Chambeshi Monument

The Chambeshi Monument, in the Northern Province of Zambia, also called the Chambeshi Memorial and the Lettow-Vorbeck Memorial, commemorates the final cessation of hostilities of the First World War, three days after the Armistice in Europe.

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 ("We honour all brave soldiers who fought in this war".) 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 [sic] 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. Hence the Memorial marks the cessation of hostilities, not the surrender.

The location of the Monument is on the north bank of the Chambeshi River, near the northern end of the old Chambeshi Bridge (which was built later, this bridge was destroyed by Rhodesian troops during the Rhodesian Bush War, a new bridge was built further upstream) on the Mpika-Kasama road. Most accounts of the war say that Lettow-Vorbeck surrendered at Abercorn, 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 Allied commanders in Northern Rhodesia to march his troops there for the official surrender on 23 November 1918.

Data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).