On 2 November 1914 the British protected cruiser HMS Fox arrived off the coast of Tanga, German East Africa, and demanded its surrender; the town refused and convinced the British that it’s harbor had been mined (it had not). The next day British General Arthur Aitken and his 8,000-strong force of insufficiently trained Indian reserves landed 3 km south of Tanga to avoid the alleged mines, but by now German Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his 1,000 defenders were ready. Although the invaders made it as far as Tanga’s customs house, they were broken up by German counterattacks and further harassed by swarms of angry bees. On 5 November the routed British retreated in their boats, leaving behing almost of all of their equipment.
in wikipedia
As a secondary offensive to accompany the British attack on Tanga, some 1,500 Punjabi troops under the command of Brigadier J. M. Stewart advanced from the East Africa Protectorate towards Longido, over the western slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, in early November 1914. The British force was quickly ambushed by the 600-strong German 8th Rifle Company and, having lost much of its supply train, ignobly abandoned the invasion by nightfall. Emboldened by their successes at Kilimanjaro and Tanga, the Germans launched raids into British East Africa, capturing Jasin in January 1915.
in wikipedia
In November 1914 British Indian Expeditionary Force D advanced on Basra, Mesopotamia, defeating an Ottoman counterattack en route. After several more encounters, the Ottoman forces fled the area, abandoning the city to the British.
in wikipedia
On the behest of Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire, the Sheikh-ul-Islam formally declared a jihad against the Entente Powers in mid November 1914, urging Muslims across the world to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, and their allies.
in wikipedia
In January 1915 the Rashidis of Jebel Shammar (Ha’il) attacked and defeated the Saudi forces of Nejd at Lake Jarrab. Ibn Saud’s British military advisor, Captain William Shakespear—who was killed by a bullet during the battle—was decapitated by the victorious Rashidis and his helmet given to the Ottoman authorities, who hung it on one of the main gates of Medina as evidence of Saudi-British collaboration. The battle helped dissuade the Saudis from entering World War I on the side of the Allies.
in wikipedia
In late January 1915 some 20,000 Ottoman troops led by Djemal Pasha and the German Colonel von Kressenstein advanced across the Sinai, attacking the British controlled Suez Canal at Suez and Qantara. They were successfully held off by 30,000 British Imperial troops and forced to retire by early Feburary.
in wikipedia
