The Africans who fought in WWI and WWII
When the major powers of Europe went to war in 1914, so too did half the globe. France and Britain controlled the world’s two largest colonial empires and were quick to draw upon their resources – and their people.More than four million non-European, non-white soldiers and auxiliaries would serve in WW1. Over a quarter of these soldiers would end up in the battlefields of northern France and Belgium, braving a new type of industrial warfare for which they were often ill-equipped and inadequately trained. They would prove vital in holding the front lines. But the fascinating story of what played out behind the trenches is rarely told. For four years, the tented cities of the Western Front would be the setting for a world in miniature. Against the backdrop of war, soldiers also navigated the cultural battlegrounds and the no-man’s land of race relations at the dawn of the 20th Century.
Pretty thorough report and fantastic photos of all the fighting men from the colonies here http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z2bgr82
WWII
How many now recall the role of more than one million African troops? Yet they fought in the deserts of North Africa, the jungles of Burma and over the skies of Germany. A shrinking band of veterans, many now living in poverty, bitterly resent being written out of history. For Africa, World War II began not in 1939, but in 1935. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8344170.stm
Jagama Kello, middle, left home at just 15 to fight Italian invaders
John Henry Smythe, left, read Hitler's Mein Kampf before joining the RAF
2010
For most of the 20th century, France recruited, usually forcibly, men from its colonies in Africa fight its battles around the world. From the first world war in 1914 to the Indochina wars and Algeria’s fight for independence in the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Africans soldiers fought under the French flag. They were called tirailleurs, or “sharpshooters,” a name to mock their limited training. Decades later, 28 of these former soldiers were recognized in a ceremony on April 15 where they were given French citizenship. Many of them were from Senegal, a country that sent more than a third of all of its military- age men to France to fight during World War I.
A group of West African soldiers stationed at camp in Thiaroye, Senegal, mutinied in 1944, demanding equal pay and the same treatment as their French counterparts. French soldiers fired on them, killing up to 400 men. Their mass grave still hasn’t been found.
Over the past few decades, activists have gained some ground. The 2006 French film "Indigènes," about a group of North African soldiers in France during World War II, dramatized the contributions of colonial soldiers in France’s liberation. More than half of French forces in Italy and France between 1943 and 1944 came from African colonies, and at least 40,000 died.
https://qz.com/africa/960851/france-gives-citizenship-and-full-pensions-to-african-soldiers-who-fought-its-20-century-wars/
= new reply since forum marked as read
These men are prisoners of war from various countries, captured in Germany. Nearly all of them glower into the camera, and the portraits are titled Our Enemies. 96 Character Heads from Prisoner of War Camps in Germany. The different headdresses highlight the ethnic diversity of the men.
These pictures showed German readers the face of the enemy. Those depicted were especially ‘exotic’ and ‘alien’. This intentional portrayal of the prisoners was intended to make clear these were ‘evil foreigners’. That Germany captured these men from across the world gave the message that Germany had the capacity to take on the entire world.
The all-black 93rd division, a rag-tag outfit that was initially issued Civil War uniforms, were assigned to French command by General John Pershing during WWI. The French desperately needed fresh troops and Pershing was able to satisfy France's needs by getting rid of his own problem - black soldiers. The 93d Division turned in their American equipment and were issued French rifles, bayonets, helmets, packs, and other equipment of the French soldier. They were then organized, trained, and commanded as a French unit, the first unit in US history to serve under foreign command.
The 93nd division fought as part of the French army, where, ironically, it found acceptance, respect, and glory, eventually winning the Croix de Guerre, only to return to America and find Jim Crow laws alive and well.
The 93nd Division was the only 'colored' unit to serve in the Pacific Theater of Operation during the Second World War. The unit patch of the 93rd Division during WWII was a blue Casque Adrien helmet (French Army helmet) honoring its four Regiments that served under French command during WW I.
so I've always had a keen interest in the subject
running up and down my arms thanking you. Thank you so much is not even enough.
Here's a great photo of men of the 92nd Infantry Division from 1919 en route home. More of what happened to these 4 beautiful men when they got back - at
https://www.reddit.com/r/Colorization/comments/7pcdas/four_officers_of_the_us_armys_allblack_366th/
From 2012
FORT HUACHCUA, Ariz. - Retired Army Capt. Joseph Hairston, one of the first black officers commissioned to serve with the 92nd Infantry Division after its reactivation in 1942, made a surprise visit to the Fort Huachuca Museum on July 11. https://www.army.mil/article/83758/92nd_infantry_division_officer_revisits_fort_huachuca
The Harlem Hellfighters were badass, for sure, but the other element of the 93rd Division kicked ass, too.
Check out the 'Red Hand Division' (French 157th Infantry Division)
Remembering what was happening at the time, we know that many AAs flocked to France especially after WWI seeking at least more tolerance. I think this was thanks to James Reese Europe (of all names), "the best known orchestra leader in New York," who was there leading the Harlem Hellfighters Band or the so-called colored division 15th Infantry Regiment during WWI. He brought jazz that captivated the country. So it makes total sense to me that The Grand Illusion would include a black man as an ally during wartime.
He appears at about 00:28 with the other prisoners.
More on Europe, the great man
Last edited Mon Nov 12, 2018, 01:24 AM - Edit history (1)
Couldn't have said it better. I listened to a lecture a while ago with the professor basically wondering if the South intended on losing the Civil War. One of his premises was the North started using black men and winning while Southern generals were begging, I think it was Lee, to please take advantage of this resource of able-bodied men. Many black men were willing to fight for the South. But Lee refused.
So in this one instance, I'm thankful for the stupid
On Edit: It was Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States who General Lee pleaded to include Southern black men.
so nicely, of course. "Yes, the diversity sausage factory at work but with clear focus on the next generation." It's very easy is to imagine that interchange -- both surprising yet so of today, the simmering "spiritus mundi." But, as you say, also of "I cannot do this work and be a racist. We must be everything." Good little group.
Good night. 
I'm done work for the day and off to watch 
