Category Archives: Africa

The President in the Pith Helmet

Teddy

In his life Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. wore many hats in a figurative sense – he was an American politician, author, naturalist, soldier, explorer, historian and of course was the 26th President of the United States. He was known for his exuberant personality and was born to a wealthy New York City family; he was a sickly child who suffered from asthma but grew into a man with a “cowboy” persona and robust masculinity. He attended Harvard College, was New York City Police Commissioner and resigned from the U.S. Navy Department at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War to help form the famous Rough Riders – a unit made up of wealthy Easterners and Western cowboys.

While he didn’t wear a sun/pith helmet when in the military – at the time the American Army and USMC did use the Model 1887 pattern helmet – he would don the safari style helmet after he left the White House. Continue reading →

Headdress of the Royal West African Frontier Force

RWAFF1

The Royal West African Frontier Force was a multi-battalion field force, which was formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to help garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. It was originally designated the “West African Frontier Force,” and in 1928 received the royal patronage – becoming the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).

On formation it comprised the Gold Coast Regiment, Northern Nigeria Regiment, Southern Nigeria Regiment, the Sierra Leone Battalion and the Gambia Company. The parade uniform of the RWAFF was a distinctive one and consisted of khaki drill shorts with red fezzes, along with scarlet “zouave” style jackets edged in yellow and red cummerbunds. Artillery units wore a blue jacket with yellow braid, while engineers wore red jackets with blue braid. British officers originally wore sun helmets, and later a bush or slouch hat. Continue reading →

The Luftwaffe Sun Helmet

LuftCrewWhen the German army headed to North Africa and other tropical regions during the Second World War it utilized the sun helmet. The Luftwaffe, Germany’s air arm, followed ground units to the Mediterranean theater where it made up a significant portion of the “Afrika Korps,” and included the Fliegerführer Afrika.

The Luftwafffe personnel, who included air crews, Flak troops and support units were equipped with a variation of the Model 1940 sun helmet. Continue reading →

The Canadian Royal Horse Artillery

RCHA2The Canadian military is most remembered for its heroic actions in Italy and Western Europe during the Second World War, but it was still active in every theater of war. More than 1.1 million Canadians served in the Army, Navy and Air Force and its entry into the conflict was the nation’s first independent declaration of war.

During the North African, Middle Eastern and Sicilian campaigns the Canadian army was outfitted in a tropical uniform. Among the more “anachronistic” looking of these was the uniform worn by units of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.

Continue reading →

The Russian Colonial Pattern Sun Helmet

Russian

Imperial Russia had one of the largest empires in the world at the end of the 19th century. While the sun most certainly did set on it – it spanned several time zones and stretched from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Pacific. What it did not have was a true overseas colonial empire – with the exception of Alaska!

It is true that the Czar ruled many peoples who spoke different languages and had different customs and cultures. Yet Imperial Russia was different than the rival empires of Great Britain, France, Germany or even Italy. It ruled more land that the latter two but it had no true tropical colonies. While it did send forces to China – and units took part in the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) – most of the troops were from the Russian Imperial Navy not actually the Russian Army.

Thus it would seem that the Russians never had a use for a colonial pattern sun helmet. Interestingly the Russians did however use such helmets in small numbers. While the first thought would be that the helmets were used by marine forces traveling with the navy this isn’t accurate. Continue reading →

Where Are They Now? The Discarded Helmets of World War II

Helmets

There are dozens of known images – such as the one above – of piles of steel helmets that were collected during and then after the end of the Second World War. The Germans had collected massive piles of steel helmets from Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and of course France. After the end of the war there were practically mountains of German steel helmets! All of these have been well documented in period photographs.

With conservative estimates the piles could literally be worth millions of dollars, and for collectors of steel helmets these photos have almost mythical quality. However, the question this writer has long had was whether there were ever similar piles of sun/pith helmets? Given the thousands of German and Italian soldiers who surrendered in North Africa at the end of 1943 it must be asked what happened to the equipment – notably the sun helmets. Continue reading →

The Original Camouflage: Khaki Part V – Khaki in Colonial Africa and the Middle East

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Portuguese soldiers in Africa during World War I wearing the newly introduced khaki 1900 pattern uniform

Khaki was used throughout the colonial world by most of the major powers, and in many ways the First World War was the first conflict where the parties fought with virtually the same colored uniforms. While khaki, as we noted in part I of this feature on The Original Camouflage, was introduced in India, other powers including France and Germany – as noted in previous posts – also opted for the dust-colored fabric. Other armies, including the Belgians, Portuguese, Spanish and Turks would don khaki colored uniforms. Continue reading →