East Africa (First World War)

Also Includes some other regions of Africa.

Sixth Avenue Nairobi, British East Africa c 1915 sent by John Flatman who was probably in British East Africa with the Indian Army

FIBIS resources

• "The North-Western Railway Volunteer Rifles in East Africa in the First World War" by Noel Clark FIBIS Journal Number 32 (Autumn 2014), pages 30-33. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.

Also see

• East Africa for record sources and general information about British African regiments such as the King's African Rifles, and the East African Mounted Rifles.

Regimental and Corps histories

• History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery : the Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914-18 by Sir Martin Farndale 1988. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01008145796
• Cinderella’s Soldiers – The Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve by Peter Roger Charlton 2010 and 2nd edition 2018. "The Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve fought with distinction against the Germans in the First World War in East and Central Africa. The N.V.R. defended the country after an initial invasion from German East Africa and later pursued the German forces down into Portuguese East Africa and then back north." (Nyasaland is now Malawi).

The 2018 edition is probably available at the British Library UIN: BLL01019296628, although the full title is not given and the author is not given.

• The Railway Gazette Special War Transportation Number, originally published in September 1920, as part of The Railway Gazette and Railway News. Described at the time as ‘the first connected account’ of the role of railways and inland water transport in supporting the British military campaign during the Great War of 1914-18. Contains a wealth of detail on operations on most Fronts inc. the organisation of wartime transportation; statistics and Fronts, including Railway Operations in Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine & East Africa. Available at the British Library as part of UIN: BLL01013904893 or in a 2013 reprint edition UIN: BLL01016871224. Also available in a reprint edition.
• Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A, Divisions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and those in East Africa, compiled by F.W. Perry c 1992. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01006378898 and Order of Battle of Divisions. Part 5B, Indian Army Divisions compiled by F. W. Perry c 1993 available at the B.L. UIN: BLL01008151437 . The latter is also catalogued with the additional title History of the Great War : based on official documents.

Articles

• "26 Sqdn RFC in East Africa" by Mike O’Connor and Ray Vann.Cross & Cockade International. In three Parts: pages 138-149, 218-227, 299-306 Volume 50 number 2-3-4, Summer-Winter 2019. 1st page only, Part 1, 1st page only, Part 2, 1st page only, Part 3.

External links

• East African Campaign (World War I) Wikipedia
• Great War Forum contains a category "Sub Saharan Africa".
• Great War in Africa Association. Includes a category Medical Archive, which currently consists of documents relating to the Pike Report into medical conditions in East Africa, 1918.
• World War I in East Africa by Ross Anderson 2001 PhD Thesis. academia.edu. Abstract from University of Glasgow website, with link to a pdf download.
• Africa’s First World War Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A download (word document) which you may need to locate in your computer’s download folder. Google Cache version. "...a subjective and partial account of the First World War from an African perspective".
• "Indian Army in the East African Campaign in World War I" by P K Gautam. Africa Trends July-September 2015 The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) [India].
• "Indian Volunteers in the Great War East African Campaign", by Harry Fecitt, now an archived webpage. Western Front Association.
• Harry Fecitt’s Harry’s Africa kaiserscross.com
  • "The 29th Punjabis in British East Africa, September to December 1914". There is also a brief mention of the Cossipore Artillery Volunteers (Calcutta Volunteer Battery).
  • "The Fight at Lubembe Point: Lake Victoria, German East Africa, 6th December 1915"
  • "The Advance into German East Africa: Indian Army Units in Action, March to mid-June 1916"
  • "The 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis. German East Africa, October 1916 to January 1917"
  • "The 3rd Battalion of 2nd King’s African Rifles in German East Africa in 1917"
  • "British Somaliland: March 1915 – October 1919 Minor Operations against the ‘Mad Mullah’". Includes Indian Army troops.

"Somaliland 1920: The Final Campaign against the “Mad Mullah”". Includes Indian Army troops.

