The Battle of Behobeho was fought during the East African Campaign

East African Campaign (World War I)

The East African Campaign was a series of battles and guerrilla actions which started in German East Africa and ultimately affected portions of Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, British East Africa, Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. The campaign was effectively ended in November 1917...

 of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

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The Battle

After capturing the coastal capital of German East Africa

German East Africa

German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....

, Dar es Salaam in September of 1916, General Jan Smuts ordered his army's advance to halt due to a malaria pandemic that had devastated the soldiers. Shortly after the new year, the 25th Frontiersmen Battalion, lead by famous hunter and explorer, Captain Frederick Selous

Frederick Selous

Frederick Courteney Selous DSO was a British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in south and east of Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir H. Rider Haggard to create the fictional Allan Quatermain character. Selous was also a good friend of Theodore...

  advanced into the interior of the colony , up the Rifuji River. On January 3rd British scouts ahead of the battalion reported a column of German soldiers moving down the road. A skirmish ensued. A German marksman reportedly killed Captain Frederick Selous during the battle. It is said that because of his fame Paul Emil von Lettow Vorbeck, commander of the German forces in German East Africa at the time sent a letter of condolence to the British after his death.