{"id":1858,"date":"2005-01-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-01-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2005\/01\/27\/mikindani-in-the-context-of-east-african-warfare-by-tim-dench\/"},"modified":"2018-01-02T16:43:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T16:43:01","slug":"mikindani-in-the-context-of-east-african-warfare-by-tim-dench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/mikindani-in-the-context-of-east-african-warfare-by-tim-dench.html","title":{"rendered":"Mikindani in the Context of\n East African Warfare by Tim Dench"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n At university I read War Studies and Theology. Whilst this<br \/>\n makes me a complete weirdo it also means I can write very<br \/>\n interesting newsletter articles. I have done one on Religion<br \/>\n in Tanzania so now for the bit that keeps St Peter busy, War.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n Little is known of East African warfare before the arrival of<br \/>\n Europeans but we know the Arabs would have been developed<br \/>\n whilst any combat involving the natives would have been small<br \/>\n scale using edged weapons like swords (pangas), spears, bows<br \/>\n and possibly shields. A look at the contemporary Massai or<br \/>\n watching Zulu (great film) will give you some idea of what<br \/>\n this would involve. Some Kenyan pangas from the Mau Mau<br \/>\n uprising are on display in the Imperial War Museum. The<br \/>\n Swahili&rsquo;s first contact with gunpowder was from the<br \/>\n Omani Arabs and then the Portuguese. However, most of the<br \/>\n European-Swahili conflict occurred from 1884 onwards with the<br \/>\n arrival of German occupation. The huge technological and<br \/>\n military advantage enjoyed by the German&rsquo;s meant that<br \/>\n they were going to win most rucks. The British-Dervish battle<br \/>\n of Omdurman (1896) with rifles, machine guns and artillery<br \/>\n left 30,000 of the Sudanese spear chuckers dead or wounded<br \/>\n for the cost of fifty British dead. However, the Europeans<br \/>\n did not always have an easy day of battle.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n  The Hehe tribe had become one of the largest in<br \/>\n Tanzania by the time of German occupation and opposed the<br \/>\n colonists. In 1891 the heroic Chief Mkwawa led his tribe in<br \/>\n battle at Lugalo and gave the Hun a good thrashing. A bit of<br \/>\n a one off though as he was up against the finest offensive<br \/>\n troops in the world and was soon on the run. He committed<br \/>\n suicide and his head was cut off and sent to Germany where it<br \/>\n remained until British diplomatic pressure saw it returned to<br \/>\n Tanganyika in 1954.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n By 1905 the Swahilis had been forced into labour and as a<br \/>\n result of the appalling conditions, rebelled. The rebellion<br \/>\n was known as the Maji Maji rebellion (maji = water) as the<br \/>\n natives believed the Germans&rsquo; bullets would turn to<br \/>\n water after firing. If their knowledge of ballistics was<br \/>\n somewhat more developed then they would probably not<br \/>\n have  suffered such terrible casualties. The Germans<br \/>\n reacted harshly but effectively using scorched earth tactics<br \/>\n which resulted in wide spread famine and malnutrition. Mass<br \/>\n executions of tribal leaders especially to the fearsome Ngoni<br \/>\n tribe mopped up any remaining resistance. About 100,000<br \/>\n natives perished. Fortunately, the German colonists changed<br \/>\n their stance and relative peace prevailed. Until 1914&hellip;\n <\/p>\n<p>\n German East Africa (GEA) was surrounded by the British to the<br \/>\n east in Zanzibar, the north in Kenya, the south east in<br \/>\n Nyasaland, by the Belgians in the Congo and the Portuguese<br \/>\n were honouring England&rsquo;s oldest alliance and,<br \/>\n therefore, the Germans were hemmed in from the south by<br \/>\n Mozambique. This unenviable position was defended by Paul Von<br \/>\n Lettow Vorbeck leading at any point about 3,300 Germans and<br \/>\n 15,000 locally recruited levies. It was an impossible<br \/>\n position really &ndash; his armaments were mostly obsolete<br \/>\n and re-supply from the sea was going to be problematic.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n The German Kriegsmarine&rsquo;s ship Konigsberg managed to<br \/>\n out fox the Royal Navy (RN) and was able to land supplies and<br \/>\n wreck the Pegasus as she cleaned her boilers off Zanzibar.<br \/>\n She fled up the Rufiji River where her shallow draft meant<br \/>\n she could escape from the RN&rsquo;s guns. If you have seen a<br \/>\n particularly shocking Roger Moore film &lsquo;Shout at the<br \/>\n Devil&rsquo; (nothing compared to Moonraker, &ldquo;I think<br \/>\n he&rsquo;s attempting re-entry&rdquo;), then it shows the<br \/>\n idea a little. However, the response was not to get a poor<br \/>\n quality actor to black up with boot polish and take an alarm<br \/>\n clock attached to TNT to blow the ship up. The British got<br \/>\n two shallow draft monitors with long range howitzers to shoot<br \/>\n it. Before sinking, the Germans landed the guns and<br \/>\n ammunition and the Captain later defended Lindi.