• Harry Fecitt on gweaa.com, including
  • "The fighting around Jasin 1915" [GEA] by Harry Fecitt c January 2019?
  • "Indian Expeditionary Force B at Tanga" by Harry Fecitt c January 2019? German East Africa 2nd-5th November 1914.
  • "The 17th Cavalry East Africa Squadron 1915 – 1916" by Harry Fecitt April 14, 2011.
  • "The Indian Railway Corps, East African Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919" by Harry Fecitt, April 2015. html version pdf
  • "Atonement: The 5th Light Infantry Regiment in German Kamerun, August 1915 to February 1916" by Harry Fecitt, April 2015. html version, pdf
  • "The 5th Light Infantry In East Africa March 1916 – January 1918" by Harry Fecitt, April 2015. html version, pdf
  • "The 40th Pathans in action in East Africa, January 1916 to February 1918" by Harry Fecitt, March 2015 html version, pdf
  • "The 57th Wilde’s Rifles (Frontier Force), Indian Army, in German East Africa" by Harry Fecitt gweaa.com. July 1916-1917. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  • "The 22nd Derajat Mountain Battery (Frontier Force) In East Africa December 1916 to December 1918" by Harry Fecitt html version, pdf gweaa.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  • "The 30th Punjabis at Tandamuti Hill and Nakadi Ridge East Africa, February – October 1917" by Harry Fecitt, March 2015 html version, pdf
  • "The 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force) in German and Portuguese East Africa September 1917 – February 1918" by Harry Fecitt c May 2016. html version, pdf
  • Search the website gweaa.com for articles on African Regiments, including "The 4th Battalion of the 4th Regiment (Uganda) of the Kings African Rifles in the Great War" by Harry Fecitt March 21, 2011. Contains a brief reference to an Indian Army regiment.
• "Oranges, Dates and Coconuts: 58th Vaughan’s Rifles (Frontier Force) in Egypt, Palestine, Somaliland and Portuguese East Africa 1916 - 1918" by Harry Fecitt. Harry’s Sideshows kaiserscross.com. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
• "East African Campaign 1914 – 1918: Faridkot Sappers & Miners" by Richard Sneyd html version, pdf gweaa.com. Robert (Robin) Thomas Stuart Sneyd was working as a civil engineer in Madras Presidency when he joined the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in March 1915 and joined the Faridkots at Voi in British East Africa in October 1915 as a Lieutenant. Faridkot Sappers and Miners were Imperial Service Troops raised, and paid for by the His Highness the Maharajah of Faridkot, recruited from his princely state of Faridkot, in the vicinity of Lahore.
• "100 Years Ago Today: Battle of Lukigura in East Africa" by Andrew Kerr 24 June 1916 centenarynews.com. 2nd Battalion Kashmir Rifles, see the Fibiwiki page Kashmir Infantry, were Indian Army Imperial Service Troops raised by the Maharaja of Kashmir.
• "The Battle Of Karonga" by T. Cullen Young The Nyasaland Journal Vol. 8, No. 2 (July, 1955), pp. 27-30, published by: Society of Malawi - Historical and Scientific. Jstor.org. Register with Jstor.org and read online for free. This battle on 8 September 1914, near the northern border of Nyasaland (now Malawi) was one of the earliest actions fought any where in Africa in the 1914-1918 war, and involved the 1st Battalion, The King’s African Rifles.
• "Norforce: Major General Edward Northey and the Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia Frontier Force, January 1916 to June 1918" by Ross Anderson. Scientia Militaria - South African Journal of Military Studies Vol 44, No 1 (2016): Special Issue - The Union at War, 1914-1953. Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University, South Africa. A download which you may need to locate in your downloads folder.
• "Go Spy Out the Land: Intelligence Preparations for World War I in South West Africa" by James Stejskal Scientia Militaria - South African Journal of Military Studies Vol 44, No 1 (2016): Special Issue - The Union at War, 1914-1953. Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University, South Africa. A download which you may need to locate in your downloads folder.
• "A Machine Gunner's Odyssey Through German East Africa: The Diary of E S Thompson January 1916 - February 1917" Military History Journal, South African Military History Society, Vol 7 No 3, June 1987 - Vol 7 No 6, December 1988. The author was in the 7th South African Infantry.

Introduction; Part I. 17 January - 24 May 1916; Part 2. 25 May - 17 September 1916; Part 3.
 18 September 1916 - 26 February 1917

