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Remembered Today:

Meinertzhagen's credibility and the Battle of Tanga


mthatcher61

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I have noticed that a lot of secondary sources for the Tanga Battle reference Meinertzhagen's war diary's. At first they seem interesting and informative, but upon researching Captain Richard Meinertzhagen one finds out the latest scholarly review of him has him as a pathological liar and brutal psychopath. It makes me wonder if I should throw out all observations by him in regards to IEF B and the battle itself (or anything else for that matter). Anyone else have this problem with him as a source?

Mark Thatcher

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Mark

He is a very difficult source to use.

His Diaries make very interesting reading but he lies - eg: in claiming to have flown over Mount Kilimamjaro when the planes of the day in theatre just could not do that.

His personal criticisms of military personalities (except his sponsor General Smuts) often seem more vindictive than truthfull.

However when you see some of his work, such as Intelligence Summaries, it can be impressive.

I suggest that you only quote him as a source when there is other independent corroboration (he greatly influenced the compilation of the Official History 1914-1916, so sadly that cannot be used as independent corroboration when it refers to his activities).

The real challenge for ourselves is to sift the truth out of what he wrote - I am glad that he wrote his Diaries, but angry that he romanticised his own actions or else told blatant lies.

Harry

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Thanks Harry,

That is exactly what I thought. Unless I can find a corraborating statement from someone else4 that was at a specific episode at the same time then everything Meinhertzhagen has to say is by default suspect. Last night I was reading Kenneth J. Harvey's "The Battle of Tanga, German East Africa 1914" thesis and was fascinated by some of Meinhertzhagen's recollections. It is too bad that when I looked him up i found out about his 'Mysteries'. It was also interesting to note that as the Brits had a 'famous' soldier with a German name, the German's had their same hero with with an English name, Tom von Prince. From what I have read of Tom Prince I would have liked him more.

I see by your interests that you are interested in the LNLR Harry. What is the conection. I see they were in the Bangalore Brigade at Tanga and the only all Brit Regiment in the IEF B.

Also I'd like to say have come across a few US ARMY War College Thesis' dealing with von Lettow-Vorbeck and GEA but Kenneth J. Harvey's on the Battle of Tanga is the best so far.

Mark

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Mark

Thank you.

I served in 1st Loyals 1961-63 and became fascinated with the Battle Honour KILIMANJARO.

That led in later life to this thread:

(The 2nd Loyal North Lancashires in East Africa.) Plough your way through it!

Ross Anderson's The Battle of Tanga 1914 is worth reading because he has compiled a lot of detail.

My own view, having walked around the Tanga battlefield a couple of times, is that the German superiority both in number of machine guns and quality of machine gunners (the Germans used well-trained Europeans as the Nos 1 on their guns) was the deciding factor. It demoralised the British Generals as much as it did the British soldiers.

Harry

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I can't find my copy of Edward Paice's Tip and run: the untold tragedy of the Great War in Africa or I'd go and hunt through the index for you. I have a distinct feeling it discussed Meinertzhagen.

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Thanks SeaJane, I have a copy of Paice at home as well. I have been so busy with Farwell, Strachan, and short sidetracks with Melvin Page that I have neglected Paice. I'll have to check him out later when I get home.

Harry, I havent been able to get Ross Anderson's book on Tanga ( I have read it has excellant pictures) but I do have his article

"The Battle of Tanga, 2-5 November 1914. By: Anderson, R.. War in History, Jul2001, Vol. 8 Issue 3, p294-322, 29p, 3 Maps; Historical Period: 1914.

No doubt a much condensed version of what he published in his book.

Mark

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  • 3 weeks later...

Mark

It sounds like you may have already seen this but in case you haven't it is worth checking out Brian Garfield's 'The Meinertzhagen Mystery – The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud' a serious and extensively researched character assassination. It includes one chapter on Tanga. Garfield tentatively suggests Meinertzhagen didn't even go ashore at Tanga until the fighting was over and incidentally when he does he gives the game away to Captain von Hammerstein, von Lettow-Vorbeck's second in command, over the impending withdrawal. Some intelligence officer!

