo kazibiti Kigoma.

Hapo Le 28 juillet 1916, akakamata Ujiji. Le 19 septembre 1916 akazibiti Tabora chini ya uongozi wa Général Tombeur. Le 9 octobre 1916, akadhibiti Mahenge chini ya uongozi wa Afisa mwengine wa kibeleji Lieutenant-Colonel Armand Huyghe. Sergent Mbavu Ndogo aliwafukuza wa Allemands Burundi na Tanzania. Général Tombeur alipewa tunzo kama "Baron Charles Tombeur de Tabora".

Lieutenant Colonel kapewa tunzo kama "Chevalier Armand de Mahenge". 1er Sergent Major Mbavu Ndogo kakumbukwa kwa mwaka wa 1958 baada ya Vita vya pili vya dunia (Deuxième Guerre mondiale 1940-1945) ambako huyo afisa shujaa wa RDC alipigana mara tena zidi ya Wajermani.

Kama tunzo : 1) Alipewa pete ya 1er Sergent Major wa Force Publique na akatumwa Bukavu. 2) Picha yake ilitiwa kwenye noti ya franka kumi (10 Fr) ya Banque Centrale du Congo-Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Benki kuu hiyo ilichapisha picha ya 1er Sergent Major Mbavu Ndogo Michel le 01 décembre 1958. 3) Wengine wanasema kwamba pale Bukavu/Kadutu Carrefour palikuwa monument yake.

Kwa leo, hakuna trace hata moja ya monument zaidi ya mitaa ya Kinshasa na Lumbumbashi nchini Free Congo State wakati wa Ukoloni wa mBelgiji kupewa majina ya “Avenue Kigoma”, “Avenue Tabora”, “Avenue Mahenge” na mji wa Boma kuwa na kambi ya kijeshi ya “Camp Tabora”. Mobutu Sese Seko pia alipata kuwa Mcongomani wa kwanza kupewa cheo cha Sajenti pengine ndiyo maana akaamua kumuenzi Master Sajenti Mbavu Ndogo Moya kwa ujasiri kupambana na dola uliyokuwa na nguvu ya Ujerumani chino ya Kaiser.

Source: VITA VYA DUNIA HISTORIA YA MBAVU MOYA

Noti ya kutambua utumishi wa kutukuka iliyotolewa na Mfalme wa Ubelgiji kwa Sajenti-Major Mbavu Ndogo Moya

Congratulations to 1st Sergent Major Mbavu

 

[Smart911]

Ahsante kwa historia

 

[EINSTEIN112]

So hadi Kigoma, Tabora na Mahenge kawatimua mabeberu?

Kwanini hayupo kwenye historia zetu

 

[bagamoyo]

Josef Mambo (born in 1885) mzaliwa wa Tanga, Tanganyika German East Africa) aliwasili Ujerumani toka Afrika akiwa mtoto mwaka (1897) na baadaye akaingizwa ktk kikosi cha farasi 3rd Prussian Horse Grenadiers (“Grenadier Regiment zu Pferde ‘Freiherr von Derfflinger’ Nr. 3”).

Wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Kwanza ya Dunia (1914 -1918) huko Ulaya alipigana mstari wa mbele dhidi ya Russia, kujeruhiwa mara mbili vitani na kisha kupandishwa cheo hadi Sergeant kutokana na ushujaa wake akitumikia jeshi la Kaiser wa Ujerumani huko ulaya.

 

[Takison]

So hadi Kigoma, Tabora na Mahenge kawatimua mabeberu?
Kwanini hayupo kwenye historia zetu

Sisi hatujaandika historia yeti, historia inaandikwa na mabeberu. Hawatakubali historia inayoonesha udhaifu wao. Elimu yetu inadhibitiwa na nchi za magharibu

 

[bagamoyo]

Simulizi za Mzee Ahmad Ibrahim Bakundukize : Vuguvugu la kisiasa 1950 - 1960 nchi za Maziwa Mkuu za Tanganyika, Burundi, Ruanda na Congo Zaire



Waswahili wa nchi hizi 4 wamefanya makubwa bila kujali mipaka ya nchi zao, waliunganishwa na lugha ya kiSwahili na u-mjini wao kuwa popote ni kambi hivyo palipo na "waswahili" yaani panapoongewa lugha ya kiSwahili ni nyumbani na Panafaa kuongoza harakati.

Source : Mashariki TV

 

[bagamoyo]

Simulizi za Mzee Ahmad Ibrahim Bakundukize : Wazee wa Tanganyika na Parti Politique UPRONA 1960 - 1970



Source : Mashariki TV

 

[bagamoyo]

Simulizi za Mzee Ahmad Ibrahim Bakundukize : Wazee waSwahili wa Buyenzi Bujumbura wamkaribisha mtoto wa chifu / mwami Rudoviko Rwagasore ambaye ni msomi ktk harakati zao za kuipatia Burundi uhuru toka kwa m-Beljii.


Nyerere apendekeza kiundwe chama cha pili cha upinzani zaidi ya UPRONA kuwazuga wakoloni wasiigawe UPRONA vipande....chama hiki cha upinzani feki kitaisaidia UPRONA isisumbuliwe sana na serikali ya kikoloni ktk harakati za kupingania uhuru....maana wakoloni wataelekeza nguvu na matumaini ya kudhoofisha UPRONA kwa kuwekeza nguvu zao ktk chama cha Siasa feki
Source: Mashariki TV

Ubuzima bwiwe - Pinterest mwami Rudoviko (Louis)Rwagasore

 

[bagamoyo]

Tabora, German East Africa

Belgian Congo and the Tabora Offensive (1916)​

The Tabora Offensive was an Anglo-Belgian offensive into German East Africa, which ended with the Battle of Tabora in the north-west of German East Africa, it was part of the East African Campaign in World War I.

Source: Belgian Congo


Belgo-Congolese troops of the Force Publique after the Battle of Tabora, 19 September

 

[bagamoyo]

21 Sep 2016

General Tombeur and the Battle of Tabora



September 19, 1916 is a momentous date in the First World War. That day, the Belgian-Congolese Force Publique stormed the town of Tabora in the former Germanic East Africa (Tanganyika) . A century later, our country commemorates the Great War in Central Africa during various ceremonies, including one in Saint-Gilles.
source: Belgian Defence

"The 1914-1918 War in Africa. Folded Memories"

Commanded by General Charles Tombeur, the Congolese Force Publique took part for the first time in large-scale operations in 1916 against German colonial troops.

At the end of June 1916, it occupied the whole of Rwandan territory before winning, on September 19, 1916, a decisive victory at the battle of Tabora, the main city of German East Africa.

Honored by colonial circles, Tombeur, the great hero of Tabora, was knighted by King Albert and authorized to add the particle "of Tabora" to his name. Died in 1947, he is buried in the cemetery of Saint-Gilles, in the part of the crypt dedicated to the Saint-Gilles soldiers who died during or as a result of the 1914-18 war. As a final tribute, his bust, the work of Jacques Marin, was inaugurated on avenue du Parc in Saint-Gilles in 1951.

The municipality of Saint-Gilles, in co-organization with the Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles, wished to commemorate the Centenary of the Great War from the traces which, like those of General Tombeur, are still inscribed in the municipal public space. .

The approach of the municipality tends to highlight the values and paradoxes that can emerge from the Great War (peace and brutalization; democracy and nationalism; freedom and totalitarianism; ...). It also tends to include the commemorations in the existing traces in order to strengthen the links between the inhabitants and their municipality.

Through the figure of General Tombeur, this conference focuses on all the Belgian and Congolese actors who were involved in the First World War. Mixing associations, students and researchers, whether Belgian or Congolese, this colloquium aims to shed light on the memories of these actors, battles and victories, memories folded up, but not disappeared. Memories that give full meaning to the globalization of this war.

