I was just wondering if anyone in there travels have ever visisted the site of the German Cruiser Konigsberg which was sunk during WWI in the Rufiji River?

My limited understanding is that some of it was sold as scrap and the remainderis under water.

I think 33 German Crewman were buried nearby.

It is an insteresting story and Wilbur Smith included a very similiar story in one of his books.

Story of the SMS Konigsberg

Jim

It was visible in the late 60's. Don't know about now. When I saw it only some of the upper structure was visible. If I remember correct in either the dry season or low tides more of the ship was supposed to be visible.

I don't know how to post websites here but google "photos of Konigsberg rufuji" and you can see what the sunk ship looked like. Don't know when the photos were taken.

The story of its sinking is a pretty neat piece of history. If I remember correct after the sinking no other German supply vessels made it to von Lettow Vorbeck. The book Jungle Man by P.J. Pretorius gives the story regarding his involvement in the sinking if I remember correct. I believe Capstick has a chapter regarding Pretorius/Konigsberg in one of his books as well.

Hopefully some of the Tanzanians on AR can chime in as I would be interested in knowing as well. If it is I might like to visit it again on a trip.

I gotta say, that would be an interesting thing to go see. Loved the Wilbur Smith book "Shout at the Devil". The movie was cool as well.

quote:

Originally posted by LegioX:
I gotta say, that would be an interesting thing to go see. Loved the Wilbur Smith book "Shout at the Devil". The movie was cool as well.

Jungle Man by Pretorius is a great book.

Wilbur Smith current books are rubbish!

Agreed Saeed,
I hear his newest book is highly offensive and I don't plan on buying it. His early books are great IMO, nothing in the last decade or so has impressed me.
Kinda wonder what changed his course....

MONEY!!!

AilsaWheels, how fortunate you are to have visited that site. The History of the Germans in East Africa during WWI was very interested and relatively unknown.

I did not learn about it until a friend introduced me to the book: "Battle of the Bundu."

LegioX; thanks for the suggestion of the movie. I downloaded and watched it this afternoon. The movie was very enjoyable and similiar to the book except for the ending.

I think I have "Jungle Man" around here somewhere. I will start reading that book.

Hopefully, we will hear from someone in Tanzania.

Jim

If you are interested in the war, Paul von Lettow Vorbeck wrote a book about his involvement from the start, victory at Tanga, etc. to the retreat/invasion into Northern Rhodesia. I looked in my library but must have loaned it out. I believe the name is "My Reminiscence of East Africa".

An odd fact if memory serves me correct.....Karen Blixen and von Lettow Vorbeck sailed out to East Africa on the same ship and got to know each other fairly well. The British were concerned about her being sympathetic to the Germans and kept an eye on her even though she carried supplies by wagon to the front lines for the British.

I was unaware of the book "Battle of the Bundu" thanks for the heads up. I just ordered it and am looking forward to the read.

All the best

quote:

Originally posted by LegioX:
Agreed Saeed,
I hear his newest book is highly offensive and I don't plan on buying it. His early books are great IMO, nothing in the last decade or so has impressed me.
Kinda wonder what changed his course....

Not surprisingly, I've found the same thing. I devoured his earlier stuff, but have found nothing in the last 10 years to interest me.

Having said that, his books did have a "theme" to them that got tired. 2 masculine guys, one hawt woman. Which guy will she choose?

I probably enjoyed the Courtney and Ballentyne novels the best. In the early years he did a pretty good job of tying the characters into actual historic events.

"Assegai" was so full of inconsistencies and over the top situations that it was an embarrassment to read. I can't believe a 20 year younger WS would have released it without significant revisions. As Scriptus said $.

WS really has followed the same route as Tom Clancy - pretty decent early books and then drivel. (and I disregard the TC Op Centre books, who I believe were written by others).

I agree totally with Saeed the last books are ,really bad,the military areas are so bad written that ibelieve they were written by somebody that never saw an uniform in his life .The guns items were so bad that i passed the pages.Besides that the book is full of unnecesary violence ,sex ,and NOTHING about Africa.
In his blod WS said that he wriiten his lasts books with a team of writers.I hope he writes one more book alone and focuse it in Africa .

