‘In touch with Von Vorbeck’s column of enemy hidden in jungle, to ascertain his strength’...

‘In touch with Von Vorbeck’s column of enemy hidden in jungle, to ascertain his strength’ 1916 circa. Photograph, World War One, East Africa, 1916 circa. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was the commander of a small army in German East Africa (Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda). He was determined to tie down as many Allied troops as he could in the region to prevent them from being deployed elsewhere. During a four-year guerrilla campaign he ran rings around his enemies. With an army that never numbered more than 14,000 men, comprising about 3,000 Germans and 11,000 Askaris (African soldiers), he succeeded in occupying ten times that number of Allied troops. From a collection of ninety-six stereoscopic photographs entitled ‘The Great War’.