The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020-09-23 The Empire's Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958 Estep, Charles Joseph Estep, C. J. (2020). The Empire's Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112579 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Empire’s Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958 by Charles Joseph Estep A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2020 © Charles Joseph Estep 2020 Abstract Within the greater historiography of European led African colonial militaries, the history of the Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force is largely unknown. The Gambia Company initially formed in 1902 from a nucleus of Sierra Leoneans. It continued to rely on Sierra Leonean recruits out of British fears of Gambian disloyalty and the belief that the small, seemingly insignificant Gambian territory would eventually fall under the administrative authority of the French. Such policies and mindsets initially limited the Gambia Company’s development into an efficient and independent military organization. Despite its smallness and structural shortcomings, the Gambia Company functioned as an effective unit in the African campaigns of the First World War. Following the war, the company finally transitioned into an all-Gambian force and secured its institutional independence after British realization that the Gambia would remain a British territory. However, imperial strategic concerns and training deficiencies during the interwar period forced the Gambia Company’s attachment to a larger military organization, the Sierra Leone Battalion. With the onset of the Second World War and the emergence of unforeseen territorial threats in West Africa, the Gambia Company expanded to unprecedented levels, a total strength of two infantry battalions. During the war, the now renamed Gambia Regiment contributed significantly to the defense of British West Africa and the Allied war effort fighting in the Burma campaign. Eventually, the company sized Gambia Regiment disbanded in 1958 after over 50 years of service for the Gambia and the greater British Empire. This thesis hopes to fill the historiographical void by providing a valuable history of the Gambia Company and shed light on the experiences of ordinary Gambian soldiers, while also exposing the greater historical trends of the British colonial military in West Africa. ii Acknowledgments I am grateful and very much appreciative of the support, expertise, and guidance that my supervisor, Dr. Tim Stapleton, provided throughout the entire process of writing this thesis. His dedication to my growth and success as an academic has truly helped me reached higher than I ever thought possible during my time at the University of Calgary. I would also like to thank Dr. David Bercuson and Dr. Rowland “Caesar” Apentiik for reviewing the final draft of the thesis and participating in the examination committee. Our discussion was valuable in helping me realize aspects of both West African and military history that interestingly intersect with the core arguments of the thesis. Members of the Department of History and the greater University of Calgary community were extremely helpful in making my move to Canada easy and convenient. They helped make Calgary feel like home. I am grateful for the relationships I made and know that I will always have friends in Canada. Lastly, I wish to thank my family for always supporting me and being by my side in everything I do. Your support is an inspiration to always strive for a better version of myself. Of course, as an American military member I must state that the views expressed in this thesis are my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Air Force, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. iii Table of Contents Abstract……...……………………………………………….………………...………………… ii Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………. iii Table of Contents……………………………………………….……………………………….. iv Table of Illustrations……………………………….…………………………………………….. vi Abbreviations…………..………………………....……………..……………….....…….…….. vii Introduction………………………...………….…………………………………………………. 1 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………… 3 Methodology……………………...………………………….………………………..... 14 A Note on Terminology…………………….…………………………………………… 16 Chapter One: The Formation and Early Years of the Gambia Company, 1902-1914……….….. 17 Colonial Gambia………………………………………………………………………… 18 The West India Regiments………………………………………………….…………… 29 The West African Frontier Force……………………………….……………………….. 35 The Formation of the Gambia Company……………………….……………………….. 45 The Early Years………………………………………………….……………………… 48 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….… 58 Chapter Two: The Gambia Company during the First World War, 1914-1918……..………...… 60 War is Declared…………………………………………………………………………. 61 Operations in Cameroon………………………………………………………………… 65 The Home Front………………………………………………………………………… 84 Operations in German East Africa…………………………………………….………… 94 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………... 109 Chapter Three: The Gambia Company during the Interwar Period, 1918-1939………...……… 111 Contextualizing the Period…………………………………………………………….. 112 Postwar Difficulties……………………………………………………………….…… 113 Strikebreakers…………………………………………………………….………...….. 127 iv Attachment, Not Amalgamation………………………………………………….……. 129 Conclusion…………………………………….……………………………………….. 137 Chapter Four: The Gambia “Company” during the Second World War, 1939-1945……..……. 139 The Vichy Threat…………………….………………………………………………… 140 Expansion……………………………………………………………………………… 145 Operations in Burma…………………………………………………………………… 157 Demobilization………………………………………………………………………… 181 Conclusion……………………………………….…………………………………….. 184 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….……………….. 186 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………… 191 v Table of Illustrations Map of Colonial West Africa…………………………………………….……………………… 19 Map of Colonial Gambia………………………………………….…………………………….. 27 Map of Cameroon Campaign….………………………………………………….…………….. 67 Map of Duala and Hinterland…………………………………………………….……………… 72 Map of Edea-Yaunde Area……………………………………...……………….……………… 79 Map of Colonial German East Africa……………………………….…………………………… 96 Figure of the Battle of Mahiwa.…………………...…………………………………………… 105 Map of Vichy West Africa…………………….……………………………………………….. 142 Map of Colonial Burma……………………………….……………………………………….. 159 Map describing the First Kaladan Campaign…….…………………………………………….. 164 Map describing the Second Kaladan Campaign………………………….……………………. 176 vi Abbreviations BTU – Bathurst Trade Union CAR – Central African Regiment CSM – Company Sergeant Major FEA – French Equatorial Africa FWA – French West Africa GCR – Gold Coast Regiment GOC – General Officer Commanding GR – Gambia Regiment IEF – Indian Expeditionary Force IG – Inspector General KAR – King’s African Rifles LMG – Light Machine Gun MLB – Military Labour Bureau NCO – Noncommissioned Officer NR – Nigeria Regiment OC – Officer Commanding RAC – Royal African Corps RSM – Regimental Sergeant Major RWAFF – Royal West African Frontier Force (WAFF received royal designation in 1928) SEAC – Southeast Asia Command SLB – Sierra Leone Battalion SLR – Sierra Leone Regiment VD – Venereal Disease WA – West African WAC – West Africa Command WAFF – West African Frontier Force WAR – West African Regiment WIR – West India Regiments vii Introduction The British regimental system sought to establish a distinct martial culture and espirit de corps among soldiers. After 1881 and what historian David French terms the Cardwell-Childers Reforms, the British revamped the regimental system to foster unique regimental identities and provide military organizations with enough competency to achieve successes in a global empire. Through symbols, traditions, and customs, the British sought to manufacture military culture and identity within regiments. French argues that “Regiments were culturally defined organizations that were bound together by shared historical memories, customs, and a myth of descent, not by the common ethnic or local origins of its members…The idea of ‘the regiment’ was something that was artificially constructed.”1 In effect, the regiment became an “imagined community.”2 Similar to their British counterparts, African soldiers serving in British led colonial militaries were placed within the regimental system that promoted manufactured martial identities and inclusion in an imagined military community. African soldiers were organized into local regiments, which fostered and celebrated unique regimental identities. However, not every African colonial military organization was given the privilege to establish a regimental identity and celebrate its past accomplishments. Throughout the majority of its history, the Gambia Company of the West African