Silence for a moment and then, in almost a whisper, Levi declared, “This’ll bring them in—the Americans.” He let the month-old paper slip out of his hands in an unconscious gesture of hopelessness.
Markus just looked at his friend in silence.
Finally, Levi spoke, “It’s lost, you know; it’s hopeless.” He eased over to his cot, lay down, and turned his face to the tent wall. “Markus?”
“Yes, Levi.”
“Now we just have to stay alive to go home.”
CHAPTER 52
East To The End, Northern Rhodesia: November 11, 1918
The worn and weary Germans trudged on. Like the migrating wildebeest, their single-file line of white officers and men, with their aAskari, porters and camp followers, stretched out for almost two miles as they followed a narrow animal track that wove its curvaceous way north like a long snake in the short grass of the Serengeti.
Onward, the battle-hardened warriors marched, determined to go another day, another week, another month, defending as they could the staggering Fatherland back home. They were still a dangerous fighting force. They still maintained a solid morale among the dwindling ranks, now numbering fewer than three thousand souls, fewer than two thousand of them fighters, 130 prisoners, and the rest porters and their families.
Northward into their own colony they marched, into familiar territory, with familiar villages of Massai and other friendly natives. These were the kin of many of General von Vorbeck’s askari, and all were happy to see the other, in spite of the plundering and ravages of a war they had no stake in.
Even as their numbers grew, the British and their allies were stymied, out foxed, and out fought. Like lions in tall grass, the Germans pounced at every chance. As the months of 1918 slipped past—the fourth year of war—the dry September days found the German colony officially occupied by the British and her assorted allies. But, because of the great distances, the rugged, sometimes impassable terrain, and the diseases, deaths, and injuries plaguing the British and South African armies, General von Vorbeck continued to elude capture.
“Sir, we intercepted a courier with a dispatch pouch,” Sergeant Koln exclaimed as he rode up to the head of the column. He handed the leather satchel to the general, as Vorbeck guided his horse off to the side to let the column continue. Markus and Levi happened to be there with several other officers.
“It seems, gentlemen, the Kaiser has asked for an armistice with the British, but it’s been rejected,” He looked at his officers, “We continue the fight.
In late autumn, the German colonial forces marched six hundred miles from southern Portuguese East Africa back north to the western edge of their colony, near the shores of Lake Nyasa. There, General von Vorbeck devised the most daring and audacious battle plan of the entire war. In his tent that night, at his regular officers’ staff meeting, he announced the plan.
“Gentlemen, we are going to execute a surprise invasion of Northern Rhodesia. That British territory is just north and west of our present position.” The officers, as one, expressed surprise and enthusiasm on hearing the plan: “Rhodesia! Brilliant! That’ll shock the British right out of their—”
“Yes,” the general interrupted, “Rhodesia hasn’t seen any of our troops in their territory the entire war.”
Levi spoke up, “I hope food supplies and other provisions are as we think they will be over there. It was a welcome few days we had, a week ago at Songea, with the fat cattle and all the fresh farm produce. Our men needed that.” The officers nodded in the affirmative. Vorbeck, continued, “I believe we’ll find what we need and surprise the English in doing it.”
The short rainy season of late November and December was about to start, but the still-dry, powdery dust swirled up and clung to the sweat of every man. In camp that night, sitting around one of the many camp fires, Vorbeck, Levi, Markus, and a half dozen other officers talked over their dwindling options as the British forces grew stronger and stronger. In addition, a new threat appeared.
“A new illness is hitting the men … some kind of flu with inflammation of the lungs,” said one of the six doctors still serving the soldiers.
“Our choices are limited. We’ll have to leave the severely sick behind again for the British to tend. We simply don’t have the medicine or porters to carry them.”
The animated discussion about military strategy and options continued into the night as sparks sputtered from the burning logs and rose to join the millions of dazzling stars above the vastness of the African sky.
