Los Askaris - slideshow of German askaris

[warrenpeace]

Eight minute Spanish slideshow (with music) on youtube of askaris in the German colonies in Africa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqmJoftYOAU

[Traveler Man]

Interesting! I like the shots of the heliograph section and rocket troop at the 7:15+ mark. Thanks for sharing.

[chicklewis]

WOW !!  Great find, I really enjoyed it, THANKS !

Those big rockets DID get my full and complete attention.

In the first photo showing a maxim, what was the circular item which seemed to be hanging from the tripod? 

[Hammers]

A bit of a treasure trove, I think! I know someone who's going to like this... Weird music though.  Does anyone know if the  flags of the various armies (Togo, Cameroon etc.) are historically correct? I've never seen those symbols superimposed on the Imperial flag before (two cobras and a palm tree for Togo for example). Many other interesting items to, like the askari in slouch hat  with an imperial cockard.

[Plynkes]

I thought What the??!! when I saw those guys in old colonial kit yet wearing Swastika armbands. Then I realised it must be a pic from some kind of reunion. And I feel sorry for the guy given the important task of guarding a termite mound from British incursions.

Hammers, for colonial gaming you don't need separate colony flags, they just used ordinary German ones. Those ones with distinctive heraldry for each colony were designed in 1914, but it seems they were never implemented because of the war. So I don't think they ever got to fly anywhere. The designs you see are I believe conjectural reconstructions taken from descriptions. For gaming all you need is the tricolour with imperial crest, or, if illustrations are to be believed, the Naval Ensign was used as a war flag by colonial armies.

A page on German colonial flags:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de_col14.html

[Plynkes]

In the first photo showing a maxim, what was the circular item which seemed to be hanging from the tripod?  

This picture?



It's a roller or wheel if you prefer. It would seem the front tripod (or is it quadropod?) legs fold up or are removed and you push it like a wheelbarrow holding the back one(s). That is the only photo I've seen with this peculiar carriage arrangement, which would lead me to hesitantly conclude that it was a local modification rather than something common and mass-produced.

[Allira384]

ah ok in now