Books on the German Colonies

Recently more books have been published covering the German colonial campaigns in the English language and books published in German have become more easily available over the internet. Here we review a selection of highly recommended books that have all been useful sources in the making of this website. Also included are links to buy the books online.

If you have another book that you would like to see reviewed or if you're publishing a book on the German colonies please email me here.

This is a superbly researched and illustrated record of Germany's colonial troops. It begins with the first colonisation project of Emperor Charles V in the 16th Century, but focuses on the major years between 1889 and 1919. The majority of the book describes and illustrates in wonderful detail the clothing and equipment of the Schutztruppen. The book illustrates uniforms, tropical helmets, caps, equipment, and much more besides in great detail. The book also includes much information about the German troops that served in East Asia from 1900. Uniform-wise, there are many interesting details covered, for instance the field grey winter and summer uniforms issued only to the East Asian troops between 1901 and 1909. This is an absolute must for uniform enthusiasts.
Review by Helion Military Booksellers

These two books are probably the most definitive works on German bayonets published in recent years. Volume One not only describes the standard issue bayonets of the First and Second World Wars but goes back to the first use of plug bayonets in the 17th Century, covering the bayonets of the small state armies during the 18th and 19th centuries, their markings and stamps and most importantly all the myriad variations on each type of bayonet. Volume Two concentrates specifically on Ersatz, captured, requisitioned and improvised bayonets. Both volumes have colonial and naval examples and are richly illustrated with thousands of photographs of bayonets and their markings and would be considered indispensable to anyone interested in the history of edged weapons.

In 1910 Hauptmann Ernst Nigmann was commissioned to write a history of the Schutztruppe in German East Africa. Nigmann was able to draw on his own personal experience as a front line Schutztruppe officer, interviews with other officers and full access to German archives for his work. The result, published in English for the first time here, is a very comprehensive study, describing their formation as the Wissmanntruppe, each stage of their development and organisation up until 1911and every single action they were involved in during that period. Various appendices deal with the Polizeitruppe, rank lists and casualty lists going into the most minute detail, such as "16 October 1905. Fighting on the Lijungeberg: Chief Surgeon Dr Stolowski, graze on the left hand". A more complete book would be difficult to imagine.

This has to be the most highly recommended volume so far printed in the English language for those generally interested in the colonial armies of Africa. The author has collated years of research into the archives of Europe and Africa to describe the armies of Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium in 19th century Africa. Each power has a section set aside for the description of its campaigns, troops and uniforms with contemporary illustrations added to by numerous excellent black and white uniform illustrations. Much of the information has not previously been available in the English language. A second volume covering colonial armies in Asia is planned for future release.

While most books on the colonies inevitably look at them from a Euro-centric angle, this very well researched study is exceptionally interesting in that it looks at the African and Asian troops who served under German colonial rule. As well as chapters on each colony describing the history of its locally recruited soldiers and their experience, Morlang has also included many period photographs and biographies of individual soldiers and thus brought them vividly to life.

As you would expect from the commander in the field, von Lettow-Vorbeck knows an awful lot about the campaign. In this book he tells the story of the First World War in East Africa from the German perspective. He seems to paint quite an objective picture of events, admitting his own mistakes, heaping praise on his junior officers and not appearing too judgemental on his opponents consistently poor performance. He goes into some detail on the battles, German forces involved and their relative weaknesses and supply problems. Many more recent authors may have studied the campaign from all angles but none can have the same insight as von Lettow-Vorbeck.

A great study of the Battle of Tanga from original source documents with some good photos not only of the personalities and opposing armies but also of Tanga itself and the battlefields from various angles which help to build up a good mental picture of the battle. The book assesses the forces and leaders involved and gives a good account of the confusion in East Africa at the start of the war before going on to describe the landings and action in detail. Although covering the German side too the book does mainly focus on the catalogue of compounded British errors. Indispensable for anyone interested in the First World War in East Africa.

An excellent starter book for all wargamers and enthusiasts of the First World War in East Africa. It covers the history of the campaigns in East Africa with backgrounds, organisations and uniforms for all the armies involved. The sections on the previously ignored Portuguese and Belgian forces deserve special credit as do the many photos and luscious illustrations. My only real complaint would be as with many Osprey books, it's just too short!

