The Chambeshi Monument, in the Northern Province of Zambia, also called the Chambeshi Memorial and the Lettow-Vorbeck Memorial, commemorates the final cessation of hostilities of the First World War, three days after the Armistice in Europe.
The Chambeshi Monument, in the Northern Province of Zambia, also called the Chambeshi Memorial and the Lettow-Vorbeck Memorial, commemorates the final cessation of hostilities of the First World War, three days after the Armistice in Europe.
The monument bears a plaque which reads:
"On this spot at 7.30 am on Thursday 14th November 1918, General von Lettow-Vorbeck, commanding the German forces in East Africa, heard from Mr Hector Croad, then District Commissioner Kasama, of the signing of the Armistice by the German government, which provided for the unconditional evacuation of all German forces from East Africa".
A second plaque in the Bemba language ends with the words
Twapela umuchinshi kuli bonse abashipa abalwile mu nkondo iyi
which means we honour all brave soldiers who fought in this war. [1]
The message given to General von Lettow-Vorbeck was a telegram sent to Croad which read:
"Please send the following to General von Lettow-Vorbeck under a white flag - The English Prime Minister [ sic ] sent notice that on 11th November an Armistice was signed and that the fighting on all fronts should cease on 11th November at 11 o'clock. I order my troops to end hostilities as from now and I expect you to do the same. General van Deventer".
Hence the Memorial marks the cessation of hostilities, not the surrender itself. [2]
The location of the Monument is on the north bank of the Chambeshi River, near the northern end of the old Chambeshi Bridge (which was built later, this bridge was destroyed by Rhodesian troops during the Rhodesian Bush War, a new bridge was built further upstream) on the Mpika-Kasama road. Most accounts of the war say that Lettow-Vorbeck surrendered at Abercorn (now Mbala), 250 km to the north, giving the impression that he penetrated just the few kilometres to Abercorn from German East Africa, but that is only because he was instructed by the British military commanders in Northern Rhodesia to march his undefeated troops there for the official surrender on 23 November 1918. [3]
The British force had been waiting in the Abercorn area to attack the German forces coming from northern Mozambique, thinking they would make for Lake Tanganyika, but General von Lettow-Vorbeck had evaded them by turning south-west towards Kasama. Its tiny British population evacuated to Mpika, [4] except for nine who set up two Maxim guns at the Chambeshi, but they did not know how to work them. One, Charlie Simpson, had with him about £10,000 which was all the cash from the government offices and businesses in Kasama, which he buried in a goat pen near the rubber factory he ran, thinking that the goats' hoofprints would hide evidence of digging, and that the Germans would probably be more interested in the goats than looking for the money. On arrival at the Chambeshi the Germans machine-gunned the rubber factory before Croad arrived with the telegram. [5]
The Monument was unveiled on 14 November 1953 as a National Monument of Northern Rhodesia (as the country was then) and consists of a large stone platform with the plaques set into a stone pillar, next to a cannon of the era (but not one used by the Germans). [2]
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, also called the Lion of Africa, was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force of about 14,000, he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Indian, Belgian, and Portuguese troops.
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices had been agreed with Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. It was concluded after the German government sent a message to President Woodrow Wilson to negotiate terms on the basis of a recent speech of his and the earlier declared "Fourteen Points", which later became the basis of the German surrender at the Paris Peace Conference, which took place the following year.
The Battle of Tanga, sometimes also known as the Battle of the Bees, was the unsuccessful attack by the British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" under Major General A. E. Aitken to capture German East Africa during the First World War in concert with the invasion Force "C" near Longido on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was the first major event of the war in Eastern Africa and saw the British defeated by a significantly smaller force of German Askaris and colonial volunteers under Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. It was the beginning of the East African Campaign of World War I, and is considered one of greatest victories of the Schutztruppe in Africa. The British retreat enabled the Schutztruppe to salvage modern equipment, medical supplies, tents, blankets, food and a number of Maxim machine guns which allowed them to successfully resist the allies for the rest of the war.
Mbala is Zambia’s most northerly large town and seat of Mbala District, occupying a strategic location close to the border with Tanzania and controlling the southern approaches to Lake Tanganyika, 40 km by road to the north-west, where the port of Mpulungu is located. It had a population of about 20,000 in 2006. Under the name Abercorn, Mbala was a key outpost in British colonial control of this part of south-central Africa. It is headquarters of an administrative district of the Northern Province.
