David Smith， The East Africa Campaign 1914-18: Von Lettow-Voerbeck’s Masterpiece。 Oxford， UK: Osprey Publishing， 2022。 Paperback， illus。， maps， 96pp。 ISBN 978-1-4728-4891-8。Review by: Maj。 Peter L。 Belmonte， USAF （Ret。）The Great War in Africa is a topic that begs for more attention。 Author and historian David Smith has done his share with this book about the East Africa Campaign。 The subtitle， Von Lettow-Voerbeck’s Masterpiece， sums up the author’s feelings on the overall campaign。Smith begins b David Smith， The East Africa Campaign 1914-18: Von Lettow-Voerbeck’s Masterpiece。 Oxford， UK: Osprey Publishing， 2022。 Paperback， illus。， maps， 96pp。 ISBN 978-1-4728-4891-8。Review by: Maj。 Peter L。 Belmonte， USAF （Ret。）The Great War in Africa is a topic that begs for more attention。 Author and historian David Smith has done his share with this book about the East Africa Campaign。 The subtitle， Von Lettow-Voerbeck’s Masterpiece， sums up the author’s feelings on the overall campaign。Smith begins by discussing the opposing forces and their respective leaders。 German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck gets high marks while most of the British generals， including South African General Jan Smuts who lead the campaign for a time， do not。 He next covers the campaign chronologically with the movements of the various elements carefully described。 His accounts of the significant battles are concise and give the reader a good picture of the action。 Smith’s descriptions of the weather and health issues that beset both sides give us an idea of the difficulty of this campaign。 In addition， Smith provides an interesting survey of the naval war as fought in the river deltas and lakes of the region， a little-known aspect of the campaign。Smith asserts that von Lettow’s main concern was to tie up as many British and colonial forces in East Africa as possible， thus depriving them of their use on the Western Front。 In this， Smith claims that von Lettow was at least somewhat successful。 Von Lettow， as Smith rightly states， could not hope to consistently defeat the larger British forces; his army’s victories over various British garrisons and columns had proven far too costly。 Smith argues that von Lettow consistently outmaneuvered the British due to the speed of his native askari soldiers and their ability to live off the land。 He also rightly argues that the British were hampered by long supply lines needed to provide for their numerically superior forces。 An examination of British alternatives would have been helpful。 While Smith is critical of Smuts’s leadership， he fails to consider Smuts’s background and his previous efforts in South Africa。 Smuts， well versed in Boer tactics， was a proponent of fast， lightly encumbered forces employed against the enemy’s flanks， but this was not always possible in East Africa。This book is in line with historiography that views von Lettow as a master of guerilla warfare。 While it’s true that von Lettow succeeded in tying up numbers of British and colonial soldiers in a ridiculous chase throughout East Africa， it’s also true that he and his forces increasingly became irrelevant。 By the time that von Lettow surrendered his army about two weeks after the Armistice surrender， he hadn’t much of an army left。 Smith himself concedes that the campaign was costly for both the British and the Germans; perhaps the greatest tragedy is the fate of the African porters who suffered and died in droves。The illustrations by artist Graham Turner help the reader depict the terrain and soldiers involved in this difficult campaign; the maps portray the movements of the armies well。 The book is of course constrained by Osprey’s format， but it could have benefited from the inclusion of more of the British command viewpoints。 Still， it’s a concise， readable overview of the East Africa Campaign and is recommended to those interested in the topic。 Readers may wish to consult David Brock Katz’s General Jan Smuts and His First World War in Africa， 1914-1917。 （Philadelphia: Casemate， 2022） for another view of Smuts’s efforts。 。。。more