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German East Africa

German East Africa

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The Schutztruppe

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Each German colony had its own Schutztruppe and while independent from each other, their activities were coordinated by the Schutztruppe staff officers assigned to the German general staff. However, in practice, each colony was largely on it’s own once the war started.

The East African force started with 14 Feldkompanien of roughly 160 to 200 men under arms. An additional 250 man contingent of unarmed porters was assigned to each company. As the war progressed, this was expanded to a total of 30 companies plus another 8 Schutzenkompagnies (rifle companies) made up of white settlers, hunting and rifle clubs, plantation managers or trading company employees.

The prewar units were mixed race units of roughly one European soldier to eight African soldiers known as Askari, an Arabic word meaning soldier. Each company also had machine gun teams attached. There was a limited amount of light artillery available. While German soldiers had a version of the 1898 Mauser, the Askari were mostly armed with 1871 Mausers, a single shot rifle firing a black powder cartridge that created huge plumes of smoke.

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