Schutztruppe: German colonial troops in West and East Africa

7
Germany entered the path of colonial conquests relatively late. After all, as a single state, it appeared only in the second half of the XIX century, after the unification of numerous feudal possessions. However, almost immediately after overcoming feudal fragmentation and the formation of a unified German state, the latter began a serious buildup of military and economic power. Germany hoped to take its rightful place among other European powers, and eventually overtake them in terms of political, economic and military power. The achievement of this goal was put by the famous Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in dependence, including on the colonial expansion in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Until the end of the XIX century story colonial expansion of the German states was sporadic. So, in 1528-1546. The Spanish colony of Venezuela was under the control of the Augsburg banking house Belser, from which the king of Spain, Charles I, borrowed a large sum of money and decided to pay the land. After 18 years of ownership of Venezuela, the Spanish king returned the colony, because he thought that the Augsburg bankers managed it ineffectively. In 1683-1718 a small colonial possession on the West African coast — in the southwest of modern Ghana — belonged to Brandenburg. The Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm, tried to pursue an active policy of capturing overseas territories and even created a Brandenburg-African company.

In 1683, two frigates delivered a detachment of Major Otto Friedrich von der Gröben to the Ghanaian coast, who founded the settlement of Gross-Friedrichsburg. However, it didn’t go further than the seizure of a small area - the coast was owned by the Dutch, with whom Brandenburg could not compete with at that time. By the way, it was the Dutch in 1718, Brandenburg and sold the colony Gross-Friedrichsburg. In 1685-1721 also the Brandenburg colony existed on the island of Arguin off the Moorish coast. Then she was captured by the French. In 1685, Brandenburg, in order to create a point of trade for slaves brought from the West African coast in the Caribbean, rented the island of St. Thomas from Denmark for thirty years, which was then seized into Brandenburg property without any obstacles from the Danes, but was abandoned after the African withdrawal the colonies of Brandenburg to the Dutch and the French.

Germanic colonial empire

However, the true history of German colonial expansion began only in the 1880-s. Initially, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck did not consider colonial politics among national priorities, but changed his point of view about ten years after the unification of Germany. This was due to the fact that a significant outflow of German emigrants went in search of a better life to the United States of America and Bismarck, trying to minimize losses in human resources, wanted to redirect the flow of migrants to the established German colonies.
Thus, by 1885, the Germanic colonial empire found itself in: in Africa - German South-West Africa (modern Namibia), German East Africa (Tanganyika - mainland Tanzania), German Togo, German Cameroon; in Oceania - New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. In the subsequent period, the power of Germany passed into Oceania — Solomon Islands, Nauru, Western Samoa, the Caroline and Mariana Islands, and the Chinese city of Jiao-Zhou.

From the very beginning of the German colonial empire, the leaders of the German state made it clear that it needed to defend the territories from the encroachment of other colonial powers, to maintain order and fight anti-colonial movements, as well as to expand the territories. To solve these problems, a constant presence in the colonial possessions of large numbers of military contingents was required. However, it was not only costly, but also dangerous for Germany itself to transfer a large part of German troops from the metropolis to the colonies, who wanted to have large military units on their territory for constant pressure on neighboring European states. So the German government came to the idea of ​​creating colonial troops, common in European colonial powers, recruited by members of the native population in ordinary positions and by Germans - in officer and noncommissioned officers.

The greatest need for the creation of colonial troops manned by the natives was felt in German East Africa, Cameroon and German South-West Africa - due to the large territories and the large population of these colonial possessions. In smaller colonies and smaller territories, where no serious conflicts were expected with local residents or rebel movements, only police units were created. So there were Schutztruppe - Security forces. In 1888, a rebellion of local residents broke out in German East Africa. Since the administration did not have its own armed forces, Reich Commissioner German Wissmann created mercenary detachments. On March 22, 1891, mercenary units called the “Wissman Forces” were transformed into the German East African Security Assistance Force and subordinated to the command of the Navy fleet.

