By 1884, during the European Powers' scramble for Africa, Germany invaded, occupied, and annexed Kamerun, expanding its empire and adding one more European flag to the African landscape. For the next 50 years, Kamerun would remain in European hands, though the flag flown over the country would change as a result of the ongoing Imperial policies being pursued in Europe. In Kamerun's case, the Treaty of Fez had earlier expanded the German Empire's influence in the region by adding territory ceded by the French Republic to German Kamerun. Despite the relatively peaceful addition of land to this particular colony of Germany, the French had sensed an opportunity to regain the ceded territory at the outbreak of World War I.
German officer firing a gun during the Kamerun Campaign (1914–16)
Beginning in August 1914, the British Empire, Belgium Empire, and French Republic engaged Imperial German forces in Kamerun. Initially, the Germans had attempted to claim neutrality for the colony in accordance with the Berlin Conference, only to discover that the Allied nations preparing for the invasion of Kamerun had no interest in a declaration of neutrality. France in particular was seeking to reacquire territory lost earlier, and would have been unable to do so if a recognition of neutrality had been made. Consequently, it fell to Imperial German forces stationed in the country to fight the invading forces. Resistance to the invading Allied nations came from German forces stationed in the colony, who mined the waters and used the country's territory and geography to their advantage.
Ultimately, though, the troops in Africa were left somewhat to their own devices as a result of the bleeding at home and the demand for personnel to man the trench lines in Europe. A static army of roughly 1,800 or so regular German troops were able to raise a local army of roughly 6,000 personnel, however that paled in comparison to what the Allied forces in the region could bring to bear – all told, the total number of troops the British Empire and French Republic could commit to the operation was more than four times what the Germans had. In an effort to increase the difficulty of the incoming Allied invasion force, German forces mined and blockade the ports and rivers as best they could, but ultimately the military operations came down to a handful of German strongholds to defend the colony.
In February 1916, German commander Zimmerman conceded that the operation to hold the colony of Kamerun was officially a lost cause. The outpost strongholds had surrendered or fallen after sieges from Allied powers operating in the area, and with little support from the homeland and insufficient forces to mount an effective defense Zimmerman elected to order what units he had left to escape to neutral Spanish Colony Rio Muni (modern day Equatorial Guinea). The lost colony would be occupied by British and French forces and split along previously agreed lines before becoming a League of Nations mandate in 1919, following the conclusion of World War I.
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First published in 2006, the Bugle is the monthly newsletter of the English Wikipedia's Military history WikiProject.
