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Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
(20.03.1870 - 09.03.1964)
place of birth: Saarlouis, Rheinpreußen
(Rhenish Prussia)
Königreich
Preußen: Kdr
Schutztruppe,
Generalmajor
Prussian colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
commanded the German East African (Tanzania) Colonial
Forces during the Great War. He was the son of General of Infantry Paul
von Lettow-Vorbeck, of noble Pomerian ancestory, and his wife Marie
Eisenhart-Rothe. Young Paul launched his military career as an 11-year
old cadet in the Potsdam Corps. Later he studied military science as an
artillery officer. Following the War, Lettow-Vorbeck married Martha
Wallroth in 1919.
In German East Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck's troops
grew from 215 to 3,000 German soldiers, and from 2,540 up to 12,000
Askari natives. His troops initially saw success against their
British-led counterparts in November 1914 as they repelled an assault
on the port of Tanga (modern-day Tanzania). By 1916, his skirmishes
against the British lead him to abandon conventional warfare, and he
thus became one of
the most gifted and successful leaders of guerilla tactics. His
opponents in the field even referred to him as the "African
Hindenburg". Lettow-Vorbeck was awarded the Pour
le Merite in 1916. He ended up being the last German
commander to surrender during the War, returning home to Germany in
January 1919 as a hero. He
retired at the end of the war at the rank of Generalmajor but was later
awarded the brevet rank of General der Infanterie (Charakter)
on 27 August 1939 for Tannenberg Remembrance Day. He
immediately was incorporated into the command structure of the post-War
Reichswehr. Although Lettow-Vorbeck was
essentially right-wing in his politics,
he opposed the Nazis and tried to organize a conservative opposition to
Hitler. He later spent an impoverished retirement in Hamburg, where he
died on 9 March 1964. General von Lettow-Vorbeck was interred in
Pronsdorf, Schleswig-Holstein.
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