In South West Africa, police units under the command of Captain Kurt von Francois were created to combat the Herero uprising, which were transformed into the Security Forces of German South West Africa on June 9. In Cameroon, the police were established in 1895, also 1891 June 9, transformed into Cameroon Guard Forces. The creation of structures independent of the army and the Imperial fleet, subordinated directly to the emperor of Germany, was envisaged. The local command was subordinate to the governor and the commander of the security forces. In almost all the colonies, the security forces consisted of native soldiers under the command of German officers and non-commissioned officers. Only in German South-West Africa, where the percentage of European colonists was significant, was the rank-and-file composition also composed of white locals. Let us consider in more detail the specifics of the formation and development of security units of Germany in East, South-West Africa and Cameroon.

German East African Guard Forces

German East Africa was formed in 1885 on the lands of Tanganyika, now part of Tanzania, as well as Burundi and Rwanda, later becoming Belgian colonies. From the very beginning, the German administration in Tanganyika faced resistance from the local population. One of the largest was the so-called. Abushiri rebellion, raised in 1888-1889 Arab-Swahili population of coastal areas of modern Tanzania. He was headed by the local landowner of Arab-Somali origin Abushir ibn Salim al-Hartha. In response, Bismarck appointed Lieutenant Herman Wissmann Reich Commissar of East Africa. The latter recruited groups of mercenaries-Askari from among the representatives of the local population, called "Forces Vissmana" and with the support of the Imperial fleet and marines defeated the rebels. Abushiri fled to Mombasa, but was betrayed by traitors and hanged.

Schutztruppe: German colonial troops in West and East Africa


In German East Africa, the Guard Forces were created first. Their story began in the year 1889, when Reich Commissar Wissman created a personal unit of mercenary soldiers, designed to fight the rebels of the Tanganyika coastal regions. In 1891, this formation was transformed into the Security Forces of German East Africa. The rank and file of the Security Forces in East Africa was initially recruited by mercenaries from Sudan and Mozambique, who were more trusted in confronting the local population. Then they began to hire for the service and residents of Tanganyika. The rank and file of the Security Forces in East Africa was called the “Ascari”, as well as the Italian troops in Somalia and Eritrea. Also from the natives was recruited and part of the non-commissioned officer corps, which wore the titles of "Chavush" (sergeant) and "efendi" (ensign) borrowed in the Egyptian army. The command staff was staffed by officers from the German army and navy officers and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary specialists and engineers.

By the beginning of World War I, the security forces in East Africa numbered 261 German officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers, and 4680 native soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Emil von Lettov-Forbeck (1914-1870) was appointed commander of these troops in April 1964. At the time of his appointment, he was forty-four years old, of which he spent twenty-five in military service as an officer in the German army. That is, it was a very experienced soldier with a combat past and real merit.

After serving in the 1889 year, after graduating from an artillery school, Lettov-Forbeck served as a lieutenant from 1889 to 1895, then he served as a senior lieutenant in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China. After serving in China, Lettov-Forbeck, in the rank of captain, commanded a company in German South-West Africa, where he fought with the insurgent people herero. At 1907, he was promoted to major and served for some time in staff positions in Germany, then returned to combat units and commanded a battalion of marines. From October 1913 Lettow-Forbeck commanded the colonial forces in Cameroon, and in April 1914 was assigned to German East Africa.



When the First World War began, the German command, given the small number of military contingents in East Africa, its insufficient military-technical equipment and not particularly relying on native soldiers, ordered Lettov-Vorbeck, commander of the Security Forces, not to take the initiative and not to engage in armed clashes with the troops of the Entente stationed in the British colonies of Kenya and Northern Rhodesia, Portuguese Mozambique and the Belgian Congo bordering German East Africa. Nevertheless, Lettov-Vorbeck decided to act at his own risk and on September 15, 1914, having crossed the border of German East Africa and Kenya with his detachment, he occupied the Kenyan city of Tavetta. Then, in November 1914, they managed to repel the landing of British troops near the city of Tanga.