One officer asked, “Why don’t we head straight north, fight our way through British East Africa, all the way to Abyssinia? It’s a neutral country and friendly to us Germans … and the British wouldn’t be expecting such a daring attack.”
“That’ll never work. We’re exhausted, and our porters would desert as soon as we left the colony,” one officer ventured.
Another officer added, “If we could get to the Indian Ocean and commandeer a ship, we could sail to some part of the Ottoman Empire, our ally on the Arabian Peninsula!”
Someone else chimed in, “That’s crazy! The whole British Navy is in the Indian Ocean. We wouldn’t get far.”
More eccentric ideas passed among the men: “Let’s march west through Northern Rhodesia to Portuguese Angola on the Atlantic and then commandeer a ship.”
General von Vorbeck remained silent through the discussion of these fanciful options, but now spoke up: “British General Deventer, I’m sure, thinks we are heading toward the center of our colony, north and east, toward Tabora. That’s why we’re going west into Northern Rhodesia.”
The raid, indeed, came as a complete surprise to the British and Rhodesians. It was early November, 1918, when Vorbeck’s soldiers overran the small town of Fife just across the border in Northern Rhodesia. Further on, in what became a major battle against the Ugandan 2nd and 4th King’s African Rifles, Rhodesian police units, and British askari, the defenders became exhausted from months of fighting elsewhere without relief. The surprise German onslaught led to the Rhodesian units finally collapsing in panic. The British askari deserted, and the Northern Rhodesian police mutinied.
It was the last big battle of what was to be called the Great War and the last battle led by General von Vorbeck in defense of the German East African colony.
Unbeknownst to all the combatants that day, November 12, 1918, an armistice was agreed to by Imperial Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies. The armistice began the previous day at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
Just outside of the Rhodesian town of Chambeshi, General Vorbeck again prepared for battle, not knowing of the armistice. Captain Markus Mathias, in the scouting party surveying the best attack approaches, heard from one of his officers, “Captain, look southeast!”
Markus raised his binoculars to his eyes and yelled, “White flag of truce. Hold your fire! Maybe they’ll surrender the town without a fight. Let the truce party through.”
The Rhodesian officer spurred his horse forward while his escorts waited farther off. He saluted. Markus returned it, and the officer began, “I have a wireless for General Paul von Vorbeck, Commander of the Imperial German East African Army. It is from General van Deventer, Commander of all Allied Forces in East Africa.” He handed a leather-bound map case to Markus.
“Is that all?” Markus asked the Rhodesian.
“Yes, sir, that is all.” He saluted again and turned his horse. Markus watched him ride off with his two escorts, the white flag fluttering from an Uhlan spear. He looked at the case, then spurred his horse to Vorbeck’s position.
Markus reined in, slid out of the saddle, and walked briskly to the general. Vorbeck was standing with a group of officers, including Levi, studying a hand-drawn map.
“General, under a white flag, a Rhodesian courier delivered this.” Vorbeck turned and looked at the leather pouch. He handed the map to a subordinate.
“What have we here?” he sai
d, taking the case. He slipped the stiff paper out of the pouch.
He read through the long message—twice.
“Gentleman, I want to read part of this telegram to you out loud.” His officers closed in around him.
“It’s a telegram from General Deventer to me, from the British War Office in London, dated 11/13/1918. It reads, as follows:
ARMISTICE SIGNED BETWEEN BRITISH ALLIED FORCES AND IMPERIAL GERMANY AS OF 11/11/18 CLAUSE 17 REQUIRES UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER ALL GERMAN FORCES OPERATING IN EAST AFRICA WITHIN ONE MONTH. CONDITIONS ARE: FIRST: HAND OVER ALL ALLIED PRISONERS. SECOND: DELIVER ALL GERMAN FORCES TO TOWN OF ABERCORN WITHOUT DELAY. THIRD: DELIVER ALL ARMS AND AMMUNITION AT ABERCORN. SIGNED: BRITISH WAR OFFICE, LONDON
A silence fell over the tightly drawn cluster of officers on that cool, sunny day. Most were stunned by the suddenness and finality of the message.
