France, which traditionally competed with Great Britain for colonial territories, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia, no less actively than its main rival, used colonial troops and units recruited from foreign mercenaries to defend its interests. If in the British army the palm in fame, of course, belonged to the Gurkhas, in the French - to the legendary Foreign Legion, about which a lot has already been written. But, in addition to the units of the Foreign Legion, the French command actively used military units created in the colonies and staffed by their indigenous inhabitants - representatives of Asian and African peoples.
The beginning of the battle path
One of the most famous military formations of the French colonial army is the Senegalese riflemen. As you know, by the middle of the 19th century, France had won a strong position on the African continent, having included in its colonial empire vast territories both in the north of the continent (the Maghreb countries) and in its west (Senegal, Mali, Guinea, etc.)), in the center (Chad, Central Africa, Congo) and even in the east (Djibouti).
Accordingly, significant military forces were required to maintain order in the conquered territories, fight the rebels and protect the colonies from possible encroachments from rival European powers. Own colonial units were created in North Africa - the famous Algerian, Tunisian, Moroccan Zouaves and Spaghs. In West Africa, the military formations of the French colonial administration were called "Senegalese arrows". Although, of course, they were staffed not only and not so much by immigrants from the territory of modern Senegal, but also by natives of numerous other French colonies in West and Equatorial Africa.
French West Africa was the most extensive French holding on the African continent. This colony, formed in 1895, included the territories of the Ivory Coast (now Côte d'Ivoire), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Dahomey (Benin), Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, and Niger. French West Africa was adjacent to French Equatorial Africa, which included Gabon, Middle Congo (now the Congo with the capital in Brazzaville), Ubangi Shari (now the Central African Republic), French Chad (now the Republic of Chad).
Not in all of West and Central Africa, France was able to consolidate its position relatively painlessly. Many territories became the arena of fierce resistance of local residents to the colonialists. Realizing that the soldiers recruited in the metropolis may not be enough to maintain order in the colonies, and the natives of Normandy or Provence are not adapted to the local climate, the French military command began to actively use soldiers from among the representatives of local ethnic groups. In a fairly short time, a large black contingent appeared in the French army.
The first division of Senegalese riflemen was formed in 1857. The author of the idea of its formation can be considered Louis Leon Federb, the then Senegalese governor. This French artillery officer and military administration official, who went down in history and as a scientist - linguist, specializing in the study of African languages, spent almost his entire army service in the colonies - Algeria, Guadeloupe, Senegal. In 1854 he was appointed Governor of Senegal. Since he was also responsible for organizing the protection of law and order on the territory of this French colony, Federbe began to form the first regiment of Senegalese riflemen from among the representatives of the local population. This idea met with the approval of the then French emperor Napoleon III and on July 21, 1857, he signed a decree on the creation of Senegalese riflemen.
The Senegalese rifle divisions, which began their existence in Senegal, were subsequently recruited from among the natives of all the West African colonies of France. Among the Senegalese shooters there were many immigrants from the territory of modern Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad. The ethnic composition of the Senegalese riflemen was, like the population of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa - the two main colonial possessions where these units were recruited - very variegated. Representatives of the Bambara, Wolof, Fulbe, Kabier, Mosi and many other peoples inhabiting the territories of West African and Central African French possessions served in the Senegalese shooters. Among the servicemen were both Christians baptized by European preachers and Muslims.
However, it should be noted that, unlike the British colonial army, where such large uprisings as the sepoy uprising in British India took place, there were no similar events in the African units of the French army. Of course, soldier riots took place, but they were local in nature and never led to such large-scale consequences, even despite the multinational and multi-confessional composition of the military personnel serving in the units of the Senegalese shooters.