The Battle of Jassin was a World War I battle that took place on 18– 19 January 1915 at Jassin on the German East African side of the border with British East Africa between a German Schutztruppe force and British and Indian troops. Jassin had been occupied by the British in order to secure the border between British East Africa and German territory, but was weakly defended by a garrison of four companies of Indian troops, commanded by Colonel Raghbir Singh and numbering a little over 300 men. Colonel Raghbir Singh was killed during the battle.
The following lists events that happened during 1918 in South Africa.
Kasama is a city in the Northern Province of Zambia. It serves as the provincial capital and the headquarters of Kasama District.
The Great North Road is a major route in Zambia, running north from Lusaka through Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi, Serenje, Mpika, Kasama, Mbala and Mpulungu. 82km North of Mpika is a signposted right turn onto a well maintained gravel road leading to Shiwa Ng'andu (12km) and Kapishya Hot Springs (32km). The road from Zambia's border with Zimbabwe at Chirundu to Lusaka is now regarded as being part of the Great North Road; but this is only since the opening of the Chirundu Bridge in 1939 - before that, the Great North Road ran from Livingstone to Lusaka, as part of the original Cape to Cairo Red Line by Cecil John Rhodes. The portion from Mbala to Mpulungu could be regarded as a spur linking to the Lake Tanganyika steamer service which was popular with travellers up to the 1950s.
Kasanga, known as Bismarckburg during the German colonial rule, is a town in Rukwa Region, Tanzania. It is located at around 8°27′30″S31°8′10″E, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, 810 m above sea level.
The African Theatre of the First World War comprises campaigns in North Africa instigated by the German and Ottoman empires, local rebellions against European colonial rule and Allied campaigns against the German colonies of Kamerun, Togoland, German South West Africa and German East Africa. The campaigns were fought by German Schutztruppe, local resistance movements and forces of the British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
The East African campaign in World War I was a series of battles and guerrilla actions, which started in German East Africa (GEA) and spread to portions of Portuguese Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, British East Africa, the Uganda Protectorate, and the Belgian Congo. The campaign all but ended in German East Africa in November 1917 when the Germans entered Portuguese Mozambique and continued the campaign living off Portuguese supplies.
The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force (SAOEF) was a volunteer military organisation in World War I.
The Carrier Corps was a labour corps created in Kenya during the First World War to provide military labour to support the British campaign against German army forces in East Africa.
This article gives lists of the National Monuments and other historic sites of Zambia, with a one- or two-line description providing links to details given on other pages.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Zambia:
Zambia, officially known as the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the southeast of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around the capital and the Copperbelt to the northwest.
The Battle of Ngomano or Negomano was fought between Germany and Portugal during the East African Campaign of World War I. A force of Germans and Askaris under Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck had recently won a costly victory against the British at the Battle of Mahiwa, in present-day Tanzania and ran very short of food and other supplies. As a consequence, the Germans invaded Portuguese East Africa to the south, both to supply themselves with captured Portuguese materiel and escape superior British forces to the north.
When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany at the start of World War I in August 1914, settler society in Southern Rhodesia, then administered by the British South Africa Company, received the news with great patriotic enthusiasm. The Company administrator, Sir William Milton, wired the UK government, "All Rhodesia ... ready to do its duty". Although it supported Britain, the Company was concerned about the possible financial implications for its chartered territory should it make direct commitments to the war effort, particularly at first, so most of the colony's contribution to the war was made by Southern Rhodesians individually—not only those who volunteered to fight abroad, but also those who remained at home and raised funds to donate food, equipment and other supplies.
Brigadier general William Frederick Savery Edwards (1872–1941), commonly referred to as Brigadier-General W. F. S. Edwards, was a decorated British military officer who was appointed by the British Colonial Administration as the first Inspector General of the Uganda Protectorate Police, which later became the Uganda Police, and the simultaneous overall commander of the then British East Africa Police.
The Mbala War Memorial is a First World War memorial which stands on a roundabout on the M1 Road heading south from the centre of Mbala, Zambia. The truncated red stone column was one of the last war memorials designed by Edwin Lutyens. It commemorates almost 1,500 native carriers from North Rhodesia who died in action, or from wounds or sickness, during the East African campaign. Their names are not recorded.