Black, White, and Khaki: Lettow-Vorbeck and the African Askari

Abstract

On battlefields that stretched for miles across the savanna in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, to palm-shaded beachheads and dense tropical forests, the forces of the German East African Schutztruppe under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck engaged Allied forces in far-flung East Africa during the First World War. Few units in the Imperial German Army resembled the Schutztruppe, in that it was mostly made up of black African askari, led by a small white German/European officer corps. In addition to heading the transformation of the unit from a counter-insurgency force meant to quell native African uprisings, to one that could defeat European colonial forces, Lettow-Vorbeck’s leadership allowed the Schutztruppe to survive against the hundreds of thousands of Allied troops sent against it, without regular assistance from the Germany. Ultimately, the Schutztruppe was never fully subdued during the war, and only surrendered when informed of the general armistice in late November 1918. This paper will use primary and secondary sources to examine the status of the Schutztruppe and the askari before, and then during the war, seeking to prove that the Schutztruppe was able to effectively fight and survive the campaign using guerilla warfare strategies and tactics learned before World War I, combined with highly rigorous “Prussian”- style training and loyalty to Lettow-Vorbeck himself that was introduced shortly before and during the conflict.