• Commemorating 60 since the end of WWII

Commemorating 60 since the end of WWII

Fighting for independence
In describing the war's impact on Africa, Basil Davidson, one of the world's foremost historians of Africa, wrote, "Nothing like this had been seen since the British industrial revolution." This "African industrial revolution" resulted from the Nazi conquest of Europe and the subsequent disruption of production there. Also, the war stimulated demand for the production of war materiel and the mining of basic resources. Consequently, most African cities tripled or quadrupled in size between 1940-45.
The war also stimulated the nascent liberation struggle. Thousands of Africans either volunteered or were pressed into service to fight against Nazism. For the African soldier, it was a war against racism and colonialism.
A Nigerian serviceman serving the British in India wrote home in 1945 saying, "We all overseas soldiers are coming back home with new ideas. We have been told what we fought for. That was freedom. We want freedom, nothing but freedom."
And Davidson writes, "They (African servicemen) fought as equals alongside white soldiers. They won battles in distant lands, and this made nonsense of the colonial-white claim to superiority. Many learned to read and write; not a few received technical training. They deepened their understanding. They welcomed the ideas of freedom."
The prominence of the Soviet Union and the prestige of the Communist parties in the colonial powers grew as a result of their leadership of the anti-fascist struggle -- adding a further element to the growing political struggle on the African continent.
Returning African servicemen had made contact with resistance leaders and trade union leaders in the colonial countries -- providing a source of organizational and ideological experience.
Also, during the war, the British lifted the ban on trade unions and leading British trade unionists went to Africa to help build unions. In 1945 the French did the same in its colonies. The African labour movement could now function legally, opening the door for mass development.
With the war over, Africa was plunged into a deep economic crisis as production shifted back to Europe and the U.S. African workers responded with a mass strike wave to demand better wages and working conditions. One such strike occurred in South Africa in 1946 when 75,000 mineworkers struck for higher wages. Even though the strike was broken by a police assault, it served as an inspiration throughout all colonial Africa.
Within months strikes erupted in Tunisia, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Guinea -- all for higher wages and improved conditions.
A strike by railway workers in French West Africa forced France to abolish forced labour in 1946 -- the first such major victory by African trade unions.
With the emergence of the mass, militant trade unions after the war, the tide had turned against colonialism. By 1950, the trade unions had thrown their weight behind the independence struggle, going beyond the fight for wages and conditions. What had been tiny independence movements, became mass parties based on the working class.
 

Who fought and where

During the Second World War some 375,000 men and women from African countries served in the Allied forces. They took part in campaigns in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa, Italy and the Far East.
Men of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions served with great distinction against the Japanese in Burma, as part of the famous ‘Forgotten’ 14th Army. The 81st was composed of units from the Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast (now Ghana), while the 82nd comprised further reinforcements from Nigeria and the Gold Coast. Both Divisions formed part of the RWAFF (Royal West African Frontier Force).
Non-white South African participants included Cape Coloured and Indian members of the Cape Corps, and black South Africans served in the Native Military Corps. Though both the CC and the NMC made extremely valuable contributions to the Allied cause in auxiliary roles, neither was used for combat, to the displeasure of many of their members.
Tanganyikans served in the war in the King’s African Rifle Battalion and the Tanganyikan Naval Volunteer Force. The King’s African Rifles, the Gold Coast Regiment and the Somaliland Camel Corps took part as front-line troops.
The 11th East African Division incorporated battalions of the King’s African Rifles and other forces from Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland (now Malawi), Somaliland (Somalia) and Tanganyika (Tanzania). These Africans – considered by some of their own British officers to have been undervalued and underused as front-line troops by the British commanders – proved extremely hardy and tenacious in several battles, both as combatant soldiers and as medical staff, carriers and other auxiliary participants.



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