A distinctive mark of Senegalese shooters in uniforms has become a red fez, popular as a headdress among the population of West Africa. As for the actual uniforms, over the years of the existence of the units of the Senegalese shooters, it changed its appearance, improving and adapting to changing conditions. So, at the beginning of the combat path, the Senegalese arrows wore a dark blue uniform, similar to the North African zouaves, later it was replaced by blue tunics and breeches, red belts and fez. Finally, by the time of the outbreak of the First World War, the khaki field uniform was adopted, while the ceremonial blue uniform of the colonial army remained.
senegalese shooter
From the first days of the existence of the Senegalese shooters, the question of recruiting units arose quite sharply before the colonial administration. Initially, it was carried out through the ransom of young and physically developed slaves from West African slave owners, as well as the use of prisoners of war captured in the process of conquering colonial territories.
Subsequently, as the number of Senegalese rifle units grew, they began to be manned by recruiting contract soldiers and even military conscription of representatives of the indigenous population. The Senegalese riflemen were allowed to marry because the French administration saw marriage as a positive factor in deepening the integration of colonial soldiers and increasing their dependence on command. On the other hand, many Africans were purposefully recruiting soldiers, counting on a significant salary, which would help them in the process of further military service to acquire a wife (more precisely, to “buy” her).
Certain difficulties arose with the manning of the officer corps, since, for obvious reasons, not every French officer was eager to serve surrounded by native soldiers. As a result, the number of officers in the units of the Senegalese riflemen was significantly less than in other parts of the French army. There was one officer for every thirty Senegalese riflemen, while in the metropolitan forces this proportion was one officer for twenty military personnel.
The French troops stationed on the African continent were divided into the troops of the metropolis, arriving to carry out service from the territory of France, and the colonial troops, recruited in the colonies from among the representatives of the local population. At the same time, some people from African tribes who lived on the territory of municipalities that are considered part of France, and not colonial possessions, were called up for military service in the troops of the metropolis, regardless of nationality and religion. At the same time, some units of Senegalese riflemen were deployed in North Africa and even in mainland France - obviously, their use seemed especially convenient for suppressing uprisings and unrest, since Senegalese arrows could not have compatriot feelings towards the North African population and the French, while units, recruited in North Africa or France, could refuse to carry out the most brutal orders.
Between the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the outbreak of World War I, Senegalese riflemen formed the bulk of the French garrisons in the West African and Central African colonies. Many French politicians advocated an increase in their number, in particular - the famous socialist leader Jean Jaurès, who referred to the decline in the birth rate in mainland France and justified the need to recruit the armed forces, including those from the colonies, with demographic problems. Indeed, it would be foolish to destroy thousands of French conscripts against the background of the presence of a multimillion population of African and Asian colonies living in the worst socio-economic conditions and, accordingly, having significant resource potential in terms of those wishing to serve in the colonial units of France.
Colonial Wars and World War I
The combat path of the Senegalese shooters in the period before the First World War runs through the entire African continent. They participated in the conquest of new colonies for the French state. So, in 1892-1894. Senegalese arrows, together with the Foreign Legion and the troops of the mother country, fought with the army of the Dahomean king Behanzin, who stubbornly resisted the aspirations of France to conquer Dahomey. Ultimately, Dahomey was conquered, turning into a puppet kingdom under the protectorate of France (since 1904 - a colony). In 1895, it was the Senegalese shooters who took an active part in the conquest of Madagascar. By the way, on the colonized Madagascar, the French administration not only stationed Senegalese riflemen, but also units from the local population - Malgash riflemen (41,000 Malgash riflemen took part in the First World War) based on their model.
Also, the Senegalese arrows were noted in the consolidation of French power in Central Africa - Chad and Congo, as well as in the Fashoda incident of 1898, when a detachment of 200 shooters under the command of Jean Baptiste Marchand went on an expedition from the French Congo to the northeast and reached the Nile, where occupied the city of Fashoda in what is now South Sudan. The British, who sought to prevent the emergence of French enclaves in the upper Nile, which they regarded exclusively as a sphere of influence of the British Empire, sent Anglo-Egyptian troops many times superior in number and equipment to meet the French detachment.