• "The German East Africa Campaign - 1914-1918" Military History Journal , South African, Military History Society, Vol 6 No 6, December 1985. Includes extracts from a diary kept by the Brigade Signals Officer of the 1st South African Mounted Brigade, Capt F E Jackson, MC
• Soldiers’ Stories: [Diary extracts] Major Charles Stooks. The diary of Major Charles Stooks of the 5th Light Infantry, Indian Army, reveals the difficulties faced by those involved in the final conquest of Germany’s West African colony of Kamerun. nam.ac.uk
• Soldiers’ Stories: [Letter extracts] Major John Montgomery Letters sent home by Major John Montgomery, 1st Mounted Rifles (1st Natal Carbineers), describe the successful campaign fought by South African troops in German South-West Africa. nam.ac.uk
• Soldiers’ Stories: [Letter extracts] Medical Officer Captain Alexander Wallace joined ‘A’ Company of the British South Africa Police in August 1915, and spent the early part of the war securing the border between Rhodesia and German East Africa. In May 1916 he joined the new British offensive. Wallace was later Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Military Cross for his care of the wounded during the fighting at Mpepo in September 1917. Includes photographs. nam.ac.uk
• Great War Diaries of John Bruce Cairnie, King's African Rifles Scroll down to letter C for The Great War Diaries - 1917 (King's African Rifles) and The Great War Diaries - 1918/1919 (King's African Rifles). Cairnie was posted in December 1917 to 5/4 K.A.R. at M’bagathi [Kenya] wwi.lib.byu.edu.
• East African Campaign Diary - Tanzania & Mozambique: 1917 – 1919 by Percival W Probert. Select letter P of Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences wwi.lib.byu.edu, or Direct link. If you select pages “Web versions”, note that contents are more extensive than appear, for example the diary continues for over 100 pages. Percival Probert was with the Royal Engineers, Wireless Signals Corps.
• The Old and the Bold: The 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen) in the Great War 1914-1918. Select "On Campaign" for transcriptions of personal accounts from newspaper articles, and "East Africa"/Despatches for transcriptions from the London Gazette
• The Frontiersmen Historian. [25th Bn Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen)]
  • "Frontiersmen in their own words" Part 1, Part 2
  • "The Frontiersmen’s Lorry". Indian Army Staff at Nairobi are heavily criticised.
• Askaris, Asymmetry, and Small Wars: Operational Art and the German East African Campaign, 1914-1918 by Major Kenneth P Adgie, Infantry, USA 2001. Archive.org Defense Technical Information Archive Collection. DTIC ADA392278
• A Case Study in Leadership - Colonel Paul Emil Von Lettow-Vorbeck by Lieutenant Colonel John C Stratis United States Army 2002 Archive.org Defense Technical Information Archive Collection. DTIC ADA404449
• When Elephants Clash: A Critical Analysis of Major General Paul Emil Von Lettow-Vorbeck in the East African Theater of the Great War by Thomas A Crowson, Maj USA 2003 Archive.org Defense Technical Information Archive Collection. DTIC ADA417332.
• Battle of Tanga, German East Africa, 1914 by Kenneth J Harvey, 2003. A thesis. Archive.org Defense Technical Information Archive Collection. DTIC ADA416385. In November 1914, British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" conducted an amphibious assault on the Port of Tanga in German East Africa.
• The Battle of Tanga – 1914 by Geoffrey Regan. This article, now archived, from "Dansk Militærhistorisk Selskab - Chakoten" is in English and Danish and is stated to be based on the Introduction to Brassey’s Book of Military Blunders by Geoffrey Regan. (However, there may be more than one editions of this book as nothing was seen in a 2000 US edition.) Available online under slightly different title, see below.
• First page only of "Armoured Trains in British India" by Colonel A. A. Phillips C.I.E., V.D Royal United Services Institution. Journal Volume 113, Issue 651, 1968 pages 254-257. There is mention of the armoured train crew from the Regiment sent to East Africa during the First World War. They operated until the railway lines were safe from German attacks and then manned a tug on one of the Great Lakes.
• Listen to the podcast How the Great War Razed East Africa: Edward Paice on WW1 in Africa africaresearchinstitute.org
• Article "How the Great War Razed East Africa" by Edward Paice africaresearchinstitute.org
• "Misremembered history: the First World War in East Africa" by Daniel Steinbach 9 April 2015 britishcouncil.org.
• B.S.A.s in German East Africa. The South African Motor Cyclist Corps. bsa.org.nz
• "The use of flight in the African campaigns of World War 1" by Dr Anne Samson. thesamsonsedhistorian.files
• "26 (South Africa) Squadron RFC" "The History Journal".
• "26-Eskader R.F.C". No author shown but catalogued Abel Esterhuyse (possibly the editor?) however elsewhere stated to be by Jan Ploeger. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies - Vol 2, No 1 (1970), pages 68-87. A download which you may need to locate in your downloads folder. From African Journals Online (AJOL). Text in Afrikaans, with some English, including tables, and a Summary in English. "In reality", it was a "British squadron".
• "The Third Man: Willy Trück and the German Air Effort in South West Africa in World War I" by S. Monick Military History Journal, South African Military History Society, Vol 5 No 3, June 1981
• German Colonial Uniforms includes WW1 period.
• Images: 1885-1915 Colonial German East and West Africa Uniforms Archive.org
• Images: 1885-1915 German East and West Africa Troops Archive.org
• Bibliography: East Africa firstworldwarstudies.org. Currently you are directed to the page Africa zotero.org
  • Includes
    • The Campaign in German South West Africa, 1914-1915 by John Johnston Collyer. Pretoria: Govt. Printer, 1937. The Official S A history. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01000749862 and in later reprint editions by Imperial War Museums, including Naval & Military Press. Probably available online on a pay web site, refer below.
    • The South Africans with General Smuts in German East Africa, 1916 etc by John Johnston Collyer. Pretoria: Govt. Printer, 1939. The Official S A history. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01000749863 and in a 2004 reprint edition by Imperial War Museums/Battery Press.

Photographs

• Photo page from On Call In Africa 1910-1932 Dr Norman Parsons Jewell in Seychelles and East Africa. Scroll down for a link to the photographs on the Mary Evans Picture Library, including WW1 war photos which commence image 25, page 3, or direct link. Catalogue details for the photographs. Dr Norman Parsons Jewell served as a Medical Officer with the British Army East African Medical Service throughout the First World War in East Africa and was awarded the Military Cross.

