Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
(20.3.1870 - 9.3.1964)
place of birth:  Saarlouis, Rheinpreußen  (Rhenish Prussia)


Colonel who commanded the German East African (Tanzania) Colonial Forces during the war. He was the son of General of Infantry Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, of noble Pomerian ancestory, and his wife Marie Eisenhart-Rothe. He began his military career as an 11-year old cadet in the Potsdam Corps. Later he studied military science as an artillery officer. Following the War, Lettow-Vorbeck married Martha Wallroth in 1919.

In German East Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck's troops consisted of 3,000 German soldiers and 11,000 Askari natives. By 1916, his skirmishes against the British lead him to abandon conventional warfare, and he thus became one of the most gifted and successful leaders of guerilla tactics. He was awarded the Pour le Merite in 1916. He ended up being the last German commander to surrender during the war, returning home to Germany in January 1919 as a hero and with a promotion to major general. Although he was right-wing, he never became a Nazi and tried to organize a conservative opposition to Hitler. Spent his impoverished retirement in Hamburg, where he died on 9 March 1964.