Battle of Tanga Site

The downtown streets and the railway-station area south of the centre are the site of one of the more unusual engagements of the First World War — the British failed amphibious assault on German East Africa in November 1914, sometimes called the Battle of the Bees after the swarms of bees disturbed by the gunfire that attacked both sides. A small German memorial in the European cemetery and a scattering of plaques around the town are the visible remains.

The town has not made much of the history. A walk that takes in the railway station, the old Usagara Boma, the German cemetery, and the seafront where the British boats came ashore gives an evocative sense of the events. The very small Urithi Tanga Museum in the old Boma can provide more context if it is open.

things to do sight
A story
In November 1914, three months into the First World War, the British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" landed 8,000 troops to capture Tanga from a German garrison of less than a thousand. The German commander, Lettow-Vorbeck, defended fiercely. Disturbed during the fighting, dense swarms of African bees attacked both sides, breaking up assaults and adding to the chaos — hence the engagement's second name, the "Battle of the Bees". After three days the British withdrew, leaving behind their dead, much of their equipment, and any hope of a quick East African campaign.

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