In August a smaller Lake Force under the command of the South African brigadier general Crewe, launched a parallel attack from Uganda, also aimed at taking Tabora.

[e][5] The completion of the Tabora Offensive not only left much of the Ruanda-Urundi territory under Belgian military occupation but gave the Allies control of the important Tanganjikabahn railway.

The Force Publique was constrained to adopt a defensive strategy until 15 August 1914, when German ships on Lake Tanganyika bombarded the port of Mokolobu and then the Lukuga post (soon to be known as Albertville) a week later.

General Lettow-Vorbeck had three vital strategic interests vested in controlling the west; the navigation of Lake Tanganyika, the head of the central railway at Kigoma and the security of the army's main food supplies in the Neu Langenburg area.

[h] From the Belgian airbase on the western shore near Albertville, on 10 June 1916, the Force Publique sent amphibious aircraft —Short Admiralty Type 827 planes — for a bombing raid on Graf von Goetzen as she sat in the harbour of Kigoma.

However, the war on land was progressing, largely to the advantage of the Allies, who cut off the railway link in July 1916 and threatened to isolate Kigoma completely.

The first column (Brigade Nord), under the command of colonel Molitor, crossed the German East African border north of Lake Kivu and occupied Kigali on 6 May 1916.

The Belgian ship Netta sailed along the northeast coast in support of the land offensive, this naval presence led to the coastal towns of Rumonge and Nyanza being abandoned by the Schutztruppe.

On 19 July aerial photographs were taken and airborne leaflet propaganda was dropped over the old town of Ujiji, printed in Swahili, to prepare the local population for the arrival of the Allied troops.

This led the German naval commander on the lake, Gustav Zimmer, to retreat from the town and head south via railway and using Mwami, a steamer sent from Dar-es-Salam by rail.

[k][l] The southern brigade commanded by Colonel Frederik Valdemar Olsen advanced to Tabora following the Tanganyika Railway (Tanganjikabahn), which the Germans destroyed as they withdrew to the east.

[o][p] Following the Tabora Offensive, the British and Belgian governments agreed on 19 January 1917 that the latter would retreat the majority of its forces to Rwanda and Urundi—2,000 soldiers remained to secure the occupied territories, as proposed by General Smuts—and to bring its military campaign in German East Africa to a conclusion.

[23] Because of the continued German resistance[q] and their growing experience in guerrilla warfare tactics, the troops of the Force Publique were moved to the Dodoma-Kilosa region in July 1917, at the request of the British government and marched on Mahenge in September 1917.

[t][29][30] Lettow-Vorbeck returned to Germany in early March 1919 to a hero's welcome, he led 120 officers of the Schutztruppe on a victory parade through the Brandenburg Gate, which was decorated in their honour.

[34] After the war, as outlined in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was eventually forced to cede "control" of German East Africa to the Allied Powers.