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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Composition of the Rhodesia Native Regiment during the First World War: A Look at the Evidence |
Author: | Stapleton, Tim |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 30 |
Pages: | 283-295 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
Subjects: | black soldiers World War I colonialism History and Exploration Military, Defense and Arms Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172093 |
Abstract: | This paper looks at the composition of the Rhodesia Native Regiment (RNR), which was formed in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1916 and fought in the German East Africa campaign until the armistice in November 1918. The paper not only deals with the nationality of the soldiers, but also their ethnic/regional origin and pre-enlistment occupation. It appears that men from other territories in southern Africa (primarily Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique) made up from 62 to 70 percent of the regiment's numbers. Zimbabweans made up somewhere between 29 and 38 percent of the regiment's strength. The previous occupations of the soldiers illustrate the strong link between the regional migrant labour system and recruiting for the regiment. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |