Loyal North Lancashires in East Africa

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Harry

Just thought I would add some contemporaneous colour to the story.

I believe this is the idealised representation of the uniforms worn by the German forces.

Sometimes reality is very much different. But at least this gives some sort of an idea.

Cheers

Bill

[ShirlD]

Most definitely bush-bashing gear

Cheers

Shirley

[bushfighter]

Flag of Tanga

The Battle of Tanga - Repercussions

For Lettow the victories at Tanga & Longido were not just military ones.

Now his Askari were jubilant & the raising of suitable recruits became simpler. His own Schutztruppe officers, particularly the settlers of the Schutzenkompagnien, realised that they had the edge over the British & became enthusiastic towards the war.

The Governor of GEA, initially against military confrontation, now had to support Lettow & his war aims.

The British smarted at the defeat & hid it from the public as other bad news was in the press (losses at Ypres, Turkey entering the war & the naval victory of Admiral von Spee).

General Aitken suggested the recall to India of the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry & the 98th Infantry but this was rejected & instead General Aitken was recalled to London & retired from the Army. (The 63rd & the 98th served in theatre for another 26 months.)

General Wapshare, now commanding in BEA, instigated the Battle of Jasin which resulted in a further British defeat as has been mentioned.

The Coastal area settled down with the Germans playing the dominant role. Wavell's Arab Rifles took them on in patrol encounters.

The Royal Navy concentrated on finding & destroying the Konigsberg & was also tasked with blockading the GEA coast to prevent supply ships from Germany replenishing Lettow's forces.

[bushfighter]

The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment & The King's African Rifles.

When war was declared an officer from the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was serving in BEA on secondment to the 3rd Bn The King's African Rifles.

When hostilities in the East African Campaign ended at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on 25th November 1918 many more Loyal North Lancashires were serving throughout the KAR, which by now had expanded dramatically.

Some officers & senior ranks were sent out on secondment from Loyal North Lancashire Bns in Europe during the war, notably one Sergeant who gained the DCM during heavy fighting in Portuguese East Africa in 1918.

But others were men who had originally landed at Tanga with the 2nd Bn. They found that they could adapt to the climate & to the rigours of the campaign & they were seconded to commissions or senior rank posts in the KAR before the 2nd Bn left for Egypt at the end of 1916.

(The Loyal North Lancashire Machine Gun Company, soon re-titled 259 MG Coy Machine Gun Corps, served in GEA until the end of 1917.)

Thus the history of the East African Campaign includes participation by The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment from the first day up until the last, & the link between the Regiment & The King's African Rifles means that Loyal North Lancashires were fighting on the ground in all phases of the campaign.

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Mates

Just a note about the "Sweet Banana" song of the Rhodesian African Rifles. Let us not forget that the former president of Zimbabwe was Canaan Sodindo Banana - needless to say, the standing joke in the 80's was that Zim was now a Banana Republic. The jokes became so prolific, a law was passed making it illegal to crack banana jokes. I am just wondering how that song went during that time.

My sister lived in Zim until 1988 - it was already falling to pieces - she is a dinkum Wenwe.

BTW Shirly, if you are still having trouble playing it, send me a note and I will send you the mp3.

Cheers

Bill

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Mates

Now for some other pix of the people against whom the Allies were fighting.

First, the Governor of DOA, Dr Heinrich Schnee.

He was quite well travelled, haveing been involved in administrative posts at Samoa and New Guinea. Also he had a connection with New Zealand from where his wife came from - not the fiendish Hun image so often talked about in the propaganda.

And now a representative group of men who did the actual fighting. Proud, nordic Aryans, the glorious representatives of the Second Reich, giving the putative leader of the Third Reich something for Himmler to parade as good examples.

In this pic, we see the command cadre of 11th Feldkompanie. On the left is Sergeant Hamiss while in the centre of the pic is Effendi Mitambo. The rank of Effendi was as high as a black officer could attain. They were held in high regard by the Germans. Here is another Effendi in dress uniform.

