I received the following letter the day issue 105 mailed and provide most of it for your information.--RB

I have been reading in recent issues about the difficulty that you have encountered in collecting source material for German colonial forces in Africa...To remedy that situation, and to begin to repay you for all the news and hobby information that you have given us, I am sending you a list of my sources.

The four part series by RJ Marrion originally published in the British magazine Tradition in the issues numbered 43, 44, 46, and 47. The original magazines have no date on them, only the Number of the issue is shown. From internal evidence in a book review, the series was probably published in 1970 or 1971 at the earliest.

I was able to obtain these old issues "second-hand" from that fine bookstore Articles of War, Ltd. located at 8806 Bronx Avenue, Skokie, IL 60077-1896, 847-674-7445, I got them for $6 each at the time. Also from Articles of War I purchased a modern reprint of a German publication based on the orders of the "Kaiser's Army for the Table of Organization of the Africa "protectorate troops", giving both the 1889 and 1899 official establishments, as well as a fine series of seven uniform plates in color ($28.95 in 1991). The english title would be: The German Protectorate Troops in Africa (Southwest Africa, East Africa, Cameroon and Togo) in their contemporary uniforms portrayed through 78 colored illustrations with explanatory text. LTR Verlag GMBH 1989.

By comparing the English language text by Mr Marrion to the German text, I noticed that there are many similarities in content as well as format. This leads me to infer that the German original edition was used as the basis for the four articles in Tradition, since they predate the reprint. Unfortunately, the articles list no sources or other leads for the researcher, so I can't confirm the original source for the material.

Mr Marrion and one other artist contributed the new black and white illustrations in the magazine aretiles, some of which are dated 1969. The illustrations in the two sources are quite similar, so we basically have the same material presented in two languages, which is helpful in translating captions on the older plates.

If you have seen any of the older Falcon USA catalogs or ads, they used some of the line art from the Tradition articles in their ads, and their line of South-west Africa 25 mm troops closely followed those designs. Now for a few other sources that you may be able to find, thanks to modern reprints: Military Uniforms of the World in Color by Prebin Kannik, edited by William Y. Carman in the English language edition published by Macmillan in New York 1968. Originally in Danish, it was issued in England by Blandford Press.

One plate has a color illustration of an infantryman of German South-west Africa, in the gray "cooler-weather" uniform. There are a few notes on uniform variations in the tables at the end of the book.

A more recent source is Keith Simpson's book from 1985 entitled History of the German Army. The US publisher was the Military Press, distributed by Crown Publishers, Inc. This oversized and heavily illustrated book has only a passing mention of the colonial forces, but it does reproduce a two-page color print showing the Schutztruppe making an infantry charge against the Hereros in South-west Africa around 1906. This clearly shows the brownish khaki field uniform worn with the graywide brim hat, turned up on the right side, with leather horseman's boots, spurs and brown leather belts. The medium blue collar and cuffs are clearly shown, along with the white metal buttons. A few pages farther the book reproduces two pencil sketches in black and white, both showing the East African native trooper, the Askari, in action. Some details of the khaki field uniform and the puttees can be seen.

Another reprint of some use is the 1989 title German Military Forces of the 19th Century, published by the Military Press and distributed by Crown Publishers, Inc. The original title of this work, when published in 1900 by the Werner Company in Chicago, was Germany's Army and Navy. The author's name is Gustav A. Sigel. Sigel's text is in the flowery and admiring style of the period, but the main value of the text is in its many 9" x 13" color lithographs of the Imperial German army and navy at the close of the 19th century. These plates are copyrighted by the Werner Company of Akron, OH, and seem to be new editions based on original information from uniform plates by Knotel and by Arnout. Most of the plates feature the regiments in Germany, including the supporting services.

The one colonial plate shows 11 types of uniform for German East Africa, including full dress in blue and white sun helmet; field dress in dark brown with lighter brown gaiters and dark brown sun helmet; a white undress uniform with white sun helmet or white cap; and the Askari in khaki with dark blue puttees and a low red fez. These are similar to the uniforms described above, with the exception of the darker brown color of the field or fatigue uniform.

The ships of the Kaiser's navy are also illustrated, including landing parties of sailors and marines in several plates. The text provides a useful outline of German naval activity in the colonies, especially in east and west Africa, and the names of the ships that participated.

The last title was published in Germany in 1984, perhaps in connection with the 100th anniversary of the German colonial adventure. The book is Deutschlands Schutzgebiete in Ubersee 1884-1918 by Warner Haupt (Germany's Overseas Protectorates). This German language book of 160 pages is heavily illustrated with many photos, maps and documents. It shows naval ships, colonial buildings and native peoples, as well as many photos of officers and men of the colonial military. Some documents, proclamations and other official orders are reproduced in facsimile. This is probably the only source for period photos of German colonial posts in Africa. Although there is major coverage of the African colonies, there is also significant material on German forces in China and in the South Pacific. I believe that this was obtained from Articles of War some years ago.

German Colonial Uniforms in Southeast Africa: Infantry, Naval, Askari

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