did you know that two out of every three guys will experience some form of male pattern baldness by
the time they're 35 yes i knew it for me it was more like 25 i which keeps been around when i was
younger because advancements in science meant that there are now treatments that can combat
the symptoms of hair loss and help you keep the hair that you have look it's too late for me my
hair's not coming back but you didn't have to be like me you could stop your hair loss early
thanks to keeps keeps off as generic versions of the only two fda approved drugs treating hair
loss so you may have tried them before but never for a price this low that's right if
you were saying oh simon this is medicine it's going to be mega expensive well you
couldn't be more wrong it starts at just 10 a month how does it work well there's no need to
visit a doctor's office just schedule a quick online consult a bit later a discreet package
is going to arrive at your door and you can use it in the privacy of your own home so
if you're noticing that you're losing your hair that's not a problem that's going to fix itself
i know that do something about it for a limited time go to keeps.com forward slash brain food or
click the link in the description below to receive 50 off your first order and now today's video
when we picture the first world war we tend to think of the mud and slaughter of the trenches
in the fields of belgium and france this is only a very narrow view of the conflict true to its name
the first world war was very much a world war with combat taking place as far afield as the waters of
the south atlantic the steps of russia the deserts of mesopotamia and arabia and the islands of the
south pacific but perhaps the most far-flung and unusual theater of the war was southeast africa
where german forces though vastly outnumbered fought a skillful and protracted guerrilla war
in defense of the kaiser's african colonies it was this conflict which saw one of the strangest naval
engagements in history in which a pair of british motorboats named mimi and toto were hauled more
than 200 kilometers overland to fight a german gunboat and win back control of a lake this is the
bizarre story of the battle for lake tanganyika germany which had only become a unified nation in
1871 was a relative late comer to the colonialism game however following the 1884 berlin conference
when the major european powers met up to divide africa between them she required a respectable
overseas empire consisting of territory and what are now the nations of cameroon guinea
ghana togo namibia mozambique and tanzania they also got pacific islands of papua new guinea samoa
micronesia and palau and for more on what happened in namibia then german southwest africa please do
check out our previous video germany's forgotten genocide the early atrocity that provided a
blueprint for the nazis when the first world war broke out in august 1914 the alton powers swiftly
moved to capture germany's colonial possessions african colonies were mainly taken by british and
south african forces while the pacific territories were taken by the japanese then members of the
anton these possessions slightly defended by small garrisons of colonial troops all fell swiftly to
the anton forces with one exception german east africa or tanganyika which encompassed parts of
modern day tanzania rwanda mozambique kenya and burundi here german general paul von letov vorbeck
along with only 3 000 german and 11 000 native african troops or askaris led a masterful campaign
of guerilla warfare against anton forces using the terrain to their advantage and conducting
hit-and-run attacks against british railways and encampments knowing that the east africa campaign
was merely a sideshow to the larger war von lettoffbeg vowed to tie up as many enemy troops
as possible in africa keeping them away from the more strategically important western front
in this it was successful as the anton powers were forced to send some 300 000 british indian
south african belgium and portuguese troops to east africa in an attempt to hunt them down
despite being chronically undemanded and short on supplies for four years juan letoforbeck managed
to evade and defeat far superior forces and even invade a part of rhodesia becoming the only german
commander to capture british territory during the war these exploits earned in the nickname the lion
of africa with the land and sea routes in east africa blocked by german ground and naval forces
anton troops had only one remaining route of attack crossing lake tanganyika the second
largest of the african great lakes lake tanganyika stretches 676 kilometers north
south and at the time it boarded german tanganyika to the east the belgian congo to the north and
west and rhodesia to the south however british and belgium troops stationed in these colonies dared
not cross the lake into german territory due to a small but powerful flotilla of german gunboats
at the outbreak of war germany had two gunboats on the lake the 60-ton hedwig von weissmann and
the 45-ton king ghani both heavily armed with 37 millimeter pom-pom automatic cannons within two
months of war being declared these ships had sunk all opposing british and belgium vessels giving
germany unchallenged dominance of the lake in april of 1915 hedwig von weissman and kingani
were joined by a third gunboat the 1600 ton graf von godzin which had been built in germany before
being disassembled packed into 5 000 crates and shipped to the tanganyikan port of dar es salaam
from here the crates were shipped by rail to the lake port of kigoma where the ship was reassembled
in addition to bolstering german control of the lake grafengotson would carry and deposit up