Source: http://www.bejust.be/event/colloque-la-guerre-14-18-en-afrique-des-mémoires-repliées

 

[bagamoyo]

MWAKA 1924 KIGOMA YATOLEWA KUTOKA HIMAYA YA RUANDA-URUNDI YA UBELJI KUFUATIA MAKUBALIANO BAINA YA UBELGIJI NA UINGEREZA

Historia inasema Kigoma ilikuwa sehemu ya Ruanda-Urundi ya Belgiji mpaka mwaka 1924 hivyo watu wa Kigoma walikuwa ndani ya utawala wa Mfalme wa Ubelgiji na ndiyo maana utaona watu wengi wa Kigoma Ngara Kasulu waliweza kwenda kuishi Buyenzi Bujumbura kuoa kuolewa na kuzunguka ndani ya Ruanda-Urundi iliyokuwa inajumuisha na maeneo ya Kigoma.

Udugu huu wa enzi na enzi ulio maalum hauwezi kufa hivyo ni sahihi Burundi ya sasa kutuma salama kwa ndugu zao wa damu waliotenganishwa na dola za ulaya kupeana vipande vya nchi mwaka 1924. Na ghafla kukuta wajomba, mashangazi, binamu, kaka na kaka au dada na dada kujikuta wanahesabika kukaa ktk nchi tofauti. Kwanza 1890 waBelgiji na Ujerumani waligawana mapande ya Mwami ya Ruanda-Urundi. Kisha 1919 waRuanda-Urundi wa Kigoma wakajikuta tena wanasikilizia hatima yao kama watapelekwa Tanganyika ya Uingereza au kubakia Kigoma ya Beljii (Belgium). Suala hilo lilicheleweshwa mpaka 1924 na kujikuta wametupwa Tanganyika ya Uingereza kufuatia Muafaka wa Brussels wa mwaka 1924 kuwatoa watu wa Kigoma toka kwa waBelgiji na kuingiza chini ya utawala wa Mwingereza .

https://www.informea.org › treaties
Exchange of notes accepting the Protocol signed at Kigoma, 5 ...
Exchange of notes accepting the Protocol signed at Kigoma, 5 August 1924, relative to the ... Minister for Foreign Affairs at Brussels establish by letter the boundaries of Tanganika Lake

22. Exchange of notes accepting the protocol signed at Kigoma, on 5 august 1924, relative to the Tanganyika-Ruanda-Urundi frontier. Brussels, 17 May 1926​

(46League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 54, p. 239.)

(47See also the Agreement between the United Kingdom and Belgiun regarding Water Rights on the Boundary between Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi, London, 22 November 1934, in Legislative Texts and Treaty Provisions concerning the Utilization of International Rivers for Other Purposes than Navigation (United Nations publication, Sales No. 63.V.4), p. 97.)

No. 1 - The British Ambassador at Brussels to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Brussels, 17 May 1926

Monsieur le Ministre,

I have the honour, under instructions from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to convey to Your Excellency by the present note the formal acceptance by His Majesty's Government of the Protocol signed at Kigoma on 5 August 1924, with its accompanying maps, as defining the boundary between Tanganyika territory and the Belgian mandated territory of Ruanda-Urundi.

I am at the same time instructed to draw the attention of the Belgian Government to paragraph 51 of the Protocol in question and to invite them to agree that, notwithstanding the new boundary in Lake Tanganyika which is defined by the said paragraph, all customary rights of fishing and passage exercised by natives living on either side of it should be preserved, but that, at the same time, even with regard to the rights of fishing and passage, the respective Governments should preserve their common law rights and should not, for instance, be debarred from levying a fishing tax on all persons alike who use their territorial waters.

I should be grateful if Your Excellency would be good enough to confirm to me that the Belgian Government is in agreement with His Majesty's Government with regard to the arrangements indicated in the preceding paragraph.

I avail myself of this opportunity, etc.

No. 2 - The Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the British Ambassador at Brussels

Brussels, 17 May 1926

Your Excellency,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today's date, in which you are good enough to inform the Royal Government that His Britannic Majesty's Government accepts the Protocol signed at Kigoma on August 5, 1924, with its accompanying maps, as defining the boundary between Tanganyika Territory and the Belgian mandated territory of Ruanda-Urundi.

The Belgian Government also approves these documents.

At the same time you draw the attention of the Belgian Government to paragraph 51 of the Protocol in question and invite them to agree that, notwithstanding the new boundary in Lake Tanganyika which is defined by the said paragraph, all customary rights of fishing and passage exercised by natives living on either side of it should be preserved, but that at the same time, even with regard to the rights of fishing and passage, the respective Governments should preserve their common law rights and should not, for instance, be debarred from levying a fishing tax on all persons alike who use their territorial waters.

The Belgian Government has the honour to confirm to Your Excellency that they are in agreement with His Britannic Majesty's Government with regard to these arrangements.

 

[Mzee Kijana]

So hadi Kigoma, Tabora na Mahenge kawatimua mabeberu?

Kwanini hayupo kwenye historia zetu

Japo alikuwa anawatumikia mabeberu wengine wa Kibelgiji.

 

[Mohamed Said]

MWAKA 1924 KIGOMA YATOLEWA KUTOKA HIMAYA YA RUANDA-URUNDI KUFUATIA MAKUBALIANO BAINA YA UBELGIJI NA UINGEREZA

Historia inasema Kigoma ilikuwa sehemu ya Ruanda-Urundi ya Belgiji mpaka mwaka 1924 hivyo watu wa Kigoma walikuwa ndani ya utawala wa Mfalme wa Ubelgiji na ndiyo maana utaona watu wengi wa Kigoma Ngara Kasulu waliweza kwenda kuishi Buyenzi Bujumbura kuoa kuolewa na kuzunguka ndani ya Ruanda-Urundi iliyokuwa inajumuisha na maeneo ya Kigoma.

Udugu huu wa enzi na enzi ulio maalum hauwezi kufa hivyo ni sahihi Burundi ya sasa kutuma salama kwa ndugu zao wa damu waliotenganishwa na dola za ulaya kupeana vipande vya nchi mwaka 1924. Na ghafla kukuta wajomba, mashangazi, binamu, kaka na kaka au dada na dada kujikuta wanahesabika kukaa ktk nchi tofauti. Kwanza 1890 waBelgiji na Ujerumani waligawana mapande ya Mwami ya Ruanda-Urundi. Kisha 1919 waRuanda-Urundi wa Kigoma wakajikuta tena wanasikilizia hatima yao kama watapelekwa Tanganyika ya Uingereza au kubakia Kigoma ya Beljii (Belgium). Suala hilo lilicheleweshwa mpaka 1924 na kujikuta wametupwa Tanganyika ya Uingereza kufuatia Muafaka wa Brussels wa mwaka 1924 kuwatoa watu wa Kigoma toka kwa waBelgiji na kuingiza chini ya utawala wa Mwingereza .

22. Exchange of notes accepting the protocol signed at Kigoma, on 5 august 1924, relative to the Tanganyika-Ruanda-Urundi frontier. Brussels, 17 May 1926​

(46League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 54, p. 239.)

(47See also the Agreement between the United Kingdom and Belgiun regarding Water Rights on the Boundary between Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi, London, 22 November 1934, in Legislative Texts and Treaty Provisions concerning the Utilization of International Rivers for Other Purposes than Navigation (United Nations publication, Sales No. 63.V.4), p. 97.)

No. 1 - The British Ambassador at Brussels to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Brussels, 17 May 1926

Monsieur le Ministre,

I have the honour, under instructions from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to convey to Your Excellency by the present note the formal acceptance by His Majesty's Government of the Protocol signed at Kigoma on 5 August 1924, with its accompanying maps, as defining the boundary between Tanganyika territory and the Belgian mandated territory of Ruanda-Urundi.

I am at the same time instructed to draw the attention of the Belgian Government to paragraph 51 of the Protocol in question and to invite them to agree that, notwithstanding the new boundary in Lake Tanganyika which is defined by the said paragraph, all customary rights of fishing and passage exercised by natives living on either side of it should be preserved, but that, at the same time, even with regard to the rights of fishing and passage, the respective Governments should preserve their common law rights and should not, for instance, be debarred from levying a fishing tax on all persons alike who use their territorial waters.

