This website
is intended to give an insight into the uniforms,
insignia, weapons and equipment of the Imperial German
colonial and overseas forces up to and including the First
World War for the family historian, war-gamer, modeller
or military historian.
Germany,
only having been unified in 1871 was a late-comer to the
colonial race. She began her colonial acquisitions in
1884 and by 1914 had managed to grab six colonies- German South West Africa,
German East Africa, Cameroon, Togo, New Guinea and
Samoa. The port of Tsingtao was also leased from China.
The units
primarily covered on this website are
the Colonial Armed Forces (Schutztruppe), Colonial Police Forces (Polizeitruppe and Landespolizei),
Imperial Navy overseas (including the Marine Infantry)
and army expeditions overseas (such as the East Asian
Expeditionary Corps to China and the Pascha Expeditions
to Palestine).
Also
included are related topics of interest such as German
overseas volunteers, Austro-Hungarian overseas units,
private armies in the African colonies, the Kaiser's
visit to the Holy Land and the German-Afghan Mission of
1916.
This website is always
a work in progress. Please feel free to send me more photos or
information that may add to the website or correct my errors. Equally, if
you are planning to use information from this website for publication or
serious research please contact me first to check my sources. I am also
happy to help with historical or family tree research on
the subject of the Imperial German Overseas Forces.
