German East Africa was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozambique. GEA's area was 994,996 km2 (384,170 sq mi), which was nearly three times the area of present-day Germany and almost double the area of metropolitan Germany at the time.
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, popularly known as 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. He is known for never being defeated or captured in battle.
The Battle of Tanga, also known as the Battle of the Bees, was an unsuccessful invasion of the Port of Tanga in German East Africa by the British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" on 3–5 November 1914 during World War I. Under the command of the Major-General Arthur Aitken, British forces attacked Tanga in concert with Indian Expeditionary Force "C", which concomitantly attempted to capture Longido. The battle was the first major engagement of the East African campaign and saw Aitken's troops defeated by a smaller force of German Schutztruppe under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and forced to retreat. Lettow-Vorbeck's men captured weapons, medical supplies, tents, blankets, rations and several Maxim guns after the battle, which played a major role in allowing his troops to resist the Allies for the rest of the world conflict.
The Kingdom of Portugal had been allied with England since 1373, and thus the Republic of Portugal was an ally of the United Kingdom. However, Portugal remained neutral from the start of World War I in 1914 until early 1916. However, in that year and a half there were many hostile engagements between Germany and Portugal. Portugal wanted to meet British requests for aid and protect its colonies in Africa, causing clashes with German troops in the south of Portuguese Angola, which bordered German South West Africa, in 1914 and 1915.
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 Singh was killed during the battle.
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 Mozambique, Rhodesia, British East Africa, the Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. The campaign all but ended in German East Africa in November 1917 when the Germans entered 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 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 Battle of Kisaki was a confrontation between German and South Africa forces near the town of Kisaki, German East Africa, on 7–11 September 1916.
The Battle of Mahiwa between German and British Imperial forces was fought during the East African Campaign of World War I, when South African and Nigerian troops under Lieutenant General Jacob van Deventer engaged a column under German General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, at Mahiwa in German East Africa. The Germans inflicted substantial casualties upon Van Deventer's army, forcing it to withdraw. However, the Germans lost a large percentage of their forces, and were ultimately forced to withdraw from their positions and continue their guerrilla war. The battle was noted by the British Official History as the "most disastrous day for the Nigerian Army since the formation of the force" and was called "the most savage battle in the history of African conflict-not excluding Omdurman or any engagement of the Boer War."
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.
João Teixeira da Rocha Pinto was a Portuguese military officer who served throughout his career in the administration of Portuguese colonies of Africa. João Pinto bore the nickname The Devil's Chief. He gained distinction for his role in administering the military contingents of Portuguese Mozambique during the late years of World War I. He was killed in action in 1917.
The Battle of Lioma was fought between the German Empire and British Empire during the East African Campaign of World War I. Having successfully evaded the Allies since late 1917, the German Schutztruppe under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck waged a guerilla campaign in Portuguese East Africa, attacking and raiding settlements as well as forts in the search of supplies while inflicting as much damage as possible on the Allies. All the while, the Schutztruppe was chased by the British King's African Rifles, which finally cornered the Germans at the village of Lioma on 30–31 August 1918. Led by George Giffard, the British forces almost managed to encircle and destroy the Schutztruppe, but in the end the Germans broke out and successfully retreated. Although greatly weakened by the fighting at Lioma, the Schutztruppe was thus able to remain active until the end of the war.
The Tabora Offensive was an Anglo-Belgian offensive into German East Africa, which ended with the Battle of Tabora in the north-west of German East Africa, it was part of the East African Campaign in World War I. The forces of the Belgian Congo crossed the border with German East Africa and captured the port city of Kigoma and the city of Tabora. In August a smaller Lake Force under the command of the South African brigadier general Crewe, launched a parallel attack from Uganda, also aimed at taking Tabora. The completion of the Tabora Offensive not only left much of the Ruanda-Urundi territory under Belgian military occupation but gave the Allies control of the important Tanganjikabahn railway.
Tom von Prince was a military officer and plantation owner in German East Africa. He most notably, as a captain in the Schutztruppe, led the first action by German forces in East Africa during World War I by seizing Taveta on 15 August 1914, and was then killed in November at the Battle of Tanga.
The Maziua raid was an armed clash between German and Portuguese colonial troops in Mozambique on 24 August 1914 during World War I. Though the two countries were officially at peace, German soldiers carried out a cross-border raid into Portuguese Mozambique for unclear reasons, and destroyed the outpost of Maziua. The Portuguese soldiers killed in the raid were the first Portuguese casualties of World War I.
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.
Major Georg Kraut was born in Hildesheim by Georg and Auguste Kraut, née Hoppenstedt. Together with his four siblings Anne, Carl, Luise and Wilhelm Kraut, he grew up in a Lutheran family of lawyers. He was an officer of the Imperial German Army during the First World War, a veteran of the Schutztruppe, and the second-in-command of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. He was active in German East Africa. He participated in multiple battles, including the Battle of Tanga, the Battle of Salaita Hill, and the Battle of Iringa. Post-war, he joined the Freikorps with Lettow-Vorbeck and helped suppress the Spartacist Revolt.
The Battle of Namacurra was fought during World War I in Portuguese Mozambique between the First Portuguese Republic and their British allies against the German Empire. It took place on July 1–3, 1918, at the Namacurra River near Namacurra. It was the deadliest engagement of German general Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's campaign into Mozambique; 209 of the British and Portuguese died.
British Empire 
Wolfgang Weck
Pedro Massano de Amorim 