General Stewart takes command in East Africa
- Category:
- Military
- Front:
- Africa
- Date:
- 1 September 1914
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
On 1 September 1914, with the arrival at Mombasa of the first troops from India, Brigadier-General James Marshall Stewart took command of the British forces in British East Africa. He was also the commander of Indian Expeditionary Force “C”, sent to defend the colony. The date of 1 September is given by a British chronicle of the events of the war; modern studies say more generally that Stewart and his troops reached Mombasa in September.
Stewart was an experienced Indian Army officer who had previously served, among other places, on India’s turbulent North-West Frontier. In East Africa he now had under him both the arriving Indian units and the local forces: companies of the King’s African Rifles and volunteer settler formations. His main task was to defend the railway from Mombasa to Nairobi against German raids.
By the end of October Stewart had assembled about 4,000 soldiers on the border with German East Africa. At the beginning of November 1914, at the same time as the landing at Tanga, he attacked the German positions at Longido at the foot of Kilimanjaro, but the attack ended in failure. In 1916 he commanded a division in the offensive of General Jan Smuts, who blamed him for allowing the Germans to slip out of an encirclement and removed him from command. Stewart ended the war as commander of the British garrison in Aden.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 16 October 1914 · AfricaIndian Expeditionary Force "B" sails for AfricaOn 16 October 1914 General Aitken's Indian Expeditionary Force "B" sailed from Bombay. Some 8,000 soldiers were to conquer German East Africa.
- 31 October 1914 · AfricaIndian Expeditionary Force "B" off MombasaOn 31 October 1914 at Mombasa the command of Force "B" settled the plan to attack Tanga. After a two-week voyage the troops were not landed.
- 31 October 1914 · AfricaAitken replaces StewartAt the end of October 1914 Gen. Arthur Aitken took supreme command in East Africa. Gen. Stewart and his Force "C" came under his orders.
- 16 April 1915 · AfricaMichael Tighe takes command in East AfricaOn 16 April 1915 General Michael Tighe replaced General Richard Wapshare as commander of the British forces in East Africa.