"Walther Dobbertin was a commercial photographer in German East Africa prior to World War I. When all German men were mobilized in August 1914 to defend the colony, Dobbertin became, in effect, the only combat photographer on the German side. He performed this function until his own capture in 1916." This book is packed from start to finish with 120 excellent photographs of the Schutztruppe in German East Africa taken in the first two years of the war with German and English captions. Some of the photos have been seen before, but many were new to me and all are printed with clarity. This book is a must for anyone interested in the uniforms of German East Africa during the Great War.

This is an amazing study into the subject of tropical helmets worn by Germany's overseas troops. It describes the development and changes in helmet design for the imperial navy, East Asian troops and Schutztruppe as the title says but also for the Polizeitruppe, colonial officials, imperial entourage, governors, consuls and just about every uniformed German abroad. With colour photos of over 40 existing tropical helmets and black and white period photos too, this book should also be of great interest to non-German speakers.

In the third volume of his very detailed study of German uniforms and equipment, Somers devotes 232 pages to Germany's colonial and overseas forces. The text describes the uniforms in quite some detail and is very well researched, while the bulk of the space is given to black and white photographs from the period (many have never been seen in print before) and colour photographs of surviving militaria (some of which are from the Doppler collection also seen on this website- but it's still good to see them printed out large, in colour and on quality paper). Other non-colonial subjects covered in this volume are the German Landsturm, cyclists, horse equipment and Ersatz headgear worn on European fronts in the First World War. All in all an excellent and unique book- and Somers has been kind enough to quote this website as a source.  

"Uniforms of the German Soldier - 1870 to the End of World War One" by Alejandro M. De Quesada
(Published by Greenhill, available through Casemate)

This is a large collection of photographs of the German army throughout the imperial period, many of which have not been seen in print before. What makes this book particularly interesting are the 23 pages of colonial photographs, including the Schutztruppe, Seebatallione, Asienkorps, East Asian troops and even a couple of Chinese auxiliary troops. As a bonus feature several pages of colonial illustrations by Moritz Ruhl have been added in the back.  

"Military Sun Helmets of the World" by Peter Suciu with Stuart Bates
(Published by Scuicu/Bates/Service Publications, Ottawa, see Military Sun Helmets of the World and available from Amazon)

I believe this is the first book ever published to describe the tropical helmets used by the world's military forces from their first use in the mid-19th Century up to the present day. It fills a gap in the market very well. Not only are commonly seen British, German and French helmets covered but also the less well documented helmets of Belgium, Portugal and Spain. Each country has its own chapter or section and has its helmets' history, manufacture and appearance described along with period black and white photographs and hundreds of colour photographs of surviving helmets, many of which are from the author's own personal collection. A very useful and attractive book. The author has also been kind enough to thank the writer of this website for help with German colonial helmets.

"Imperial German Schutztruppe 1891-1914" by Bruce Bassett Powell
(Published by Uniformology)

This is a collection of period German illustrations which have been touched up with computer graphics to enhance their colour and detail. It includes illustrations by M. Ruhl, G. Krickel, H. Knötel and P. Pietsch. While it is great to see these illustrations printed in colour again, they are not complete collections and some of the text can be misleading.

As far as I know, this was the first modern scholarly treatment, in English, of the Campaign for East Africa. It is very well-written and a pretty compelling account that focuses on von Lettow-Vorbeck's defence of German East Africa and the saga of the cruiser Königsberg . It does provide a fairly good background to the German colonization of East Africa and the subsequent defence of it during WWI. One could say that it is a pro-German account and it doesn't dwell on the lengthy resistance of the African states to colonialisation. But, that aside, once the story moves into WWI, the book is fairly even-handed. Also, the book covers the naval campaigns on Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyassa, which is pretty difficult stuff to get hold of from any source. Personally, I recommend it and even though it was one of the first books I read on this subject, it holds up very well.
Review by David C. Clarke

This book covers the campaigns, revolts and diplomatic entanglements faced by the various European powers in their scramble for Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's the perfect introduction to colonial Africa with chapters on well known campaigns such as the Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer Wars as well as lesser known struggles such as the French in Tunisia, the Italians in Ethiopia and of course the establishment and major rebellions of the German African colonies. The book is well researched and very readable, bringing to life the dramas and horrors of European conquest.

