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Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer
But overarching all of this, especially for the British of this period (and people like Smuts who were part of the British military system even though they had fought the British a few years prior), was the "theory" of martial races. Certain races were considered to be inherently better soldiers, and corollary, certain races were considered to be bad military material.
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Ah, but isn't that an example of racism? Whatever its source and extent, Von Lettow didn't ascribe to it. What impressed me about Lettow (remember this is from a grand total of two books) was that he defied conventional wisdom at every turn. He performed his own recon on foot and bicycle, personally negotiated with "lowly" village councils when seeking supplies and succor, tactically zigged when he should have zagged, etc. and all while fighting under his own high interpretation of the rules of war.
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Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer
Racism probably played its role, but laying such racism all at the feet of Afrikaners seems like excuse-making. The British considered - rightly - East Africa to be a bit of a sideshow, and deployed a hodgepodge of second and third-rate units there.
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I seem to recall first-tier British troops being deployed at one point -- I don't have the books at hand -- and I've seen 250,000 bandied about as the number of troops he tied up. Sideshow or not, shipping, supplies, men and planning resources were all expended in the attempt to keep him in check.