In August 1916, the 1st Battalion/ 2nd Regiment of the KAR, a regiment raised from Britain’s colonies in East Africa, set off by train for German East Africa. They spent months engaged in trench warfare in the densely forested hills around Kibata.

They fought alongside infantry troops from north west India, Sikh mountain gunners and British gunners. The artillery battles were fierce and medical aid, provided by the Indian Medical Service, was limited.

British officers who died in the fighting were later re-interred in the Dar es Salaam War Cemetery. The African askari (rank and file troops) lie in unmarked graves where they fell.