As a result, France, not ready for a full-scale confrontation with the British Empire, decided to retreat and withdrew Major Marchand's detachment from Fashoda. However, the political fiasco of France does not diminish the feat of the major himself, his officers and the Senegalese riflemen under their command, who managed to travel a considerable way through previously unexplored regions of Equatorial Africa and gain a foothold in Fashoda. By the way, Marchand subsequently participated in the suppression of the boxer uprising in China in 1900, in the First World War, and retired with the rank of general.
In 1908, two battalions of Senegalese riflemen were transferred to garrison service in French Morocco. Here the Senegalese shooters were to become a counterweight to the local Berber and Arab population, which was not at all eager to obey the "infidel" French, especially if we take into account the long-standing state traditions of Morocco itself. Ultimately, the French succeeded - no suppress - to pacify the Reef liberation movement and pacify the militant Moroccans for two decades.
In 1909-1911. units of Senegalese riflemen become the main force of the French colonial army aimed at conquering the Sultanate of Wadai. This state, located at the junction of the borders of modern Chad and Sudan, was not going to submit to the French authorities, especially since the Sultan Wadai was actively turned against France by Sheikh Senussi el-Mandi, the head of the Senusiyya tariqat (Sufi order), powerful in Libya and neighboring territories of Chad. Despite the agitation of the Senusites and the active resistance of the local peoples - the Maba, Masalites, and Fur - the Senegalese riflemen, due to better weapons and combat training, managed to defeat the army of the Sultanate and turn this Sudanese state into a French colony.
By the beginning of the First World War, the French army had 21 battalions of Senegalese riflemen stationed in the African colonies. When hostilities began, 37 battalions were redeployed from Moroccan territory to France - both from the troops of the mother country and from the North African and Senegalese colonial riflemen. The latter, in the number of five battalions, were sent to the western front. African soldiers especially distinguished themselves in the famous Battle of Ypres, during the Battle of Fort de Duamon, the Battle of Flanders and the Battle of Reims. During this time, the Senegalese arrows suffered significant human losses - more than 3,000 African soldiers were killed in the battles for Flanders alone.
During the First World War, the French military command, observing the growing demand for manpower, increased the recruitment of Senegalese riflemen in the colonies, forming 93 battalions of Senegalese riflemen between 1915 and 1918. To do this, it was necessary to increase the conscription of Africans into the colonial troops, which led to a series of uprisings of the local population in 1915-1918. The fact is that the resource potential of those wishing to serve by this time had been exhausted and the French colonial authorities had to call forcibly, often using the practice of “kidnapping” people as in the era of the slave trade. The uprisings against the conscription into the Senegalese arrows were carefully concealed by the French authorities so that this information would not be used by the opposing Germany in their own interests.
The victory of the Entente in the First World War not only destroyed the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires, but also contributed to the rejection of part of the German lands. Thus, France occupied the Rhine region of defeated Germany, deploying there a contingent of 25 to 40 thousand soldiers recruited in African colonies. Naturally, this French policy aroused indignation among the German population, dissatisfied with the presence of Africans on their land, especially with such consequences as the emergence of interracial sexual relations, illegitimate children, called "Rhine bastards".
After Adolf Hitler came to power against the "Rhine bastards" and their mothers, who entered into relations with the Senegalese soldiers of the occupation corps, a powerful propaganda campaign began, which resulted in the arrest and violent sterilization of 400 German mulattos - "Rhine bastards" in 1937 (noteworthy, that in general, the problem of the Rhine bastards was very inflated, since their total number in the thirties did not exceed 500-800 people per sixty million population of Germany, that is, they could not play any noticeable role in the country's demography).
In the period between the two world wars, Senegalese shooters take an active part in maintaining colonial order in the African possessions of France, in particular, they are involved in suppressing the uprising of the Berber reef tribes in Morocco in the 1920s. The Rif Wars became another large-scale colonial conflict in which the Senegalese shooters took part and where they again managed to establish themselves as a politically loyal and combat-ready military force. Since the First World War claimed the lives and health of many young Frenchmen of military age, the military command decided to increase the presence of units of Senegalese riflemen outside West and Central Africa. Battalions of Senegalese riflemen were stationed in the French Maghreb - Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, as well as in continental France proper, where they also served as garrison.