to 900 troops anywhere along the shoreline to conduct raids on british or belgium territory
the only ships the anton could potentially field against the german flotilla were the german barge
d-khan the motorboat netter and the 1500 ton steamer baron darnis which laid disassembled in
the congolese port of le cougar however the belgians dared not reassemble her for fear
that she would be discovered and destroyed by the germans before she could be launched the 12-pound
guns provided by the british to barandarnis were thus installed as shore batteries to defend akana
finding this situation unacceptable on april 21 1915 big game hunter john r lee arrived at the
british admiralty in london to meet first sea lord sir henry jackson lee who had observed the
german flotilla on lake tanganyika had noted that the gunboats were relatively slow and
that their heaviest armament was only capable of firing forward he though suggested that the royal
navy deploy a force of small fast motor launch was armed with three pounder guns which would be
able to outrun outmaneuver and outgun the german gunboats there was also a further advantage to
using small launches as there was no direct river or rail link to lake tanganyika from the coast
any vessel deployed on the lake would have to be dragged over land for a considerable distance
a vessel small enough to be transported in one piece could be launched immediately upon arrival
reducing the risk of it being discovered and destroyed while being assembled despite
the outlandish nature of the plan admiral jackson approved of it stating it is both the duty and the
tradition of the royal navy to engage the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship to head
this quintessentially eccentric british mission admiral jackson chose quintessentially british
eccentric captain jeffrey basil spicer simpson an irrepressible braggart hot-head and independent
spirit simpson never missed an opportunity to show off the elaborate tattoos he had acquired while
serving in the far east and whenever possible wore a khaki kilt in place of regular uniform trousers
vessels under his command also had the nasty habit of coming to grief while testing the defenses
of portsmouth harbor in 1905 he had managed to run his patrol bow to ground and later collided
with another vessel resulting in the death of a sailor on november the 11th 1914 while commanding
the torpedo gunboat the hms niger he had stepped ashore to visit his wife at a nearby hotel only
to watch as his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a german u-boat due to these various misadventures
spicer simpson was relegated to the admiralty to adjust job transferring merchant marine sailors
into the navy however despite his shortcoming spicer simpson had experience in africa and was
fluent in german and french making him the ideal man for the lake tanganyika commission furthermore
the admiralty saw little risk in sending a man they saw as a liability to a remote backwater in
east africa for the mission spicer simpson chose a pair of 40-foot mahogany motorboats which were
pitted with maxum machine guns and three pounder quick firing cannons spicer simpson initially
suggested naming the vessels cat and dog but this was rejected by the admiralty they did however
approve the names mimi and toto french for meow meow and bow wow mimi and tautel were tested in
the thames on june 8 1915 and while both performed expectations one of the three pounder guns was
found me and properly bolted to the deck sending both it and its gunner flying into the river when
test fired the tests complete on june 15th the motorboats were loaded aboard the steemer ss
liam stephen castle and set off on their epic 16 000 kilometer journey to lake tanganyika
after 17 days the landstaff and castle arrived at the south african board of cape town where
mimi and toto were loaded onto railway flat cars and transported north by train to elizabethville
in the belgian congo from here the boats were loaded onto special cradles and were dragged by
oxen and steam tractors through the dense bush and deep gorges of the matumba mountains to the
railhead at san kisia this was a grueling journey of 235 kilometers from san kisia the boats were
taken 30 kilometers by rail to bakama then sail down the loialaba river and across lake casale to
cabolo the water in lualaba was low causing the boats to run around 14 times over 20 kilometers
of heat spicer simpsons quipped was a record i think for his majesty's ships the flotilla reached
caballo on october 22nd and following a 280 kilometer rail journey finally arrived in kalami
just south of le cougar against all lords the little boats had made it intact across
nearly 3 000 kilometers of some of the world's most challenging terrain but spicer simpson's
arrival had not gone unnoticed by the germans on the morning of december 1st 1915 the gunboat
king ghani under the command of lieutenant yorba rosenthal approached kalimi to investigate enemy
activity only to be driven away by shore batteries kengani returned later that evening allowing
rosenthal to swim ashore and get a closer look at the harbor there he discovered mimi and toto
and the slipway spicer simpson had constructed to launch them rosenthal tried to return to kingani
but was unable to find her in the dark and with dawn approaching the gunboat departed without him
while waiting for kingani to return rosenthal was spotted and captured by belgian soldiers and he
was unable to report his discovery of the british motorboats the slipways at kalimi were completed
on december 22nd and mimi and toto launched two days later this timing proved fortuitous for
