Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964), popularly known as the Lion of Africa (German: Löwe von Afrika), was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force of about 14,000 (3,000 Germans and 11,000 Africans), he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Indian, Belgian, and Portuguese troops.[1] He is known for never being defeated or captured in battle.[1][2][3]
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
Der Löwe von Afrika
The Lion of Africa
20 March 1870
Saarlouis, Rhine Province, Prussia
9 March 1964 (aged 93)
Hamburg, West Germany
German Empire (1890–1918)
Weimar Republic (1918–20)
1890–1920
4th Foot Guards
Schutztruppe of German
South-West Africa
XI Corps
2nd Sea Battalion
Schutztruppe of German
East Africa
Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves
Public speaker, writer
Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to successfully invade a part of the British Empire during the First World War. His exploits in the campaign have been described by historian Edwin Palmer Hoyt as "the greatest single guerrilla operation in history, and the most successful".[4]
Nazi Germany[edit]
Later, when Hitler offered him the ambassadorship to the Court of St James's in 1935, he "declined with frigid hauteur"; the suggestion for the nomination as ambassador to the Court of St James had come from retired Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen during a visit to Berlin.[59] During the 1960s, Charles Miller asked the nephew of a Schutztruppe officer, "I understand that von Lettow told Hitler to go fuck himself." The nephew responded, "That's right, except that I don't think he put it that politely."[59]
After his blunt refusal, Lettow "was kept under continual surveillance" and his home office was searched.[59] Thanks to his popularity among the German people, he was promoted to the rank of General for Special Purposes in 1938, at the age of 68, but was never recalled to active service.
One of Lettow-Vorbeck's junior officers, Theodor von Hippel, used his experiences in East Africa to form the Brandenburgers, the commando unit of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service during the Second World War.[67]
Personal life[edit]
After his return from Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck married Martha Wallroth (1884–1953) in 1919. They had two sons and two daughters: Rüdiger (1921–1940), Arnd (1922–1941), Heloise (1923), and Ursula (1927).
Both his two sons, Rüdiger and Arnd von Lettow-Vorbeck, and his stepson Peter Wallroth,[70] were killed in action serving in the Wehrmacht.
Death[edit]
In 1964, eleven days before his 94th birthday, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck died in Hamburg. The West German government and the Bundeswehr flew in two former Askaris as state guests to attend the funeral.[71]
Several officers of the Bundeswehr were assigned as an honour guard, and West Germany's Minister of Defence, Kai-Uwe von Hassel, gave the eulogy, saying that the deceased, "was truly undefeated in the field". Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was buried in Pronstorf, Schleswig-Holstein, in the graveyard of Vicelin Church.
Order of the Red Eagle
Military Order of Max Joseph
He received the following orders and decorations:[77]
In popular culture[edit]
Lettow-Vorbeck appears in a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The episode, which was titled "The Phantom Train of Doom", begins with Indiana Jones as an officer in the Belgian Army during the First World War. Determined to destroy a Schutztruppe armoured train, Indiana takes General von Lettow-Vorbeck (played by Tom Bell) hostage and attempts to return with him behind Allied lines. When the Schutztruppe tracks them down, Indy draws his revolver to shoot the general, but decides to let him go. The general magnanimously gives him a compass so Indiana can find his way back to his lines, and the two part as friends.
Lettow-Vorbeck is the protagonist of The Ghosts of Africa, a 1980 historical novel by Anglo-Canadian novelist William Stevenson about the East African Campaign which highlighted the long-distance resupply mission of the German rigid airship L 59.
The many bureaucratic absurdities of the British campaign against General von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa are satirized in William Boyd's 1983 anti-war novel An Ice-Cream War.
Lettow-Vorbeck also appears as a character in Peter Høeg's short story, "Journey into a Dark Heart", which is the opening story in his 1990 collection, Tales of the Night. In this story Høeg imagines Lettow-Vorbeck travelling through Africa by train at night accompanied by Joseph Conrad.
Much of the history of Lettow-Vorbeck's war campaign in East Africa is detailed in the book Speak Swahili, Dammit! (2011) by James Penhaligon, as well as in a novel of the same year, The Bridge Builders (Brobyggarna in Swedish) by Jan Guillou.
A German film, Lettow-Vorbeck: Der deutsch-ostafrikanische Imperativ, was produced in 1984.[78]