Alhaji Grunshi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ | Gold Coast Regiment |
| Rank | Regimental Sergeant Major |
| Battles/wars | First World War |
| Awards | Distinguished Conduct Medal Military Medal Mentioned in Despatches |
Alhaji Grunshi, DCM , MM , serving in the Gold Coast Regiment, was the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the First World War. [1] [2] [3]
At the start of the First World War, Germany's West African colony of Togoland was isolated from the rest of the German Empire. Togoland had borders with the British Gold Coast to the west, French Dahomey to the east, and French West Africa to the north. Following the declaration of war by the British Empire on 4 August 1914, the colony was completely cut off from reinforcement. With no German military presence in Togoland in 1914, the colony was defenceless other than a police force of 660 Togolese police officers serving under 10 German sergeants. [4]
Although containing few resources of value to Germany, Togoland was strategically vital to the defence of Germany's overseas empire, with the powerful Kamina radio transmitters near Atakpamé the only radio link between Germany and its colonies of German Southwest Africa and German East Africa, as well as the only means of radio communication between Germany and shipping in the South Atlantic. [5]
Following the declaration of war, troops of the Gold Coast Regiment entered Togoland from the British Gold Coast and advanced on the capital, Lomé. [3] An advance patrol of the Gold Coast Regiment encountered the German-led police force on 7 August 1914 at a factory in Notsé, near Lomé, and the police force opened fire on the patrol. [3] Alhaji Grunshi returned fire, [6] the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the war. [3] On 8 August 1914 the commander of the police, Hauptmann Pfaeler, was shot after climbing a tree to get a better view of the Gold Coast Regiment, and resistance collapsed. German technicians destroyed the Kamina transmitters on 24 August, and Togoland surrendered to the British and French on 26 August 1914.
Grunshi survived the war, having fought in three African campaigns, [3] and as a lance corporal was mentioned in dispatches on 5 March 1918. [7] On 13 March 1919, now a sergeant, he was awarded the Military Medal for his part in the East African Campaign. [8]
The history of Togo can be traced to archaeological finds which indicate that ancient local tribes were able to produce pottery and process tin. During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé, the Mina, the Gun, and various other tribes entered the region. Most of them settled in coastal areas. The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".
Schutztruppe was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the Schutztruppen consisted of volunteer European commissioned and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary officers. Most enlisted ranks were recruited from indigenous communities within the German colonies or from elsewhere in Africa.
Togoland was a German Empire protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana, approximately 90,400 km2 in size. During the period known as the "Scramble for Africa", the colony was established in 1884 and was gradually extended inland.
Atakpamé is the fifth largest city in Togo by population, located in the Plateaux Region of Togo. It is an industrial centre and lies on the main north-south highway, 161 km north of the capital Lomé. It is also a regional commercial centre for produce and cloth.
French Togoland was a French colonial League of Nations mandate from 1916 to 1960 in French West Africa. In 1960 it became the independent Togolese Republic, and the present day nation of Togo.
The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition, becoming the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).
The African Theatre of the First World War comprises campaigns in North Africa instigated by the German and Ottoman empires, local rebellions against European colonial rule and Allied campaigns against the German colonies of Kamerun, Togoland, German South West Africa and German East Africa. The campaigns were fought by German Schutztruppe, local resistance movements and forces of the British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Togo.
The Togoland Campaign was a French and British invasion of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa, which began the West African Campaign of the First World War. German colonial forces withdrew from the capital Lomé and the coastal province to fight delaying actions on the route north to Kamina, where the Kamina Funkstation linked the government in Berlin to Togoland, the Atlantic and South America.
The Affair of Agbeluvoe (Agbéluvhoé, Beleaguer or the Battle of Tsewie, was fought during the First World War between invading British Empire soldiers of the West African Rifles and German Polizeitruppen in German Togoland on 15 August 1914. British troops occupying the Togolese capital of Lomé on the coast, had advanced towards a wireless station at Kamina, 100 mi inland on hills near Atakpamé. The only routes inland were by the railway and road, which had been built through dense and almost impassable jungle.
The Affair of Khra [Chra] was fought by British and French troops against German Polizeitruppen in the village of Khra, near the Khra River on 22 August 1914, during the Togoland Campaign of the First World War. The German defenders mined the approaches to the river, blew the bridges and dug in around the village on the far bank, ready to defend the crossing with rifles and three concealed machine-guns. The British-French attack was repulsed and then a German counter-attack was ordered but many troops refused the order and the attack was not delivered.
Rail transport in Togo began in 1905.
Kamina Funkstation was a wireless transmitter in the German-occupied colony of Togoland in West Africa. The wireless station was built by Telefunken near the village of Kamina, in Togoland, where the nearest large settlement was Atakpamé. The transmitter was built by Telefunken, on behalf of the German government from 1911 to 1914. The station was designed as a node and switching point for other German colonial radio stations. Shortly after the beginning of the First World War, Togoland was invaded by British and French forces from the neighbouring colonies of Gold Coast (Ghana) to the west and French Dahomey (Benin) to the east. The station was destroyed by the operators to prevent it from coming under British and French control.
Louis Henry Simon was a French industrialist, a radical socialist, who was a deputy from 1910 to 1926, and Minister of the Colonies from 1917 to 1920.
The following events occurred in August 1914:
The Battle of Adibo was a German military campaign in 1896 against the Dagbamba of West Africa in Adibo, now in present-day Ghana. Following their resistance against foreign authority, the Dagbamba tribesmen met and launched an attack on the heavily armed German Schutztruppe and Askari paramilitary police accompanying the Lieutenant Valentin von Massow on his way to their capital at the village of Adibo, who had been sent by the German colonial administration to quell the rebellion. The Dagbamba fighters suffered significant losses on the second day of the battle and yielded after their capital Yendi was razed to the ground on December 4, 1896. Defeat of the Dagbamba enabled the German Empire to complete establishing the Togoland protectorate, which encompassed the eastern part of the Kingdom of Dagbon. The western part of the Kingdom was released to the British and incorporated into the British Empire.
The Ghana–Togo border is 1,098 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Burkina Faso in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
The Gold Coast Artillery corps was formed in 1850.Their uniform was similar to that of the West India Regiments.
France–Togo relations are the diplomatic relations between the French Republic and the Togolese Republic. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the United Nations.
Germany–Togo relations are shaped by the shared past of both countries. From 1884 to 1914, Togo was a colony of Germany under the name of Togoland.