Tip and Run: The Untold Tragedy of the First World War in Africa

by Edward Paice

The story of the First World War in Africa, which devastated an area five times the size of Germany and killed more than two million people.

On 11 November 1918, the First World War came to an end in Europe. But, in Northern Rhodesia, the bloodshed persisted for another two weeks in what one campaign historian described as 'a war of extermination and attrition without parallel in modern times.'

But for Major-General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the news of a German republic, and a Kaiser who had fled to Holland, seemed absurd. After approximately 650,000 carrier and civilian deaths in German Ruanda-Urundi and East Africa the hope of peace that armistice brought to Europe was not embraced with the same sense of relief.

In Tip and Run , Paice tells the story of the elusive, relentless and fanatical Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in an engaging and detailed narrative that exposes the horrors of the European imperial fantasies so lethally visited upon Africa.

'Superb' Sunday Times

'Masterful' Daily Mail

'Gripping' Daily Telegraph

Genres: Africa

560 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2021

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part this is revisionist history done right. For example, the war in Portugese East Africa (Mozambique) receives more attention than standard accounts. Read this on a trip to Nairobi and enjoyed every page.

[andy noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic and tragic history

A period of history which is forgotten. A tale of horror of war endurance, politics and the suffering of those who fought and the horrific impact on the native African population in East Africa.