I should be grateful if Your Excellency would be good enough to confirm to me that the Belgian Government is in agreement with His Majesty's Government with regard to the arrangements indicated in the preceding paragraph.

I avail myself of this opportunity, etc.

No. 2 - The Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the British Ambassador at Brussels

Brussels, 17 May 1926

Your Excellency,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of today's date, in which you are good enough to inform the Royal Government that His Britannic Majesty's Government accepts the Protocol signed at Kigoma on August 5, 1924, with its accompanying maps, as defining the boundary between Tanganyika Territory and the Belgian mandated territory of Ruanda-Urundi.

The Belgian Government also approves these documents.

At the same time you draw the attention of the Belgian Government to paragraph 51 of the Protocol in question and invite them to agree that, notwithstanding the new boundary in Lake Tanganyika which is defined by the said paragraph, all customary rights of fishing and passage exercised by natives living on either side of it should be preserved, but that at the same time, even with regard to the rights of fishing and passage, the respective Governments should preserve their common law rights and should not, for instance, be debarred from levying a fishing tax on all persons alike who use their territorial waters.

The Belgian Government has the honour to confirm to Your Excellency that they are in agreement with His Britannic Majesty's Government with regard to these arrangements.

MAADHIMISHO YA MIAKA 100 VITA VYA KWANZA VYA DUNIA 1914 - 1918 : SHAJARA ZA LANCE CORPORAL KLEIST SYKES

Picha ya Bismini (Askari Monument) Ndugu msomaji, Mwezi huu katika juma hili kulifanyika maadhimisho makubwa Uingereza kuadh...

mohamedsaidsalum.blogspot.com

MAADHIMISHO YA MIAKA 100 VITA VYA KWANZA VYA DUNIA 1914 - 1918 : SHAJARA ZA LANCE CORPORAL KLEIST SYKES​

Mohamed Said Historia, Siasa na Maendeleo Tanzania August 07, 2014 0

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Picha ya Bismini (Askari Monument)

Ndugu msomaji,
Mwezi huu katika juma hili kulifanyika maadhimisho makubwa Uingereza kuadhimisha miaka 100 toka Vita Vya Kwanza Dunia vilipoanza Ulaya mwaka wa 1914.
Wakati ule Tanganyika ilikuwa ikitawaliwa na Wajerumani.

Kwa ajili hii basi Tanganyika ikiwa chini ya ukoloni wa Wajerumani ikajikuta iko vitani ikipigana na Waingereza.

Tanzania haikuadhimisha kuanza kwa vita hivi.
Labda serikali imeona hapakuwa na haja yoyote.

Lakini ukweli utabaki kuwa wazee wetu walipigana vita hivi na walipoteza maisha yao katika vita vile.

Baadhi ya askari hawa wa Vita Kuu ya Kwanza walikuja kuwa mti wa mgongo wa harakati ya kupigania uhuru wa Tanganyika pale vuguvugu la kuunda TANU lilipoanza mwaka 1950.

Mzalendo maarufu katika harakati hizo za kudai uhuru kutoka kwa Waingereza na alishirika katika kuunda TANU alikuwa Schneider Plantan.

Katika askari waliopigana vita vile vya kwanza kutoka Tanganyika katika jeshi la Wajerumani alikuwa Kleist Sykes.

Kwa miaka mingi sana Kleist Sykes hajaacha kunishangaza kila ninapopitia maisha yake.

Ndugu msomaji natayarisha maandishi aliyoacha Kleist kuhusu Vita Kuu Vya Kwanza pale aliponyanyua kalamu kuandika kuhusu maisha yake na ndani ya maelezo hayo akaeleza jinsi Tanganyika ilivyoingia vitani, vita ambavyo alipigana kikosi kimoja na ndugu yake, Schneider Plantan dhidi ya Waingereza.

Tafadhali fuatilia ukurasa huu.

​

Jeshi la Wajerumani Tanganyika wakikota mzinga. Nyuma ni askari wa Kijeruamni na mbele yao wakivuta mzinga ni askari wa Kiafrika

