A VC never awarded – Colour Sergeant George Williams 1/3 KAR
Thanks to John Bannon for sharing this Youtube video on the Battle of Saisi, 1915 (13mins)
This looks a fascinating programme – trace a World War 1 ship. Astrea popped up when I loaded the webpage…
The CWGC December newsletter contains a piece on East Africa.
Tony Jewell spoke to Away from the Western Front about a doctor in the East Africa campaign. You can see/listen.
Two new articles from Harry Fecitt have been posted to the website: one on Tanga and the other on Jasin.
From 2014, some videos commenting on the war in Africa and empire participation; and the Guardian‘s ‘Global Guide‘ the First World War
A 1986 summary of the East Africa campaign by S Bourquin.
Apparently, the last British square was used in East Africa at the battle of Narunyu, near Lindi in 1917 by the 25th Royal Fusiliers (Legion of Frontiersmen).
A link into the West African campaigns. Germany invades Nigeria at Gurin, 1915
An article on the ‘Disposal of Mesopotamia and German East Africa‘ features in this overview of publications on the campaign in Mesopotamia.
Kingston Aviation records the Kingston aviation contribution to World War 1 – includes East Africa
Thanks to Dominic Hoole in South Africa for kindly supplying the names of all those featured on the Gunners Memorial in Potchefstroom. These have all been added to the Southern Africa In Memory list. For those interested, the list includes the names of the ‘Native Drivers’
Dominic has also drawn attention to the memoirs of Dan Fewster, a Hull Sergeant’s war diary
and that of Frances Lister, 4 South African Horse, in German East Africa.
And thanks, too, to John Webb for supplying the names of Royal Engineer – Signallers in East Africa. These have been added to the relevant In Memory list for anyone who wants to see. He writes: “The main source of these names is the War Diary of Lieut-General H.C Hawtrey (Deputy Director of Army Signals) which can be found in the WO 95/5303 series. It is hard not to be amazed and sometimes amused at the trials faced by the RE-Signals GHQ. There is a particular section of the War Diary dealing with the Nigeria Regiment who are using coded transmissions to order Whisky and Razor Blades. This explains the Nigerian entries in my list. Not surprisingly, the names in the War Diary are those of the Officer Corp. Where I have identified Sappers, it is from on-line diaries and the diary of my Grandfather-in-law.”
Another thanks to Tim Avery for completing the listing of EANLC Deaths. He has transcribed the data from registers copied at the SANDF Doc Centre. The lists for Desertions and Discharge are currently being catalogued by Tim. Please note that there are a few gaps in the records which still need to be verified/corrected due to poor handwriting, unusual abbreviations etc. These will be updated as soon as possible.
Lucy London has been discovering South African nurses who served both in East Africa and Europe during World War 1. Their names are being included on the GWAA In Memory lists but you can also read about them on Lucy’s blog and Facebook page.
A new memorial was dedicated in June 2018 to the nurses who served in World War 1 and 2. It includes those of the South African Military Nursing Service.
Habari, the Friends of East Africa is available online. Worth a search: 2014 has an article on Arnoldi (in Afrikaans).
And finally, the GWAA now has a bookshop. Other books will be added in due course.
