Von Lettow - Vorbeck Memorial The Von Lettow - Vorbeck Memorial in the Northern Province of Zambia commemorates the final cessation of hostilities of World War I , three days after the Armistice in Europe . The reasons for the Memorial . The Memorial bears a plaque which reads : " On this spot at 7 . 30 am on Thursday 14th November 1918 , General von Lettow - Vorbeck , commanding the German forces in East Africa , heard from Mr Hector Croad , then District Commissioner Kasama of the signing of the Armistice by the German government , which provided for the unconditional evacuation of all German forces from East Africa " . A second plaque in the Bemba language ends with the words " Twapela umuchinshi kuli bonse abashipa abalwile mu nkondo iyi " which means " we honour all brave soldiers in this war " . ( More Africans than Europeans fought and died on both sides in the East African campaign , thousands more Africans who served as porters ( sometimes under force ) also died , and the civilian population suffered tremendously ) . The message given to General von Lettow - Vorbeck was a telegram sent to Croad which read : " Please send the following to General von Lettow - Vorbeck under a white flag - The English Prime Minister sent notice that on 11th November an Armistice was signed and that the fighting on all fronts should cease on 11th November at 11 o ' clock . I order my troops to end hostilities as from now and I expect you to do the same . General van Deventer " . Location . The location of the Memorial is near the north end of the Chambeshi Bridge ( which was built later ) on the Mpika - Kasama road . Most accounts of the war say that Lettow - Vorbeck surrendered at Abercorn ( now Mbala ) , 250 km to the north , giving the impression that he penetrated just the few kilometres to Abercorn from German East Africa , but that is only because he was instructed by the British imperial commanders in Northern Rhodesia to march his undefeated troops there for the official surrender on 23 November 1918 . Historical background . The British force had been waiting in the Abercorn area to attack the German forces coming from northern Mozambique , thinking they would make for Lake Tanganyika , but General von Lettow - Vorbeck had evaded them by turning south - west towards Kasama . Its tiny British population evacuated to Mpika , except for nine who set up two Maxim guns at the Chambeshi , but they did not know how to work them . One , Charlie Simpson , had with him about £10 , 000 which was all the cash from the government offices and businesses in Kasama , which he buried in a goat pen near the rubber factory he ran , thinking that the goats ' hoofprints would hide evidence of digging , and that the Germans would probably be more interested in the goats than looking for the money . On arrival at the Chambeshi the Germans machine - gunned the rubber factory before Croad arrived with the telegram . Setting up the memorial . The Memorial was unveiled on 14 November 1953 as a National Monument of Northern Rhodesia ( as it was then ) and consists of a large stone platform with the plaques set into a stone pillar , next to a cannon of the era ( but not one used by the Germans ) .