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General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck surrendering his forces to the British at Abercon (present-day Mbala) in Northern Rhodesia.​ Ndugu msomaji, Picha zote nilizobandika hapa nimezinyambua kutoka katika mtandao. Picha hiyo hapo juu ya Paul Emil von Lettow - Vorbeck imechorwa na Mtanzania lakini kwa bahati mbaya sana jina lake halikuonyeshwa popote hata hivyo picha hii ipo Makumbusho ya Taifa. Katika vita vile Kleist Sykes alikuwa ndiye mpambe wa Vorbeck. Hapo chini ndivyo nilivyomwandika Kleist Sykes katika Vita Vya Kwanza Vya Dunia. Vita Vya Kwanza Vya Dunia 1914- 1918 Miezi michache kabla vita haijaanza Ujerumani ilimteua Lettow-von Vorbeck kama Kamanda wa Majeshi ya Ulinzi ya Ujerumani katika Tanganyika. Askari wa zamani Waafrika waliopigana chini yake, pamoja na Kleist wanamkumbuka kwa mapenzi kama mtu mwema na askari shujaa. Kleist aliingizwa ndani ya jeshi la Wajerumani tarehe 13 November 1906 akiwa kijana mdogo sana wa umri miaka kumi na mbili na akapigana katika vita Vya Kwanza Vya Dunia (1914 - 1918). Katika jeshi Kleist alipata mafunzo ya mawasiliano. Baada ya miezi mitatu alihamishwa na kupelekwa Bataliani ya Pili kama karani katika Makao Makuu ya Jeshi Dar es Salaam. Alibakia hapo hadi mwaka 1914. Vita vilipoanza, bataliani ya Kleist iliondoka Ukonga ikaelekea Mwakijembe, Tanga ambako kulikuwa na mashambulizi kutoka majeshi ya Waingereza kupitia mpaka wa Kenya. Katika bataliani hiyo alikuwapo Schneider, mtoto wa Affande Plantan. Kleist alikuwa anazungumza Kijerumani na juu ya yote hayo alikuwa vilevile mtoto wa Affande Plantan, kiongozi wa askari wa Kizulu katika utawala wa Wajerumani. Kwa ajili hii Kleist alipewa heshima ya pekee na akapewa nafasi kuwa mpambe wa von Lettow Vorbeck. Kumshuhudia kijana wa Kiafrika katika sare ya jeshi la Kijerumani akiongea Kijerumani huku anatembea nyuma ya von Lettow-Vorbeck, Mkuu wa Majeshi ya Wajerumani Tanganyika, bila shaka kuliwavutia wengi, hata Wajerumani wenyewe. Hii ilikuwa nafasi hasa iliyostahili mtoto wa askari ambae baba yake aliwasaidia Wajerumani kuiteka Tanganyika. Kama mpambe kazi yaje ilikuwa kushughulikia mambo yote ya Kamanda Mkuu. Alikuwa na jukumu la kuangalia chakula na usafi wa sare za von Lettow-Vorbeck, pamoja na mahitaji yake mengine. Alikuwa ndiye mtu wa kwanza Lettow-Vorbeck kukutananae asubuhi na wa mwisho kabla hajalala. Ilikuwa kazi yenye kumpa hadhi, mamlaka na heshima mbele ya askari wenzake. Utanashati wa Kleist katika mavazi na nidhamu yake katika maisha yake ya kawaida tu, yalitokana na kipindi hiki alichokuwa jeshini. Inaaminika kuwa hata ile hulka yake ya kuweka shajara na kuandika kumbukumbu muhimu ya mambo yake, yanatokana na uzoefu aliopata katika kipindi hiki akiwa jeshini. Inasemekana hii ndiyo miaka ambayo ilijenga silka na maisha ya Kleist. Shajara zake za vita ni kielelezo binafsi kuhusu kampeni za Wajerumani na Waingereza wakati wa Vita Kuu Vya Kwanza. Shajara hizo zinaeleza kwa ukamilifu hali ya mambo yalivyokuwa kwa askari wa Kiafrika katika mapambano waliyoshiriki dhidi ya Waingereza. Kupitia maandishi ya Kleist unaweza ukaelewa ile chuki ambayo Waarabu walikuwanayo dhidi ya Wajerumani. Pambano la Kleist la kwanza dhidi ya Waarabu waliokuwa washirika wa Waingereza lilikuwa katika sehemu moja ijulikanayo kama Mwele Juu karibu ya Tanga. Mbinu ya Lettow Vorbeck ilikuwa kuvuka mpaka wa Tanganyika na Kenya ili kukata mawasilano ya reli kati ya Mombasa na Kisumu. Reli hii ilikuwa jirani na mpaka wa Tanganyika. Ilikuwa mwendo wa siku chache kuifikia reli hii na kuikata Kenya na njia yake kuu kutoka Mombasa. Lakini jeshi la wanamaji wa Kiingereza lilikuwa Mombasa kwa hiyo bandari ya Mombasa ilikuwa imesalimika na manowari za Kijerumani. Ilikuwa wakati bataliani ya Kleist ipo Korogwe, mji uliopo maili chache kutoka Tanga, katika kijiji kiitwacho Semanya ndipo Kleist alipopokea habari kuwa Affande Plantan, baba yake Schneider na mlezi wake amefariki Dar es Salaam. Plantan alikuwa amekufa kwa homa ya matumbo tarehe 11 December 1914. Wajerumani walisimamisha vita kwa siku saba kwa heshima ya Affande Plantan. Wajerumani hawakuwa wezi wa fadhila walitambua kuwa alikuwa Affande Plantan waliekujanae kutoka Msumbiji kuja kuiteka Tanganyika. Alistahili kila aina ya heshima aliyostahili askari shujaa, hata kama alikuwa mamluki. Baada ya hapo Kleist na kamapani yake walielekea Tanga ambako kulikuwa makao makuu ya jeshi la Wajerumani wakati wa vita. Hapo hakukaa kwa muda mrefu kwa kuwa ilibidi kuomba likizo kurudi Dar es Salaam kumuangalia mama yake aliyekuwa mgonjwa. Alikaa Dar es Salaam kwa siku kumi akimuuguza mama yake kisha akarejea Tanga na akapewa kuongoza askari wanane katika divisheni ya kampani. Tarehe 24 December, 1915 kamapani yake iliamuriwa kwenda Mwakijembe na kisha Mwele Ndogo kuipokea 4th Reserve Company. Waarabu walichukua nafasi hii ya msahambulizi ya Waingereza dhidi ya Wajerumani kulipiza kisasi dhidi yao. Waarabu waliungana na Waingereza kuwatimua Wajerumani Tanganyika. Bado baadhi yao walikuwa na kumbukumbu ya kitendo cha kikatili cha Wajeruani kwa shujaa wao Abushiri ambae walimnyonga mwaka 1889. Historia ikajirudia upya; Kleist na Schneider waliingia katika mapigano Mwele Ndogo dhidi ya adui wa zamani wa baba yao na adui wa Wajerumani - Waarabu. Mapambano haya yalifanyika siku ya mkesha wa Krismasi mwaka wa 1915 katika sehemu ile ile ambayo Sykes Mbuwane na Affande Plantan mamluki wa Kizulu waliteremka kwenye meli kuja kuwaongezea nguvu Wajerumani waliokuwa wakipigana na Waarabu na machifu wenyeji. Kwa saa kumi kuanzia alfajir hadi muda mchache kabla ya jua kuchwa, Wajerumani walibanwa katika mashambulizi makali. Kleist akapandishwa cheo na kuwa Lance Corporal kwa mchango wake katika pambano lile. Siku mbili baada ya pambano hilo Kleist na kampani yake waliamuriwa kwenda Kahe. Kleist Alibakia Kahe kwa mwezi mmoja kisha wakapata amri ya kwenda Voi,Kenya mji uliopo mpakani. Wakati wakiwa njiani kuelekea Voi, Kleist akaugua na ikabidi arudishwe Mombo, mji uliokuwa na mbu wengi kwa ajili ya mto uliokuwa unakatiza hapo mjini. Kleist alibaki akiugua hapo Mombo hospitalini kwa miezi miwili. Kutoka Mombo akaelekea Handeni. Mwezi Aprili 1916 habari zikamfikia bado akiwa katika uwanja wa mapambano kuwa mama yake amefariki dunia. Mwaka wa 1916 Jeshi la Kiingereza lilikuja kuungwa mkono na askari kutoka Afrika ya Kusini walioshuka na meli Mombasa. Chini ya uongozi wa Jenerali Smuts walivuka mpaka wakaingia Tanganyika kupitia Namanga na Taveta. Haukupita muda mrefu mji wa Moshi ukatekwa. Batalioni ya Kleist ikawa sasa inarudi nyuma kuelekea Dodoma kulipokuwa na boma la Wajerumani. Si tu kuwa kikosi cha Kleist kilikuwa kinaandamwa na majeshi ya Waingereza, vikosi vya Wabelgiji navyo vilikuwa vimevuka mpaka kutoka Belgian Congo na kuingia Tanganyika. Wabelgiji waliteka Kigoma, Ujiji na Tabora. Mambo yalikuwa yamewachachia Wajerumani. Afya ya Kleist kwa wakati ule ikawa mbaya sana. Alifanyiwa uchunguzi Morogoro na akaonekana hawezi kuendelea kuitumikia katika kampeni yake. Afya yake haikumruhusu kupigana vita na ikabidi aachwe nyuma Mahenge wakati wenzake wakikimbia huku wakifukuzwa na adui. Kampani ya Kleist ilikwenda Chenene ambako walipambana kwa bunduki na vikosi vya Afrika ya Kusini kwa saa mbili. Kampani ile ikakimbilia Gode Gode, wakiponea chupu chupu. Kleist akakamatwa mateka mwezi Septemba 1917. Von Lettow Vorbeck mwishowe alifanikiwa kuvuka reli ya kati akavuka mpaka na kuingia Msumbiji, wakati huo ikijulikana kama Portuguese East Africa, akanusurika kutekwa yeye na askari wake. Kwa askari wa Kizulu hii ikawa ni nusra kwao kwa kuwa walikuwa wamerudishwa nyumbani. Wakati von Lettow Vorbeck amefanikiwa kuponyoka kukamatwa, mpambe wake Kleist alitekwa na jeshi la Wabelgiji na wao wakamkabidhi kwa Waingereza. Waingereza walimtia Kleist kifungoni katika kambi ya mateka wa vita. Askari waliokuwa mateka pamoja na wagonjwa walichukuliwa na Waingereza na kutiwa kwenye kambi iliyokuwapo Kilosa. Kleist alikubali ukweli kuwa sasa yeye amepoteza hadhi yake kama askari, ni mateka, kwa hiyo akawa anasubiri hatima yake. Alibakia ndani yake kambi ile na yeye mwenyewe anaeleza katika kumbukumbu zake kuwa hakuwa na kinyongo chochote kwa maadui zake. Kleist aliweza hata kufanya urafiki na maadui zake ambao walikuwa wamemtia kifungoni. Kutokana na hali yake ya afya, Kleist hakuweza kufanya kazi zote za sulubu kama ilivyo desturi kwa wafungwa. Hali yake ya afya haikuwa inaonyesha dalili zozote za kupata nafuu, Kleist aliachiwa mwaka 1917 kwa hisia labda akiwa nje ya kambi, afya yake itarudi. Mwezi Novemba 1918 vita vikaisha huko Ulaya. (Kutoka, ''Maisha na Nyakati za Abdulwahid Sykes (1924 - 1968)...''

