One for Hattie:General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
 

Brilliant WW1 commander, I should find out if he wrote a book or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Emil_von_Lettow-Vorbeck

Indeed. I'll recommend a book called "The Germans who never lost". Forget it's authors name now as it's about 30 years since I read it. But it's about the crew of the light cruiser "Emden" and the merry dance they led the British, first at sea and then when the ship was finally cornered and sunk in the Rufiji river delta in east Africa, on land as part of von Lettow Vorbeck's troops in German East Africa. A fascinating story about a little known aspect of WWI.

- Peter.

Yes they pulled the guns from the ship an converted them into field cannons. Its really something else that an army living off the land and piecing equipment together held out against armies that were properly supplied.

Another fantastic German commander.

Yes he did write a book, I'll be purchasing it:

http://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-East-Africa-Gen-Lettow-Vorbeck/dp/1843429500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246469663&sr=8-1

"In the year of von Lettow-Vorbeck’s death, 1964, half a century after he arrived at Dar es Salaam, the West German Bundestag voted to fund the back pay for the Askaris still alive. A temporary cashier’s office was set up in Mwanza on Lake Victoria. Of the 350 old men who gathered, only a handful could produce the certificates that von Lettow had given them in 1918. Others presented pieces of their old uniforms as proof of service. The German banker who had brought the money came up with an idea. As each claimant stepped forward, he was handed a broom and ordered in German to perform the manual of arms.[38] Not one man failed the test."

Here is my favorite bit

"Knowing the need to seize the initiative, he ignored orders from Berlin and the colony's governor Heinrich Schnee. Schnee had insisted on neutrality for German East Africa.[1] Lettow-Vorbeck promptly disregarded the governor, nominally his superior, and prepared to repel an amphibious assault on the city of Tanga, where between 2 and 5 November 1914, he fought one of his greatest battles."