Battle of Tabora

The Battle of Tabora (Bataille de Tabora; 8-19 September 1916) was a military action which occurred around the town of Tabora in the north-west of German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania) during World War I. The combat formed part of the East Africa Campaign and was the culmination of the Tabora Offensive in which a Belgian force from the Belgian Congo crossed the border and captured both Tabora (the largest town in the interior of the German colony) and the nearby settlement of Kigoma, pushing the German colonial army back. The victory not only left much of the Ruanda-Urundi territory under Belgian military occupation but gave the Allies control of the important Tanganjikabahn railway.