This blog entry is about the forgotten African Soldiers who fought for the British Empire during World War 1 and 2.
If you have ever had the unpleasant experience to hear a
racist try and rational their politics you would have heard what fundamentally
they base their whole argument on which is this;
So did many of the so-called foreigners you
direct your hate at not only did West Arican soldiers fight in World War 2 but they also fought in
World War 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Regiment
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| Colonial troops of the 1st Battalion, Nigerian Regiment, about to depart Kaduna for action in German Kamerun (1914). |
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| Troops of the Nigeria Regiment, 3rd West African Brigade (Thunder), boarding a Dakota Transport plane (circa 1943). |
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Jagama
Kello from Ethiopia, middle, left home at just 15 to fight Italian invaders
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Major Seth Anthony from Ghana, the first African to gain a King's
Commission, 1944
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During World War 2 many men from Africa
answered the call to fight against fascism, and many died, but their story has
barely been told. It wasn’t till I was in my early 20’s that I found out
that Africans came from their homeland to fight in Europe for the allied
forces. It was a shock to me. They don’t teach you that in school do they?
In fact, only two in 10 of the soldiers
who fought in Burma were white.
‘Nigerians made up more than half of the
total force of 90,000 West African soldiers deployed to South East Asia after
1943 as part of the British Army's 81st and 82nd (West Africa) Divisions.’
I am not
talking about African Americans. I am talking about Africans. African men
enlisted straight from Africa to fight for the allied forces.In the last few
years the BNP have grown regaurating this arguement that, their grandfathers
who fought for this country would be angry to see how multi cultural the
country has become and that they wouldn’t recognise it no more. The
fascism the BNP preach about is the fascism that their grandfathers alongside
African Soldiers fought and died against. Their whole polictics is backwards
and contradictory.
I watched a documentary where a elderly
white man said this to a camera crew after the BNP knocked on his door handing
out leafealts’ he told them to go away. He explained the reason he did so was
because,
‘How could he vote for a party who
preach the same hate and facism that his father’s generation fought (and died) against
during the second world war.
If you want to learn more about African
soldiers who fought for the allied forces during the second world war visit these links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8201717.stm
Nigerians who fought against the Japanese in Burma during World War II.
First hand accounts from African Soldiers who fought during World War II
Pictures and memories from Tanzanian and Zimbabwean soliders who fought during world war II
A programme about Ethiopian’s who fought during World War 2
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