 

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Return to Morogoro - A valuable addition to the literature of soldiers' experiences during the First World War​

Reviewer:
Kathy Munro
Book Review Type:
Standard Book Review

During the First World War (1914-1918) a surprising number of young White and Black South African men enlisted to serve in the armies of Britain and of her Empire.

They were speedily moulded into soldiers, chaplains, medical men and labourers. They came from all four provinces of the recently established Union of South Africa to join, firstly, the South African Defence force to fight in the campaign to defeat and dislodge the Germans from their colony in German South West Africa.

Later these young men enlisted to serve in an overseas expeditionary force and were sent to fight in East Africa, North Africa, the Middle East (Mesopotamia) and on the Western Front of France and Belgium.

The Germans in East Africa under Von Lettow Vorbeck were elusive and the Battles of the Somme and Flanders became wars of attrition and static trench carnage.

The motives of these volunteer soldiers and workers were varied. There were ancestral ties for some whose families were 19th century immigrants to South Africa.

Patriotism and a belief in the unity of the British empire inspired such men. Other youths sought fame, glory and adventure. Perhaps they sought an escape from humdrum ordinary lives on farms and small villages or in unpromising careers.


Few knew in advance that the slaughter and swathe of destruction of the first technologically driven war would end in death in the trenches or injury, disablement or debilitating tropical fevers.

The pity and loss of war had to be carried by the grieving mothers, widowed wives and orphaned children for lives sacrificed not in defence of their homes and farms but for some greater, vaguely understood Empire goal.

Now a century later we remember and try to understand why it all happened and what it meant. The strategic histories of the battles were told in the campaign and regimental histories; biographies and memoirs of the generals and the politicians directing the war began to appear almost immediately after the war.

The elusive histories were the experiences of the ordinary soldiers, the privates, in the trenches, ranging by foot or on horseback or motorcycles across the African veld.

Historiography of the early 21st century now writes about the voice of the small man and attempts to recover and interpret the story of the individual soldier. The Imperial War Museum has encouraged families to deposit their archives in the museum. Letters, diaries, and oral histories may be studied in such repositories in London and in the case of South Africa, the university and national archives become a mine of information.

The resurgence of interest in genealogical and family histories has revived interest in ancestors who fought or served in the First World War. This all means that there are many new First World War memoirs and histories appearing. At the same time professional historians (Stone, Macmillan, Ferguson, Hastings) write about context and meaning.

The South African literature on the First World War has also been given a boost by writers such as Bill Nasson, Chris Schoeman, Ian Uys, Peter Digby and Tim Couzens in addition to the regimental histories.

The renewed efforts to make known the experiences of individuals is a distinct genre of history. James Bourhill has sought and found his own family history. He draws heavily on the superb historical papers collection of the University of the Witwatersrand and on the South African Defence Document Centre as well as the private James Bourhill collection. In this book he tells the story of five men from three related, intertwined South African families, the Stockdales, the Tobias brothers, and the Bourhills. This is a book about family history, endurance, survival and their later lives and progeny.

The five young men, George and Meyer Tobias, Walter Stockdale, and Arthur and Jamie Stockdale come alive through their letters to their families.

Return to Morogoro - book cover.jpg​

Book Cover

The author sets himself the ambitious and unwieldy task of locating and then mining family letters to both relate a family history (it is almost a family saga) and then to tell the story of young men in search of identity, service, love and adventure. It was remarkable that despite the horror and loss of war the five main characters survived (though only one was unscathed) and they all returned home to South Africa.

Tropical illnesses such as malaria took their toll in East Africa. George Tobias, who served not as a soldier but as a chaplain was severely wounded as was his brother Meyer. Jamie Bourhill suffered repeatedly from malaria.
It is a complex story that takes the reader back into 19th century farming, mining and missionary roots and then forward through 20th century lives lived through warfare and peacetime adjustment.

These letters written over the four years of war are the central focus of this valuable addition to the literature of the soldiers' experiences. Their families, the fathers and mothers, wives and beloveds are also players and active participants keeping home fires burning or themselves serving as vital nurses in hospitals in South Africa and England.

The author achieves the rare feat of making the reader care about the fate of his grandfather and great uncles and I was pleased that there are some details of post war lives through the post 1919 influenza epidemic, labour strikes and economic depression. These men hardly returned to "homes fit for heroes". South Africa was still a desperately poor place for many in the interwar decades.

The best parts of the story are the actual letters. My own preference would have been for these singular, extraordinary, literate family letters from caring young men to have been produced in full.

The narrative should focus more strongly on context. Too few of these marvellous letters are reproduced in full. The voice and personality of the leading characters comes through most completely in them. I would have liked to have read the letters and not the racy mediated version.

The book is more of a family history than a military history. In a sense the author is too ambitious. He has been so caught up in the big family epic that the core of the book becomes too heavily overlaid with the background of earlier family history. It is the individual going to war who matters here.

The book is illustrated with many small, rare family black and white snapshots drawn from the private archive and hence have a documentary interest.

Supplementary photographs are extracted from internet sources. Some undocumented contemporary newspaper cartoons (no source reference given) are amusing but have little point unless directly and explicitly connected to the story. The neat maps of campaign activity help, for example, in positioning Morogoro. A glossary explains South African terms. The index is professional.
The bibliography has the feel of an incomplete working document and there are some significant omissions in the bibliography.

For example, Delville Wood cannot be discussed without reference on the work of Ian Uys. It should have been explained that "Father Hill" (dropped into the story on a few pages) was Eustace Hill, who was the hero of Delville Wood who later became the headmaster of St John's College, Johannesburg, 1922 to 1934, this sort of thumb nail sketch of a featured character could have been put into an explanatory footnote.

Richard Meinertzhagen is discussed at length but the source referencing for the controversies surrounding his career is missing. The wealthy Jewish businessman referred to as Mr Marks was presumably Sammy Marks and his biography by Mendelsohn could have thrown light on this encounter.

The source material used by Bourhill has been pinpointed in asterisk footnotes but endnotes or footnotes could have been used more effectively for research cross referencing and further elaboration. An important omission is the lack of a family tree or genealogical chart showing the links between cousins, parents, wives, uncles and aunts, to sort out the confusion of main and cameo players in this saga. In that sense the book is less polished than it should have been. Perhaps a case of rushing into print too quickly? I think the book would have benefitted if a professional editor had been engaged or if there was an editor, the job was not well done.

Thirty degree books is a publisher specializing in military history.
The strength of the book is the use of original archival material. Its historical value lies in the broad sweep of a family history and their trials, tribulations, daily anxieties and personal struggles as pioneers, pilgrims, missionaries, miners and farmers through several generations.

The subtext is the impact of wars, from the Anglo Boer War through First World War to Second World War on English speaking, British immigrant families.

Source : Return to Morogoro - A valuable addition to the literature of soldiers' experiences during the First World War | The Heritage Portal

Return to Morogoro, with the South African Horse through East Africa to France and Flanders, 1914-1918, James Bourhill, published by 30degree South Publishers, 2015, Paperback, 260 pages, illustrated. ISBN 978 1 928211 747

GERMAN EAST AFRICA: Captured native German troops give a drill display (1916)​

 

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Shajara / Diary za mzalendo Martin Kayamba akiwa mateka Vita Kuu ya Dunia (WWI) katika Ujerumani ya Afrika Mashariki.

The Tanganyika Territory African Civil Service Association had been founded by Martin Kayamba in 1922, to bring together Muslim and https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com › ...

On my second trip, whilst returning to Muheza, in the train at Korogwe I heard a rumour that there was war between the British and the Germans.

Natives were talking about it. It was 2nd of August, 1914. On my arrival I hurried to the U.M.C.A. Station at Magila and reported the matter to my friend Mr. Russell. He did not believe me and said it was impossible for the British and the Germans to fight because they were friends and relations. I replied that I thought there was something in the rumour, and returned home.

Then I heard the German troops were already on the move and Rev. Spanton, the Principal of Kiungani College, Zanzibar, who had come with his college boys from Zanzibar on vacation leave, had been arrested by Captain Hering and sent to Tanga under escort.

