AFRICA'S MAN POWER
ALLIES' VAST RESOURCES
I Tho "Daily C'hroniclo" has published an article lrom tiio pun of Commander Wedgwood, M.J?., on tho subject o£ tiio utilisation in this war of some of tho vast resources of man-power represented by tlie natives of British Africa. Tho ''Chronicle" has urged tho recruitment of native Africans for non-com-batant service behind the fronts and on tho lines of communication. Tiio limitation to non-combatant service has the approval of most of the African administrators whose views have been published. Commander Wedgwood, however, is opposed to any such restriction, and pleads for the enrolment of native Africans as combatants with tho British army. -He has seen tho African fighting and working behind tho lines in two wars and three campaign, and lived with them in South Africa. Sir Godfrey Lagden, ho says, believes that 100,000 could be raised from South and West Africa alone. Sir Alfred Sliarpo confirms this, whileSir Harry Johnston raises tho possible recruits to 300,000 from the whole of > Africa, and even without compulsion. I will only interposo to say that we have 38,754.000 Africans to draw on without going to the Congo or to Por-. tuguese East Africa, and excluding the umvarliko Egyptians. Of course, tho Congo and Portuguese territory could bo drawn on, too, by us by arrangement with the Belgian and Portuguese Governments, thus adding another 23 millions of good fighting material. There is undoubtedly the raw material available. Where I did differ from tho others, but .agree with. Sir Alfred Sharpe,.is in thinking that they should be trained as fighting men, and could make good fighting troops. . As for their fighting capacity, I have seen Senegalese drive back Turks with the bayonet; I have seen tho Algerians fighting the Germans in the open in French Flandors; I have seen the English and German askaris fighting each other in Africa. I am on the Mesopotamia Commission, and can say without divulging any secerts that the record of the fighting of the Indian troops during those awful days of January, March, and April on tho Tigris stamps them as amongst the best troops in tho world.' Anyone who has fought in East Africa will tell you that our King's African Rifles are man for man tho equal (in that country) of white troops. They will say that they aro better than the Indian troops. They never surrender; they always bring back their officers, dead or alive. out of tho shambles; they march like tho _ Guards. It is their shooting which is a little shaky; but that'matters less and less, as compared with courage and discipline. Ono can safely add that tho German "askaris" can stand up under our shell firo, retreat, and fight again. Thcro has been little desertion in East Africa. ■ But the difficulty is officers, when it comes to fighting. Thoro must he 5 per cent, uf white officers, and tho more of these that know tho native the bettor. So far as South Africa is concerned, there can be no possible difficulty about cither officers or li.c.o.'s for even 100,000 men. •South Africans who have seen war at its worst and know tho native are not hard to find. The same can be said of East Africa. I'Yorq the ranks of tho East African-Mounted llifles, from tho officials and settlers of East Africa, from the whito troops who have served long in East Africa, from the officers and men now at homo or in Franco who were once of the. K.A.R., the officer and n.c.o. material could bo found if thoro was a will which would not hesitate to stick at compulsion. Lord Winterton, who has served there, thinks that the Sudanese, of whom there aro over 3.000,000, could bo officered and n.c.o.'d by the civilians and civilian officers from Egypt and tho Sudan, and tho Camel Transport Corps. They told mo in East Africa that the "Sudies" and the Yao wore the best of all g.ood black .soldiers. The Mnfahelo could easily ho officered from Rhodesia, even without compulsion. There remains the 20,000,000 from Nigeria and the other West Coast colonies. Their officering would be afar moro serious difficulty. Had J space I could show how it might be mot'in part. Of course, if we are nroing to make theso men Inhour battalions, and not fisrhtors, officers will not be wanferi on the same scale, and three months' training would replace tiio six months that fighting troops should have. But I want to press tbnt they should fielit as well ap work. The last refuse of tiio "prestige" ouaverers is -thnt. they must not be nllowotl to fiahb "whites"—as though the boche were white! ' I want them t-o fight, ;>ncl s'n does tiio House of Commons Committee, which is looking after this mutter: —
fl.) lirrnnse ,wo do not want all tlio v-hites ktilec!—to put it Wmitly. To slow down the rate of killine of our own men, and to eke out the finest raw or. earth.
(2) Because T nm n rogro-nhil.' nml <visli to see -the coloured m<lll fret his dun honour, nnd that self-esteem nnd ciolf-rnspect v.-liieh conic from overcoming fenr. Mr. Harris savs the coloured men !)"(; to ho allowed to finrlit. T 1 •■*> had coii'itlnss letters' from blacks 10 tlm snme effect. 'Iliey want to show themselves the equal in courage to the white—to break once for all the cnlom , bar. Comradeship in danger will do what the education of centuries would never effect.
I can quite believe, that you would t;et for labour battalions —at :i price. But for such work you will never get them for love and with enthusiasm. I saw in East Africa a battalion of Cape Boy's (half-castes). They were, in 11 word, magnificent. When the labour idea was started, the War Offico ttiouglit to raise more Cape Boys, for labour, and the supply dried Uμ. "Wo will come," they said, "but if we are to work, not fight, you must pay three times as much." We got them, at that price. , I pay no deep regard to Sir Godfrey Lagdcn's moral danger—the P.M. pan look after that, and in Mesopotamia or Egypt, where their fighting would be mostly done, thero are not many to corrupt or bo corrupted. In conclusion, lot me emphasise Sir Alfred Sharpn's words:— "Any African recruiting scheme should bo entrusted entirely to men who have experience of Africa. Such a scheme should not be entrusted to military officers." For a dozen reasons, which rino cannot set down, tlio success or failure of a big recruiting scheme depends on adherence to this maxim.
Discussing tlie resources In manpower available to tho British Empire, tho "Spectator" says:—AVo are pertain that a very great deal can bo done to got more men without injury to our supply of munitions or our revenue, and without destroying the essential business of the country. Besides "combing ■ out," we have nntential reserves to fall back on. Either voluntarily or compulsorily, Ireland mav be made to do her part. Wo may still, we believe, draw a great many men for various purposes from India, from our other Oriental dependencies, and from tho Crown colonies. Lastly, we believe that wo may seek manpower where oiir forefathers sought it at the end of the Napoleonic wars, by using our material resources to enlist and eauip the adventurous youth of the neutral countries who would like ro fHit for the Allies, ami wo innv do this without ony brenoh either of the. snirit or the letter of international law.
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2974, 11 January 1917, Page 3
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1,255AFRICA'S MAN POWER Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2974, 11 January 1917, Page 3
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