During the war years Lettov-Forbek managed to increase the number of military units subordinated to him from a 4941 serviceman to almost 12 000 people. First of all, it was possible to do this by recruiting native soldiers, who were in fairly good military training. It is indicative that the Lettov-Forbek detachments were distinguished by high fighting spirit. The soldiers, the natives, which Lettov-Forbeck himself repeatedly recalls in his memoirs, sometimes showed not only enormous revenues, but real heroism, when being wounded, they refused to be transported so as not to interfere with the performance of combat missions by their comrades and gave them their food and ammunition. while staying at certain death in savanna or forest. In the Lettov-Forbeck divisions, a very high level of discipline was maintained, which made it possible to operate successfully in the territory of East Africa without receiving replenishments from Germany throughout the war. Moreover, Lettov-Forbek managed to withdraw the fighting outside Tanganyika, going to the guerrilla war against the British colonial forces in Kenya and Northern Rhodesia.

The nature of the partisan war, led by Lettov-Forbek against the troops of the Entente, had its own specifics. It was decided to act in small mobile groups - patrols, which actually were analogues of sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The patrols were moved to the location of the British troops, having telephone sets with them that were connected to the English cables, after which the passage of the transport or military detachments of the enemy was expected. An ambush opened fire on the enemy, then captured prisoners, food and weapons. Two horse companies, which patrolled savannahs, were sent to long raids, simultaneously destroying the transport infrastructure, the enemy’s guard posts. In the woodland there were small foot patrols consisting of one or two German officers or non-commissioned officers, three or four native ascari, and five or seven porters. Raids small foot patrols could last more than two weeks in the rear of the enemy, and consisted in explosions on railways.

The combat patrols that Lettov-Forbeck remembers in his memoirs were 20-30 Ascari detachments, often armed with a machine gun or even two machine guns, and attacking from ambushes on the enemy’s moving units with the aim of inflicting maximum damage. By the way, for partisan raids, native soldiers - Ascari were really very suitable fighters, because, firstly, they knew the terrain perfectly, and secondly, they had a great experience of similar fighting in tribal clashes, which were also often of a similar nature.



In the battles with the Lettov-Forbek troops, the British suffered tremendous casualties - so, in October 1917, in the battle at Mahiva, the British lost 1600 people with the losses of the Lettov-Forbek detachment of a hundred servicemen. At the same time, although Lettov-Forbek and his soldiers waged a partisan struggle against the many times superior enemy forces, who besieged the territory of his activities with a real blockade, the Germans did not experience a shortage of food and uniforms - they were supplied in abundance by local residents. Weapon and ammunition, in turn, was captured from the enemy.

Even the British attempt to fight Lettov-Forbek, calling for help the famous partisan warfare specialist Jan Smuts - in the past one of the leaders of the Boers during the Anglo-Boer wars, and then the general of the regular army of the Union of South Africa, was not crowned with success. On the advice of Smuts, the British created special fortifications every two kilometers, moving between them the patrols of the British army examined the railways for mining. Secondly, mobile units of a company or two companies were created, the task of which included an immediate reaction to the message of the Lettov-Forbek guerrilla attack on any object of British infrastructure. When such a message was received, the mobile company should immediately arrive at the site of the attack by train and join the battle. The tactics proposed by Jan Smuts did not lead to serious successes in resisting Lettov-Forbek units.

It is amazing that Lettov-Forbeck learned about the end of the First World War quite by accident. He continued the fighting until the late autumn of the 1918, being in complete isolation from the central German military command. The colonel found out about the end of the war in the following way: documents about a truce between Germany and the Entente were found from a captured British soldier, after which 23 November 1918 of the Lettov-Forbek detachment capitulated. At the time of the surrender, depleted by four-year hostilities, they counted 30 German officers, 125 non-commissioned officers of German nationality and 1168 native soldiers. In January, 1919, Colonel Lettov-Forbeck, returned to Germany, where in 1920, with the rank of Major General, he was dismissed from military service. After being laid off at the age of fifty, he still lived a very long life - forty-four years - and died in 1964 in a very old age.

