Battle of Bukoba The Battle of Bukoba was the first victory for Entente forces in German East Africa , coming after the disastrous battles of Tanga and Jassin . The British objective was the destruction of the Bukoba wireless station . Due to Bukoba ' s location on the shore of Lake Victoria , it was decided that the raid should take the form of an amphibious assault . The Battle and aftermath . The raid was launched from Kisumu in British East Africa on June 21 , 1915 . Amongst the units chosen for the attack were the Loyal North Lancashire and the 25th ( Frontiersmen ) Battalion , Royal Fusiliers , more commonly known by the their nickname the 25th ' Frontiersmen ' . This unusual unit had been created by Colonel Daniel Patrick Driscoll as an irregular skirmish force shaped by his experiences during the Second Boer War , and drawn largely from his peacetime paramilitary group , the Legion of Frontiersmen . A number of big game hunters were recruited to the force by Driscoll — most notably Frederick Selous , who was 64 when he joined and who died in action at the age of 65 . Upon reaching the objective at Bukoba the attackers were accidentally landed in a large swamp and were pinned down by fierce rifle and machine gun fire from the German positions . Finally managing to escape the swamp , the British force was then held up by sniper s — who succeeded in stalling the attack until a Capt . Meinertzhagen advanced towards them and opened fire , killing one and driving the rest away . The attack continued for a further two days in the town ; however , casualties were light on both sides . The Frontiersmen took the town on June 23 . An Australian member of the unit , Lieutenant Wilbur Dartnell , climbed to the top of the town hall and removed the German Imperial Ensign from the flagpole as a symbolic gesture of victory . Bukoma fort and the wireless station were destroyed , the British also captured rifles and 32 , 000 rounds of ammunition . Due to their status as an ' irregular ' unit , the Frontiersmen were granted permission to loot the town by General Stewart . This predictably turned into a disaster , with the 25th robbing and burning much of the town with such ferocity that the incident became known as the " Sack of Bukoba " . It was later claimed by an embarrassed high command that no looting had taken place . The aim of the raid , the destruction of the wireless station , was counterproductive for the British as it deprived them of the possibility of intercepting German transmissions . Bukoba was abandoned . Wilbur Dartnell . After the battle , the 25th Battalion was ordered to guard the Uganda Railway between Nairobi and Mombasa , which was coming under heavy attack from German forces . During this period Wilbur Dartnell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for an action which took place near Maktau on September 3 , 1915 . The citation for Dartnell ' s VC " On 3 September 1915 , near Maktau , Kenya , during a mounted infantry engagement , the enemy were so close that it was impossible to get the more severely wounded away . Lieutenant Dartnell , who was himself being carried away wounded in the leg , seeing the situation , and knowing that the enemy ' s black troops murdered the wounded , insisted on being left behind , in the hope of being able to save the lives of other wounded men . He gave his own life in a gallant attempt to save others . "