“Over? Could it really be over?” someone said. “Is it a trick?”
“After all this … four years of hardship, death, and destruction, can it be? Is it true?”
“Well, gentlemen, if this is, in fact, true, and I believe it is, then the war is over for us here in East Africa. Remember, this is an armistice, not a surrender. This dreadful war has finally ground to a halt. Our hard-fought battles have come to an end. We accomplished what we set out to do. No one could have asked us to do more. Now, it is our duty to carry out these instructions, safeguard our men, and see everyone home.” Most of the men standing there were too stunned to speak.
Vorbeck continued, “We must assume enemy forces in the field have not heard about the armistice, so we must be vigilant. We will have time to discuss this at length later. I have further news to share this evening, but for now, pass the word.” He looked at his men and solemnly said, “This war is over, gentlemen. Thank you for your service.”
Finally, when most everyone believed the news, there were congratulations all around the small group of German officers standing in the rolling lands of Northern Rhodesia—so far from home, so far in time and miles from their families and loved ones.
Word of the armistice passed quickly through the ranks. First it was a buzz, then a hum, and soon a crescendo of voices. Handshakes, hugs, cheers, tears, laughter, jokes, cursing, and shouting ensued. Everyone wanted to share something, something intangible but real and needed. Some were simply stunned, looking nowhere, with blank faces; others sobbed in pain and joy.
Questions flew from man to man: “Why did we have to have this fight? For what? What was it for? It’s an armistice, right? That means nobody won, right? We just stop fighting, right—us and the enemy?”
So much pain, so much death over the years, and so much overwhelming fatigue wore on the men. Some soldiers collapsed to the ground, laughing and shouting. Others just looked bewildered. “Could it be true? Is it a trick? Is it really the end of fighting?” It went on for hours, with the officers reassuring the men of this profound truth: the war was over.
Camp was set up on the spot, and pickets were placed, mainly out of regulations and for animal watch. The Allied troops a short distance away did not come near.
They too were celebrating. Markus and Levi both were in a kind of shock. They hugged each other in a long, long grip, mumbling almost incoherent words to each other. Near the camp, among the fires that evening, the blazing wood lit up happy, animated faces late into the night.
“I can’t seem to comprehend this—to accept it,” Markus said, looking to Levi. “This is such a way of life for us … for me. We’ve grown hard like this land, like those thousand year old Baobab trees up on the Serengeti. We’re as skinny as the Massai warriors and almost as tanned, dark, and leathery as they are.”
Levi and the others around the camp fire had a good and knowing laugh. Levi countered with, “Wait till Helena sees your scratched, chewed-up, and blackened hide. She’ll think she married a Cape buffalo!” More laughs.
“Ja, and you? You’re as dark as a wildebeest!” Markus exclaimed. The one-up-man-ship finally petered out and the two friends and their companions retired, emotionally and physically exhausted, to their bedrolls.
Deep sleep swept over them on this first night of peace. Each slipped into his separate dream of home and family and the woman he left behind, four long years ago. It was four bitter years of fighting in an Africa, a land of immense scale, beauty, hardship, and danger.
Each of these men who managed to survive the travails of countless battles had seared into his soul memories of fallen friends, brave deeds, sacrifice, heartbreak, triumph, and tragedy. For the two friends, Levi and Markus, sleeping side by side that night, a future awaited them full of love, hope, and promise.
The month-long trek to Abercorn, done in short, leisurely stages, seemed almost surreal. There was no need for apprehensive surveillance of the terrain on all sides—no feeling for the gun constantly, gripping it for reassurance. General von Vorbeck informed the officers and European men that the conditions agreed upon included the right to retain their firearms, in British recognition of their gallantry over the past four years.
Arriving in Abercorn, the formal surrender of arms ceremony took place on November 25, 1918, with General Edwards accepting the surrender in the name of King George V. The German troops were transported to Morogoro and thence Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean to await ships bound for home.
