Another heroic battle against an indigenous foe

[yanmacca]

Well the Americans have the little bighorn, the British have Isandlwana, the French have Camarón and the Germans have Lugalu, "what I here you say" Lugalu?

link

[quincannon]

That is what happens when you are caught in column moving through hostile territory like a herd of donkeys.

[yanmacca]

When you read it you will soon find that all the same mistakes are evident.
You wonder why commanders like Von Zelewski, commit these basic mistakes, he could have had a scout group up ahead and flankers on each side, even two to four men would be enough.
Another thing is that Mauser Model 1871 was also a single shot weapon, which was the same as the rifles used in all other battles.

[quincannon]

No, I don't wonder. I know.

Beyond the obvious mistakes you point to Ian, scouts, advance guards, flankers, and all the tools available to a commander on the march, the most often made mistake was one that continues through all these threads, underestimation of enemy capability.

The weapon had little to nothing to do with the outcome, just as it did everywhere else. A weapon is nothing more than a tool, a hammer. Use it right and it will do what it is designed to do, drive a nail home. Use it wrong, and you smash your thumb

[yanmacca]

Chuck, I am afraid that I don't agree with the weapon being no more then a tool, if half of Von Zelewski's men had Thompson machines guns and he had half a brain, then they would have won.

The problem they had was that these rifles were single shot and they were told to not have them loaded on the march [probably shot each other by accident] plus they were equipped with a new type of ammo pouch, which they never trained with, apparently half of the soldiers never got a chance to load their weapons before they were cut down.

[yanmacca]

Even the Italians got a kicking too;

link

[quincannon]

The brain is the weapon Ian, the rifle only a tool, an extension of the brain.

If the weapon itself was the prime factor, only the side with the best weapons, like the side with the most numbers, would always win, and history tells us that neither is the case.

Weapons are only as good as those that use them. Use them correctly and you usually win. Use them incorrectly and you always lose. It does not matter what the weapon is, or where it is used, it is the brain that is the primary factor.

An example: If your weapon has maximum value and effect beyond the two hundred meter line, and loses that value an effect within it, then you do not allow your enemy to get within the two hundred meter line.  Fire and maneuver are Siamese twins, they must be used together, in concert with one another. If you are not capable of doing that, stay home, because you are going to be beaten.

Now in your example had those Thompson guns been unloaded, for fear of shooting themselves, and they still been equipped with a new type of ammo pouch they were not trained with, would the outcome have been any different? The more important question is had those soldiers been fully trained would the enemy have found a different way to do the same thing? History tells us that this latter is a distinct possibility, so we are back to the same thesis, that the brain is the deciding factor not the weapon.

[yanmacca]

Chuck, I read a bit more on German Imperial interests in Africa and that they they treated the Askari [Natives] with a modicum of respect, with was unusual for European Imperial army and that they did train them to a acceptable level.

Side Bar;

A nephew of the deceased German commander at Lugalo, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, was an SS general in the Second World War. He was responsible for anti-partisan activities in much of Europe, especially Russia, and the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. It is speculated by Bach-Zelewski's biographer that his uncle's death at the hands of "inferior" Africans engendered a huge sense of shame in the family. This probably spurred Bach-Zelewski to commit these atrocities against the Russians and Poles.

[quincannon]

Ian: If you are not familiar with Lettow-Vorbeck you should become so immediately.

[mac]

Interesting guy QC.
History just repeats Ian as it is written by the actions of humans.
Cheers