Senegalese on the fronts of World War II
By April 1, 1940, 179,000 Senegalese riflemen had been mobilized into the French army. In the battles for France, 40,000 West African troops fought against Hitler's troops. This caused a sharply negative reaction from the German military command, since not only did the Wehrmacht have to fight with representatives of the lower races - the latter also "had the audacity" to demonstrate military prowess and skill. So, having occupied the city of Reims, where since 1924 there was a monument to African soldiers who died in the First World War, the Nazis immediately demolished it.
However, France was "surrendered" to the Nazis by its own generals and politicians. The resistance of most of the French army was short-lived. Hundreds of thousands of French troops were captured, including 80,000 colonial riflemen. However, after an agreement with the collaborationist Vichy government, the Nazis liberated a significant part of the colonial soldiers. However, tens of thousands of Senegalese shooters remained in concentration camps, a significant part of them died from deprivation and disease, primarily from tuberculosis, which they received, being unaccustomed to the harsh European climate.
The future president of Senegal, the famous African poet and theorist of the concept of "negritude" (the uniqueness and self-sufficiency of the African "black" culture) Leopold Cedar Senghor, who since 1939 served in the French colonial army with the rank of lieutenant, also visited German captivity. However, Sengor managed to escape from German captivity and join the Maki partisan movement, in the ranks of which he met victory over the Nazis. He owns the lines, which contain an attempt to convey the feelings of a Senegalese soldier mobilized in distant cold France:
Beasts with ripped claws, disarmed soldiers, naked people.
Here we are, stiff, clumsy, like blind without a guide.
The most honest have died: they have not been able to push the crust of shame down their throats. And we are in the snare, and we are defenseless against the barbarism of the civilized. We are being exterminated as rare game. Glory to tanks and aircraft!"
At the same time, in those colonies of France, whose authorities did not recognize the Vichy government, units are formed from among the Senegalese riflemen to be sent to the western front on the side of the Anglo-American coalition. At the same time, the Senegalese riflemen restrain the onslaught of the German colonial troops in Africa. In 1944, units of North African and Senegalese riflemen took part in the landing in Provence, taking part in the battles for the liberation of France. Until now, the anniversary of the landing in Provence is celebrated in Senegal at the state level. After the liberation of France, units of Senegalese riflemen are withdrawn from Europe and replaced in the metropolis by military units recruited from French conscripts.
Post-war period: Senegalese shooters go down in history
The end of World War II led to a significant reduction in the number of Senegalese rifle units, but did not mean the end of their existence. The French military command, wishing to preserve the French youth proper, is actively using the colonial troops in the post-war period to suppress the intensified uprisings in the French possessions in Africa and Indochina. Senegalese shooters continue to fight for French interests in Indochina (1945-1954, nine years), Algeria (1954-1962, eight years) and Madagascar (1947).
In the postwar period, the French army had 9 regiments of Senegalese riflemen, which were stationed in Indochina, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and colonial garrisons throughout West Africa. In Madagascar, Senegalese riflemen took an active part in suppressing the uprising of 1947-1948, which began with an attack by local residents armed with spears on the barracks of the Senegalese riflemen. In Indochina, the 24th Senegalese Rifle Regiment fought, which went through the entire Franco-Vietnamese War, until 1954, when the soldiers and officers of the regiment were evacuated from Tonkin to France.
The final collapse of the French colonial empire and the proclamation of independence by the former French colonies in Africa actually put an end to the history of the Senegalese shooters. Back in 1958, the 1st Senegalese Rifle Regiment, founded back in 1857, was restructured, lost its "Senegalese identity" and became the 61st French Marine Regiment. Between 1960 and 1964. units of Senegalese riflemen cease to exist, most of their military personnel are demobilized. Numerous legal battles begin between the veterans of the colonial troops and the French government: the soldiers who shed blood for France demand citizenship and payment of salaries.