Maps

• Map: The Great War in East Africa Wikipedia
• Guide: War Office Archive of [online] Maps relating to the former British East Africa (modern-day Kenya, Uganda and adjacent parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia). The maps were created between 1890 and 1940. British Library website.
• Military Maps from UCT [University of Cape Town] Libraries includes British maps of German East Africa 1915/1916 (More details.)
• Maps: Ruanda-Urundi (1942) U.S. Army Map Service. The University of Texas at Austin. Thought to be based on original Belgian maps from 1916 - 1934.

Historical books online

• Collection 425/95 Operations in East Africa: reports of engagements, honours and rewards IOR/L/MIL/7/17250 1914-1919 British Library Digitised Manuscripts. Awards to both British and Indian soldiers. From page 224 there is a description of the action which took place on the Tsavo River on 6th September 1914.
• Military operations : East Africa: Volume I August 1914-September 1916 compiled by Charles Hordern 1941 Hathi Trust Digital Library. Part of the series "History of the Great War based on Official Documents". This was the only volume published.

Contents page viii; General Index page 583; Index to Arms, Formations and Units page 597; Maps at end of book, after page 603.

• My Reminiscences Of East Africa by General von Lettow-Vorbeck, [the German commander], published London, c 1920 Archive.org
• "Some Notes on Tactics in the East African Campaign" by Brig-General S H Sheppard from The Journal of the United Service Institution of India Vol. XLVIII April 1919 pages 138-157. Archive.org.
• "List of published despatches on Military Operations during the Great War" page 715 Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914-1920 The War Office HMSO 1922. Includes East Africa. Locate these in The London Gazette World War 1 despatches. Links to all the military despatches from commanders-in-chief. thegazette.co.uk.

See below for the one despatch for Rhodesia, and one for East Africa.

• History of the Great War: Medical Services: General History, Volume IV by G W Macpherson 1924. Includes East Africa. Archive.org

Transcribed reports by Dr W W Pike on the medical services in East Africa in the Medical Archive gweaa.com. Includes British East Africa and German East Africa, the latter publication is titled Report On Medical And Sanitary Matters In German East Africa 1917, published 1918.

• The War in Africa, 1914-1917, and in the Far East, 1914 by H C O’Neil 1918 Archive.org
• British Campaigns in Africa and the Pacific, 1914-1918 by Edmund Dane 1919 Archive.org
• "The Conquest of East Africa January 1915- November 26, 1917" page 105 A History of the Great War, Volume IV by John Buchan 1923 Archive.org. For other volumes in this series, see First World War - Historical books online.
• On to Kilimanjaro; the bizarre story of the First World War in East Africa by Brian Gardner 1963. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
• Duel For Kilimanjaro An Account Of The East African Campaign 1914-1918 by Leonard Mosley c 1963. Archive.org, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• Guerilla : Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck and Germany's East African Empire by Edwin P Hoyt 1981 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
• The Great War in Africa, 1914-1918 by Byron Farwell 1986 Archive.org Lending Library.
• "The Battle of Tanga (1914)" page 4 The Guinness Book of Military Blunders by Geoffrey Regan 1995 edition, first published 1991. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
• History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Volume VII: Campaigns in Mesopotamia and East Africa, and the inter-war period, 1918-38 edited by H.L. Pritchard, published 1952. nzsappers.org.nz

"Inland Waterways and Docks, Royal Engineers in War Time, with special reference to the mystery port of Richborough (Lecture & Discussion)" by Captain A E Battle, RE Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers 1923-1924, pages 104-116. Includes Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia, and brief mention of other theatres of war Egypt, Salonika, East Africa, Italy and Northern Russia. Melbourne University Digital Collection.

The Indian Sappers and Miners by E. W. C Sandes [Edward Warren Caulfeild] 1948. (726p). Includes Chapter XX, page 533, on the campaign in East Africa 1914-1918. nzsappers.org.nz.

Chapter 1 Salute the Sappers by Neil Orpen with H.J. Martin. Series South African Forces World War II, Volume 8, Part 1. Published Johannesburg : Sappers Association, c1981-c1982. Details the formation of the S.A. Signal Company, R. E., and other South African Engineer units who served in France and East Africa. Transcription from ibiblio.org/hyperwar.