This was the beginning of troubles. The natives were much excited to hear about the occurrence of war between the British and the Germans. Some of them thought they had prophesied its occurrence. Why and how they thought so it is difficult to explain, but there were some who even predicted its outbreak that year. The news of its outbreak did not appear to be very astonishing and in a few days it was a commonplace talk.

I could not get my way to Zanzibar or Mombasa, where my father was, and this was really bad for me and my daughter. Brother John (Rev. Williams), who had gone to Tanga to try and get a dhow for Zanzibar, was unsuccessful. All roads to Kenya had been closed.

German troops were already at Tanga and Moshi. I then heard that English missionaries and planters had been arrested and escorted to Morogoro for internment. Rev. Keates and a few mission ladies were left at Magila Mission Station. My daughter was very ill at the time. She had a bad sore foot. I took her to Magila Mission for treatment.

A false allegation was fabricated against Rev. Keates that he was signalling to the British men-of-war near Tanga from a hill near Magila by means of fire. It was the beginning of the persecution of the African Christians belonging to the U.M.C.A. I found my safety was jeopardized. Rev. Keates, mission ladies and African teachers of Magila were escorted to Morogoro, Kilimatinde and Tabora.

On 12th January, 1915, my turn came; I was sitting at the farm of my relation when I was called to the village, which was about fifteen miles inland from Tanga. Jumbe Omari of Umba, who was my nurse when I was a small boy, came to see me with a message from Akida Sengenge of Ngomeni; I was required by the District Commissioner at Muheza. We walked there together.


The District Commissioner asked me what I was doing and if I intended going anywhere. I replied I was trading and produced my license, which he took from me. I said I had no intention of proceeding anywhere. He asked me where I had come from and when. I replied I came from Zanzibar, and delivered my passport from the German Consul, Zanzibar.

I was informed afterwards that certain persons had reported to him that I was a spy and had come into the country one month before the outbreak of the war from the Zanzibar Government. This was disproved by my passport from the German Consul, Zanzibar.


He asked me if I was a British subject and could speak English. I replied in the affirmative. He then said I would be sent up country to stay there till the end of the war as I might create trouble in the place. I said I was not going to make any trouble and I had my trade property apart from my personal property, and what would happen to it? He said I would get it after the war, but I had to be sent up country to stay there till the war was over.


I was then escorted to the prison. As I had only 20 rupees with me I asked my relations to send me another 80 rupees, in two instalments of 50 rupees and 50 rupees because I was afraid the German African soldiers might rob it from me if they knew I had money. They brought me 50 rupees and before I received the second instalment I was handcuffed with another Bondei Christian, named Geldert Mhina, and was escorted to Handeni.

At the Muheza Station the German Assistant District Officer of Tanga abused us and said we would surely be shot because we were passing news to the British.

At Korogwe we had the most terrible time. As soon as we got there, it was about 2 p.m., we were put in a prison gang and despatched to carry sand till the evening. We used to work with criminals from 4 p.m. till 11 p.m. From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. we carried ammunition boxes from the train to the Police Station. We had our meal only once a day, at 4 p.m. 5 the meal consisted of boiled maize. We were kept with criminals and treated as criminals.

After six days we were escorted to Handeni together with the wounded British soldiers of the Lancashire Rifles who had been captured in the battle of Tanga. The British soldiers were carried in hammocks by the native prisoners of war. On the way the British soldiers were well treated. We were joined by the Korogwe English missionaries, including Bishop Birley and Brother John, with African teachers of the U.M.C.A.

We marched together to Handeni. There we met in prison over one hundred African teachers of the U.M.C.A. and Rev. Canon Petro Limo, an old African priest. These were afterwards sent to Kondoa Irangi, where they were brutally treated in prison. Some of them died as the result of the most atrocious treatment meted out to them by the German officer of Kondoa Irangi and his African prison warders.

Our gang was sent to Kimamba. Some of us were made to carry the loads and hammocks of the English missionaries. I was fortunate to obtain a job of safari cook. I got myself engaged in this work in order to save myself from carrying loads and hammocks for nearly eleven days. I had never carried loads before in my life. I knew nothing about cooking as I had never done this work in my life, but I had to make the best of it. Having tasted European food while at Kiungani College and having often been dining with Miss Thackeray, etc., I had to form some idea as to how this food was cooked. It was a difficult job.


For two days the cook of the German officer was doing the whole cooking and I was watching him. On the third day I was ordered to do everything myself. I do not know how I managed it, but somehow or other I made some sort of food which was fairly eatable. I remember one day I boiled three ox-tongues for three hours and yet they were as hard as a bone. I did not know the trick of getting them properly boiled. But to my surprise they were passed as eatable. I sometimes wondered if the food cooked by me could be eaten by anybody else other than missionaries. They probably knew I was not a cook and made concessions accordingly. I must have caused them bad stomachs, but I did not hear of any complaints. If I had cooked for the German officer I would surely have received some knocking for bad cooking.

When we got to Kimamba my work ceased. I contracted an acute dysentery on the way and at Kimamba my condition was worse. But I was cured by a German doctor at Kimamba. On our way to Kimamba the German African soldiers who were escorting us were treating our gang very badly. They made us run and lashed the stragglers. Bishop Birley very often had to rebuke them for this. It was the road of the Cross. At Kimamba we entrained for Tabora and the English missionaries detrained for Mpwapwa. On our arrival at Tabora Railway Station we were despatched to the Prisoners of War Camp.

There we found Indian soldiers who had been captured at Tanga and Jassini, about two hundred of them, and some African teachers of the U.M.C. A. who had been sent there before us. These are the teachers who were together with Rev. Keates. They related to us that when they got to Tabora they were sent to gaol and kept with criminals. They were so very harshly treated that they thought not one of them would survive. They were made to hoe from morning to evening without lifting their backs, and whenever they tried to do so they were severely flogged. They were all in chains and slept with chains round their necks. They did everything in chains. At last their condition was so bad that they had to choose between life and death.

One day when they were returning from their daily toil they met the German Chief Secretary on the way with his wife. Apparently his wife was French. The leader pulled the whole chain gang and approached the German Chief Secretary in spite of the threats from their escort. The Chief Secretary asked them what was the matter with them, and they told him they were brought from Muheza by the Government and they did not know why they were not tried but were put in gaol with criminals and treated worse than criminals. He said he would go into the matter and they would hear from him later. The result was they were transferred to the Prisoners of War Camp and were promised a better treatment. They saved us and everybody who came after them.


The camp was guarded by German African soldiers. There was a separate camp for European prisoners of war. First we were detailed to carry building stones from a certain hill to the European camp, about a distance of two miles. We were made to run all the way with stones on our heads, an African soldier in charge was lashing those who were behind. He had a special order from the German officer to drive us and lash us. This order was given in our presence before we started the day’s work.

The time was really terrible for us and I remember a day when I was so exhausted that I was on the point of fainting. We had our meal once a day in the evening and had to cook it ourselves after we had been exhaustively fatigued and were very hungry. What frightened us most was the news that a Greek had been sentenced to death for having signalled to the British troops at Moshi by means of fire. He was shot. We were very dejected and could not tell what our fate would be. During the first days we were not supplied with relish and had to live on bare cassava. We had to sleep on the open ground. Our drinking water was filthy. Buckets which were used for W.C. were afterwards used for our drinking water. It was not surprising when dysentery of the worst kind broke out in the camp. One-third of the Indian soldiers and about one-sixth of the native prisoners perished of it. On certain days we had to bury as many as six persons in one day. There was not a day that we did not bury someone. It was a camp of death.