Security forces of German South West Africa

The German Southwest Africa colony appeared in the 1883 year, and in 1884, the United Kingdom, by mutual agreement, recognized German sovereignty over it. Unlike other colonies, this territory was attractive to German colonists. The settlers occupied the lands of the Herero and Nama local tribes, which caused discontent of the latter and led to uprisings. During the famous Herero uprising in 1903, the rebels, led by Samuel Maharero, killed more than a hundred German colonists. In response, an 14-thousandth expeditionary corps arrived in South-West Africa, not only suppressing the uprising, but also arranging a real indicative herero genocide. For the period from 1903 to 1908. was destroyed from 50 to 80% of all herero. However, after the defeat of Herero, the Hottentots rebelled against the German administration, under the leadership of Hendrik Vitboi and Jacob Moreng. The war against the Hottentots continued until the 1908 year, and as a result it was destroyed before the 40 000 Hottentots - Nama.

The security assistance forces in German South West Africa, unlike East Africa, were almost completely staffed by ethnic Germans and Austrians commanded from the army and navy. The native soldiers in these units did not serve, because they were not considered reliable. German soldiers and non-commissioned officers before traveling to South-West Africa underwent special training in training centers, where they learned to operate in the climatic conditions of the colony. Only after the outbreak of the First World War, a small number of native soldiers were recruited to perform security and convoy service in prisoner of war camps.

However, its Lettov-Forbek in German South-West Africa was not. The forces of the Union of South Africa managed to quickly conquer the territory of the colony and on July 9, the last German detachment surrendered on July 1915. Most of the German settlers were interned in camps in the territory of the Union of South Africa, in order to prevent possible rebel and sabotage activities on their part.

The security forces of the German Cameroon

Colony German Cameroon began its history in the 1868 year, when here, in the delta of the river Cameroon, the first German trading posts appeared. Until 1884, the territory belonged to private German companies, but then Adolf Werman, who represented the company’s data, turned to Bismarck with a “protection” of the territory, after which Cameroon officially became a German protectorate. The most important role in the colonization of German Cameroon was played by the famous explorer and traveler Gustav Nachtigall.

Nachtigall, in the past - a military surgeon, was in Africa, trying to cure his tuberculosis with a dry African climate. In 1869-1875 He undertook a series of trips to the obscure regions of Central Africa, having traveled from Tripoli to the Bournu sultanate in modern Chad in two years, then from Bornu to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.



During his travels, Nachtigall studied such deep regions of Africa as the Tibesti Highlands, Borku region, Lake Chad region, visited the Vadai and Bornu sultanates, in Kordofan. By this time, Germany began to show interest in the unconquered other colonial powers in the deep regions of Africa, so the Nachtigall expedition was supported by the Berlin government. In 1884, Nachtigall, who by that time was a renowned Africanist, a German consul in Tunisia, was appointed by Bismarck as imperial commissar in West Africa and on a cannon boat arrived in Togo and Cameroon, where he hoisted the flags of the German Empire. The leaders of the Ewe people who inhabit Togo, and the duals who inhabit Cameroon, recognized the protectorate of Germany, in return for receiving certain privileges from the German leadership.

The structure of the German Cameroon included not only the territories of the modern Republic of Cameroon, but also the southwestern territories of Chad, the western territories of the Central African Republic, the eastern territories of Nigeria, the northern territories of Gabon and Congo. That is, it was a rather impressive colony in terms of area, in which German authorities also invested heavily in the development and development. In particular, two railways were laid there, agricultural plantations were created.

In German Cameroon, the Security Forces were created in 1894 after the reorganization of the colonial police into armed forces. As in German East Africa, the Cameroonian Schutztruppe consisted of native soldiers and Germans in officer and non-commissioned officer positions. They participated in the suppression of the uprisings of the local population. By the time World War I began, German units in Cameroon consisted of twelve companies and consisted of 185 German officers and non-commissioned officers and 1560 native soldiers. Like South West Africa, German Cameroon during the First World War could not hold out for a long time and was occupied by British and French troops in 1916. Its territory was divided between the two powers and formed the British and French Cameroons. The first subsequently became part of Nigeria, the second became the independent Republic of Cameroon.

