Sketches of the East Africa Campaign

A regimental surgeon's collected sketches and letters describe firsthand experiences during General Smuts' 1916 campaign in German East Africa, focusing less on grand strategy and more on daily realities: the hardship of supply lines, improvised transport, and the toll of disease and tropical pests on men and animals. Vivid accounts cover field surgery and hospital life, interactions with native porters and villagers, German scorched-earth measures, and the challenges of moving artillery and supplies over mud and bush tracks. Observations also note wildlife, camp sanitation, intelligence work, and the adaptability required to sustain a heterogeneous colonial force in difficult terrain.