A German doctor was appointed to the camp and a hospital was built near the camp. It was always full. The diet was then Altered and two German officers were appointed in charge of our camp. These gentlemen were very good to us. I was first made one of the headmen of the camp. My duties were to supervise my fellow prisoners at work and in camp. Headmen had more than this to do. It fell to our lot to represent the grievances of the African prisoners to the Camp authorities. I was afterwards made a head mason. I learnt this work in camp. We had to build a brick house for German officers, and as my work was good I was soon promoted to the rank of head mason. In the camp Geldart, my mate, and myself were in charge of camp construction work, and we built a very nice camp. Our clothes were worn out and we were not supplied with clothes or blankets by the German authorities. We had to contrive some means of obtaining clothing. Our food was brought in American! bags, and we had to turn the bags into shirts and shorts. I was then transferred to the camp hospital as a hospital assistant. There I worked with Dr. Mohammedin and Dr. Kudrat Ali of the Indian Kashmir Rifles. They were both good men. Dr. Mohammedin was always helping his people very much. Dr. Moesta, a German Medical Officer in charge of the native hospital in town and our camp hospital, was exceptionally good. He did all he could to help the patients and poor people and’ I often saw him spending his own money to help them. He treated us very nicely indeed. Another German medical officer who was formerly in the man-of-war Kordgsberg was also very good.

I was afterwards transferred with another African prisoner, Samwil Msumi, to the native hospital in town. My work was to look after patients in the wards and give them medicines and to help in the operation room. Samwil Msumi was doing microscopic work colouring blood preparations, etc., for the doctor to examine by microscope. Dr. Moesta took the trouble to train us to examine germs found in blood, etc., of patients by microscope and to diagnose diseases. We could do this work eventually. He gave us a good medical training and we became very useful to him in the hospital. He often worked from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and was never tired. He visited each in-patient twice a day and examined personally every patient who came to the hospital for treatment. He could speak several European languages. Every one in our camp liked him. The condition in our camp was ameliorated and the diet was improved. The work for prisoners was not so exacting as before. The buildings in our camp had to be extended by us, as we were getting more prisoners in the camp and the accommodation was insufficient.

I was very anxious to see my daughter, whom I had left at Magila with a bad foot. There was no sign of the ending of the war, and we did not know what our fate would be. We first thought the war would take only three or six months to end, or at most three years. Periodically we got news about the war through the Africans.

It was wonderful how Africans could pass from mouth to mouth news about the war in Europe, which was perfectly correct. The news travelled so quickly that even cable and wireless could hardly compete. We heard about the approach to Paris by the German troops, the joining of the Turks on the side of the Germans, the death of Lord Kitchener, the arrival of General Smuts and his troops at Mombasa.

Although the defeats of the German troops were kept strictly secret, they were soon known to the prisoners in the camp. How and by what means the news was obtained it was difficult to tell. Some of us were incredulous until the news was proved to be true on our release.

When the Belgian troops were near Tabora, some of the African prisoners were taken as porters for the German troops. In the hospital I met a British doctor who had been captured 5 1 was ordered to take him to our camp for a visit. On the way I had a long conversation with him and I explained to him our position. I have seen a book written by him about the war in which he mentioned our meeting at Tabora. A German missionary was working in the hospital and was very kind. He took me one day into the doctor’s room when no one was there and told me that he was very sorry that two friendly Christian nations were fighting against themselves and that we African Christians were persecuted by a Christian power. He then started weeping and said he hoped God would soon bring all this to an end. We then parted. He was always kind and good to every one and never said a harsh word. He was very sorry for Archdeacon Woodward of the U.M.C.A., who was at the time in the European Prisoners’ Camp at Tabora. It was arranged for the Roman Catholic priest to visit us once a week and preach to us, and we had to go to the Catholic church on Sundays. Bishop Leonard of the Catholic Mission, Tabora, was very good to us. Afterwards Archdeacon Birley (the present Bishop) was allowed to come to our camp under escort to hear our confession.

On the first day the German European soldier who escorted him to the camp wanted to hear what the African Christians confessed to the Archdeacon. He bade him that they should speak audibly for him to hear. Evidently he suspected that they were telling him something in connection with the war or he was passing war news to them. The Archdeacon retorted that he could not divulge what was said to him in confession, what he heard in confession was sealed and couldn’t be given out to anybody.

So such was our state in prison. We had neither bodily nor spiritual peace. On a certain occasion on Sunday after we left church we went to the market, and whilst returning to the camp with our escort we passed the European camp where the Commandant of the Prison Camps had this office. He saw us passing and asked us where we had been. The escort replied that we were coming from the market. He said he would come to the camp to hear the case. Directly we got to the camp we reported the matter to the officer in charge of the camp. He said we should not have passed near the European camp. He had no objection to our going to the market, but he knew the Commandant was not good. We did not know that the Commandant would find fault with our going to the market. In a moment the Commandant arrived at the camp and saw a prisoner peeping through the hospital window. He ordered him to be given five lashes. We were all brought before him and he inquired as to who originated the plan of our going to the market. There was some dispute between two prisoners, each one of them contending that the other started the plan. The Commandant could not waste more time over it, and in fact he did not mind who got the punishment; it was sufficient to him that someone got it. So the last speaker of the two was ordered to be given fifteen lashes. The Abyssinian Sergeant administered the strokes. When he got to three strokes the Commandant thought he didn’t lay the strokes firmly, so he ordered that a strong man should do it, and a cruel Indian prisoner snatched the hippo stick from the sergeant and hit the prisoner with all his might.

When the Belgians were near Tabora, Dr. Moesta, who was in charge of the Civil, and Prisoners of War, Hospitals at Tabora, got permission from the Governor for me and Samwil Msumi to remain with him in the hospital when our prison mates were removed from Tabora to an unknown destination.


On Tuesday, September 19th, the Belgians entered Tabora at 12 noon. In the morning Dr. Moesta asked me to select twelve of my friends to remain with me at the hospital. It was a special favour, but most difficult to put into action for the simple reason that I had many friends in the camp, and to select some and leave the others to suffer was the worst betrayal of friendship.

Those who were to be removed from Tabora courted death at every minute and to let one be removed was tantamount to condemning him to death. I did what was humanly possible in such matters. One of my friends whom I could not save was actually crying when he was leaving me for the bush. No sooner had they left than Dr. Moesta came to me again and said to me I could select as many of my friends as I wished to remain with me in the hospital. Alas! It was too late, I could not do it as they had already gone.

African teachers were left behind with the European missionaries. We could not work in the hospital as it was contemplated because the Belgian African soldiers burnt the hospital near the camp and looted the property of the patients. They also burnt our camp. They pillaged some of the native properties and took away with them some of the wives and daughters of the natives. It was unsafe for women to walk about. They committed several atrocities in the native town. The whole town was thrown into chaos. We had to go to where the English missionaries stayed. I saw Dr. Moesta the next day and I told him I could not work in the hospital owing to the state of affairs at that time. The whole town was in chaos. Business was disorganized and the native inhabitants were panic stricken. Food was commandeered by the Belgian military authorities. It was unsafe for natives to walk about in the town. The Belgian native soldiers were a terror to the native inhabitants of the town. Wherever the Belgian troops passed in the country there was desolation and privation.

Source : READ MORE The Story of Martin Kayamba (I)

 

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Kwa ajili hii Kleist alipewa heshima ya pekee na akapewa nafasi kuwa mpambe wa von Lettow Vorbeck.

Mazishi ya Paul von Lettow Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964) yaliyofanyika Ujerumani na askari watiifu kutoka iliyokuwa German East Africa walialikwa kuhudhuria mwaka 1964.



Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964), also called the Lion of Africa ( German: Löwe von Afrika)
In 1964, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck died in Hamburg. The West German government and the Bundeswehr flew in two former Askaris as state guests, so that they could attend the funeral of "their" general. Several officers of the Bundeswehr were assigned as an honor guard, and West Germany's Minister of Defense, Kai-Uwe von Hassel, gave the eulogy, saying that the deceased, "was truly undefeated in the field." Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was buried in Pronstorf, Schleswig-Holstein in the cemetery of Vicelin Church.