An example of this hig regard of the Effendi can be found in the book by Oberleutnant d.L.II Wilhelm Methner called "Unter drei Gouverneuren" written in 1938 where he says:

None of the losses suffered in those days has moved me more than the death of Effendi Hassan, one of the few black NCOs, who were promoted officer by the commander (Lettow-Vorbeck) for their incomparable loyalty and bravery. For years this quiet and taciturn man had been one of the firmest pillars of my company; he was a person of utmost loyalty and discipline, a soldier I could rely on in every situation, be it the most difficult and severe. I mourned for many comrades, but I'm even today not ashamed to say, that, sitting alone in my grass-hut in the field-hospital, I cried my eyes out for Effendi Hassan.

That says it all I guess.

Cheers

Bill

[ShirlD]

Hi Bill,

Have never been able to hear the "Sweet Banana" song, mind you have been diverted by the Willie McBride thread, and having found the WW1 songs on U tube wasted a good few hours.

Love this thread and all Harry's work, I look each day for the latest saga.

Cheers

Shirley

[bushfighter]

The GEA coastline

Early Operations on the East African Coast - Naval Ops 1

In late July 1914 in Dar es Salaam the German authorities were preparing a big exhibition to celebrate the official opening of the Central Railway between Dar Es Salaam & Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika - a railway engineering feat to match the British Uganda Railway line.

The exhibition had besides bringing Captain von Hammerstein, OC 6 Feldkompagnie, to Dar es Salaam also brought two other visitors who were to prove critical to Lettow's campaign in the forthcoming war.

Retired Major-General Wahle came out from Germany to see the exhibition & to visit his son in GEA.

The German light Cruiser SMS Konigsberg had arrived in early June both to enhance the exhibition & to represent German interests & policies in the Indian Ocean.

As war clouds gathered over Europe SMS Konigsberg slipped out into the Ocean.

Lettow appointed von Hammerstein as his Chief of Staff to organise Schutztruppe mobilisation.

Major-General Wahle placed himself at Lettow's disposal & was appointed to be in charge of Lines of Communication, a formidable task in a country three times the size of Germany & with very few roads.

[bushfighter]

SMS KONIGSBERG in Dar Es Salaam Harbour

Early Operations on the East African Coast - Naval Ops 2

Six days after leaving Dar Es Salaam, during which time she out-ran three British cruisers (HMS Hyacinth, HMS Astrea & HMS Pegasus under Admiral King-Hall), SMS Konigsberg received the codeword informing her that war was declared.

In the Gulf of Aden on 06 August 1914 the Konigsberg came across the newly-built British SS City of Winchester, captured her, took her to the Kuria Muria Islands where 400 tons of the British cargo was put onto the German ship, & then scuttled her - the first British Merchant Shipping loss of the war.

The Royal Navy now diverted British shipping away from the approaches to the Red Sea & Konigsberg's Captain Max Loof could not find another target. He made a successful rendezvous off the Somali coast with his coal supply ship & steamed south to Madagascar to search for French shipping. Max Loof found Majunga harbour on Madagscar's west coast deserted & departed, but the French authorities recognised the Konigsberg & got busy on the radio.

Meanwhile the Royal Navy had shelled Dar Es Salaam, destroying the radio station amongst other targets, & the GEA Governor Heinrich Schnee had declared an "open port" policy & sunk a ship in the harbour entrance to prove that Dar was not a military port.

Max Loof had no radio contact with GEA & was not wanted back at Dar Es Salaam anyway.

Konigsberg now needed coal to maintain power & met again with her supply ship off the Aldabra Islands but the seas were too heavy & coal could not be transferred. The situation was getting critical. Max Loof decided to enter the delta of the Rufiji River opposite Mafia Island in GEA. The delta had been recently surveyed & several deep-water channels charted.

On 03 September 1914 Konigsberg & her supply ship "Somali" slipped into the delta & steamed up the Simba Uranga channel.

[bushfighter]

HMS PEGASUS

Early Operations on the East African Coast - Naval Ops 3

On 19 September 1914 a German-employed Coast Watcher told Max Loof of a British cruiser entering Zanzibar Harbour.

The Konigsberg went out to sea on the next tide & steamed through the night towards Zanzibar, entering the harbour at first light.

The British cruiser was HMS Pegasus, commissioned in 1899 & whose largest weapons were eight four-inch guns. She had anchored in Zanzibar Harbour to make boiler & engine repairs.

Konigsberg opened fire at 9,000 yards range with some of her ten 4.1-inch Quick Firing guns. Within 20 minutes Pegasus was giving off heavy smoke & going down slowly by the bows.

