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AFRICANS WHO FOUGHT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

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Little is mentioned about the utilization of Black African soldiers in the First World War. European empires were forced to raise troops needed for their war effort by the recruitment of Black African Soldiers. These soldiers were employed in various parts of the empire, such as the Tirailleurs Senegalais who were regiments from French West Africa. Also the Kings African Rifles (KAR) who originated from British colonies in East Africa. Many African American soldiers were available when the United States entered the war in 1917. There were also black British born soldiers who fought for the British Empire such as Walter Tull who was the first black officer in the British Army. It has been estimated that 500,000 Africans were used in the French and British forces.

CONTENTS

1. BRITISH WEST INDIAN REGIMENT
2. AFRICAN AMERICANS
3. 369th regiment (Harlem Hell fighters)
4. TIRALLEURS SENEGALAIS
5. KINGS AFRICAN RIFLES
6. SOUTH AFRICAN BRIGADE
7. AFRICAN NATIVE LABOUR CORPS
8. WALTER TULL
9. ASKARIS

1. BRITISH WEST INDIAN REGIMENT
The West India Regiments were initially raised in 1795 by recruitment amongst freed slaves from North America and by purchase of slaves in the West Indies, (as were the Corps of Colonial Marines). By 1800 most of the WIR recruits were bought from slave ships arriving from Africa and trained into regular units with a reputation for courage and effectivness. In 1807 some 10,000 black slave-soldiers in the West India Regiments of the British Army were freed under the Mutiny Act passed by the British parliament that same year.[1]
After the slave trade was ended, recruits continued to be obtained from freed slaves in West Africa. The WIR soldiers became a valued part of the British forces garrisoning the West Indies, where losses from disease and climate were heavy amongst white troops. The African soldiers by contrast proved better adapted to tropical service. They served against locally recruited French units that had been formed for the same reasons. Free African, mulatto and slave soldiers, militia and para-military forces played a prominent and often distinguished role in the military history of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The British adopted a system with the help of chief in Africa who promised to provide men in any way they could. The system derived from the treaty of Versallies were European colonies were required to make agreements with African chiefs in order to claim that territory as a colony. In East Africa a compulsory service order was instituted in 1915 which required all males aged between 18-45 to join as part of the British Empire. This was extended to the Uganda Protectorate in April 1917. The British also used forced recruitment in order to attain African troops in Northern Rhodesia. The Belgium’s also used this method to recruit 260,000 men troops in the Congo.

2. AFRICAN AMERICANS
(see full 369th infantry regiment on wikipedia)
The United States entered the war in 1917 to raise support the army The Selective Service Act was passed by congress on the same year. There had already had African Americans regiments stemming from the Civil war in which 4 regiment remained these were the 9th and 10th Calvary and 24th and 25th infantry. African Americans were attracted to the war and the coloured army quotas were full within a week after the United States entered the war. However, blacks were exempt from the marines and only could attain menial positions in the Navy and Coast Guard. In 1917 an African American unit called the 369th Infantry was formed they were also known as the Harlem Hellfighters and the Black Rattlers. This was an all black regiment under the command of white officers; one of these officers was Commander William Hayward. On entering WW1 they became part of the 93rd Division, this division was integrated into the French 16st division. They spent approximately 191 days in combat which was the longest out of all the American units in the army. There were approximately 1500 casualties in which they received only 900 replacements which left the (www.blackpast.org?q=aah/360th-infanty-regiment-harlem-hellfighters) During WW1 380,000 African Americans served, 200,000 were sent to Europe and roughly 42,000 say combat. (www.archives.gov/education/lessons/369th-infantry/)
3. SOUTH AFRICA BRIGADE
(full article on Wikipedia)
When the First World War broke out in 1914, the South African government chose to join the war on the side of the Allies. General Louis Botha, the then prime minister, faced widespread Afrikaner opposition to fighting alongside Great Britain so soon after the Second Boer War and had to put down a revolt by some of the more militant elements before he could mobilise and deploy troops as an expeditionary force (some 67,000 troops) to invade German South-West Africa (now Namibia).
The South African Union Defence Act of 1914 prohibited the deployment of South African troops beyond the borders of the South Africa and its immediate neighbouring territories. In order to send troops to Europe to support the Commonwealth in World War I, Generals Botha and Smuts created the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force. However, because of the limitations of the Defence Act, they issued a General Order (Order 672 of 1915) which stated that "The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force will [sic] be Imperial and have the status of regular British Troops." "Status" was meant to imply administrative purposes, as Britain was paying for the maintenance of the force in the field for the sake of local political sensitivities. Regrettably, this Administrative Order later meant that the South African units which served as part of the Overseas Expeditionary Force were not, as South African units, entitled to retain Regimental Colours awarded to them for battles fought as "British" units.[1] The 1st Infantry Brigade Group was the first unit to be formed as a constituent part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force.

