George Bryan Schunck was born in 1889 at New Hey, Rochdale, Lancashire, the son of John Edgar Schunck, a cotton trade Bleacher employing more than 100 workers, and Emily Schunck (nee Higgins). He attended Dunstable Grammar School and in January 1912, following a course in Agriculture at the Agricultural College at Holmes Chapel, he went out to Salisbury, Rhodesia. He spent a year at the Darwendale Ranch and then took a plot of land nearby.

He enlisted in November 1914 as Private 1064 in the Rhodesian Regiment, a war-time battalion manned mainly with volunteer white settlers from Southern Rhodesia, going in to active service on 15 March 1915.

George was killed during the Battle for Latema-Reata Nek, that began on 11 March 1916 in British East Africa. The attack was an attempt to capture the German defensive position on the Latema-Reata ridgeline that lay in a gap between Mount Kilimanjaro and the Pare Mountains to the south-east.

The battle began in the early morning but the Rhodesians, held in reserve, didn't go into the attack until 6pm, advancing into the setting sun that made it difficult for them to register their guns onto the enemy weapon pits. 

The Rhodesians gallantly swept up onto Latema ridge and took up fire positions on the crest. The Germans, reinforced by two companies, fought energetically and at 8pm a successful German counter-attack was made on the ridgeline. Due to a shortage of ammunition and confusion in the darkness most of the troops fell back having lost 15 men killed and over 40 wounded. However, isolated groups of men with some machine gunners stood their ground on the ridgeline and a long and desperate night began.

At first light patrols went out to warn all isolated troops to withdraw but they observed the British pockets on the ridgeline and finding only dead German troops in the Nek, orders were issued to seize Latema-Reata which the remaining troops did without opposition.

Robin Marriott