Konigsberg then fired at the shore radio station, threw zinc cordite casings overboard to simulate mine-laying & left the harbour.

Max Loof had intended to head south along with his supply ship Somali & raid South African shipping, but an engine problem decided his return to the Rufiji Delta where he could obtain machined parts from the Dar Es Salaam railway workshops.

The Pegasus sank later that day with the loss of 38 dead & 55 wounded.

(The Captain had in fact struck the colours & run up a white flag in an attempt to avoid further carnage, but the London spin-doctors of the time concealed this from the public & instead produced a story of gallant Royal Marines rushing to hold up the shot-away ensign. This story inspired many illustrators.)

And the relevance of all this to the future activities of the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment?

Significant.

When the Pegasus guns had been salvaged & mounted on land-carriages the British infantry in BEA would have a substantial increase in artillery firepower to support them.

[bushfighter]

GEA Askari attack

THE GEA SCHUTZTRUPPE AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

Bill has very kindly posted some images & comments on the GEA Schutztruppe above.

In 1914 the overall strength of the force was 260 German officers & NCOs & 2,472 Askari. They were organised into14 independent Feldkompagnien located at:

1 FK Aruscha

2 FK Iringa

3 FK Lindi

4 FK Dodoma

5 FK Langenburg

6 FK Udjidji

7 FK Bukoba

8 FK Tabora

9 FK Urundi

10 FK Dar Es Salaam

11 FK Ruanda

12 FK Mahenge

13 FK Kondoa-Irangi

14 FK Mwansa

& a Depot Kompagnie

(In 1914 present day Rwanda & Burundi were part of GEA.)

Each Feldkompagnie had 3 platoons & a peacetime establishment of 162 Askari, plus a Signals Platoon, Surgeon, Cobbler & also 20 Bandsmen.

Twenty Germans were assigned to each Kompagnie as senior officers & NCOs.

All Kompagnien had about 250 carriers & collapsible boats for river crossings..

Six Feldkompagnien had been armed with the M98 rifle but the remainder used the old black-powder Mauser M71/84 rifle.

The Schutztruppe had:

67 Machine Guns

11 M73 Field Guns

2 60mm guns

3 47mm guns

8 37mm Revolverkanonen

11 37mm Kanonen

These heavier weapons were distributed as Lettow saw fit but it meant that all Kompagnien had at least two Machine Guns & sometimes four.

The GEA Polizeitruppe (police) numbered 65 Germans & 2,150 NCOs & Askari.

Governor Schnee did not want them under military command but Lettow had his eye on them.

[bushfighter]

MAP TO SUPPORT POST #311

[bushfighter]

GEA Police Askari

The GEA Schutztruppe after mobilisation

The declaration of war & mobilisation of GEA allowed Lettow to quickly enlarge the Schutztruppe.

Governor Schnee was persuaded to allow the integration of the over 2,000 Polizeitruppe Askari (most of them old soldiers anyway) into the Schutztruppe, & when the Governor ordered the survey vessel Mowe to be sunk in the entrance to Dar Es Salaam harbour (see Post #309) the crew of 102 men reported to Lettow for deployment.

German & Austrian civilians in the Colony were called-up & many of those from the shooting clubs organised by Tom von Prince went into all-white Schutzenkompagnien (Sharpshooters Companies), 10 of which were formed.

Two Schutzenkompagnien were mounted & operated across the BEA border.

Another, used for garrison duties in Dar Es Salaam, was composed of German sailors from merchant ships now blockaded in GEA ports.

However as new Feldkompagnien were formed whites from the Schutzenkompagnien were posted into them until finally no all-white units remained.

(This was in contrast to the British who for a couple of years retained colonial reservations about expanding the KAR because it meant "arming more blacks" & so retained all-white units until they ran out of white manpower. Then they found that they didn't have enough local whites left to man the then rapidly expanding KAR.)

As they pacified GEA the Germans experienced some tough fights with local tribes & so they had looked outside GEA for other types of Askari, recruiting from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, German Cameroon & even German New Guinea.

However by 1914 more enlightened Government policies towards the African inhabitants of GEA had led to mutual respect between the old enemies, & the more martial tribes such as the Wahehe, Angoni & Wanyamwezi were now happy to join the Schutztruppe.

