2. The Tsavo Heritage Foundation and
the Tsavo battlefields Committee
have invited me to talk to you a little
about why we should remember or
commemorate the End of the First
World War in Kenya.
Well, the answer is simple. In 1914
when war broke out in Europe
the African population of British
East Africa, now Kenya, was about
4million men, women and children.
Out of the 4 million people, over
1 million were involved in the First
World War, not in Europe but here
in East Africa. Many never made it
home, paying the ultimate sacrifice
because of battle wounds, disease
and hunger. We must acknowledge
all of these brave men. We must
appreciate their struggles and we
must recognise their achievements.
When discussing the first world war,
we usually think of the trenches
in the France and Belgium. Until
recently few people knew that Africa
had its own epic stories to tell. The
most thrilling of which started in
Taveta in Taita Taveta County.
War was never intended to break
out in Africa. The Berlin Conference
of 1885 decreed that the African
colonies of the affected European
countries at war with each other
should remain neutral. In reality,
however, it w as inevitable that
the European settlers, many of
whom already had some military
experience behind them, would
lock horns and fight. When War
was declared in Europe on 4th
August 1914, they quickly rallied to
their respective King and colonies
defence.
The first skirmishes of the First World
War took place in Africa far from
Europe, when the British destroyed
the radio communication towers
in the German colony of Togoland
and in the port town of Dar-es-
Salaam in German East Africa, in
an effort to disconnect their radio
communication link with German
Military Headquarters in Berlin.
There was no Safaricom or Airtel
back then.
10 days after war was declared, the
German Colonial Defense Force,
known as the Schutztruppe, under
the command of Colonel Paul von
Lettow Vorbeck invaded British East
Africa. Attacking the border village
of Taveta in the early morning of
15th August 1914. They killed a
border guard, the first causality of
the East African Campaign, before
advancing on the Police Post where
the District Commissioner (Hugh La
Fontaine) shot and fatally wounded
the first European casualty (Herr
F Broecker) of the East African
Campaign. The Schutztruppe quickly
occupied the town and surrounding
area, creating a strongly defended
strategic position on Salaita Hill.
From Taveta and Salaita the
Shutztruppe embarked on harassing
Do you know your Grand Parents Story?
Speech by James G Willson, Author of ‘Guerrillas of Tsavo’ at the Launch of the 2018
Commemorations to mark the End of the East African Campaign of the First World War at the
Louis Leakey Auditorium at the National Museum of Kenya on Thursday 14th June 2018.
3. activities
a g a i n s t
British interests in Southern British
East Africa. Von Lettow Vorbeck’s
aim was to keep as many British and
Allied troops busy in East Africa to
prevent them being redeployed to
the Western Front. One of his most
strategic targets was disrupting
the Uganda Railway – The British
Colonies lifeline to Mombasa. This
railway was said to have started
somewhere and ended nowhere. A
bit like the Madaraka Express today!
British Defence Forces
Meanwhile, the British Defense
Force consisted of 3 infantry
battalions of the Kings African Rifles
under the Command of Lieutenant
Colonel Ward. Only one company
from the whole force was In Nairobi
at the start of the War, the rest of
the force was doing what the Kenya
Armed Forces are still doing today
- patrolling the Northern Frontier
and the Ethiopian, Somali border
area. As a result, the East
African Mounted Rifles were
formed with 6 squadrons
of volunteers recruited
from within the European
Settlers. People like Dennis
Finch Hatton and Baron von
Blixen of Out of Africa fame
were quickly deployed with
their own ponies to Kajiado,
Bissel and Namanga where
skirmishes soon broke out with
the Germans.
By September 1915 the British
had reinforcements in the form of
two Indian Expeditionary Forces to
bolster the weak British defence
line. Later, the Royal Fusiliers,
Legion of Frontiersmen and the 2/
Rhodesian Regts arrived followed by
South African Expeditionary Force
in December 1915. Numbers of the
various allied troops now in East
Africa had reached round 300,000.
But by now the military commanders
were beginning to realize that East
Africa was not an easy country to
wage a war in.
Hunger, thirst, sickness and
disease
The allied troops did not survive for
very long, not as a result of battle
casualties as in Europe, but due to
the very harsh conditions. Hunger,
thirst, sickness and disease – this is
the crux of the whole East African
Campaign.
