Two weeks after the armistice signed in Europe, on 25 November 1918 Von Lettow-Vorbeck finally surrendered at Abercorn near Lake Tanganyika after evading capture for over four years. His strategy of drawing Allied resources away from Europe into a colonial sideshow had been immensely successful. Against a small force that at the most totalled 14,000, mostly colonial soldiers (Askaris), Britain had deployed 114,000 European, Indian and African men. 10,000 died during the campaign, mainly due to disease and over 100,000 African supplier carriers died of sickness and exhaustion. Although South Africa did have territorial ambitions after playing a significant part in the campaign, most of German East Africa became a British administered mandate.