(, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary officers. Most enlisted ranks were recruited from indigenous communities within the German colonies or from elsewhere in Africa.
Military contingents were formed in German East Africa, where they became famous as , in the Kamerun colony of German West Africa, and in German South West Africa. Control of the German colonies of New Guinea, in Samoa, and in Togoland was performed by small local police detachments. Jiaozhou in China under Imperial Navy administration was a notable exception. As part of the East Asian Station the navy garrisoned Qingdao with the marines of III, the only all-German unit with permanent status in an overseas protectorate.
Deployment
The name of the German colonial force dates back to the parlance of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who had the term , "protectorates", used instead of colonies. contingents arose from local police forces or private paramilitary units, where German colonizers met with stronger resistance.
When in 1888 the Abushiri Revolt broke out in the dominions of the German East Africa Company, Bismarck's government in Berlin had to send mercenary troops under Hermann Wissmann to subdue the uprising. Upon the establishment of German East Africa, these were changed to by an act of the Reichstag parliament on 22 March 1891. The police forces for South-West Africa under Curt von François and for German Cameroon were re-established as by the act of 9 June 1895.
formations under the supreme command of the German Emperor were organizationally never a part of the Imperial German Army, though German military law and discipline applied to its units. Initially supervised by the Imperial Navy Office, they were under the authority of the Colonial Department in the German Foreign Office by the act of 7 and 18 July 1896. In 1907 the Colonial Department with the command was set up as the independent Imperial Colonial Office () agency directly answerable to the Chancellor of Germany.
In 1896 a central command () was established as part of the Colonial Department. Despite its name, this agency exercised no military leadership but served as an administrative authority. It was located at Berlin’s Mauerstrasse, in proximity to the Colonial Office. At the beginning of the First World War in 1914, there were three military commands, one in each of the German colonial regions in East Africa, South-West Africa, and in Kamerun, subordinate to each governor.
German East Africa
See also East African Campaign (World War I)
At the outbreak of the First World War, the in German East Africa was organised into 14 field companies () with 2,500 men under arms, with headquarters at the capital Dar es Salaam. Including carriers and labourers, the force had about 14,000 personnel. On 13 April 1914, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck assumed command in German East Africa. He led his units throughout the First World War, eventually being promoted to . The in East Africa became the last German formation to surrender – days after the armistice in November 1918.
A pre-war company consisted of 160 (expandable to 200) men in three platoons () of 50 to 60 men each, including two machine-gun teams. Each of the 14 companies also had a minimum 250 man carrier contingent as well as native irregulars known as Ruga-Ruga, called Fita-Fita in German Samoa, of approximately the same size units. 1st Company (: Arusha/Neu Moshi 2nd Company: Iringa and Unbena 3rd Company: Lindi 4th Company: Kilimatinde and Singida 5th Company: Massoko 6th Company: Udjidiji and Kassulo 7th Company: Bukoba, Ussuwi and Kifumbiro 8th Company: Tabora 9th Company: Usumbura 10th Company: Dar es Salaam 11th Company: Kissenji and Mruhengeri 12th Company: Mahenge 13th Company: Kondoa Irangi 14th Company: Muansa and Ikoma
The Dar es Salaam garrison further included a recruitment depot, a signals department and quartermaster unit.
Overall strength was 300 European recruits and 2,472 Africans, specifically 68 combatant officers, 60 warrant officers and NCOs, 132 non-combatant medical officers, civilian administrators, ammunition technicians, and 2 African officers and 184 African NCOs and 2,286 .