Garfield probably goes a little too far and never really answers the question why did Meinertzhagen so distort the truth. By anyone's standards, now and then, and even without the exaggeration he had an extraordinary life with pre war service in the King's African Rifles, East Africa and Palestine during the war and extensive travel all over the world in search of exotic birds after it. So why did he feel the need to exaggerate, lie, steal and cheat? I guess some people are just compulsive liars. I'm sure we've all known a few. I don't agree with Garfield's assertion that you now have to treat everything Meinertzhagen said as a lie but it certainly requires careful handling and few pinches of salt.

Meinertzhagen's account of Tanga influenced future British historians but it is also worth noting as revealed by Garfield that he does likewise for the Germans. Lettow-Vorbeck in his autobiography reveals Meinertzhagen as a key source of his post war information on the battle of Tanga. So likewise treat this with considerable caution.

Ultimately if Tanga is at least partly a failure of intelligence then the obvious question to ask is who was one of the intelligence officers?

I'm not sure I would go along with liking Tom von Prince more than Meinertzhagen. Nearly all accounts I've come across describe him as bad tempered, violent, vindictive, bear of a man. The Africans' name for him of "Bwana Sakarani" the wild one says it all. Apparently he was very bitter that his application to join the British Army was turned down (his father was English, mother German).

As for Anderson's book it is well worth getting hold of a copy and it does contain some great contemporary photos many of which are previously unpublished. Just a shame the modern day ones are so poor. Having walked round Tanga as well I feel confident in saying this!

James W

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Thanks James, the Garfield book is what led me to the revelation that everything Meinertzhagen wrote should at the least be taken with a pinch of salt. I have only seen the synopsis and the reviews for the book on Amazon, later I will get the book.

Not only Lettow, but Farwell and Strachan use Meinertzhagen extensively as primary sources. The thing that really amazes me is that Lettow was later a good friend of Meinertzhagen. I would think that L-V should have been a better judge of character and been able to suss out that Meinhertzhagen was or at the least, might have been 'full of it'.

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...If I recall correctly (But today the mind is slow) this gent also was featured in a movie where he accidentally "drops" false information to deceive the Turks into thinking the main British thrust in the desert war was not to be directed at Beersheba. He was portrayed in a very sympathetic manner.

Dr B

:whistle:

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Doc, I believe that you recall correctly

Lawrence gives an interesting brief pen picture of him in 'Seven Pillars'

"He was logical, an idealist of the deepest, and so possessed by his convictions that he was willing to harness evil to the chariot of good. He was a strategist, a geographer, and a silent laughing masterful man; who took as blithe a pleasure in deceiving his enemy (or his friend) by some unscrupulous jest, as in spattering the brains of a cornered mob of Germans one by one with his African knob-kerri. His instincts were abetted by an immensely powerful body and a savage brain, which chose the best way to its purpose, unhampered by doubt or habit."

regards

Michael

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The deception before Gaza III was on October 10th, when he rode out into No Man's Land on a reconnaissance, was seen by the Turks, then galloped back losing some equipment and papers in the chase. The OH notes that "Twenty pounds in notes were included to give the impression that the loss was not intentional. There were some letters from home of a type which it might be expected the recipient would not willingly lose. There was a private letter from an imaginary staff officer indicating that the main attack would be on Gaza and frankly criticizing the obtuseness of GHQ in not operating against the other flank. There was also the copy of a telegram from GHQ to Desert Mounted Corps stating that a staff officer was to go out on patrol towards El Gireir. A few days later a notice was inserted in Desert Corps orders that a note-book had been lost and that the finder was to return it to GHQ. A party was sent out to search for it, and the officer in command threw away some sandwiches wrapped up in a copy of the orders on the approach of the enemy."

The note in the OH then continues with

"The officer who planned and carried out this ruse has requested that his name should not be made public, and though it is well known not only to the British Army but to the Turks, it has seemed reasonable to comply with his desire."

