Imperial Germany's greatest colonial defeat, The Battle of Lugalu - 17th August 1891.

[Sid Guttridge]

I came across this on the German "Little Big Horn" or "Ishandlwana" at Lugalu in Tanganyika in 1891.

http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk ... lugalu.htm

There is a WWII connection. The family of the German commander, Emil von Zelewski, were so ashamed that they changed their name. One of them, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, joined the SS in an effort to make up for his ancestor's failure, but only added to the family shame by his conduct in WWII, during which, among other things, he was responsible for the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Tanzania]

The family . . . . . . changed their name.

Source ???
Cheers Holger

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Tanzania,

Dr. Philip Blood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgUEiSuY1fs

About 1 hour 13 minutes in.

It seems originally to have been in his book Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Tanzania]

Hi Sid,

Thanks for info and reply.
WWII is not my specialty. I was only just amazed at the argumentation of the family-name addition.
As far as I understand, he add <1930 `Von dem Bach´ to his Family-name, because this sounds more German.

“Nach dem Krieg nimmt Erich Von dem Bach seinen polnischen Namens-Zusatz wieder an.“
“After the war, Erich Von dem Bach resumes his Polish name addition“

That means, he only used the family name 'Von dem Bach' during the war?!?

Sources:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von ... h-Zelewski
https://www.dw.com/de/schuld-ohne-s%C3% ... a-50966548

Cheers Holger

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Tanzania,

I am afraid that is far as my knowledge goes, little as it is.

It appears that Dr. Blood had access to Bach-Zelewski's papers, so I assume what he says has some authority.

Happy hunting,

Sid.