The dusty village of Maktau marks
the halfway point from Voi to Taveta
andtodayhasapopulationofaround
600, in 1915 there were over 20,000
troops stationed here. The logistics
for getting water alone to the camp
was immense as the Serengeti plains
were waterless, but what about
ammunition, or even food? Think
of the dietary requirements for the
different ethnic soldiers’ present.
There were no roads to speak of, just
a few ox wagon tracks through the
bush following the old paths used
by the slave caravans from Central
Africa to Mombasa. No roads
meant no cars or trucks to haul the
paraphernalia needed by a fighting
army in the field.
There was only the one railway
between Nairobi and Mombasa and
that was under constant attack by
parties of the Schutztruppe.
Ox wagons with teams of 16 oxen
were used to pull wagon loads of
supplies and heavy artillery pieces.
Horses, ponies and mules were used
bythecavalry.Theyallneededfodder
much of which had to come from as
far away as Brazil and Australia and
still had to get to the front. All these
animals would usually perish within
6 weeks of being at the front, again
not from battle wounds but due
to the notorious tsetse fly. In 1916
alone, deaths rates for the horses
was recorded as 290% of the initial
stock numbers.
So how did supplies ever get to
the troops...
Both sides used porters and carriers,
this was, after all, the traditional
way of travel into Africa since time
immemorial.
4. In Kenya, the military initially used
volunteer labour, recruited primarily
from Western Kenya, they called
themselves ‘Kavirondos’. As the need
increased, thousands more were
press-ganged from Central Kenya
and from the coast until virtually the
entire African male population in
both countries were involved in the
logistics. The volunteer labour force
became the Carrier Corps. Today the
locations in Nairobi, Mombasa, and
Voi called ‘Karriercor’ are a legacy
from the time the carriers were
assembled before being sent to the
front.
Initially, 15,000 porters per day
moved the Maktau garrison
requirements in three stages from
Voi to Maktau. Each porter having
to carry his own rations and water
as well as a load of 25kgs or more.
They moved the equivalent of three
canter lorries per day. They were the
very “feet and hands of the army”
that enabled the war to progress.
The military was not only recruiting
for porters. Soldiers for The Kings
African Rifles were also being
enlisted in ever-increasing numbers
since early 1915, They had proven
their worth in discipline and stamina,
being extremely proud of who and
what they were – fighting soldiers.
In battle they never lost their rifles
and always managed to recover
their casualties, more importantly,
they coped well with the privations
associated with campaigning in the
bush. These capable soldiers started
to take over from the European and
Indians, and by the end of the war,
they exceeded 30,000 well-trained
men proud to serve their King and
Colony.
Infrastructure Development in
Taita Taveta
The Military was also recruiting
for The Pioneer Corps made
up of mainly Indian and African
engineers. They achieved many
amazing feats of engineering and
were ultimately responsible for
bringing the first infrastructure
development to Taita Taveta. The
first of which was upgrading the ox
wagon track from Voi to Taveta to a
murram road. It took another 100
years before the road was upgraded
again to the beautiful tarmac road
we have today.
The Pioneers went on to build
bridges and a railway branch line
from Voi towards Taveta reaching
the garrison at Maktau in mid-
June 1915. This railway line was in
use till the mid-1980s but now lies
forgotten like those who built it. One
of my daughter’s many memories of
growing up in Taita is catching the
train from Voi to Maktau on her 6th
birthday. It would be wonderful to
be able to do this again one day.
A water pipeline was installed by the
Pioneer Corps from the Taita Hills to
Maktau. This gravity-fed pipeline is
still the main source of water for this
dusty village, even with much of the
original plumbing still intact.
The Pioneers were also involved in
was the building of the first airstrip
in Kenya- not in Nairobi or Mombasa
but in Maktau. This was where the
Aviation Industry in Kenya started
with 4 aeroplanes and lots of trial
and error.
Up until 1914, there was no hospital
in
Ta i t a
T a v e t a
only small
mission clinics at Bura and Taveta.
A Base hospital, which eventually
became Voi Hospital, was started
under canvas, followed by large
field hospitals in Mbuyuni and
Taveta. These primitive medical
facilities had to cope not only with
the trauma injuries sustained in war
but also disease, dehydration and
exhaustion. Assisting the medical
corps was Saint Irene Stefani better
known as Sister Nyaatha from the
Consulta Sisters. During the East
African Campaign, she earned the
nickname of the Angel of Charity
for taking special care of the sick
porters.
