Grzegorz Młyński

Defence Possibilities of the German Colonies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Eve of the Outbreak of World War I

The main goal of the paper is to try and present the defence possibilities of the German colonies: Togo and Cameroon on the eve of the outbreak of the I World War. Following the disappearance of the hopes for the preservation of neutrality in the overseas territories, both colonies found themselves in a difficult situation, due to a lack of suitable preparation to conducting military operations.
The author characterizes the geographical situation of both colonies with respect to the future military opponents, the occurrence of natural borders and the geological structure of both countries. He draws attention to the climatic conditions, the division into seasons of the year as well as the average rainfall and temperature range.
The author also describes the road infrastructure of both colonies including the number and range of railway lines as well as traditional highways. He presents the telecommunications network, the distribution of the transmitting stations as well as the fortification system of the ports, cities and army bases.
Special attention was devoted to the presentation of the number of army units, as well as their training and equipment. Attention was also drawn to the army provision potential and the degree of assistance offered by the local population. Defence plans in the event of armed conflict as well as the placement of the individual army units after the declaration of mobilisation was discussed.
The number of white population in both colonies exerted an influence on the recruitment possibilities. The author also presented the different vocational make-up of the colonists which no doubt exerted an influence on the future war campaign. Special attention was drawn to the sanitary conditions, the number of physicians and hospitals as well as those tropical diseases which were most dangerous to the soldiers.