Mimi and Toutou go Forth by Giles Foden

"Mimi and Toutou go Forth" is a curious mix of a Tom Sharpe novel and the BBC TV series "Blackadder Goes Forth". It tells the story of the British naval campaign on Lake Tanganyika during World War I. If you are interested in a Boy’s Own description of daring-do by eccentric British naval folk, then this is the book for you.

At the beginning of World War I Germany was a dominant force in East Africa, threatening adjoining British and Belgian colonies. Lake Tanganyika, which lay between German East Africa and the Belgian Congo was dominated by three German navy boats, and the border was wide open for a German invasion. The British wanted to reclaim their position of naval superiority and protect its ally – a plan was conceived to remove the German threat.

In 1915 two small motor boats, "Mimi" and "Toutou", were hauled by rail, steam engine, and oxen, from Cape Town, through the Congo jungle to Lake Tanganyika, where they were used to attack the German boats. Foden’s tale, however, is really about Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, the tattoo-covered, skirt-wearing, self-aggrandising braggart who commanded the expedition. Spicer, who ultimately proved to be a coward in the face of apparent German superiority, stole everyone’s limelight and claimed the heroics of others for himself. The true adventure is that of "Mimi" and "Toutou", the defeat of the German boats "Kingani" and "Hedwig von Wissmann", and the almost slapstick approach of Spicer’s 28-man team.

The final chapter, essentially "Giles Foden Goes Forth", describes Foden’s brave effort to obtain the other side of the story – that of the native African caught up in the debacle. Foden braves the deprivations of East Africa to discover the truth, and takes the last 10% of the book to tell us about it.