“This whole process is taking an exasperatingly long time,” Levi said. But finally, in late January, 1919, Markus and Levi boarded one of the ships leaving German East Africa for the Fatherland, with several ports of call in between, including German South West Africa.
During the wait for embarkation, the pandemic flu swept across Europe and America and also hit hard the survivors in Africa. Many died. It was heartbreaking to see some of their comrades die of the new disease after surviving the limitless dangers of war. It was dreadful to see fear creep through the remaining troops, now facing a new danger.
Markus and Levi shared a cabin on board their ship with two other officers. Both were on deck as the last lines were heaved off the wharf dockside in Dar es Salaam. British flags were flapping in the wind where once the Imperial German Insignia flew. It was a bittersweet sight, charged with so many mixed emotions.
“Ja, there she goes, German East Africa,” Levi said as he jostled for space on the railing. The ship was packed with returning soldiers, including hundreds of South African troops to be dropped off in Cape Town.
Markus spoke into the wind, “I’m just glad this ship stops at Walis Bay, nearest port to Windhoek. They let me send a telegram to Helena, so she knows we’re both OK. She and the family will be waiting. God, I’m anxious to see her … and little Rupert. He’ll be close to five now. And you, Levi, your little one is about seven”
The two friends stayed by the ship’s rail till well past sundown, till well past the time when Imperial German East Africa slipped out of sight and into history.
List of Historic and Fictional Characters
Historic Characters:
Admiral King-Hall: commander of British East African and South African forces
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary; Wife, Sofie, Duchess of Hohenberg
Bismarck: chancellor of Germany
British Lord Northecliffe
Captain Max Looff: commander of German light cruiser SMS Konigsberg
Captain Tom Von Prince, German South West Africa officer
Colonel Von Bock, German East Africa officer
Count Eiffel, architect, designer of the Eiffel Tower
Franz Josef: emperor of Austria-Hungary
General Diventer: commander of British forces in German East Africa
General von Hindenburg, Supreme German Commander during WW I
General Joagusto Monzinho De Albuquerque, Portuguese general
General Ludendorff, German General
General Samsonov, Russian General
General Smuts, English General
General Von Heyebreck: comm
ander, military forces, German South West Africa
German Foreign Minister Zimmermann
Governor Seitz, German East Africa
Governor Theodor Leutwein, German South West Africa
Gugliermo Marconi, Italian, inventor of wireless radio
Herero, Hadzas, and BeTongan peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa
Kaiser Wilhelm II: King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany
King Albert I of Belgium
King Carlos of Portugal
Lance Corporal Hopper, British 25th Royal Fusiliers
Lieutenant Boell, German East Africa officer
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Von Lettow Vorbeck: Army commander, German East Africa
Napoleon I: emperor of France
Nyaminyami: Zambezi river mythical monster
Premier Stolypin of Russia
President Woodrow Wilson, USA
Prince Ferdinand of Belgium
Robert Koleweg: archaeologist, German Oriental Society
Robert Von Liebon: Austrian electrical engineer
Sergeant William Gregory: British Royal Marines
Fictional Characters:
Anji Mathais: Markus’s sister, medical student
Arnold Conrad: son of Tomas Conrad
Gunther and Heiner: old army friends of Levi and Markus
Helena Conrad: eldest daughter of Tomas
Captain Becker: purser on the SMS Konigsberg
Captain Llewellyn: South African officer
Captain Spencer: chief medical officer on the German cruiser SMS Konigsberg
Christina Conrad: daughter of Tomas
Corporal Ubanga: German askari (black soldier) German Southwest Africa
Diana Lange: Warner Lange’s daughter
Doctor Rungi: village doctor in Bavaria
Dorothy Lange: Warner Lange’s wife
Father Lorraine: Catholic priest in Windhoek, South West Africa
The Storm That Shook the World Page 30
