Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 11-10-1994 The Origins and Development of the Defense Forces of Northern and Southern Rhodesia from 1890 to 1945 Eugene Peter Jarrett Pomeroy Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Pomeroy, Eugene Peter Jarrett, "The Origins and Development of the Defense Forces of Northern and Southern Rhodesia from 1890 to 1945" (1994). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4774. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6658 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. THESIS APPROVAL The abstract and thesis of Eugene Peter Jarrett Pomeroy for the Master of Arts in Histo:ry were presented on November 10, 1994, and accepted by the thesis committee and the department. COMMITTEE APPROVALS: J ------- ·f Rep···rtse.·htative of the Office of Graduate Stud es , (} DEPARTMENT APPROVA David A. J 1 son, Chair ------------- Departme of History *******************************************~***************** ACCEPTED FOR PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY BY THE LIBRARY b on~£~L9J2$_ THESIS ABSTRACT An abstract of the thesis of Eugene Peter Jarrett Pomeroy for the Master of Arts in History presented October 14, 1994. Title: The Origins and Development of the Defense Forces of Northern and Southern Rhodesia from 1890 to 1945 This thesis examines Northern and Southern Rhodesia's history through the formation and development of their police and military units from the time Rhodesia was created in 1890 until the end of the Second World War. Southern Rhodesia, founded after a series of short and bloody frontier wars, was a self-governing British colony under a white minority and centered its peace-time security efforts around keeping an eye on potential uprisings from the African majority. White Northern Rhodesians viewed the African majority with similar suspicion although they were never able to exclude Africans from territorial defense. Northern Rhodesia was governed from London and ultimate power did not lie with the settler community. The importance of the Second World War for Southern Rhodesia is that, because of British strategic policies, Rhodesians received perhaps the widest possible military exposure of any allied nation of the War. Because of a lingering hostility and suspicion by the Union of South Africa, Britain's prewar plans for defending their African empire were centered on making use of the skilled white manpower of 2 Rhodesia and Kenya. Added to this was the willingness and apparent positive reception by white Rhodesians of black units in the Southern Rhodesian army, a break with the exclusively all-white tradition that prevailed up until then. The political capital accrued to Southern Rhodesia because of its close cooperation with Britain was perhaps the significant factor in the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953 which included Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was Southern Rhodesia's supreme political achievement and the closest it came to legal independence and international respectability. THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEFENSE FORCES OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN RHODESIA FROM 1890 TO 1945 by EUGENE PETER JARRETT POMEROY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in HISTORY Portland State University 1994 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to all of those people who assisted and encouraged me over the period I spent researching and writing. First I would like to thank the History Department at Portland State for showing me that formal learning can be fun, something that I had not experienced since kindergarten. Among those at PSU are Dr. Jon Mandaville, my advisor, and Dr. Jim Heath, whom I first spoke to about taking on the Master's program. A word of thanks to Dr. Lewis Gann of the Hoover Institution and Dr. Richard Wood of the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa. Thanks also to Colonel (Ret.) Curt Welch for his insights. To my old comrade-in-arms Roger England in whose garret in Grtmsbury, Oxfordshire, I lived for a year and a half. Many thanks to Anthea Bazin of the Oxford Academy who hired me and where I taught ESL for over a year allowing me to survive and complete my research. I would like to acknowledge the good people at the Banbury branch of the Oxfordshire County library system who bent over backwards to get those hard-to-find books. A mention to the nice ladies at the Grimsbury Post Office. Many thanks to Luanne Bradshaw & family, my cousin Jade Collins and others who allowed me to sleep on couches and fed me from time to time when I was cold and hungry. Last but not least, my Aunt, Catherine Pomeroy Collins, who never lost faith in me, a special word of affection and thanks for everything. To my parents, whom I love. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... i I IN1R.ODUCI10N ............................................................................................... l I I IN THE BEGINNING ....................................................................................... 6 III SOUTHERN RHODESIA'S FIRST ARMY; The British South Africa Police, 1890-1926 ...................................... 10 IV NORTHERN RHODESIA'S ARMY; Origins of the Northern Rhodesia Regiment, 1891-1945 ............ 28 V THE SOUTHERN RHODESIAN ARMY, 1926-1945 ......................... 40 The :Defense Act of 1926................................................................ 40 The Southern Rhodesia Staff Corps........................................... 48 The Southern Rhodesia Council of Defense ............................ 50 VI STANDING GUARD; African soldiers, the British Empire, and Southern Rhcxlesia............................................................................... 53 The Royal West African Frontier Force and the King's African Rifles, 1800s-1945 ...................................... 53 Failure of the All-White Army and the Rhodesia Native Regiment, 1914-1918 ........................... 59 The Rhcxlesian African Rifles, 1940-1945 .............................. 66 VII THE ALLIANCE; Britain, Southern Rhodesia and the African Colonial Forces, 1935-1945 ...................................... 71 VIII WHITE RHODESIAN UNITS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR ....... 80 iii IX THE QUEST FOR AIR POWER; the Rhodesian Air Force, 1934-1945 .................................................... 88 X DIFFICULT ALLIES; South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and the Second World War....................................................................... 100 XI CONCLUSION; the Beginning of the End.......................................... 120 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In 1991 the RAND Corporation's Arroyo Center, which is funded by the United States Army as their research and development center, issued a report on the Rhodesian counterinsurgency campaign which began in 1972 and lasted until 1980 when white minority rule came to an end with the creation of Zimbabwe. The aim was to compare Rhodesia's experience with America's in El Salvador and Vietnam. What the authors found was that many of the strengths and weaknesses of the Rhodesians reflected much of what had been acquired before and during the Second World War. 1 How was it that a small country in south central Africa, ruled by a small white minority, was able to do this? The fact that Rhodesia has passed into history does not diminish from its military accomplishments.2 From the arrival of the Pioneer Column in 1890, defense, to a greater or lesser degree, concerned the settler community and their descendants. This thesis follows the development of Southern Rhodesia's defense forces from the arrival of the settlers in 1890 until the end of 1 For the sake of simplicity and brevity, 'Rhodesian' will always refer to the white population. 2 The black-ruled nation now known as Zimbabwe was Southern Rhodesia from the 1890s until 1964. In that year Northern Rhodesia became Zambia and the 'Southern' prefix was dropped from Rhodesia's name. Nyasaland is now Malawi. 2 the Second World War in 1945 at which time Southern Rhodesia was to enter a new era as the 'senior partner' of the Central African Federation. This study deals almost exclusively with the military aspects of Rhodesian history between 1890 and 1945 but does not attempt to find explanations for broader social and political developments which have been dealt with more extensively than here. From 1890 until the defense buildup of the 1930s, Rhodesians' military fears and prejudices were, with the exception of the Boer War and First World War, primarily directed at the larger African population. After 1935 and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Southern Rhodesia entered a defense agreement with Britain which completely altered the focus and direction of Southern Rhodesia's defense force from the perceived internal threat to the wider external threat. This study is divided up into headings according to the military unit being examined and attempts follows a chronological format inasmuch as that is possible. The original intent was to examine just the Rhodesian Army and its origins, but this