This is off topic for Tanga, but nevertheless, a good story

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The dropping of false information episode is probably Meinertzhagen's most famous exploit. Unfortunately Garfield does a demolition job on this too suggesting the idea came from another officer.

It does feature in film in 'The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.' Meinertzhagen turns up in the East African and Middle East episodes of this early 1990's TV series. I have a vague memory it appears in another film possibly 'The Light Horsemen'?

On the literary side William Boyd's 'An Ice Cream War' set against the backdrop of Tanga and the campaign in East Africa features a very thinly disguised Meinertzhagen. In fact Boyd virtually uses his 'Army Diaries' word for word. An example perhaps of one fiction writer using the work of another.

Mentioning T.E. Lawrence's and Meinterzhagen together may offer a clue to the latter's true character. Meinertzhagen and Lawrence are contemporaries. Outside of World War One circles, and even then only those of the Middle East and East Africa, Meinertzhagen is an obscure and barely known figure. Lawrence was and remains a household name. Did Meinertrzhagen's lies and exaggerations come from a desperate need to secure his place in history?

Just a thought.

james w

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That is an interesting thought but it also begs the question, 'How much of T.E. Lawrence's modern celebrity is directly attributable to David Lean and Peter O' Toole?' I wonder had that movie never been made, if when one mentioned Lawrence of Arabia' the common answer today would be 'Who?" I would hazard to wager that if you asked 10 people who T.E. Lawrence was, the majority of the answers would be in regards to the movie, but if you asked the same amount of people 'Who wrote the Seven Pillars of Wisdom?' most people wouldn't have a clue.

Mark Thatcher

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Did Meinertrzhagen's lies and exaggerations come from a desperate need to secure his place in history?

James,

This is difficult to reconcile with the statement in the OH; see post No. 11 above

"The officer who planned and carried out this ruse has requested that his name should not be made public, and though it is well known not only to the British Army but to the Turks, it has seemed reasonable to comply with his desire."

regards

Michael

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Mark, Michael

I agree David Lean's film plays a major part in keeping the name of Lawrence alive. I would add, however, it is more than just this that keeps him from fading away.

Books continue to be written about Lawrence (two new ones coming in 2011 according to Amazon), Clouds Hill his cottage near Bovington is a well visited National Trust Property, Seven Pillars of Wisdom is still in print and recently BBC2 broadcast a two part documentary on him. Admittedly the latter was rather poor, full of padding and repetition and more a vehicle for the presenter's vanity than a study of Lawrence but it still went out to an audience of millions.

Are there any other characters from World War One who still generate this much attention?

Moving onto the famous Meinertzhagen false information episode I thought I ought to go back and re read Chapter 2 'Haversack' in Brian Garfield's book to check I'd remembered correctly. It's actually worse than I'd remembered! Not only did Meinertzhagen not come up with the idea, a Lieutenant Colonel James Dacres Belgrave did, but the bag itself was dropped by a Captain Arthur Charles Burnaby Neate. Belgrave was killed in action on 13 June 1918 so wasn't around to challenge the Meinertzhagen version of events. Neate privately writes to Meinertzhagen in the 1920's politely pointing out who dropped the bag and more publicly to the Spectator in 1956. Meinertzhagen responds by inventing a second and then third bag to cover his tracks. Cyril Falls' Official History is based on Meinertzhagen's account alone.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I think Garfield sometimes goes too far and maybe some of this could be challenged. He does make a convincing case though.

For me Meinertzhagen's 'Army Diaries' despite the doubts remains a cracking read and well worth getting hold of a copy. Just remember those pinches of salt.

james w

P.S. Brian Garfield's book 'The Meinertzhagen Mystery – The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud' is still available on Amazon.

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"The officer who planned and carried out this ruse has requested that his name should not be made public, and though it is well known not only to the British Army but to the Turks, it has seemed reasonable to comply with his desire."

From what little I've read of him that statement would be most unlike Meinertzhagen. He doesn't appear to be the sort of character that would miss the chance to 'big himself up' if the opportunity/occasion arose.

Steve

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