German Colonial German Colonial Service Medal for East Africa

[Paul R]

I was doing an essay for my 19th Century Europe course. A portion of it covered East Africa and General Lettow-Vorbeck's involvement in WW1. My question is, did the men who were a part of the guerrilla war in East Africa receive the German Colonial Service Medal? I know that the Germans were eligible for combat decorations, but I do not know if the Colonial Service Medal was awarded as well.

Also, I read that there were only a couple hundred Germans and thousands of native African militiamen. Were the natives eligible for German awards? Surely some demonstrated themselves heroically.

The best writeup I could find was actually compiled by Chris (I cited him in my paper).

http://www.kaiserscross.com/188001/437364.html

[Dave Danner]

The Colonial Service Medal was not awarded for service in World War I. Soldiers in the colonies received the same service medal as soldiers in the European theater, which was nothing*. After the war, in 1922, the Kolonialabzeichen was created. It was also known as the Elephant Order (Elefantenorden), and was a pinback badge. It did not have the status of an order or decoration under German law, but rather was a commemorative badge. The WIkipedia article here has some more detail.

* It was not until 1934 that all World War I veterans received a service medal for the war, when the so-called Hindenburg Cross was created. Of course, that does not count all of the unofficial medals of the Weimar era from veterans' associations.

Native soldiers in the Schutzgebiete were eligible for the Krieger-Verdienstmedaille. The medal was awarded initially in 1892 in German East Africa, and in 1893 was expanded to the rest of the Schutzgebiete. It was awarded in two classes, 1st and 2nd, and for each class in Gold and Silver. A large number of awards were made on 4 May 1915 to recognize bravery among native members of the Schutztruppe für Kamerun and Polizeitruppe für Kamerun, and a large number of awards were made on 2 September 1916 to recognize bravery among native members of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika. There were no awards of the 1st Class in Gold that I know of during the war, but there were a few of the 1st Class in Silver, several dozen of the 2nd Class in Gold, and several hundred of the 2nd Class in Silver. A few soldiers received multiple awards.

The most decorated was Betschausch (Sergeant) Alfani of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika. He received the 1st Class in Silver and the 2nd Class in Gold. I think he may also have previously received the 2nd Class in Silver in 1906 as a Schausch (Unteroffizier), but I can't be certain it was the same Alfani.

As an aside, while elsewhere native soldiers and police had German rank titles, in East Africa the Schutztruppe used Swahili titles. These Swahili terms were Arabic loan words and most ultimately were derived from Ottoman ranks. So Schausch has the same origin as the modern Turkish Armed Forces rank of Çavuş.

Regards,

Dave

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Paul.

Besides Dave's very informative post on decorations for which which native soldiers qualified I would like to give some clarification on the strength of German troops in then German East Africa during WW I.

Byron Farwell in his excellent book "The Great War in Africa" gives the following strenght at the outbreak of the war:

German personnel:

- 68 officers;

- 60 warrant officers and NCO's;

- 132 non-combatant medical officers and officials;

African personnel:

- 2 officers;

184 NCO's;

2,286 askaris.

In addition there were gendarmerie of 45 europeans and 2,154 native police.

von Lettow-Vorbeck during hostilities employed a total of 3,00 europeans and 11,000 African troops with an attrition rate which left him with

-20 combatatnt officers , 6 medical officers , 1 vet, 1 chemist and a signals officer as well as 125 other ranks including 15 former crew of the " Koenigsberg". And last but not least 1,156 askaris and 1,598 carriers.

During WW II as a student at a Bremen , Germany school named after Gen.v.Lettow-Vorbeck and as told here before, I was together with the other members of my class ( form ) introduced to the General during an excursion away from the school.

Bernhard H. Holst

Edited December 23, 2014 by Bernhard H.Holst

[turtle]

This article cites a telegram to Lettow-Vorbeck (from early 1918), which empowers him to award up to 100 Eiserne Kreuze 1. Klasse, 1000 Eiserne Kreuze 2. Klasse, 25 Kriegerverdienstmedaille 1. Klasse in Gold, 100 1. Klasse in Silber, 300 2. Klasse in Gold, 2000 2. Klasse in Silber.

http://www.deutsche-gesellschaft-fuer-ordenskunde.de/DGOWP/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/ausgabe58.pdf

Edited December 24, 2014 by turtle

[Paul R]

Very interesting reading from all of you here. Thank you very much. Great find on the allotted numbers of awards to General Lettow-Vorbeck's unit. I hope that he awarded them all out. Also, it seems that based upon the numbers, the EK2s were provided to cover the locals? There were not 1000 German members in the unit there.

So what was this medal awarded for?

[turtle]

Eiserne Kreuze were only awarded to Germans, during the war Lettow-Vorbeck recruited more than 3000 German reservists (some other sources give the number 2500), so the number of Iron Crosses would fit the number of Germans.

The Kolonialdenkmünze was awarded for an array of different colonial operations before WWI. The China Denkmünze was awarded for the Boxer Rebellion 1900/1901, the Südwestafrika Denkmünze was for the uprising in DSWA in 1904/1907 and the Kolonialdenkmünze was for all the other operations. Here´s a list which bar for the medal fits which operation:

http://www.traditionsverband.de/download/pdf/gefechtsspangen.pdf

Edited December 27, 2014 by turtle

[Paul R]

Thank you for that information. It clears up a few things for me.

What is a: Wissmanntruppe?

[kasle]

Thank you for that information. It clears up a few things for me.

What is a: Wissmanntruppe?

What´s wrong with Google?

"The term "Wissmanntruppe" was used for the military and police units under Major Wissmann's command. They formed the core of the later Schutztruppe which came into life after the German government took over East Africa from the failed company."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Wissmann

[Paul R]

Sorry about that. I was kinda in a fix at the time and did not have time to do a google search. Plus, I like discussions.

99.9% of everything discussed can be simply googled- so what is the purpose of a military discussion forum?