Colored troops in the Kaiser's army?

[GWA]

Has anyone ever seen any references to colored (middle eastern, negro, mulatto) troops in the German army of WWI? This question is regarding the armies on the Eastern and Western fronts, not Palestine or colonial combat areas.

Over the years I have acquired a number of original photographs that portray feldgrau who are definitely not of Northern European heritage. Some appear to be Turks or other middle eastern types, others are definitely negro or mulatto. Could these be colonials who were in Germany at the outbreak of the European war? What would have become of them or their progeny with the rise of the NSDAP in the thirties?

[Bob Lembke]

Colored Freikorpsmann

A few months ago someone posted an interesting photo of high quality which showed a man who was clearly African in uniform. Either by insignia or in some other way it was linked to Lettow von Vorbeck's Freikorps unit. I believe he was wearing one of those colonial big-brimmed Australian-style hats, and I think he was sitting behind the wheel of a big car, perhaps a staff car.

The obvious explaination is that he came back to Germany when von Vorbeck and his European troops were repatriated. (One of the many tragedies of WW I is the way that these German soldiers arrived in Germany, after having survived almost five years in the jungle under extreme odds (they held out longer that the Imperial forces in Europe did), only to die like flies to the great flu epidemic sweeping the world.

Incidentally, I understand that von Vorbeck's African troops, not having been paid for four or five years, refused to take their back pay from the British and insisted that they be paid off by their German officers. They were amazingly loyal; they certainly had endless chances to run away from the European officers and NCOs. That whole campaign was fascinating. The African Freikorpsmann must have been remarkable in some or many ways, and sitting behind the wheel (If memory serves) suggests that he was a driver, possibly von Vorbeck's driver, using a skill that he hardly picked up fleeing thru the jungle pursued by the Allied troops.

Bob Lembke

[Robin Lumsden]

Has anyone ever seen any references to colored (middle eastern, negro, mulatto) troops in the German army of WWI? This question is regarding the armies on the Eastern and Western fronts, not Palestine or colonial combat areas.

Over the years I have acquired a number of original photographs that portray feldgrau who are definitely not of Northern European heritage. Some appear to be Turks or other middle eastern types, others are definitely negro or mulatto. Could these be colonials who were in Germany at the outbreak of the European war? What would have become of them or their progeny with the rise of the NSDAP in the thirties?

A very few photos I've seen do show black troops in Feldgrau. However, they are rare. Most seem to have served as Askaris or Schutztruppen in the colonies. The picture of the Freikorps chauffeur seems to be the exception for these units.

[Daniel Krause]

Interesting theme,
I know there was a black Drummer in a Guards Uhlan Regiment, Elo Wilhelm Sambo, who died in the 20ies after whatever long years of service.
There was an article about him in a German militaria magazine years ago.

Best regards

Daniel

[Rick Research]

Here's that postcard again. From my friend Charlie Woolley's Schiffer Books "German Uniforms, Insignia & Equipment 1918-1923" (2002), page 120.

The caption identifies the Unteroffizier as having returned from Africa with von Lettow-Vorbeck.

[Tony & Kaiser]

I know there was a black Drummer in a Guards Uhlan Regiment,

Hi Daniel, Sergeant Elo Sambo from Cameroon was actually the kettle drummer for Leib-Garde Husaren Regt in Potsdam. Tony

[Tom Y]

They were amazingly loyal; they certainly had endless chances to run away from the European officers and NCOs.

A coolege friend from Cameroon told me that his grandfather used to talk about "the good old days when the Germans were in charge." Germany, at least in Africa, seemed to have the most enlightened colonial policy.

[EKman]

I have pics of negro troops captured in France by the Germans, but have never seen any pics of negroes in the German Army. This is an interesting topic. I know that Jews who served in the 1914-1918 German army were not spared in the 30's and 40's so I would assume that the same would hold true for other minorities.

[stevenn]

picture

I have a picture of Black French and Black German troops taken somewhere in Afrika.Some are prisoners, but it's hard to tell who is a prisoner of whom.If and when I get my scanner running again and the internet photo-link, I'll post it.

[Bob Lembke]

The Empire in Africa

Tom Y;

A friend was a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo in the late 1960's.She said that the middle-aged said that the French were good rulers, but the elderly folk said that the Germans before 1914 were the cat's meow.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck had 300 German troops and 3000 African Askeris, and they fought off a total of about 250,000 Allied troops thrown against them over about 5 years, with no help from Europe. (Once a Zeppelin was sent with supplies, but a faked Brit radio message tricked the Germans into sending the airship back to Germany.) Clearly the Germans had somehow induced great loyalty, and must have been doing something right.

Does anyone remember "Simplicissimus", the German satirical magazine focusing on anti-establishment cartoons? My father told me that in the Imperial era officers often bought the mag, although their class was a frequent topic, but they had to keep them to themsevles.

I once saw a Simplicissimus cartoon about the Imperial behavior of three pre-war states. The top panel characterized the French; several soldiers were drinking and sitting with several dusky, top-less lassies, "putting the make" on them.

The next panel depicted the Belgians. They had a naked African man tied to a table sort of device, sort of a rack of old, and were stretching or otherwise abusing him, and catching gold coins exiting his rectum in a pail. (In the late 19th Century the enormous Belgian Congo was the possession of the Belgian King, not the State. It is estimated that in about ten years half the population, about 10 million people. There the native troops were slaves. An infantry squad, armed, were chained together with iron neck collars and a long chain running from one to the next. If a squad was crossing a stream on a fallen tree trunk, and one slipped, the whole squad fell in and drowned. When in action repressing balky villagers, they were required to produce an ear for each cartridge they fired. The King had persuaded the Europeans that he was a feverent anti-slavery activist. Then he was exposed, and he was embarrased into transfering the Congo to the state, and then the world forgot. Then a few years ago someone picked this up and wrote another book.)

The final panel was the Germans in Africa. A Schuetzen=Trupp sergeant is drilling a rider-less goose-stepping squad of giraffes, to considerable success, to a precision reminding one of a can-canning line of chorus girls. (Someone recall a recently posted photo of a squad of German camel troopers; the mounted beasts were standing in a remarkably precise line, amazing for such a difficult animal to manage? Wir brauchen gutes deutsches Ordnung!!!)

Bob Lembke

[joerookery]

I am probably seeing something that isn't there on this postcard but it looks like the guy is dark skinned.

[joerookery]

1

[stevenn]

kissy face

I suspect he's just well tanned from fighting in Russia,or he's Swabian.

[Ralph A]

Naah...

He's just blushing...