Colonial Police

In addition to the Security Forces, in all German colonies acted police units subordinate to the civil administration. In German East Africa, the police consisted of 4 German officers, 61 German non-commissioned officer, 147 African non-commissioned officers and 1863 Askari, that is, ordinary police officers of native origin. In South West Africa, police consisted of 7 officers, 9 administration chiefs, 68 non-commissioned officers, 432 police sergeants, 50 officers serving on contracts. The state Mounted Police of South West Africa was staffed exclusively from ethnic Germans - settlers and seconded. In Cameroon, the police consisted of an 4 officer, 37 police officers, 1255 police officers. In Togoland there was an 2 officer and an 530 African police officer.

In the Pacific colonies of Germany there were only police formations. In New Guinea, the number of police was 19 German police officers, 670 local police. In German Samoa, there were 20-25 full-time police officers and 30 so-called “fit fit”. The latter were used to maintain order, serve on police boats, carry guard of honor and carry out the duties of postmen. Jiao-Zhou was operated by Chinese police, staffed by Chinese 60 and subordinate to the civil administration.

In 1918, following the defeat of Germany in the First World War, she lost all of her colonies, which were divided between the countries of the Entente, who fought with Germany. According to the Versailles Treaty of 1919, German East Africa was divided between Great Britain, to which Tanganyika departed, Belgium, to which Rwanda-Urundi retreated, and Portugal, to which Kionga Triangle departed (Southeast Africa). Togo and Cameroon were divided between Great Britain and France. South-West Africa was ceded to the South African Union - the British dominion, which occupied it during the war years and was mandated to govern it. In the Pacific, all the islands north of the equator went to Japan, to the south of the equator, German New Guinea went to the Australian Union, Western Samoa to New Zealand.

Accordingly, after the collapse of the German colonial empire, the German colonial troops ceased to exist. To some extent, their revived likeness can be called armed units that were formed during the Second World War from among the population of the states occupied by Hitler Germany, but this is a completely different story.
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  1. +2
    26 August 2014 10: 47
    Thanks, very interesting article.
  2. Tirpitz
    +2
    26 August 2014 10: 49
    quite informative. There is not enough card. And so +
  3. +2
    26 August 2014 12: 44
    The author, as always, is on top! We look forward to the next historical excursion into the little-known pages of history.
  4. 0
    26 August 2014 12: 52
    after the collapse of the German colonial empire, the colonial troops of Germany ceased to exist. To some extent, their revived likeness can be called armed units, formed during the Second World War from among the population of states occupied by Nazi Germany... and a more bloody story ..
  5. dastyst
    +1
    26 August 2014 21: 45
    The text is quite a serious historical error. Bismarck never changed his mind about Germany acquiring colonies. He was categorically against this idea, as he was afraid of deterioration of relations with Great Britain, which, in turn, could lead to British support for France. I note that Bismarck considered his main goal to isolate France from big politics. All because of the Alsace and Lorraine joined during the Franco-Prussian war. A change in politics occurred only with the expansion of the minded emperor Wilhelm 2 coming to power. Ultimately, it was precisely because of disagreements with the emperor that Bismarck resigned.
    1. 0
      27 August 2014 09: 29
      although it was during the years of his "chancellorship" that the main German colonies were acquired both in Africa and Oceania (Bismarck was the chancellor from 1871 to 1890, the peak of colonial expansion was 1883-1890).
  6. 0
    27 August 2014 01: 30
    Thanks for the interesting article.
    I would like to clarify one point.
    The author writes .- “During the war years Lettov-Forbek managed to increase the number of military units subordinate to him from 4941 servicemen to almost 12 people.
    On November 23, 1918, the Lettov-Forbeck detachments surrendered. At the time of the surrender, exhausted by four years of hostilities, they numbered 30 German officers, 125 non-commissioned officers of German nationality and 1168 native soldiers. "
    1. 0
      27 August 2014 09: 32
      since no new German officers and non-commissioned officers arrived from the colony, their numbers could only decline from death, death from wounds and disease. The main increase in numbers was achieved at the expense of native soldiers. Naturally, at the end of the hostilities, Forbeck's troops were already very "worn out" and did not compare with the period of the middle of the war (1915-1916).

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