A Zeppelin Arrives in East Africa

OTL the original Zeppelin targeted to bring supplies to East Africa was wrecked due to some handling fould ups in bad weather. Lets say it doesn't get wrecked, and leaves 3 weeks earlier than the OTL L59. With the earlier departure she doesn't get recalled and arrives in East Africa on November 3rd 1917

Questions:
Would it be hard for the Zeppelin to actually find the German forces in East Africa?
Would it really help the Germans there if she did find them?
Is there any strategic / post war changes / Zeppelin business opportunity as a result (or just another good book for us Zeppelin nerds to read about in the present day)

At least it would be a morale booster in East Africa (and in Germany, assuming they could find out about it). Its a naval airship, so some props for the navy. If Lettow Vorbeck was more sucessful raiding as a result, it would mean more prestige for him in post war Germany.
 
It would be hard for them to find him, since the Schutztruppe had left East Africa entirely and were currently raiding in northern Mozambique (at the time a Portuguese colony, Portugal being one of the Entente's allies).

If they did find link up it would indeed be a morale boost for the Schutztruppe (and a propaganda coup for the Germans), but it won't substantially alter the outcome of the campaign. By this time the Schutztruppe were reduced to less than 2,000 troops, and outnumbered more than twenty to one by the Allied forces hunting them. OTL they kept going until they received word of the armistice, after which they surrendered their arms. The remaining Germans were repatriated and the Africans allowed to return home. A few tons of supplies won't substantially alter that outcome.
 
It would be hard for them to find him, since the Schutztruppe had left East Africa entirely and were currently raiding in northern Mozambique (at the time a Portuguese colony, Portugal being one of the Entente's allies).

If they did find link up it would indeed be a morale boost for the Schutztruppe (and a propaganda coup for the Germans), but it won't substantially alter the outcome of the campaign. By this time the Schutztruppe were reduced to less than 2,000 troops, and outnumbered more than twenty to one by the Allied forces hunting them. OTL they kept going until they received word of the armistice, after which they surrendered their arms. The remaining Germans were repatriated and the Africans allowed to return home. A few tons of supplies won't substantially alter that outcome.

Make sense, although I think technically the Germans crossed into East Africa on November 23rd so with the other earlier ship, this one arrives 20 days before then. But the Germans are still pressed into the southern most part of the colony.

The cargo included medical supplies and a medical team, with the extra supplies (including machine guns) they might be able to take more people with them and attrition less along the way, making for a more hard hitting force into 1918.

The zeppelin also supposedly included linguistic experts so maybe they could do some recruiting amongst the natives.
 

Deleted member 9338

Questions:
Would it be hard for the Zeppelin to actually find the German forces in East Africa?
Would it really help the Germans there if she did find them?
Is there any strategic / post war changes / Zeppelin business opportunity as a result (or just another good book for us Zeppelin nerds to read about in the present day)

I love this question. It comes up often with my gaming buddies.

Yes it would be hard to find the Germans, but they did know the general area where they were.

I can see the German forces hearing about the biggest bird ever falling from the sky and Lettow Vorbeck marching towards it.

The supplies would of been a god send for the Germans. The radios and parts and medicine were valuable.

If the Germans lose the war I see no change in the use of airships. A pitty for nerds like me.
 
The whole operation was basically one big Hail Mary, so I doubt it'll change strategic planning after the war. It's not like they were planning anything of Berlin Airlift proportions. As for the immediate benefits to von Lettow-Vorbeck, he was a pretty resourceful guy, and I can only imagine what sorts of things he'd be able to salvage from the zeppelin's airframe and canvas envelope. They weren't planning on a return trip, so the whole thing would've been stripped down to the nuts and bolts on landing and the raw materials used to fuel the continuing guerrilla campaign.
 
What you really need is for the german forces on the ground to have a biplane, eg for scouting,spotting purposes. The when the zeppelin arrives within a few hundred miles, the plane can go up and lead it in.

So. Led Zeppelin.:):p
 
What you really need is for the german forces on the ground to have a biplane, eg for scouting,spotting purposes. The when the zeppelin arrives within a few hundred miles, the plane can go up and lead it in.

So. Led Zeppelin.:):p

Zeppelin jokes are always funny.

What I see happening:

A stronger Lettow Vorbek as an inducement to surrender peacefully gets an extra line in the Armistice agreement, .. "any equipment surrendered by force this counts in the total equipment required to be surrendered by Germany."

So Germany gets to keep a few more of her machine guns and a couple of artillery pieces in Europe, insignificant, but adds to the legend of this force never being defeated, with this and better military results in this time line, Lettow-Vorbeck has even greater prestige at hone, and even abroad, thus is a greater political figure in Germany. Hopefully this leads him to be be a more reasonable conservative alternative to the other forces developing in Germany.

If that happens and the Nazis don't rise to power, the USA is willing to sell Helium to Germany, meaning the Zeppelin travel business lasts 10 years longer then the 1937 OTL, by which time fast liners and fixed winged aircraft are far better able to compete and the novelty of these air ships has worn off.
 
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