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The Idea of a British Imperial African Army*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

David Killingray
David Killingray
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths' College
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Extract

Britain maintained small colonial armed forces in the African territories for internal security and local defence. In four periods of international crisis, when the British Empire was faced with a shortage of military manpower, it was proposed that African troops be used in imperial roles outside Africa. These proposals were closely related to the increasing opposition by India to the Indian Army being used for imperial defence in Asia and the Middle East. During 1916–18 a parliamentary and press lobby in Britain clamoured for a ‘million black army’. In the years 1919–21 the War Office attempted to raise an African army for use in the Middle East. On both occasions the Colonial Office vigorously opposed these schemes and the crises were resolved without using African troops. The emergencies of 1939–42 changed Colonial Office policy. African troops were used in the East African campaign against the Italians, as labour units in the Middle East, and then, after 1943, as combatants in Asia where they fought as complete formations within the Commonwealth forces. At the end of the Second World War the Colonial Office wished to maintain a sizeable African army at Imperial expense. However, post-war defence cuts reduced the African armed forces although a small parliamentary and service lobby unsuccessfully urged that an African Army be created as an imperial instrument, and to take the place of the Indian Army.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , July 1979 , pp. 421 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

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72 C.O. 537/1888, CO secret memo. to Colonial Defence (Post Hostilities) Committee, 9 March 1946.

73 The Jacob Committee's role was taken over in 1946 by the re-formed Overseas Defence Committee. See Defence White Paper 1949 (Cmd. 7631), which said that the West African colonies were unable to look after their own internal security, let alone make a substantial contribution to Commonwealth defence. C.O. 537/1889, Jacob Committee meeting 22 March 1946.

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75 George Wigg wrote a number of leading articles in West Africa arguing for an African contribution to Imperial defence; see issues for 16 and 23 Oct. 1948, 11 Feb. 1950, 25 March 1950, 15 Sept. 1951. I am grateful to Lord George Wigg for discussing with me the post-war interest in an African army.

76 Cf. the following articles by Clarke: ‘Economy of manpower in the services’, Royal United Services Institute J. (Aug. 1947); ‘The military and economic importance of West Africa’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1948); ‘Defence and communications in West Africa’ West African Review, (May 1949); ‘African manpower and Commonwealth defence’, New English Review (1949); ‘Army in Africa’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1951). See also Higgins, F., ‘Our African colonial forces’, Royal United Serv. Inst. J. (1946)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kent, J. A., ‘Commonwealth manpower - a plea for a colonial army’, Army Quarterly, lxi (Oct. 1950)Google Scholar. Montgomery, as CIGS, briefly toured Africa in late 1947 and on his return addressed a rather unimpressed Creech Jones on the need for a ‘grand design’, a ‘master plan’ for African development essential for Western security; Montgomery, Lord, Memoirs (London, 1958), 462–4.Google Scholar

77 House of Commons Debates, vol. 497, Army Estimates debate, cols. 1034 and 1157 (10 March 1951).

78 Report of West African Forces Conference, Lagos 20–24 April 1953 (London, 1953).