The East :African Force, 1915-1919. By Brigadier-General C. P. Fendall.
(Witherby. les. net.)—The author's knowledge and candour lend interest-to this-account of an arduous campaign. The German commander, as he- says, -made it his sole object to prolong the war and to give us as much trouble as possible. In the bush fighting the Germans had a double advantage in being used to the country and in acting on the defensive. It was difficult to bring them to a stand, and virtually impossible, in the unknown jungle, to surround and capture them. The author thinks that General Smuts, like Lord Roberts in the Transvaal in 1900, was too hasty in assuming that the war was over when the enemy had been driven into the unhealthy south-eastern district away from the railway and the ports. General Hoskins and General van Deventer, who in turn suc- ceeded General Smuts, had to deal with a large and very mobile German force; who were freed-from the responsibility of defending any particular line. - The British, Indian, and South African forces suffered. greatlY from -malaria and other diseases, aggra- vated by fatigue and exposure: The transport problem seemed
at times almost insoluble, partly because there were not enough motor vehicles, partly because the large tracts of black cotton soil quickly became impassable after rain. Yet the •troops were fed somehow, and the sick were cared-for, through the uncon- querable energy of the British officer. The book is illustrated with photographs and a sketch-map.
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