The recruitment of most of the redundant Askari from 2 KAR in 1911 was commented on in Post #298.

By March 1915 Lettow had raised 16 new Feldkompagnien, numbered from 15 FK to 30 FK.

Significant support was given to Feldkompagnien by irregular scouts named Ruga-Ruga. The Ruga-Ruga carried tribal spears, bows & clubs & acted as recce scouts & guides. In action they could be as ferocious as the Askari.

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Harry

G'day mate

Just a bit more colour with a monochrome shot of your lads from the DOA in the bush with the heliograph.

Cheers

Bill

[bushfighter]

The border area between Uganda & GEA

UGANDA IN AUGUST 1914

Uganda, was a British Protectorate (like Nyasaland & BEA) but did not have the white-settler political situation that was growing in BEA.

Uganda was protected to the north by Sudan, to the east by BEA & to the west by the Belgian Congo. But in the south there was an unmarked land border with GEA in very wild country & a large water boundary on Lake Victoria.

The Uganda Railway was the Protectorate's lifeline & the Germans appreciated this. On the declaration of war Schutztruppe forces near Uganda were withdrawn to Muansa at the south of Lake Victoria & used in actions east of the Lake. (The battle of Kisii has been describeded in earlier posts.)

The KAR companies on Internal Security duties in the north of the protectorate were brought south & sent across the Lake into BEA. (Eventually Sudanese troops garrisoned northern Uganda.)

In Uganda new units were raised.

From the armed native Uganda Police an Active Service Company of 200 men was formed & sent to the southern GEA border. This later became the Uganda Police Battalion.

Three hundred white & Indian volunteers were enrolled into the Uganda Volunteer Reserve & companies were established in Kampala, Entebbe & Jinja.

A Uganda Field Ambulance was recruited from eager secondary school pupils & trained to a high standard.

Native levies were volunteered through their Chiefs & were gradually expanded into the Baganda Rifles.

Armed guards were provided for the Lake vessels which were the Protectorate's link with the Uganda Railway terminal at Kisumu (formerly known as Port Florence) in BEA.

During 1915 officers & men of the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment would be performing various duties in the Uganda Protectorate.

[bushfighter]

Major islands off the GEA coast

THE OCEAN ISLANDS

Pemba, Zanzibar & Mafia Islands stood out in the Indian Ocean like sentinels off the BEA & GEA coastline.

Zanzibar Island (local name Unguja because Zanzibar was the name for the archipelago) was a British Protectorate & being near Bagamoyo & Dar Es Salaam was vulnerable to German attack.

"G" Company 3 KAR garrisoned Zanzibar in August 1914, & the Royal Navy presence in the surrounding ocean guaranteed security, or so people thought until SMS Konigsberg entered the harbour & sank HMS Pegasus.(Post #310).

All fit Europeans on the island were enrolled into a Town Guard to assist "G" Coy.

The British Resident in Zanzibar asked for a Bn to come & in November 1914 four companies of the Gwalior Rifles were sent.

The Town Guard was then reorganised into the Zanzibar Volunteer Defence Force & a was increased with a company of native police.

However the German threat to Zanzibar never materialised into a landing.

Mafia Island was part of GEA.

Once the British knew that the Konigsberg was inside the Rufiji Delta Mafia Island appealed to them as a forward base.

On 10 January 1915 a British Force of 500 men (four companies of 1 KAR & one coy of 101st Grenadiers) landed on Mafia Island & successfully attacked the dug-in German platoon that held the island.

The island surrendered, the British assault force withdrew, a company of the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry took over as garrison troops & the Royal Navy & its Air Service started developing facilities.

Pemba Island was part of the Zanzibar Protectorate.

Request for support:

If anyone can contribute any information on military activity on Pemba during the war then please do so.

***************************

Bill

Thanks very much for the heliograph image.

Harry

[bushfighter]

Nyasaland

NYASALAND IN AUGUST 1914

Nyasaland was a British Protectorate administered by the Colonial Office.

Across the western border was Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), & to the southwest, south & southeast was Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique).

A border with German East Africa lay to the north & to the northeast across Lake Nyasa.