Staggering Statistics
Despite the amazing work done
the Medical Corps, many many
soldiers and porters died during
the Campaign. The statistics are
staggering, however, no two records
give the same data and so will always
be suspect in their accuracy.
Hew Strachan, a well-known scholar
and historian estimated in 1970 that
British losses in the East African
campaign were 3,443 killed in action
and 6,558 died of disease. He goes
5. on
t o
estimate
that 90,000
African porters had
died. My own research for Guerrillas
of Tsavo suggests a much higher
mortality rate amongst the Carrier
Corps.
In 2007, Edward Paice another
historian and researcher recorded
22,000 British casualties in the East
African campaign, of whom 11,189
died. This was 9 per cent of the
British forces in the campaign.
Another interesting statistic was that
in 1917 it was recorded that 75% of
all Taita adult males were employed
away from home on some form of
military activities.
We are talking about huge losses
of manpower that our forefathers
were involved in and yet very few of
us know their story or even stop to
remember them
The 2018 Commemoration
weekend of the 23rd 24th and 25th
November will be the last centenary
commemoration of First World War
and will be dedicated to the Kenyans
who gave their lives for a better
tomorrow but who have no known
resting place.
But why have we chosen this
weekend to remember them?
Ask your neighbour when the First
World War ended. They are likely to
reply ‘on the 11th November 1918’.
This is not so: The first world war
officially ended in June 1919 at the
Treaty of Versailles.
So why did your neighbour say 11th
November 1918?
Armistice Day and Remembrance
Sunday
The 11th of November is Armistice
Day. The day when Britain’s Allies
and Germany signed the first of
many armistices to put a cessation
or truce to end the hostilities. The
first armistice came into effect at
the 11th hour of the 11th day of
the 11th month of 1918. Every
year in November we see Acts of
Remembrance to acknowledged
not only this first Armistice but
those who have died in all military
conflicts around the world. Wearing
a bright Red poppy flower, which is
the international symbol of Military
Remembrance, we pause for 2
minutes on the 11th November at
11 am as a mark of respect.
The nearest Sunday to the
11th November is known as
Remembrance Sunday traditionally
marked by parades and services.
The Kenya Defence Forces organise
a Service of Remembrance at Ngong
Road Commonwealth War Graves
Commission Cemetery here in
Nairobi. In Mombasa are service is
also held at Mbaraki Commonwealth
War Graves Commission Cemetery.
However, if you can remember
back to the beginning of this story,
I told you that the first acts of the
war were to destroy the German
Communication towers. 4 years
later Von Lettow Vorbeck still did not
have any means to communicate
with Germany, so when a messenger
arrived from the British Forces with
a note that an Armistice had been
signed, he did not believe them. 14
days later after borrowing a British
radio, Von Lettow accepted that
the fighting had stopped and laid
down his arms at Mbale in Northern
Zambia on the 25th November 1918.
Thus ending the longest military
campaign of the first world war.
In the same way that the rest of the
world marks the 11th of November,
I hope that marking the 25th
November will become an annual
event in Kenya and East Africa. Each
one of you here in this wonderful
Louise Leakey auditorium at our
National Museum has a part to play
in producing this year’s event. I hope
it will be broadcast out to the world,
to promote the Kenyan People and
the growing heritage section of our
Tourism Industry. There is already a
lot of international interest we just
have to feed it professionally.
I can compare this with South Africa
where Tour Guides on the the
excellent Boer War Heritage Trail
are booked up for upto two years in
advance and just shows what could
be achieved in Kenya.
Protection and Respect for our
National Heritage Sites
To make this an ongoing success
we need to have a good look at
what we still have as a physical
reminder of 100 years ago. The
East African Campaign sites in Taita
Taveta which were Gazetted as
National Monuments by the Cabinet
Secretary for Arts and Culture, Hassa
Wario in January 2015, have still not
been given the physical protection
they need and are now in dire state.
Two of these monuments that
are particularly close to my heart
is the 117-year-old Police Post in
Taveta from where the District
Commissionaire fired the first British
shots of the East African Campaign.
The building is currently occupied
by Prison Wardens but is in a most
dilapidated state imaginable, it
would not take too much to restore
it to become a presentable building
again.
