African theatre of World War I The African Theatre of World War I comprises geographically distinct campaigns around the German colonies of Kamerun , Togoland , German South - West Africa , and German East Africa . The conflict was fought between German colonial troops or " Schutztruppe " and the Allied forces which included those of the British Empire , France , Belgium , and Portugal . Overview . The British Empire , with near total command of the world ' s oceans , had the power and resources to conquer the German colonies when the Great War started . Most German colonies in Africa had been recently acquired and were not well defended , with the notable exception of German East Africa . They were also surrounded on all land sides by African colonies belonging mostly to their enemies , the United Kingdom , France , Belgium and , later in the war , Portugal . West Africa . Germany had two colonies in West Africa , Togoland ( modern - day Togo and the Volta Region of Ghana ) and Kamerun ( modern - day Cameroon ) . The small colony of Togoland was invaded in early August 1914 and surrendered that same month to British and French forces . The German troops in Kamerun fought fiercely against invading British , French and Belgian forces , but in 1916 ( after many soldiers had escaped into Spanish Guinea , which was neutral territory ) the fighting ended with the surrender of the remaining German colonial armed forces ( " Schutztruppe " ) . Strategic assets in the German West African colonies included : South - West Africa . German South - West Africa ( modern - day Namibia ) was a huge and arid territory . Bounded on the coast by the desolate Namib Desert , the only major German population was around the colonial capital of Windhoek , some inland from the Atlantic Ocean . The Germans had 3 , 000 soldiers and could count on the support of most of the 7 , 000 adult male German colonists . In addition , the Germans had very friendly relations with the Boers in South Africa , who had ended a bloody war with the British just twelve years before . The British began their attack by organizing and arming their former enemies , the Boers . This was dangerous , and the proposed attack on German South - West Africa turned into an active rebellion by some 12 , 000 Boers . Boer leaders Jan Smuts and Louis Botha both took the British side against Christiaan Beyers and Christiaan De Wet . In two battles in October , the rebels were defeated and by the end of 1914 , the rebellion was ended . General Smuts then continued his military operations into South - West Africa , starting around January 1915 . The South African troops were battle - hardened and experienced in living in this type of terrain . They crossed the hundreds of miles of empty land on horseback in four columns . The Germans tried to delay this advance , but without success . Windhoek was captured on May 12 , 1915 . Two months later , all the German forces had surrendered . South Africa effectively ruled South - West Africa for the next 75 years . Even before the official declaration of war between Germany and Portugal in March 1916 , German and Portuguese troops clashed several times on the border between German South West Africa and Portuguese Angola . The Germans won most of these clashes and were able to occupy the Humbe region of southern Angola until Portuguese control being restored a few days before the Germans surrendered , in July 1915 . German East Africa . In German East Africa ( modern - day Tanzania , Burundi , and Rwanda ) the British were unable to fully subdue the defenders of the colony despite four years of effort and tens of thousands of casualties . The German commander , Colonel ( later General ) Paul Emil von Lettow - Vorbeck , fought a guerrilla campaign for the duration of the Great War . His achievement became the stuff of legend , although in military terms his epic campaign had only a small impact on the course of the War . German forces staged raids , hit - and - run attacks , and ambushes . The British army often laid traps for Lettow - Vorbeck ' s troops but failed to catch him . The German forces ranged over all of German East Africa , living off the land and capturing military supplies from the British and Portuguese military . In 1916 the British gave the task of defeating the Germans to the Boer commander Jan Smuts along with a very large force . His conquest of German East Africa was methodical and moderately successful . By the autumn of 1916 , British troops had captured the German railway line and were solidly in control of the land north of the railway , while Belgian – Congolese troops under the command of General Tombeur had captured the Eastern part of the colony , including Ruanda - Urundi and Tabora . However , Lettow - Vorbeck ' s army was not defeated and remained active long after Smuts had left to join the Imperial War Cabinet in London in 1917 . The German forces moved into Portuguese East Africa in November 1917 , and later back into German East Africa , finally ending up in Northern Rhodesia when the war ended . Lettow - Vorbeck ' s small army agreed to a cease - fire at the Chambeshi River on November 14 , 1918 , after receiving a telegram informing them that Germany had given up fighting on November 11 ( see Von Lettow - Vorbeck Memorial ) . The formal surrender took place on November 23 , 1918 at Abercorn . Lettow - Vorbeck ' s army was never defeated in battle , and he was welcomed in Germany as a hero . After the war . The war marked the end of Germany ' s short - lived overseas empire . Britain , France and Belgium divided up the German African colonies between them , but their colonial rule would be short - lived also . Most of the former German colonies had gained their independence by 1960 ; Namibia ( German South West Africa ) was the last to gain independence , doing so from South Africa only in 1990 . The 1976 film " Black and White in Color " , directed by Jean - Jacques Annaud gave a fictionalized view of the Franco - German campaign in either Togoland or Kamerun . Savagely anti - militarist , it showed peaceful French and German traders shooting each other just because they were expected to . Eventually Indian troops under British officers arrive and take the spoils .