Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
Commander of German
East African forces
1870-1964
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.
On his return to Germany in January 1919,
Lettow-Vorbeck was welcomed as a hero. In July 1919 he led a corps
of right-wing volunteers that occupied Hamburg to prevent its
take-over by the left-wing Spartacists. He was a deputy to the
Reichstag (parliament) from May 1929 to July 1930. Though a member
of the right wing, he was not a Nazi and unsuccessfully tried
to organize a conservative opposition to Hitler.
