Between October 1888 and July 1889, in the course of a dispute between the Witbooi and the Herero, there had been an expulsion of the German Commissariat and an interruption of German sovereignty in Okahandja.[1] The German Colonial Society engaged HauptmannCurt von François to provide security to the territory. In June 1889 he arrived with 21 soldiers, eight staff from the Imperial Army and 13 volunteers, at the British-held enclave of Walvis Bay. The formal establishment of the Schutztruppe for German South West Africa was carried out by the Reich Law of 9 June 1895. The support of these troops was the responsibility of the respective protectorates (Reich Law on the Income and Expenses of the Protected Areas of 30 March 1892, RGBl. p. 369).[2]
Structure
Camel cavalry, German Southwest Africa, 1904Numbers of Members of the Schutztruppe for German South West Africa per year (1898–1914) (missing data for the years 1906 and 1910-1912 were supplemented by mean values).[3]
The Schutztruppe in German Southwest Africa was structured in 12 companies of mounted infantry totalling ca. 2,000 men in July 1914, primarily Germans.[3] The 7th Company, stationed in the northern desert area of the colony, was mounted on imported camels. A single unit, called the Baster Company of non-local Africans was raised and deployed. Relations between the German administration and the natives in this colony had deteriorated to the point that few local Africans were recruited; however, some Boers enlisted in the Schuztruppe due to their desire to establish an sovereign Afrikaner nation independent from British control.
The colonial forces for German Southwest Africa consisted of volunteers from the imperial army and navy (including some Austrians), but essentially consisted of members of German regiments. Before their deployment to Africa these troops were prepared for their special tasks and future environment. Such a training base was at Karlsruhe. Because of the often humid conditions in the upper Rhine valley of the grand-duchy of Baden, the area provided some early acclimatization.
The structure of the Southwest African forces was as follows:
German Southwest Africa Command at Windhuk (modern Windhoek) consisted of headquarters, administration and legal (judge advocate), medical corps, surveying and mapping units.
At the outbreak of World War I the force had a total strength of 91 officers, 22 physicians, 9 veterinarians, 59 civilian administrators, ammunition technicians, 342 NCOs and 1,444 German other ranks for a total of 1,967 personnel.[4]
References
^Schildknecht, Jörg (2000). Bismarck, Südwestafrika und die Kongokonferenz: Die völkerrechtlichen Grundlagen der effektiven Okkupation und ihre Nebenpflichten am Beispiel des Erwerbs der ersten deutschen Kolonie [Bismarck, South West Africa and the Congo Conference: The international legal bases of the effective occupation and its secondary obligations using the example of the acquisition of the first German colony] (in German). LIT-Verlag.
^Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon [German Colonial Lexicon] (in German). Vol. III. 1920. p. 321.
^ abLenssen, Hans Emil (2002). Chronik von Deutsch-Südwestafrika 1883 – 1915 [Chronicle of German South West Africa 1883 - 1915] (in German). Windhoek: Namibia Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft [de]. pp. 94, 102, 107, 113, 118, 121, 150, 175, 192, 194, 199, 202, 214. ISBN3-933117-51-8.
German South West Africa
German Empire
