Colonial Troops Saving Their Masters - WW2 Special

The Axis Powers have waged aggressive land war on three continents,

attacking the Allies as well as their colonial possessions. But what did those

colonial troops look like and how were they formed? Well, today I’ll look at some of them.

I’m Indy Neidell; this is a WW2 special episode about British and French colonial troops.

On June 14, 1940 Paris fell to the Germans.

But members of the French government under the leadership of Georges Mandel fled the capital

before the enemy arrived. Their plan was to create a government-in-exile in French North Africa

and to continue the fight with the power of France’s colonies. Mandel and his colleagues,

however, would not reach Casablanca in French Morocco before the Republic capitulated, and they

were promptly arrested. The new collaborationist government, commonly referred to as Vichy France,

demanded the full cooperation of all French colonies, but although Mandel had failed,

his plan prevailed. From his exile in London, General Charles de Gaulle openly called for

the continuation of the war against the Germans under a Free French government. Mainland France

might be occupied, but the French Republic still existed, if its empire chose to fight for it.

At first, the situation seemed bleak. The commander-in-chief of the French forces

in North Africa, General Charles Noguès, accepted the armistice.

North Africa remained under Vichy control. Hope for the Free French came from Félix Éboué,

the governor of French Chad. He rejected Vichy France. Cameroon soon followed his example,

and then French Congo and Oubangui-Chari as well. By August 29th, local colonial administrators

felt confident enough to declare themselves the new government of Free French Africa.

De Gaulle immediately sent in General Philippe Leclerc, where he took over

the government of French Cameroon. A new Defense Council for the Empire was created,

and began recruiting volunteers to fight for a new army of France. With a force of Senegalese

Tirailleurs, Leclerc led an offensive into Gabon, which had declared for Vichy.

By mid November, all of French Equatorial Africa was under the authority of the Free-French.

Now, the word “tirailleur” can be translated as skirmisher or sharpshooter,

but by the Second World War it was usually just a term for light infantry.

The tirailleurs had fought for France since the Crimean War, and the bulk of French units in

Africa was made up of tirailleurs régiments recruited from the indigenous populations.

These were usually raised and recruited locally, but not exclusively. The Senegalese tirailleurs,

for example, could include soldiers from different parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It

was also not uncommon that African units kept part of their traditional garb,

their “tenue orientale", despite being clad in French uniforms.

With Gabon secure, Free French Africa turns north towards the Sahara Desert. Libya is controlled by

Italy, but its large frontier allows small units to infiltrate. In the Sahara, camel-mounted

Meharistes patrol the wells and oases. They are designated desert infantry, but their

value as mobile troops now becomes apparent. Small nomadic Arab tribes like the Chaamba are

incorporated into the Mehariste camel companies, tasked with securing the Algerian border.

The most pressing problem, though, is the allegiance of the French Army of Africa.