When war broke out 1 KAR, the Nyasaland Bn, had four companies far away in Jubaland (now Somalia), two companies on leave & two companies of mostly recruits in the south of the Protectorate at Mangoche & Zomba, where Bn HQ also was located.

The GEA border was patrolled by small groups of armed police.

The Governor activated his mobilisation plan & recalled the Askari on leave.

Over 100 retired Askari volunteered for re-enlistment & two Reserve KAR companies were formed. The vast majority of 1 KAR Askari came from the Yao tribe.

The white Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve, based on Rifle Clubs, was called-up & was 70 men strong by early September.

Selected white Volunteers were commissioned into 1 KAR as that Bn expanded into three double-companies within the Protectorate.

Four 7-pounder muzzle-loading guns were used as an improvised artillery unit.

The infantry & artillery were assembled at Fort Johnston into the Nyasaland Field Force & preparations were made to move the Field Force to Karonga in the north.

But the Germans had their own plans for Karonga.

(In 1917 & 1918 when the King's African Rifles was dramatically increased officers & senior ranks of The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment seconded to 1 & 2 KAR would pass through Zomba in Nyasaland to join their Battalions.)

[bushfighter]

White troops pose on a firing point in East Africa

Units Raised in British East Africa after Mobilisation

BEA, unlike Nyasaland & Uganda, did not have a white reserve force based on shooting clubs.

After the declaration of war many white residents took the train to Nairobi for a period of boisterous drinking & military chaos until new units could be created.

The most prominent new units that emerged were:

East African Mounted Rifles (white)

East Africa Regiment ( two companies of whites & one of Indians ) - later reduced to one Machine Gun Company.

Cole's Scouts (white officers & Somali mounted scouts)

Ross' Scouts (white & mounted)

Belfield's Scouts (white & mounted)

Masai Scouts (officered by Lord Delamere & his chums)

Intelligence Department (white officers & African Scouts)

Town Guards at Nairobi, Kisumu & Mombasa.

East African Mechanical Transport Corps - a white motor-cycle unit.

The Magadi Defence Force (white & mounted)

No 1 KAR Reserve Company - a 3 KAR Reserve Company of re-enlisted Askari.

No 2 KAR Reserve Company - The Arab Rifles (white officers & Yemeni Arabs working on the BEA Coast)

Artillery (saluting guns & muzzle loaders) manned by ex-Royal Navy personnel & deployed to defend Mombasa Harbour.

The Carrier Corps was formed initially as a Labour Corps, it was destined to be the largest British unit of the Campaign (& destined to take by far the largest percentage of casualties, mainly due to disease, starvation & neglect).

East Africa Transport Corps

East Africa Pioneer Corps (Railway) formed from staff of the Uganda Railway.

Two armoured trains were prepared in railway workshops - a prudent move.

Also, as in all the British African territories, some Britons left for the UK in order to enlist in the British Army or the Royal Navy.

[bushfighter]

British Central Africa

Northern Rhodesia & its border with GEA in August 1914

In 1914 Northern Rhodesia was a British territory but not a Protectorate, & it was administered by the British South Africa Company. This Company, Chartered by Britain, ran Southern Rhodesia. The affairs of Northern Rhodesia were therefore intertwined with those of Southern Rhodesia.

Northern Rhodesia, a vast & undeveloped territory, had the Belgian Congo to the north, Portuguese West Africa to the west, a small part of German South West Africa to the southwest, Southern Rhodesia to the south, Portuguese East Africa to the southeast, Nyasaland to the east & GEA to the northeast.

The border with GEA ran just north of a road used by travellers that ran from the north of Lake Nyasa northwest towards the south of Lake Tanganyika.

In those days the steamers on the Great Lakes were the easiest & fastest means of transport up & down Central & East Africa.

The military unit in the territory was The Northern Rhodesia Police (divided into a very small Town & District Police & a large Military Branch) with a strength of around 30 white officers & 750 Askari, armed with rifles & Maxim Guns.

Although the Northern Rhodesia Police was a separate organisation from the British South Africa Police who policed Southern Rhodesia, BSAP officers were often used to strengthen the NRP.

A NRP Mobile Column was formed in Livingstone (on the Zambezi border with Southern Rhodesia) & sent to Kasama in the northeast. The Column Commander Major H.M. Stennett force-marched on to Abercorn just in time to defend it from a German attack on 05 September.