4. TIRALLEURS SENEGALAIS
(Wikipedia has article about tirailleurs) The Senegalese Tirailleurs (French: Tirailleurs Sénégalais) was a corps of the French Army recruited from French West Africa. The first unit was formed in 1857 and served France in a number of wars, including World War I and World War II. The term is not only use for the French soldiers who come from Senegal but for the French soldiers of all West Africa. The Tirailleurs Senegalais were Africans recruited as combat soldiers by Louis Faidherbe in 1857 because he did not have enough men to control his territory. After 1905 the Tirailleur force grew rapidly, by 1914 there were 14,000 Tiralleurs stationed in French West Africa. An additional 15,000 were stationed outside the region mainly in Morocco. In 1914 there were 14,785 troops enlisted in West Africa, by 1915-16 50,000 were recruit through African chiefs. By 1918 the Senegalese politician Blasse Degene was appointed High Commission for the recruitment of black soldiers, he recruited 60,000 men
5. WALTER TULL
(full article on Walter Tull on Wikipedia)

Walter Daniel John Tull who was the first black officer in the British Army even though military regulation forbad “any negro or person of colour” becoming an officer. When war broke out Tull signed up to join the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, his battalion arrived in France in 1915. He was promoted to Sergeant but was sent home in 1916 because he caught trench fever. After recovering from trench foot he was trained to be an officer at Gailes Training School in Scotland and received his commission in May 1917. As the first black British officer in the British Army he led his men in the Battle of Piave in Italy. After his time in Italy he was sent with his men to Favreui, Germany. In Germany he was shot and died soon after. (http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/walter_tull.html)
6. KINGS AFRICAN RIFLES
(full article on Wikipedia)
The KAR began World War I with 21 small companies in 3 battalions (each with up to 8 companies following the British pre-1913 half-company establishment): the 1st Nyasaland (half of the battalion was located in northeast Nyasaland), 3rd East Africa (with one company on Zanzibar) and the 4th Uganda, both of the latter included a 4th platoon of Sudanese with the 4th platoons of 4th battalion being led by Sudanese officers. Additionally the companies were scattered all over British East Africa. Full strength in 1914 was 70 British officers, 3 British NCO's, and 2,325 Africans. There were no organic heavy weapons (each company had only one machinegun), including artillery, or organized reserves and the companies were in reality large platoons of 70 to 80 men.
In 1915 the KAR was expanded by having the three battalions reorganized into standard four-company battalions which were then brought up to full strength at 1,045 men each. It was not until early 1916 that the 2nd Nyasaland and 5th Kenya battalions [1916-1963] were re-raised, this had more to do with white settler and South African sensitivities about arming and training large amounts of black African troops. Later in 1916 the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th battalions were expanded into two battalions each through heavy recruiting in their home areas. It was not until General Hoskin (formerly the Inspector General of the KAR) was appointed to command British East African forces in 1917 that genuine expansion began. The 1st Battalion was doubled and the 6th (Tanganyika Territory) Battalion was raised from askaris of the former German East Africa and then it too was doubled. The 7th was formed from the Zanzibar Armed Constabulary and the Mafia Constabulary. Later in 1917 many other duplicate battalions were created as the first four battalions (now called regiments in the British tradition) each raised a 3rd battalion and a 4th or Training Battalion. The 4th Regiment raised an additional two battalions, the 5th and 6th through heavy recruiting in Uganda. The KAR Mounted Infantry Unit (on camels), originally part of the 3rd regiment, and the KAR Signals Company were also raised. Thus in late 1918 the KAR consisted of 22 battalions as follows:
• Western Force: 1st KAR Regiment with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions; plus 1st and 2nd Battalions 4th KAR Regt • Eastern Force: 2nd KAR Regiment with 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions; plus 3rd and 4th Battalions 4th KAR Regt • German East Africa Garrison: 3rd Battalion of the 3rd KAR, 5th battalion of the 4th KAR, 2nd battalion of the 6th KAR, 1st Battalion of the 7th KAR. • British East Africa Garrison: 1st Battalion of the 5th KAR, 1st Battalion of the 6th KAR • KAR Training Force: 4th Battalion 1st KAR, 4th Battalion 2nd KAR, 4th Battalion 3rd KAR, 6th Battalion 4th KAR
Part of the KAR's expansion involved bringing up unit strengths to the same size as British and Indian Army Imperial Service units, while also increasing the numbers of white officers and NCOs. The increase in cadres was difficult due to the shortage of Swahili speaking whites as many white settlers had already formed all-white units such as the East African Mounted Rifles, the East African Regiment, the Uganda Volunteer Rifles, and the Zanzibar Volunteer Defence Force. The regiment fought in the East African Campaign against the German commander Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck and his forces in German East Africa. Transport and support into the interior was provided by over 400,000 porters of the Carrier Corps. By the end of the Great War the KAR comprised 1,193 British officers, 1,497 British NCO's and 30,658 Africans in 22 battalions, including two made up of former German askaris, as noted above. In "Armies in East Africa 1914-18", Peter Abbot notes that the KAR units recruited from former prisoners of war were used as garrison troops by the British, to avoid any conflict of loyalties. However, one of these battalions was involved in the pursuit of a force under Hauptman Wintgens from February to October 1917. KAR casualties in World War I were 5,117 killed and wounded with another 3,039 dying from diseases.