Tom von Prince

Tom von Prince (9 January 1866 – 4 November 1914) was a military officer and plantation owner in German East Africa.

He most notably, as a captain in the Schutztruppe, led the first action by German forces in East Africa during World War I by seizing Taveta on 15 August 1914, and was then killed in November at the Battle of Tanga.

After he was orphaned, Prince's maternal grandparents took him to Germany, where he was enrolled at the Königliche Ritterakademie at Liegnitz (now Legnica in Poland).

The Hehe, under Chief Mkwavinyika Mkwawa, had won the battle of Lugalo in 1891, where they killed Commander Emil von Zelewski and many of his men.

In 1896, he was promoted to the rank of Hauptmann and in August 1896 he established the German military station at Iringa, a short distance from Mkwawa's fortress at Kalenga.

At the outbreak of the First World War Prince returned to active military service and commanded two European companies of the German Schutztruppe.

The objective was to take and hold a key point that would strengthen German defences in the north of their colony and protect the Usambara Railway.