THE SIERRA LEONE BATTALION OF THE WEST AFRICAN FRONTIER FORCE IN FREETOWN GETTING READY TO INVADE CAMEROUN IN 1914
{{Courtesy: Voices of Sierra Leone. (www. VOSL.net Facebook Post) 15/04/2016}}
Sierra Leonean troops from a number of different British units served in the campaign against the German colony of The Cameroons. The West African Regiment was the first unit to be deployed. The Sierra Leonean companies left Freetown in early September 1914 and took part in the capture of the port of Duala in 27 September .They were soon supported by two companies of the Sierra Leone Battalion of the West African Frontier Force, and the remaining two companies of this unit were also deployed in January 1915.
The Sierra Leone Battalion was involved in heavy fighting whilst attempting to capture a German position called Herman’s Farm. The first attack was made on 3 February 1915 and it was initially successful, only to be driven back by a sustained German counter offensive. The unit lost seven men and 47 were wounded, including Pte Monde Yeraia who was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his attempt to save his wounded officer, Lieutenant Parker ..
The attack was renewed on 4 March without success, and the Battalion’s commanding officer Lt Col George P. Newstead was killed in the retreat . The Sierra Leone battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery and a company of Royal Engineers drawn from the colony also served with distinction throughout the campaign.
In 1917 large body of men was recruited in Sierra Leone to work as labourers for the Inland Water Transport Service to support operations in Mesopotamia which is present day Iraq. They were engaged as crews for river steamers, drivers of motor launches, and as labourers for dock construction and loading and unloading. Some of the men were even employed in manning the Fly Class river gun boats on the Euphrates. They did not return to Sierra Leone until January 1919
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Second World War
African Participants
Their own stories:
Johnny Smythe
Johnny Smythe was born on 30th June 1915, in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone in West Africa. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Johnny volunteered to help in the war effort and joined the RAF. He was one of only four, out of a batch of ninety men, to complete his training as a Navigator Officer. After spending another year studying to become a navigator, he was posted to a bomber squadron.
"We knew what lay ahead of us. Every day we counted the number that returned. We also knew that there was a good chance that we would not return. We met with our first serious trouble during an operation over Mainz in Germany. The plane had several times been pelted by flak and it was in a bad state. Although we lost one of our engines, we still managed to limp back home."
"On one occasion we were flying back over England when a German fighter began to dog us. I saw it first and yelled to the rear gunner, 'Frank, open up!' It was quite scary because we were flying so low that, had the plane been actually shot down, we wouldn't have had time to bail out! The noise caused by the two aircraft brought our anti-aircraft fire from the ground, which fended off the German fighter, and we were able to land safely. Another lucky escape!"
Johnny Smythe was promoted to Flying Officer. But on his 28th mission, on the night of 18th November 1943, his luck ran out:
"We were flying at 16,000 ft when the fighters came out of nowhere. They raked the fuselage and there were flames everywhere. Then the searchlights caught us. I was hit by shrapnel. Pieces came from underneath, piercing my abdomen, going through my side. Another came through my seat and into my groin. I heard the pilot ordering us to bail out. We had some rough ones before but this seemed to be the end."
Johnny parachuted to the ground and hid in a barn:
"Men in uniform came into the barn where I was hiding behind some straw. Then they opened up, raking the place with automatic fire. I decided to give in. The Germans couldn't believe their eyes. I'm sure that's what saved me from being shot immediately. To see a black man – and an officer at that – was more than they could come to terms with. They just stood there gazing."
In Stalag Luft One, a prisoner-of-war camp for officers in Pomerania, Smythe helped on the escape committee, but couldn't break out himself:
"I don't think a six-foot-five black man would've got very far in Pomerania, somehow."
The Russians freed Johnny in 1945, and a Russian Army Officer embraced him and gave him vodka:
"I was fêted because I was black. They took me to a town near the camp and I watched as they looted. A pretty German woman was crying because they had taken all her valuables. I wanted to help her but the Russians wouldn't listen. I had hated the Germans and wanted to kill them all, but something changed inside me when I saw her tears and the hopelessness on her face."
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A SOLDIER FROM SIERRA LEONE GET BEHIND A MODERN-ANTI TANK RIFLE IN BURMA DURING WORLD WAR11
EXCERPTS OF HOW IT WAS REPORTED IN THE BRITISH PRESS
Here we see a rather young Sierra Leone recruit with the British Army in Burma. I believe he photograph was taken in 1943. The captioin read, "Kipling glorifued the African native as 'fuzzy-wuzzy, a damned good fighting man'. He was good when he only had a spear to fight with. He's really something when he gets behind a modern anti-tank rifle, as Sergeant Peter Levy is here. A native of Sierra Leone, Sgt. Levy is a member of the West African Force now in India, preparing to tangle with the Japs in Burma. These West African fighting men are experts in jungle warfare, many of them helped toss the Italians out of Ehiopia." I'm not sure how old Sgt. Levy is, but he seems rather young.
Facebook post 16/04/16
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More World War 11 African patisipatory history provided by Gary Schulze (Facebook post 18/04/2016
Not all of the West African pilots who fought with the R.A.F. in WWII were as fortunate as Johnny Smythe. Some of them were captured by the Germans and kept in prisoner-of-war camps run by the Luftwaffe until the war ended. These pictures came from the logbook ( provided to the inmates by the Red Cross) of a Ghanaian airman named Kojo Aboah. The camp, called Marlag und Malag Nord, housed Sierra Leoneans, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Gambians, and Liberians as well as British airmen. Here are some photos from his logbook.
A group of West African soldiers including Sierra Leoneans.
A German prison guard, drawing by an African prisoner.
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Actually, these African Prisoners were with the R.A.F. fighting the Nazis in Europe. I remember there were two men who fought in the Burma Campaign in Freetown wandering the streets in the early 60s. One was called Bundu and blew an army bugle at passers-by. The other ex-soldier wore his military uniform with an Australian-type hat. He would march down the street, then stop and snap to attention saluting, spin around and then repeat the movements over and over again. These poor fellows had lost their minds probably because of the Japanese brutality they had witnessed in Burma. Veterans of the Burma Campaign, both Europeans and Africans, received the Burma Star shown below.
Gary Schulze
I returned to S.L. in 1965 and spent a year and a half as Personnel Director for Sherbro Minerals (Sierra Rutile today). We had a guy we hired from Freetown who had retired from the Prison Service to guard the entrance to the plant-site. He was a veteran of the jungle war in Burma where he boasted of lopping off Japanese soldiers heads while they patrolled through the bush. At Pademba Road Central Prison he was the first face prisoners would see when they arrived at the big steel door. He was called "jahana ma gate" in Mende. I was told it meant "Keeper of the Gate To Hell."
John Leigh's comment.
Thanks, Gary. My late cousin, William Leigh, who died in Monrovia following the Sergent Doe coup that ousted Tubman. William Leigh was one of the 18 recruits from Freetown - all Creoles - into the RAF. He fought in the Battle of Britain and was never shot down or captured. Upon demobilization, he was recruited as a cadet police officer, trained at the London Metro Police and at Scotland Yard and subsequently post to the SLP. He later became the first SL Commissioner of Police. The first set of SL Permanent Secretaries in the 1950s were all veterans of UK Defences Forces of World War II.
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