• The Royal Army Service Corps: A History of Transport and Supply in the British Army, Volume II by Colonel R H Beadon 1931. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Includes the First World War period, with a chapter on East Africa.
  • There are two known ASC MT Driver memoirs.
• A History of the Army Ordnance Services, Volume III: The Great War by Major General Arthur Forbes 2nd edition 1932, first published 1929. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India . Includes a chapter on East Africa.
• The Post Office of India in the Great War edited by H.A. Sams 1922 Archive.org. "East Africa", page 253.
• "Military affairs in Rhodesia from the outbreak of the war to the beginning of 1916" The London Gazette 13 July 1917 Supplement: 30182 Page: 7067. Includes
  • The Tanganyika Naval Expedition [1915-1916] The London Gazette 13 July 1917 Supplement: 30182 Page: 7070.
    • "Naval Operations in Central Africa" by Commander G B Spicer Simson RN, page 287 United Empire The Royal Colonial Institute Journal Volume IX New Series 1918 Archive.org. The Tanganyika Naval Expedition.
    • "The Battle for the Lake" by Harwood Koppel, page 305 February 1919, The Wide World: the magazine for everybody, Volume 42. As told by Lieutenant-- of the Artillery. Archive.org
    • The article "A Backwater. Lake Victoria Nyanza during the campaign against German East Africa" by Lt. M A Chapman RN from The Naval Review 1921, page 287 is available online on a pay basis from The Naval Review. See Royal Navy for access details.
    • Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure : the Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika by Giles Foden 2005. USA title. Originally published in UK 2004 with title Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika by Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou were gunboats. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
    • The above operations inspired the novel The African Queen by C S Forester first published 1935, available online , refer below, the basis for the 1951 movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
• Taking Tanganyika: Experiences of an Intelligence Officer 1914-1918 by Christopher J. Thornhill c 1937 is available in a reprint edition, which in turn is available as an online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, (located in World War2/Military books/East Africa).
• Fourth Supplement to The London Gazette of Tuesday, the 2nd of April, 1918 Archive.org . The Supplement date is 5 April 1918. East Africa.
• With Botha and Smuts in Africa by W Wittall Late Lieutenant–Commander, RN, Armoured Car Division 1917 Archive.org. Also includes South West Africa.
• Marching on Tanga: (with General Smuts in East Africa) by Francis Brett Young. New and revised edition 1919. First published 1917. Archive.org
  • "‘Marching on Tanga’" Chapter XI, page 109 Francis Brett Young by E G Twitchett 1935 Archive.org, Digital Library of India Collection. Comments about the book.
• For Indian Army regimental histories, see 67th Punjabis; 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers, and 22nd Derajat Mountain Battery, the histories available on fold3 (Ancestry owned pay website). Include service in East Africa.

Other Indian Army regimental histories see 101st Grenadiers- service in East Africa, including Tanga.

"The Devil - My Friend" by Charles Trehane, page 338 True World War I Stories 1999, being a reprint of Everyman at War: Sixty Personal Narratives of the War edited by C. B. Purdom 1930. Captain C H Trehane 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force), Indian Army was in German East Africa in 1917. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

• "A Side Show (to the memory of some very gallant gentlemen)" by "Ganpat" (M L A G) page 721 Blackwood’s Magazine, no 199 Jan-June 1916. Archive.org. [Tanga, East Africa]
• Sketches of The East Africa Campaign by Capt. Robert V. Dolbey, R.A.M.C. 1918 Hathi Trust Digital Library. Also available as a transcribed Project Gutenberg edition Archive.org, or from Gutenberg.org.
• The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War by H C O'Neill 1922 Archive.org. In addition to the Western Front, includes Gallipoli, Salonika and the 25th Royal Fusiliers in East Africa, from page 269.

Three Years of War In East Africa 1919. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Although the author is catalogued as Captain F R Sedgwick, the title page shows the author to be Captain Angus Buchanan, 25th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, (the Legion of Frontiersmen). Also available World Digital Library a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, which has better images.

"Jambo," or, With Jannie in the Jungle; 30 East African Sketches by A W Lloyd, [Captain Arthur Wynell Lloyd M.C, 25th Bn Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen)] [cartoonist] c 1917-1920s Archive.org. Jannie is Jan Christian Smuts.

Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers by J G Millais 1919 Archive.org. Includes two chapters on the East African Campaign.

• The East African Force 1915-1919; an unofficial record of its creation and fighting career; together with some account of the civil and military administrative conditions in East Africa before and during that period by Brigadier General C P Fendall 1921 Archive.org. British Library Digital Collection edition where the images may be rotated.
• The History of the Royal West African Frontier Force by Colonel A. Haywood and Brigadier F.A.S.Clarke. 1964. Archive.org version. Transcribed version, lib.militaryarchive.co.uk.
• With the Nigerians in German East Africa [Nigeria Regiment] by Captain W D Downes 1919 Archive.org

"Beho Chini" [Bweho Chini] by ‘Ba-Ture’ page 324 Blackwood’s Magazine, no 203 January-June 1918. Archive.org. Nigerians in German East Africa

"A Nigerian Column" by ‘Ba-Ture’ page 779 Blackwood’s Magazine, no 203 January-June 1918. Archive.org.

