Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck

Who was Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck?

Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck 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 that never exceeded about 14,000, he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. Essentially undefeated in the field, Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to successfully invade imperial British soil during the First World War. His exploits in the campaign have come down "as the greatest single guerrilla operation in history, and the most successful."