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n Lettow Vorbeck employed hit and run tactics often deep into<br \/>\n the surrounding colonies and was still being supplied by the<br \/>\n Kriegsmarine. The RN blockaded the coast and supported the<br \/>\n movements of the army along the coast. By 1916 the combined<br \/>\n allied force outnumbered the Germans considerably and was led<br \/>\n by the South African General Smuts. The Germans were rolled<br \/>\n up and slowly encircled but the fighting continued in<br \/>\n earnest. On 13th September a naval bombardment preceded a<br \/>\n land attack on Mikindani. The impressive Customs House was<br \/>\n shelled and wrecked and Mikindani claimed its only death of<br \/>\n the war, sadly a forgotten villager. It appears the Boma was<br \/>\n not attacked and resistance was not offered.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n  After a long game of cat and mouse and many casualties<br \/>\n to malaria and dysentery the brilliant military campaign of<br \/>\n the charming and brave General Von Lettow Vorbeck came to an<br \/>\n end. He heard of the armistice two days after its signing and<br \/>\n gave up his sword honourably on 25th November in North<br \/>\n Rhodesia as a truly great soldier. GEA passed into British<br \/>\n administration under a League of Nations mandate and became<br \/>\n Tanganyika. The coming of the 1939-45 war did not result in<br \/>\n any domestic combat but Tanganyikans did volunteer for<br \/>\n service in the King&rsquo;s African Rifles and the population<br \/>\n as a whole suffered from shortages and rationing as Britain<br \/>\n pulled her Empire into the war. Roald Dahl&rsquo;s<br \/>\n &lsquo;Going solo&rsquo; provides an interesting account of<br \/>\n life in Tanganyika at the outbreak of war (as well as great<br \/>\n snake and decapitation stories).\n <\/p>\n<p>\n The war passed as did British rule and now Tanzania is<br \/>\n defended by the Tanzanian People&rsquo;s Defence Force (TPDF)<br \/>\n as well as a militia and a paramilitary police. I have<br \/>\n personally seen the militia drilling and was not overly<br \/>\n impressed. However, the TPDF proved themselves to be the best<br \/>\n East African army in the war to oust Idi Amin from Uganda in<br \/>\n 1979. Needless to say if America wanted Tanzania I would put<br \/>\n money on the yanks, the TPDF&rsquo;s budget would not buy a<br \/>\n single US fighter aircraft. There was an issue a few years<br \/>\n ago of Tanzania buying a high tech radar system from a<br \/>\n British firm, I am unsure of the outcome.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/pictures\/enews-01-05-image008.jpg\" alt=\" \" class=\"pic\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\" \/>A walk around<br \/>\n Mikindani shows little evidence of current military activity<br \/>\n but the historical signs are more common. The Mtwara airstrip<br \/>\n was an RAF base, the customs house was destroyed by naval<br \/>\n artillery and subsequent neglect, the splendid hotel is a<br \/>\n fortified building. The Boma is no great castle but would<br \/>\n have been a hard nut to crack. The crenulations (saw teeth<br \/>\n type things you get at the top of castles) on the bastion at<br \/>\n the back are wide enough to accommodate the large water<br \/>\n cooled barrel of the Maxim machine gun whilst those on the<br \/>\n tower could only fit a rifle. Both employed at the time of<br \/>\n construction.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n The now covered well shows that the adage is true that a<br \/>\n castle&rsquo;s defence is only as deep as its well and the<br \/>\n witch doctor who dug a whole at the top of the Boma hill<br \/>\n looking for German treasure found only spent German rifle<br \/>\n cartridges. Using a chicken as a metal detector probably was<br \/>\n not the best method of finding treasure though. The fact that<br \/>\n Tanzania is relatively boring to a student of war belies its<br \/>\n greatest asset. The peaceable nature of its citizens.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At university I read War Studies and Theology. Whilst this makes me a complete weirdo it also means I can write very interesting newsletter articles. I have done one on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-january-2005"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mikindani in the Context of East African Warfare by Tim Dench - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/mikindani-in-the-context-of-east-african-warfare-by-tim-dench.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mikindani in the Context of East African Warfare by Tim Dench - eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At university I read War Studies and Theology. 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