At the same time, many former Senegalese shooters continued to serve in the French army as contract soldiers, in the armed forces of the already sovereign states of West and Central Africa, some of them made a very good military and political career. You can recall the same Leopold Sedar Senghor, which was mentioned above, but he only served in mobilization, and many of the former soldiers of the colonial units purposefully made a military career. These are: the legendary "emperor" of Central Africa Jean Bedel Bokassa, who served in the colonial troops for 23 years and, after participating in the liberation of France and the Indochina war, rose to the rank of captain; the former chairman of the Military Council for the Revival of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Prime Minister of the country, Saye Zerbo, who served in Algeria and Indochina, and his predecessor at the head of the country, Sangule Lamizana, who also served in the colonial army since 1936; the former President of Niger, Seini Kunche, also a veteran of Indochina and Algeria; Togo's dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema is a Vietnam and Algerian veteran and many other political and military leaders.
The traditions of Senegalese shooters today are inherited by the armies of the countries of West and Central Africa, in particular - the Senegalese proper, which is one of the most combat-ready in the region and is often used in peacekeeping operations on the African continent. Day of the Senegalese Rifleman is celebrated as a public holiday in Senegal. In the capital of Mali, Bamako, stands a monument to Senegalese riflemen, many of whom were recruited from the natives of this West African country.
Senegalese Spagi - Horse Gendarmerie
Speaking about West African units in the service of France, one cannot fail to mention in this article and about one more unique military formation directly related to Senegal and Mali. In addition to the Senegalese riflemen, who were numerous infantry units of the colonial army, cavalry squadrons were also formed from among the natives of French West Africa, called the Senegalese spahs, by analogy with the more numerous and well-known North African spags. By the way, it was from the North African spahis that they led their origin, since in 1843 a platoon from Algerian spahis was sent to Senegal, whose soldiers were gradually replaced by Senegalese recruits.
The soldiers of the rank and file of the Senegalese Spag cavalry squadrons were recruited from the local African population, while the officers were seconded from the North African Spah regiments. Senegalese cavalrymen served in the Congo, Chad, Mali, Morocco. Unlike the colonial infantry of the Senegalese riflemen who carried out garrison service, the Spagi were more focused on performing police functions and in 1928 were renamed the Senegalese Mounted Gendarmerie.
The national gendarmerie of modern Senegal dates back to the traditions of the Senegalese spagas of the colonial era, in particular, it inherited their dress uniform, which the Red Guard of Senegal uses today. The Red Guard is part of the national gendarmerie responsible for protecting the country's president and performing ceremonial functions. The Red Guard considers itself to be the guardian of the traditions of the Senegalese Spag cavalry and, at the same time, maintains close ties with the French Republican Guard, adopting its service and combat experience.
Senegal Red Guard
Ceremonial functions are performed by a special squadron of the Red Guard of 120 military personnel, including 35 musicians. They perform on white and bay horses with tails dyed red. However, in addition to the functions of the guard of honor, this squadron is also tasked with patrolling the streets as mounted police, primarily the famous beaches of the Senegalese capital Dakar. The dress uniform of the Red Guard of Senegal reproduces the traditions of dressing the Senegalese spagas in the French colonial service - these are red high fez, red uniforms and red burnoses, dark blue harem pants.
Despite the fact that the states of West and Central Africa, once the former French colonies, have long been independent and have their own armed forces, the latter are often used for almost the same purpose for which the Senegalese shooters of the colonial era served their service - to maintain order in the region, primarily in the interests of France. The former metropolis devotes considerable attention to the training and financing of the armed forces and police of some West and Central African states. That is, we can say that the Senegalese shooters are "alive in the new guise" of the military units of sovereign African states.
First of all, France's main military partner in the region is Senegal, which is the most politically loyal and even during the Cold War, unlike many other African countries, it was not tempted to switch to a “socialist orientation”. The armed forces of the former French colonies, in particular, take an active part in the war in Mali, where, together with French troops, they are fighting against the Tuareg Islamist groups advocating the disconnection from Mali of the northern territories inhabited by Arab-Tuareg tribes.