• Map

• The Gold Coast Regiment in the East African Campaign by Sir Hugh Clifford 1920 Archive.org
• The Story of the 1st Battalion Cape Corps, 1915-1919 by Captain Ivor D Difford [1920] Archive.org. Includes service in East Africa, and Egypt and Palestine.
• The Navy Everywhere by Conrad Cato 1919. Archive.org Includes "The Navy in East Africa"
• World War I Naval Staff Monographs. Select Volume 2: East Africa to July 1916. Cameroons 1914, to download a pdf. Published London c 1920. Royal Australian Navy website (Select Media Room/Publications/World War I Naval Staff Monographs)
• Britain's Sea Soldiers. A Record of the Royal Marines during the War 1914-1919. Compiled by General Sir H. E. Blumberg, Royal Marines 1927. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Includes East Africa and the Cameroons. Also available in other online versions, see First World War-Historical books online-Naval.
• "Severn's" Saga by E. Keble Chatterton 1938 Hathi Trust Digital Library. HMS Severn of the Royal Navy in East Africa.
• From Dartmouth to the Dardanelles, a midshipman's log, edited by his mother 1916 Archive.org. Includes two chapters on East Africa. Note: the first page of the Foreword advises that due to tradition, the names of officers and ships have been suppressed- those of the midshipmen mentioned are all fictitious.
• "Eighteen Months Shore Service in German East Africa" by Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander Cecil G Sprague R N. Pages 184-192 and pages 306-316 Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, Volume 5 1919 Archive.org
• Two years' captivity in German East Africa, being the personal experiences of Surgeon E. C. H., Royal Navy [Ernest Charles Holtom] c 1919 Archive.org. Also see next book.
• In German Gaols; a narrative of two years' captivity in German East Africa by Ernest F Spanton, Priest of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. 1917 Archive.org. The four anonymous Naval officers mentioned in this book are Holtom (see previous book), Sankey, Paterson and Turner.
• War in the Air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Volume III by H A Jones 1931 Archive.org. Part of the series "History of the Great War based on Official Documents". Includes German East Africa.
• "An Airman’s Experiences in East Africa" by Leo Walmsley. Blackwood’s Magazine, no 206-207 July 1919-June 1920 Archive.org. Page 633, page 788, page 53, page 189. Walmsley was part of 26 (South Africa) Squadron RFC.

The accounts appear to be extracts from the book Flying and Sport in East Africa, by Leo Walmsley 1920, (stated elsewhere to have been printed with a small print run) available at the British Library UIN: BLL01012166544 and also available to those in North America, etc on Hathi Trust Digital Library or Google Books.

Turn of the Tide by Leo Walmsley 1945. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Contains a chapter on WW1 in East Africa from page 105. Published in England under the title So Many Loves.

Shells and bright stones : a biography of Leo Walmsley by Nona Stead, available at the British Library UIN: BLL01007454401 is elsewhere stated to contain information about East Africa.

• From The Motor Cycle Archive.org
  • "Despatch Carrying in the Jungle" page 203, Volume 17, September 16, 1916 .
  • "A South African Despatch Rider in “German East” page 244, Volume 17, September 21st 1916.
  • "Motor Cyclist Infantry in German East Africa" page 324, Volume 17, October 12 , 1916
  • "Despatch Carrying in German East Africa" page 452, Volume 17, November 23rd 1916.
• "Humours of the East African Campaign" by “A. E. M. M.”, a signaller in the East African Mounted Rifles, locally known as Bowker’s Horse, page 254 True Stories of the Great War, Volume IV. Editor in Chief Francis Trevelyan Miller 1917 Archive.org

"Humours of the East African Campaign" [cont] by “A. E. M. M.”, page 504, April 1919, The Wide World: the magazine for everybody, Volume 42. Poor quality digital file.

• From The Wide World: the magazine for everybody, Volume 42 1918-1919. Archive.org. Note, poor quality digital file.
  • "Sport and War in Central Africa" [Rhodesia] by Edward F Holland page 104, December 1918.
  • "Stories of the War: What the Scout Overheard" by “Trooper” [of the East African Mounted Rifles] page 129, December 1918.
  • "Stories of the War: Siringa’s Last Battle" by DMKIII page 394, March 1919. Equatorial Rifles.
• The story of a lion hunt; with some of the hunter's military adventures during the war by Arnold Weinholt, late Intelligence Corps 1922 Archive.org. He was signed on in Salisbury [Rhodesia] (now Harare, Zimbabwe), as a special service trooper in the BSA Police.
• The Mad Mullah Of Somaliland by Douglas Jardine, Secretary to the Administration, Somaliland, I916-21. Published 1923. Archive.org

"The Breaking of the Mad Mullah" Chapter XX, page 200 Sun, Sand and Somals; leaves from the note-book of a district commissioner in British Somaliland by Major H Rayne 1921 Archive.org

• Through Swamp and Forest : the British Campaigns in Africa [Photographs] 1917. State Library of Victoria.
• European War : papers relating to German atrocities, and breaches of the rules of war, in Africa Presented to both Houses of Parliament July 1916 HMSO 1916. Archive.org

Reports on the treatment by the Germans of British prisoners and natives in German East Africa … Presented to both Houses of Parliament September 1917 Archive.org

British civilian prisoners in German East Africa; a report by the Government Committee on the Treatment by the Enemy of British Prisoners of War 1918. Archive.org

• Les Campagnes Coloniales Belges : 1914-1918 by Royaume de Belgique, Ministère de la Défense Nationale, État-Major Général de l'Armée, Section de l'Historique, published 1927-1932. French language. From Koloniale Sammlungen, Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main. Read online, or download.

