Africa | Longueval | 27 Jul 1916
Africa The Prime Minister of South Africa, Louis Botha, has just arrived in German East Africa to find out first-hand why his crony Smuts’s grandiose Continue reading Africa | Longueval | 27 Jul 1916
Africa The Prime Minister of South Africa, Louis Botha, has just arrived in German East Africa to find out first-hand why his crony Smuts’s grandiose Continue reading Africa | Longueval | 27 Jul 1916
German East Africa In Tanzania, the Schutztruppe is now in full-on retreat from the north of the colony. Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck’s clear instruction has been Continue reading Joffre’s temper | 3 Jul 1916
One man and his throne Signaller Dudley Menaud-Lissenberg is a telephone operator with a British artillery battery on the Somme. It’s early morning, miserable and Continue reading Guns on the Somme | 24 Jun 1916
Chinese labourers We open today with some very interesting news from France. Unsurprisingly, with the voracious demand for men to go into the Army, there’s Continue reading Chinese labourers | Kondoa | 14 May 1916
Joffre and Petain You may recall a couple of days ago that General Petain recently used his new position as commander of Central Army Group Continue reading Hill 304 | Verdun | 11 May 1916
Battle of Kondoa The sun rises over Kondoa Irangi. Anyone know if there’s a word that means the exact opposite of “a pretty sight”? That’s Continue reading Blunder at Kondoa | 10 May 1916
Battle of Kondoa Today should just be a formality. Sure, we’ve seen a load of different times in this theatre when a numerically superior force Continue reading Battle of Kondoa | 9 May 1916
Battle of Kondoa Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck has now gathered over 4,000 Schutztruppe, and (by theatre standards) plenty of artillery pieces, machine guns, and ammunition. On Continue reading Battle of Kondoa | 7 May 1916
Smuts and Kondoa Just about the only news today is from Kondoa Irangi, where General Smuts has gone forward to see how utterly terrible things Continue reading Smuts | Kondoa | 4 May 1916
Rain at Kondoa In Africa, the penny is beginning to drop for General van Deventer quite how foolhardy he’s been in leading the march to Continue reading Rain at Kondoa | Daily Mailed | 23 Apr 1916
Siege of Kut There’s now absolutely no chance for success if the relief column tries to attack out of Bait Isa towards Es Sinn. But, Continue reading Kut | Trebizond | 18 Apr 1916
March to Kondoa The South Africans’ march to Kondoa continues with all speed possible, but Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck has been thinking hard, and his own Continue reading Kondoa Irangi | Rawlinson & Haig | 8 Apr 1916
Apologies for the rather disjointed update schedule of late. Stick with it; hopefully we’ll get back on terms by next week. Anyway. Siege of Kut Continue reading Sannaiyat | Lolkisale | 6 Apr 1916
Africa With another clear victory at the Battle of Kahe under his belt, General Smuts now turns his attention to a command reorganisation. All the Continue reading Handeni | Kondoa | 23 Mar 1916
Battle of Kahe As we’ve seen over the past few days, the Schutztruppe have been progressively pushed off several hills around Kahe. Now, the South Continue reading Kahe | Lafayette Escadrille | 21 Mar 1916
Africa General Smuts is deeply, deeply unhappy that Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck is sitting pretty at Kahe rather than walking into a gentleman’s captivity. When the Continue reading Smuts | Stewart | Fischer | 15 Mar 1916
Moshi Today General van Deventer and the South African Horse enter Moshi, on the Usambara Railway, and capture it unopposed. They’ve achieved their objectives, surely? Continue reading Moshi | Mines | 14 Mar 1916
Battle of Latema Nek Oooh boy. Here we go again. This time there’s no option but to launch a frontal attack. Time for General Malleson Continue reading Battle of Latema Nek | 11 Mar 1916
Latema Nek From a British Empire perspective, there is precisely one good thing about the latest development in the invasion of German East Africa. This Continue reading Latema Nek | 10 Mar 1916
Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun is…learning from the English and their strange “cricket” game. Rain has stopped play; the Germans begin a series Continue reading The Wipers Times | 12 Feb 1916
Salaita Recon-by-fire efforts are continuing at Salaita Hill. There’s a final one planned for the 9th, after one on the 5th identified at least 300 Continue reading Salaita | Moewe | 7 Feb 1916
Mother It’s time for the official trial of Mother, the British tank prototype, attended by the great and the good. This being the case, the Continue reading Mother | L19 | 2 Feb 1916
Marie We open today with the news that, since Moewe did such a good job slipping the Blockade of Germany, the German Navy is now Continue reading Marie | Nixon | 16 Jan 1916
Africa It’s very easy when assessing the strategic decisions made by people during a war to forget a very simple and utterly fundamental principle. Generally Continue reading Ewart Grogan | Nairobi | 7 Sep 1915
Africa There’s time for a moment’s introspection in Africa as things begin to settle into stasis. General Tighe is not very optimistic about prospects for Continue reading Lettow-schnapps | Half-pint | 31 Aug 1915
Mesopotamia The Ottomans are falling back on Kut-al-Amara, home to a major garrison, as the more mobile ships of the British Empire flotilla head up Continue reading Siege of Saisi | 25 July 1915
Affair of Mbyuni In Africa, we’ll hopefully remember that General Tighe has just ordered an attack on Mbyuni, hoping to stem the tide of attacks Continue reading Ammonal at Hooge | 14 Jul 1914
Time to review the situation in German East Africa away from the Lake Tanganyika border. Both sides have now re-evaluated their tactics. Umba Valley The Continue reading Uganda Railway | 10 Feb 1915
Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck fights a pitched battle in Africa. In London, one W. Churchill is bored with the War Office’s lack of urgency around building Continue reading Jasin | Landships | 18 Jan 1915
Today, we’re getting a Territorial subaltern’s view of things, and seeing how French mining efforts are progressing. Charles Tennant Lieutenant Tennant (ho ho ho) is Continue reading Charles Tennant | French mining | 17 Jan 1915