WI German Southwest Africa had been the arena for Lettow-Vorbeck’s extraordinary military abilities instead of German East Africa? Would he have been a greater potential threat to the British than in OTL?
By being next door to South Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck could possibly have coordinated with the many disgruntled Boers (the Boer War had only been over for 12 years and resentment against the British was still high) who had recent experience fighting the British army. IN OTL there was a brief Boer revolt which the British quickly put down for comparison.
Could South Africa have possibly been destabilized enough to divert an even greater number of British troops and ships to this theatre than was the case in OTL German East Africa?
Conversely, due to the Herero war, could Lettow-Vorbeck have generated the same degree of loyalty and effectiveness from the native inhabitants of German Southwest Africa as he did OTL from the Askaris in German East Africa which enabled the Germans to hold out against incredible odds?
Could Germany have possibly more easily supplied their colonial forces in German Southwest Africa (on the Atlantic) via U-Boats than the much further (on the Indian Ocean) German East Africa? The definite lack of adequate harbors in the Atlantic colony and the strong British naval control of them would seem to suggest no.
Anyway, this one man made a significant difference in German East Africa, not only the only German colony whose fighting forces remained in combat to the end of the war but even outlasting the German forces in Europe. Could Lettow-Vorbeck have accomplished the same feat in German Southwest Africa?