on the morning of december 26th that kangani now under the command of sub lieutenant jung suddenly
appeared outside kalimi breaking off his morning prayer spicer simpson ordered his men to their
vessels and before he could say shy sir lieutenant jung found himself set upon by a pair of fast
motorboats bearing the royal navy's white ensign in a brief but furious battle the motorboats ran
rings around the kungani and scored a direct hit on a forward gun killing lieutenant jung
and two petty officers after barely 11 minutes the kangani's chief engineer struck the ship's
colors and surrendered her to the british simpson circus as it had become known had scored its first
victory three german and eight african crewmen were taken prisoner and the kangani continuing
the theme of animal sounds was re-christened the hms fifi french for tweet tweet fifi was the first
german warship of the war to be transferred into british service and for this accomplishment spicer
simpson was promoted to the rank of commander despite the khingani's sudden disappearance bad
weather on the lake prevented the germans from investigating until january 1916. in the meantime
spicer simpson bolstered his flotilla with the belgian steamer del commune which was renamed
vanguar or avenger in mid-january the hedwig von weissmann under the command of lieutenant job
odebrecht scouted around kalimi but finding nothing turned around and returned to port
on february 8 she set out again with orders to rendezvous with the graph on godson the next day
early that morning spicer simpson spotted the headvig and launched a flotilla consisting of mimi
fifi the barge determined a motorized while boat to intercept her while the hedwig was faster than
fifi and duton amy was able to steam circles around the german gunboat while the longer range
of her three-pounder gun prevented the hedwig from returning far edebrexter called the ship to dodge
mimi's fire allowing spicer simpson aboard fifi to close him for the kill however at the last moment
fifi's 12-pounder jammed and odobrecht took the opportunity to flee and rendezvous with the more
heavily armed graf from godson spicer simpson and his crew struggled for 20 minutes to clear the gun
while the german gunboat steadily slipped away but then with its last two shells fifi scored a direct
hit on the hedwig's hull bursting her boiler and killing seven of her crew with the ship now a
burning wreck odebrecht ordered scuttling charges set and is meant to abandon ship the second german
gunboat on lake tanganyika was now out of action only the formidable graf and got and remained
while his fleet of small boats had more than proved their metal spicer simpson decided he
needed a bigger ship if he was to tangle with the godson he found it in the form of the saint george
a steamboat belonging to the british console in the congolese capital of leopoldville spicer
simpson had the saint george dismantle drag to lake tanganyika reassembled and armed with the
belgian 12-pound short fence guns by this time however the strategic situation in east africa
had changed british and belgium troops had begun advancing north towards the port of bismarckberg
and spicer simpson's flotilla was ordered north to support the advance however upon arriving at
bismarck burke spicer simpson found the port defended by a heavily armed fortress and chose
to withdraw his flotilla little did he know that the fortress guns were actually wooden dummies the
originals having been commandeered by general von litto vorbeck for use as mobile artillery spicer
simpson also missed his chance to engage the graf and godzin which was withdrawn from bismarck berg
and on july 26 1916 scuttled at the bottom of kotabi bay she would later be salvaged in 1918
and still plies lake tanganyika to this day as the fairy mv liemba by july 1916 british and belgium
forces had retaken control of lake tanganyika though the east african campaign would drag on
for a further two years in fact general von leto of warbag would not surrender his forces until
november 14 1918 three days after the armistice had taken effect he was one of the few german
commanders to remain undefeated in the field and on his return to germany was hailed as a national
hero jeffrey spicer sims however would not be so lucky despite the ingenuity and determination he
had shown in his bid to end german domination of lake tanganyika his frequent quarrels with
his belgian allies led to his being reprimanded by the admiralty and he was never again given a
naval command he did however become assistant director of naval intelligence and served as a
naval delegate and french translator at the 1919 paris peace conference he was later elected as the
first secretary general at the international hydrographic organization in monaco in which
role he served from 1921 to 1937. jeffrey spicer simpson died on january 29 1947 at the age of 71.
though he was never to attain the legendary status of general von letter vorbeck spicer
simpson's unorthodox naval campaign on lake tanganyika was no less a military
accomplishment than those of his great rival a feat described by his belgian allies as a feat
unique in british history rarely have officers and men of the royal navy worked in an environment so
foreign or met conditions of greater difficulty with more ultimate success and if all of this
seems just a bit familiar the battle of lake tanganyika served as the inspiration for the
1935 c.s forrester novel and the classic 1951 film the african queen starring humphrey brogart
and catherine hepburn so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please do hit
that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching