Lake Force (or Lakeforce) was a unit of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

stationed in the

Uganda Protectorate The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Bri ...

on the west coast of Lake Victoria under the command of

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Sir Charles Crewe in 1916, during the East African campaign of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914–18). It consisted of 2,800 soldiers and 10,000

porters Porters may refer to: * Porters, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Virginia, United States * Porters, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in Wisconsin, United States * Porters Ski Area, a ski resort in New Zealand * ''Porters'' (TV ser ...

. Hew Strachan, ''The First World War, Volume 1: To Arms'' (Oxford University Press, 2001), 616–19. In May 1916, Lake Force sent 5,000 porters and 100 oxwagons to serve with their allies, the ''

Force publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; nl, Openbare Weermacht) was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of ...

'' of the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

under

Charles Tombeur Lieutenant General Charles Tombeur, 1st Baron of Tabora (4 May 1867 – 2 December 1947) was a Belgian military officer and colonial civil servant. As well as holding several major administrative positions in the Belgian Congo, he is particularly ...

. The Uganda Native Medical Corps (UNMC) served with both units. Lake Force cooperated with the Belgians during the Tabora Offensive in

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...

, usually subordinating their own desires to Belgian. The initial British objective was

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest c ...

, which fell on 14 July 1916. Over 40,000 loads were stockpiled there by 19 September, but Mwanza's value as a base was minimized by lack of porters to carry them southwards. Lake Force's

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

problems were severe. The area south of Mwanza was waterless and completely stripped of resources by the Germans. On 28 August, Lake Force captured

Shinyanga Shinyanga, also known as Shinyanga Mji in the local Swahili language, is a city in northern Tanzania. The city is the location of the regional headquarters of Shinyanga Region as well as the district headquarters of Shinyanga Urban District. The ...

without fighting. A letter by Crewe intended for

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Philippe François Joseph Molitor, commander of the Northern Brigade, and stating that the British assault on

Tabora Tabora is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,999. ...

would begin on 19 September was on the 16th intercepted by the Germans, who then abandoned the town on the night of 18–19 September. The Belgians occupied it the next day, and Lake Force camped outside it to the east. On 3 October, after the Allies had established control of the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the ...

region, Lake Force was disbanded. Some of its Ugandan medics were sent to serve with the Uganda Field Ambulance in the 4th battalion of the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 50em Military units and formations of the British Army in World War I British colonial regiments