The Koeningsberg has been swallowed by mud - Maj Pretorius was quite a character, but there were also other larger than life characters involved in that war, Col Meinertzhagen, Frederick Courtnay Selous was killed by a sniper and is berried on the banks of the Rufiji river, and of course von Lettow Vorbeck, such was the respect for him by Smuts that when von Lettow Vorbeck fell on hard times, Smuts organised that he receive a pension from the South African Defence Force! A really interresting piece of history plagarised by several authors! pensihttp://www.richthofen.com/konigsberg/wrecks_relics/

A really interesting war with larger than life characters, Major Pretorius, Col Meinerthagen, the great Frederick Cournay Selous who was shot by a German sniper and lies buried on the banks of the Rufiji. And Von Lettow himself, who was held in such high regard that when he fell on hard times during the depression, Field Marshall Smuts organised him a pension paid for by the South African Defence Force! Pity that authors need to plagiarise history for their fiction! The Koenigsberg has been swallowed up by the mud in the delta. http://www.richthofen.com/konigsberg/wrecks_relics/

That would be a very interesting side trip. Was hunting a veritable stone's throw from Selous' grave in 2008 and wanted to go there, but alas, it didn't happen.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by LegioX:
I gotta say, that would be an interesting thing to go see. Loved the Wilbur Smith book "Shout at the Devil". The movie was cool as well.

Jungle Man by Pretorius is a great book.

Wilbur Smith current books are rubbish!

Saeed,
I agree. Wilbur Smith has completely gone to trash.

von Lettow-Vorbeck may have been the only senior commander in the Great War with a brain; or maybe he was the only one who used his. A number of years ago I went through a phase where I read everything available on the man. He was a fascinating man and admirable soldier.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
That would be a very interesting side trip. Was hunting a veritable stone's throw from Selous' grave in 2008 and wanted to go there, but alas, it didn't happen.

Lavaca:

The trip to the delta is not a simple undertaking given the options of accessibility being few and far between.

With a bit of dedicated organizing it is not impossible but the final reward however might just not meet expectations.

fujotupu,

Do you know if the wreck is visible anymore?

Has it silted in with forest covering it?

Thanks for your input.

quote:

Originally posted by AilsaWheels:
fujotupu,

Do you know if the wreck is visible anymore?

Has it silted in with forest covering it?

Thanks for your input.

Last but not recent info I had from some of the locals making a living from prawn fishing in the vicinity said parts of the rusted superstructure is visible on low tide.
I did not ask about vegetation but would imagine some dense foliage must have enveloped the site.

I wouldn't say the delta is in danger of silting due the natural varying levels of high and low tide which provides for a twice daily flushing over a 24hr period.

In addition to this you can count on the Rufiji to provide a serious volume of water at least once a year during the heavy rains of March/May until someone builds a bloody dam upstream and screw the entire ecosystem in the process!

fujotupu,

Thanks for the information and the update on the Konigsberg.

As Singleshot03 mentioned, the Graf Goetzen which was shuttled by the Germans in 1917 was raised and is still operating on Lake Tanzania.

http://www.meyerwerft.de/en/me...zen/graf_goetzen.jsp

AlisaWheels, I was aware of the Graf Goetzen but I did not realize that it was built in Germany, shipped to East Africa, taken overland, reassembled and later lubed prior to scuttling.



jim

The first word association with the SMS Königsberg that came to mind was Bogart's African Queen movie.

So I did a quick search and guess what? The German boat in the movie really existed. But it wasn't the Königsberg (named after the famous East Prussian seaport city).

It was in fact the MV Liemba, formerly the Graf Goetzen or Graf von Goetzen, one of three German boats on Lake Tanganyika that inspired the African Queen book and the movie itself.

In the movie the Graf Goetzen was the "SMS Königin Luise". I clearly heard the Capt. call it that, "and how did you propose to sink the Königin Luise?". The Germans in fact had various royalty named Luise. The real life character the Königin Luise would have been named after was most likely the Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie).

There was actually an entirely separate real SS Königin Luise. It was a German steam ferry. She operated between Hamburg and Holland, before being taken over by the Kaiserliche Marine on the outbreak of the First World War. She was used as an auxiliary minelayer before being sunk on August 5, 1914.

Anyway, the SMS Graf Goetzen actually looked a lot like the movie's SMS Königin Luise.

And the real Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen was an interesting character in African history as well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...dolf_von_G%C3%B6tzen.

Fasanating history. I was aware of some but not all of what has been written here. I will be doing some research now. Thanks to all that posted.