In the year of von Lettow-Vorbeck's death, the West German Bundestag voted to deliver back pay to all surviving Askaris. A temporary cashier's office was set up in Mwanza on Lake Victoria. Of the 350 veterans who gathered, only a handful could produce the certificates that von Lettow-Vorbeck had given them in 1918. Others presented pieces of their old uniforms as proof of service. The German banker who had brought the money came up with an idea. As each claimant stepped forward, he was handed a broom and ordered in German to perform the manual of arms. Not one man failed the test! Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964), Master of Guerrilla Tactics

Who's Who - Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck​

Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964) was remarkable among military commanders of the First World War in that he served for the entire period without ever having suffered defeat.

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Often compared with the better-known T.E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - Lettow-Vorbeck similarly was a master of guerrilla warfare, this time in East Africa. With a force never great than 14,000 in total - comprised of 3,000 German and 11,000 Askari (native African) troops - Lettow-Vorbeck ran rings around Allied forces (for the most part British and South African) that were ten times larger than his own.

Lettow-Vorbeck realised quickly that the German campaign against Allied forces in East Africa needed to be conducted on his own terms, largely by seizing (and retaining) the initiative.

Prior to the war Lettow-Vorbeck had seen service during the Boxer Rebellion, and in German Southwest Africa (Namibia) during the Hottentot and Herero Rebellion of 1904-08, during which he was wounded and sent to South Africa to recuperate.

Six months before the the outbreak of war in 1914, Lettow-Vorbeck - then a Lieutenant-Colonel - was given command of Germany's forces in East Africa, which included twelve companies of Askari troops.

In August he began his war by attacking the British railway in Kenya. Three months later a large mixed British and Indian invasion force landed at Tanga Bay to conquer German East Africa; in numerical terms at least they outnumbered Lettow-Vorbeck's available force by some eight to one. Nevertheless, right from the start he demonstrated great tactical planning.

With the Allied landing a success, Lettow-Vorbeck pulled his forces some distance back, not in full retreat as seemed apparent, but simply in order to draw the British and Indian forces further inland, catching them in a crossfire and inflicting heavy casualties, quickly obliging a British retreat back to Tanga Bay to consolidate.

Over the next couple of years Lettow-Vorbeck launched raids into the British colonies of Kenya and Rhodesia, the aim being to destroy forts situated there, along with railway track and carriages. His Askari troops, trained in the Prussian manner, gained in confidence and experience with each successful raid.

Jan Smuts - himself an enemy of the British during the Boer War of 1899-1902, but now serving with them - was tasked in March 1916 with dealing with Lettow-Vorbeck, and in doing so launched an attack from South Africa with a force of 45,000 men. As with the British beforehand, Lettow-Vorbeck led Smuts a merry dance, although curiously this did not subsequently harm Smuts political career in any way.

In 1917 the Allies turned up the heat on Lettow-Vorbeck, with attacks launched from such disparate locations as Kenya, Rhodesia, Congo and Mozambique - the latter two spearheaded by Belgian and Portuguese forces, respectively.

With his forces running low on supplies - both ammunition and food - Lettow-Vorbeck was forced to live off the land, although a successful raid upon a Portuguese arms dump near the Mozambique border largely resolved his arms shortage.

Lettow-Vorbeck launched fresh raids against Rhodesian forts in 1918, tackling one after another. He was in the midst of planning further large raids when news of the 11 November Armistice reached him (from a British prisoner).

Far from beaten, and with a force of some 3,000 men available to him, Lettow-Vorbeck nonetheless decided to surrender to the British on 25 November at Mbaala, Zambia.

Returning to Germany as a national hero (and having been promoted general in the field), Lettow-Vorbeck was likewise admired by his former enemies as a courageous, tenacious and honourable fighter. Once in Germany he immediately joined the Freikorps, and at the head of a brigade successfully crushed Spartacist forces in Hamburg.

Lettow-Vorbeck was however obliged to resign from the army having declared his support for the right-wing Kapp Putsch in 1920.

His memoirs of his wartime experiences were subsequently published (in English translation) as My Reminiscences of East Africa. From May 1929 until July 1930 he served as a deputy in the Reichstag, later unsuccessfully trying to establish a conservative opposition to Hitler.

When Smuts, his former opponent, in the aftermath of the Second World War, heard that Lettow-Vorbeck was living in destitution, he arranged (along with former South African and British officers) for a small pension to be paid to him until his death on 9 March 1964 at the age of 94.

 

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1954 : Survivors of Askari, commemorate Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck.

Überlebende Askari, gedenken Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck.

 

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Kumshuhudia kijana Kleist Sykes muafrika katika sare ya jeshi la Kijerumani akiongea Kijerumani huku anatembea nyuma ya von Lettow-Vorbeck, Mkuu wa Majeshi ya Wajerumani Tanganyika,

Berlin, Germany
The situation of the Askari in the First World War shown in Germany Historical Museum



Dr. Arnulf Scriba is a research assistant and curator at the German Historical Museum. Here he explains the importance of the native Askari as soldiers in the German protection force during the First World War in East Africa.

Source: Deutschen Historischen Museum

Kleist Sykes (1894–1949) was a Tanganyikan political activist. He helped form the Tanganyika African Association. Sykes was born in Pangani to father Sykes Mbuwane, a Zulu mercenary hired by the German Empire, and a Nyaturu mother. After his father died, Sykes moved with his godfather, Effendi Plantan, to Dar Es Salaam, and would later fight for the Germans in the First World War. Sykes was the first African to join the Tanganyika Chamber of Commerce, and the second African to serve in colonial Dar es Salaam's Municipal Council. After the war, Sykes worked for the Tanganyika Railway. He met Dr. James Aggrey, a Ghanaian teacher, who inspired Sykes to form the Tanganyika African Association (AA) in 1929, along with friends including Mzee bin Sudi, Cecil Matola, Suleiman Mjisu and Raikes Kusi. In the 1930s, AA members built the organization's headquarters at New Street, where the Tanganyika African National Union would later be created in 1954. Sykes was the first African to join the Tanganyika Chamber of Commerce, and the second African to serve in colonial Dar es Salaam's Municipal Council. Sykes had three sons, Abulwahid, Ally, and Abbas, who would also have prominent careers in Tanzania

 

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King Leopolds Ghost


A word by :
Henry Morton Stanley
William Sheppard
Joseph Conrad
Edmund Dene Morel
George Washington Williams letter to US President 1890
Roger Casement
King Baudouin of Belgium
Patrice Emery Lumumba
Prof. Ernest Wamba Dia Wamba
Prof. Zana Aziza Etambala
Jacques Depelchin
Adam Hochschild
Jean-Pierre Bemba
And others

Leopold II was the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909 and, through his own efforts, the owner and absolute ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908

 

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Source : John Cook

Von Lettow-Vorbeck in popular cultures: source : Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964), Master of Guerrilla Tactics

• Von Lettow-Vorbeck appears in a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The episode, which was titled "The Phantom Train of Doom", begins with Indiana Jones as an officer in the Belgian Army during World War I. Determined to destroy a Schutztruppe armored train, Indiana takes General von Lettow-Vorbeck (Tom Bell) hostage and attempts to return with him to Allied lines. When the Schutztruppe tracks them down, Indy draws his revolver in order to shoot the general, but ultimately decides to let him go. The general magnanimously gives him a compass and the two part as friends.
• Von Lettow-Vorbeck is the protagonist of The Ghosts of Africa, a 1980 historical novel by Anglo-Canadian novelist William Stevenson about the East African Campaign which highlighted the long-distance resupply mission of the giant German rigid airship L.59.
• Von Lettow-Vorbeck appears as a character in Peter Høeg's short story, "Journey into a Dark Heart", which is the opening story in his 1990 collection, Tales of the Night. In this story Høeg imagines von Lettow-Vorbeck travelling through Africa by train at night accompanied by Joseph Conrad.
• Much of the history of von Lettow-Vorbeck's war campaign in Africa is detailed in the 2011 book Speak Swahili, Dammit! by James Penhaligon.
• A German film, Lettow-Vorbeck: Der deutsch-ostafrikanische Imperativ, was produced in 1984.