Tome I: Introduction : les opérations au Cameroun ; les opérations en Rhodésie ; la période défensive à la frontière orientale. 1914-1915.

Tome II: La campagne de Tabora (1916) . Battle of Tabora Wikipedia.

Tome III: La campagne de Mahenge (1917) : événement de l'année 1918 . Mahenge offensive Wikipedia.

• The Kenya Gazette Issues from 1899. (broken range). There is a small scrolling bar, located underneath the images of the title pages, which enables you to scroll the volumes available. There appear to be no editions for 1916, however issues for the other WW1 years are available. There is a Search facility for all issues. Google Books

The Kenya Gazette is an official publication of the government of the Republic of Kenya. It contains notices of new legislation, notices required to be published by law or policy as well as other announcements that are published for general public information. It is published every week, usually on Friday, with occasional releases of special or supplementary editions within the week.*The Kenya Gazette Issues from 1899. (broken range). There is a small scrolling bar, located underneath the images of the title pages, which enables you to scroll the volumes available. There appear to be no editions for 1916, however issues for the other WW1 years are available. There is a Search facility for all issues. Google Books

The Kenya Gazette is an official publication of the government of the Republic of Kenya. It contains notices of new legislation, notices required to be published by law or policy as well as other announcements that are published for general public information. It is published every week, usually on Friday, with occasional releases of special or supplementary editions within the week.

• Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung [German East African Newspaper]. German language. Online editions to 18 August 1916. staatsbibliothek-berlin.de

South-West Africa Campaign

The South-West Africa Campaign was the conquest and occupation of German South West Africa (Namibia) by forces from the Union of South Africa acting on behalf of the British Government at the beginning of the First World War.

• With Botha in the field by Moore Ritchie 1915 Archive.org
• With Botha's Army by J P Kay Robinson 1916 Archive.org
• With Botha and Smuts in Africa by W Wittall Late Lieutenant–Commander, RN, Armoured Car Division 1917 Archive.org. Also includes East Africa.
• "German South-West Africa" page 253, General Louis Botha: a Biography by Johannes Meintjes 1970. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library
• A Doctor's Diary in Damaraland by Dr H F B Walker , late Captain RAMC 1917 Archive.org. Damaraland was the central portion of German South-West Africa.
• "Our Escape from German South West Africa" by Corporal H J McElnea, late of the Imperial Light Horse, South Africa. Page 231, True stories of the Great War, Volume III. Editor in Chief Francis Trevelyan Miller 1917. Archive.org
• Hunting the Hun in British [i.e. German] South West Africa : a series of sketches on the humourous side of the G.S.W.A. campaign by W. H. Kirby [1915]. The author served with the Natal Light Horse, and was previously artist [cartoonist] for a newspaper. State Library of Victoria.
• Report on the Natives of South West Africa and their Treatment by Germany Presented to both Houses of Parliament August 1918, published by HMSO. Archive.org
• The Campaign in German South West Africa, 1914-1915 is available on fold3.com, a pay website owned by Ancestry, located in WWII/Military Books/West Africa. This is most likely a Naval & Military Press reprint version of the book by the same title by John Johnston Collyer, originally published Pretoria: Govt. Printer, 1937 (although the front covers differ slightly). The official South Africa history. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01000749862 and in later reprint editions by Imperial War Museums, including Naval & Military Press.

Togoland and the Cameroons

• Also see some books listed under East Africa above.
• History of the Great War based on Official Documents: Military Operations, Togoland and the Cameroons, 1914-1916 by Brig.-General F J Moberly. HMSO 1931. HathiTrust Digital Library. Lacks maps and illustrations. Archive.org lacks maps, Google Books- title page perhaps may not display and lacks maps.
• European War. Gold Coast. Correspondence Relating to the Military Operations in Togoland. April 1915 by [Great Britain] Houses of Parliament. HMSO 1915. Archive.org, Google Books
• French Official Histories: Les Armées françaises dans la Grande Guerre sga.defense.gouv.fr. Includes Tome IX. Les fronts secondaires. Deuxième volume. Les campagnes coloniales : Cameroun. - Togo. - Opérations contre les Senoussis. With online maps (Cartes).
• History of the Great War based on Official Documents: Naval Operations Volume I by Sir Julian Stafford Corbett 1920 includes the Cameroons. Archive.org
• "Doing Her Bit. An Account of a Cruiser’s Operations in the Cameroons" by Guns.Q.F.C. page 717 Blackwood’s Magazine, no 198 July-December 1915. Archive.org
• Correspondence relative to the alleged ill-treatment of German subjects captured in the Cameroons Presented to both Houses of Parliament November 1915 HMSO London 1915 Archive.org.
• The Great War in West Africa by Edmund Howard Gorges, Commandant West African Regt, originally published c 1916, is available on fold3.com, a pay website owned by Ancestry, located in Military Books (locate from the Search)/West Africa. This is an online version of a Naval & Military Press reprint edition.

