The objective was straightforward: destroy the wireless station that allowed German forces in East Africa to coordinate across vast distances. After the humiliating British defeats at Tanga and Jassin, command needed a victory, however small. Bukoba, perched on the western shore of Lake Victoria in German East Africa, seemed achievable. The raid launched from Kisumu in British East Africa, the boats carrying the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and the Frontiersmen across the enormous lake. But the landing went wrong immediately. The attackers came ashore in a swamp, wading through muck while German defenders under Eberhard Gudowius raked them with rifle and machine gun fire. Extracting themselves from the bog, the British force then faced snipers concealed in the town. The fighting ground on for two days, though casualties remained light on both sides.

On 23 June, the Frontiersmen finally took Bukoba. An Australian lieutenant named Wilbur Dartnell climbed to the top of the town hall and tore down the German Imperial Ensign from the flagpole -- a gesture both symbolic and personal. The wireless station was destroyed, and the British captured hundreds of rifles and 32,000 rounds of ammunition. It was the Entente's first victory in the East African theater, a campaign that would drag on for years across some of the most punishing terrain on the continent. But the aftermath tarnished the achievement. With the German garrison withdrawn, the Frontiersmen sacked the deserted town, looting with enough enthusiasm to earn themselves the nickname the "Boozaliers." Every house found to contain ammunition was burned to the ground.

The sacking's consequences extended beyond the British force. When German commander von Stuemer authorized his men to return to Bukoba the following day, they discovered that local Africans had also participated in the looting. The German response was brutal: they summarily executed a local chief named Ntale. The 25th Battalion, meanwhile, was reassigned to guard duty along the Uganda Railway between Nairobi and Mombasa -- a posting its members understood as punishment for their post-battle behavior. In a final irony, destroying the wireless station proved counterproductive. With the station gone, the British could no longer intercept German transmissions. They had silenced the very source of intelligence they might have exploited.

Wilbur Dartnell, the young Australian who had pulled down the German flag at Bukoba, did not survive the year. On 3 September 1915, near Maktau in Kenya, his mounted infantry unit was overrun. The wounded could not be evacuated, and Dartnell -- himself wounded in the leg and being carried to safety -- knew what capture meant. He insisted on being left behind, hoping his presence might somehow protect the other wounded soldiers who could not move. He was killed. The Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously, its citation noting that he "gave his own life in a gallant attempt to save others." Selous, the old hunter, survived Bukoba but not the war. He was killed by a sniper on 4 January 1917 along the Rufiji River, still fighting at 65.