Before August 1914 there were no white military reserves in Northern Rhodesia but in October 1914 the Northern Rhodesia Rifles was raised from white volunteers. This unit formed its own Mobile Column & in December marched over 400 miles during heavy rains to reinforce the northern border.

An appeal was made to the Belgian Congo for military support for the northern border. The response was prompt & positive & a Belgian detachment with Machine Guns & two Field Guns moved from Mpweto on the north of Lake Mweru to Abercorn.

(This northern area of Northern Rhodesia is significant for future events. In late 1918 Lettow marched out of Portuguese East Africa, around the east side of Lake Nyasa & into Northern Rhodesia.

Before him lay the British & Belgian Copperbelt mines that he could have destroyed, & only a little further west was Portuguese West Africa, with depots full of weapons, supplies & rations that he could have captured.

But news of the Armistice caught up with him & the Schutztruppe surrendered at Abercorn on 25 November 1918.)

[ShirlD]

Hi Harry,

An interesting aspect emerging out of this history for me is the part played by the Askaris. Looking at the different tribes mentioned in post 311 and then the units raised after mobilisation both for the Germans and the BEA, how difficult would it have been to weld together effective fighting forces, so that you were able to rely on each other in the field? It is quite difficult to keep track of who was fighting with who.

Cheers

Shirley

[bushfighter]

6 KAR Colours

ASKARI INVOLVEMENT

Shirley

One of the reasons that I'm posting all this information is to clarify things in my own mind - I hope I'm not confusing yours!

I've been reading about the East African Campaign for about 30 years & it didn't take me long to realise that if you only study one unit then you'll never get the real picture.

So far we've listed British units raised in BEA, Uganda, Nyasaland & Northern Rhodesia or sent from India, plus the German Feldkompagnien.

(The Belgians & Portuguese participated from or in their own territories, & the Southern Rhodesians, South Africans, UK British (Roop's & SteveE's units), Nigerians & Gold Coasters, plus a few more, entered the theatre later.)

To me the one constant factor on the British & German sides is their own Askari.

Initially both sides were conservative in recruiting, the British favouring Sudanese in the north (3 & 4 KAR) & Yao in the south (1 & then 2 KAR when the latter unit was reformed).

However time changed it all - white & Indian fighting units left, shattered by disease, malnutrition (General Smuts could never feed his men properly) & the climate, & so to enlarge the KAR many more tribes within British territories were visited by KAR recruiting teams.

The German side is much more easy to understand - Lettow never received any military reinforcements & so he recruited within his own territory for the Schutztruppe.

But finally he realised that small is beautiful, & efficient, & you can live off the land when you move with a small column. He had also built porters into his Feldkompagnie establishments before the war & these porters were promoted to Askari when he needed more fighters.

Most Askari stayed loyal to their employers (especially in the Schutztruppe because it paid double the British pay rate!).

However after capture most Askari could be quickly recruited by their captors - 6 KAR was re-formed from captured or surrendered GEA Askari.

Many other British & Allied units came & went but the Askari of both sides were there for the long haul.

That's why I like using the KAR histories to complement the Official History when I'm researching detail - a KAR unit was probably in or near most engagements.

Please challenge or question me whenever you need to.

Harry

[ShirlD]

Thanks so much Harry,

I do hesitate before asking the questions, but the reward is great! No, it is not confusing, definitely clarifying the thought processes, and for me, helping to build the big picture. Seeing how the different tribes, and units from abroad formed alignments and then fought as friend or foe is truly fascinating.

I await the next instalment

Cheers

Shirley

[Jacksmum]

Hello Harry,

As it is Sunday I have had time to read ALL of this thread......being myself a Western Front person, ( and North Africa for WW2 where my dad was 8th Army) have not been interested in E Africa to any great extent, but this has opened a whole new area for me.

Many thanks for all the information from you and all the other contributers and good luck with your researches.

Add me to the list of people who will buy your book when you get round to publishing.

Jacksmum.

[tonyblackpool]

hi harry, how much was the pay in east Africa and was it the same as in Europe ? tony

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Harry

You probably have this one - Schnee and his officers at the surrender of the DOA.

The fellow with the massive black beard look a tad bit vaudavillian.

Cheers

Bill