Fiction

• Wilmshurst of the Frontier Force by Percy F. Westerman. Illustrator Ernest Prater. 1918 gutenberg.org. Archive.org version
• Tom Willoughby's Scouts: A Story of the War in German East Africa by Herbert Strang. Illustrator Wal Paget. 1919 gutenberg.org.
• The Tanganyika Naval Expedition, refer above, inspired The African Queen by C S Forester 1940 edition, first published 1935. Another edition, but missing at least initial pages. Both Archive.org. There was a later movie in 1951 starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

Holding section

This is a holding section, for amendments/ new additions/as some sections on this page are currently blocked to me.

• Military Operations East Africa Volume I August 1914-September 1916 compiled by Charles Hordern 1941 Archive.org, Google Books. Part of the series "History of the Great War based on Official Documents". Titled Volume I, however the planned second volume was never published. Compiled by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hordern, late Royal Engineers and General staff, founded on a draft by the late Major H FitzM Stacke. Published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
• The author "Ganpat", author of "A Side Show (to the memory of some very gallant gentlemen)" (1916) is M L A Gompertz.
• The Navy Everywhere by Conrad Cato [real name Cyril Cox RNR] 1919. Archive.org

Part of the contents of this book were included in the 2013 reprint The Shallow End of War: Accounts of the Royal Navy in the 'Sideshow' Theatres of the First World War, 1914-18

• Britain's Sea Soldiers. A Record of the Royal Marines during the War 1914-1919 Archive.org mirror version.
• General Smuts' Campaign in East Africa by Brig.-General J H V Crowe with an Introduction by Lieut.- General the Rt. Hon. J C Smuts 1918 Archive.org
• History of the Great War based on official documents. Order of Battle of Divisions Parts 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B and 4 all by Major A.F. Becke (London: HMSO, 1935-1945). Most are available on Archive.org or Google Books, and all on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, which also includes a later Index volume. For details see Western Front- Historical books online-Official Histories and Battles.
• Records of the Survey of India, Volume 20. The War Record 1914-1920 1925. Archive.org version, Google Books version. Work of Royal Engineers and other staff of the Survey of India mapping in various theatres of war, in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Arabia, Persia, Palestine, East Africa and Afghanistan.
• Early Bird by Major W G Moore 1963. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. He was a Naval airman during WW1, who flew from the Navy's first Aircraft Carrier, 'Furious'. He also took part in the East African Campaign, with a seaplane squadron.
• "My Experiences in German East Africa" by James Henry Butcher pages 235-243 The Wide World Volume 41, July 1918. Archive.org The author was a private in the South African Infantry
• "Humours of the East African Campaign" by “A. E. M. M.”, a signaller in the East African Mounted Rifles, locally known as Bowker’s Horse, page 414 The Wide World Magazine. Volume 39 1917 May-October Archive.org. With illustrations. Also included, without illustrations at page 254 True Stories of the Great War, Volume IV. Editor in Chief Francis Trevelyan Miller 1917 Archive.org

Replace poor quality digital file by the following better file

"Humours of the East African Campaign" [cont] by “A. E. M. M.”, page 504, April 1919, The Wide World: the magazine for everybody, Volume 42.

• From The Wide World: the magazine for everybody, Volume 42 1918-1919. Archive.org.
  • "Sport and War in Central Africa" [Rhodesia] by Edward F Holland page 104, December 1918.
  • "Stories of the War: What the Scout Overheard" by “Trooper” [of the East African Mounted Rifles] page 129, December 1918.
  • "Stories of the War: Siringa’s Last Battle" by DMKIII page 394, March 1919. Equatorial Rifles.
• External links
  • Harry Fecitt’s Harry’s Africa kaiserscross.com. Includes articles about British and African regiments, together with Indian Army regiments including
  • The First World War: South Africa Includes Helmet Flashes of South African Units in German South West Africa and German East Africa. delvillewood.com
  • "The Mules are Splendid Company: One Man's Experience of WWI Africa" by Sally Wilson 2013. Letters of Thomas Wilson, initially Lieutenant 3rd Battalion King’s African Rifles from June 1915 and from (c March) 1916 Royal Engineers, killed in action 29 June 1917. Read online, or a link to a download to your computer, which you may need to locate in your downloads folder. Ryerson University. rshare.library.ryerson.ca
  • South African OOB : German South West Africa OOB
  • Belgian War Dead Register now includes War Dead from the Congo 1914-1918. wardeadregister.be