Plüschow was the only German pilot in Tsingtao in 1914. This book covers his times in Tsingtao and his travels and escapes as he gets back to Germany via China, America, Gibraltar and England. Plüschow is a natural storyteller and the book reads like an adventure with some great first hand accounts of the bombardment and siege of Tsingtao and his flights over Japanese lines. It's not a historical study of the battle as such but a thrilling and unique story all the same.

This book is based on the diaries of Nis Kock, one of the Danish speaking members of the German Navy who sailed through British Naval blockades under the neutral Danish flag to re-supply the forces of German East Africa. After a perilous journey there he and the rest of the crew were stranded and joined the Schutztruppe trekking across the mountains and jungles with Lettow-Vorbeck for the next few years. No amount of historical reading can compare with an eye-witness account of the events such as this, including vivid descriptions of everyday life and combat on the East African front.

This small book in both English and German is perfect in its form. By covering a small topic the author has managed to write a book covering every detail of that topic- when the tokens were issued, why the tokens were issued, how the tokens were made, who the tokens were issued by and to and the serial numbers of different issuing offices. The book also contains detailed photos of POW tokens and of POWs and their camps in South West Africa. The author has also written books on 'The German South West Africa Commemorative Medal awarded to non-German military personnel', and 'The Native pass Tokens of German South West Africa' for the same publisher and is currently writing a book on the history of the Iron Cross (Hildegard Order) and the Wound Badge in German South West Africa, a Handbook on the South West Africa Commemorative Medal, The South African Free Corps and the Ehrenkreuz awarded to Germans still living in South West Africa in 1934.

This is an academic look at the integration of the people of Cameroon and particularly those of the Western Grasslands with European culture, religion and colonialism. It covers many aspects of life for the Nso, Duala, Bali-Nyonga and Bamum peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries. The most interesting part for me is the final chapter, a study of the history and reasoning behind the German style uniforms worn by King Njoya of Bamum's Private Army by Christraud M. Geary. It is a very informative study given the limited sources (perhaps the only study of this topic in any depth) and includes several very rare photographs of the Bamum soldiers in uniform. 

This book deals with the complex extensions of the old Great Game played out in Central Asia during the First World War. It tells the tale of Wassmus' wanderings in Persia trying to ferment anti-British sentiments, Niedermeyer's mission to convince the Emir of Afghanistan to join the Central Powers and also the intrigues and struggle for power in the oil rich town of Baku on the Black Sea coast. The book not only sheds light on and goes into detail about a side of the war never seen before but also reads like a first class spy thriller, with double agents, lost code books and murderous cossacks around every corner.

This book recounts every step, every skirmish and every moment of planning of the First World War campaigns in West Africa in detail. It's not a book for a racy read but if it's day by day facts you want they're all here. The book is of course strictly a history of the British and British Empire forces during the conflict (it's interesting to note that they seem to have as little information as to the whereabouts or strengths of their French allies as those of their German opponents) but there's a lot to be gleaned about the German forces quotes from captured diaries and comments from prisoners. There's also some black and white photos and big fold out maps for wargamers to plot their next campaign on.

A very good overall description of the Boxer Rebellion in China. This book explains the background to the rebellion not only from the view of the foreign powers but more interestingly from the Chinese perspective. It then goes on to describe in detail the various actions of the campaign resulting in the relief of Peking. The book is packed with black and white contemporary photographs and illustrations with modern colour illustrated pages too, but my favourite parts of the book are the many maps of the battles fought in the rebellion including the Peking legations and the Taku Forts. As with other Osprey books my only complaint is that all the different Allied and Chinese troop formations, uniforms and weaponry cannot be fully described in such a small volume.

If you're only ever going to buy one book in German I would thoroughly recommend this one. It answered more questions about the German Schutztruppe than I knew to ask. It covers their formation, history, organisation, officer lists and uniforms with additional sections on the Police forces of Togo, New Guinea and Samoa and well as the Protectorate of Tsingtao. There's some great photos and a few colour plates and even though my German isn't very good I enjoyed it thoroughly.

...and if you're only ever going to buy two German books (it gets contagious) I would recommend this one too. Similar to Haupt's book in that it covers the history and uniforms of the Schutztruppe but with less historical background and more information on the uniforms. It also has some great colour photographs of genuine Schutztruppe uniforms and scale model soldiers with some rare and very interesting black and white photographs from the period. So even if your German isn't so good there's loads of pictures to look at!