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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2022
This article describes the First World War diaries of the King's African Rifles, one of the British African colonial regiments. The documents are held, together with other related material, at The National Archives, Kew, London. The content of these daily accounts of the activities of individual Units is discussed and their position within the structure of the archive is outlined, as is their relationship with certain other categories of War Office and Colonial Office records. It is suggested that the information contained in the war diaries might potentially contribute, apart from the military history of the East African campaign, to a social history of the regiment and to an environmental history of the campaign.
1 Moyse-Bartlett, H, King's African Rifles: a study in the military history of East and Central Africa, 1890-1945, (Uckfield, Naval and Military Press, 2002).Google Scholar
2 Moyd, M., Violent Intermediaries: African soldiers, conquest, and everyday colonialism in German East Africa, (Athens, OH Ohio University Press, 2014).Google Scholar
3 The National Archives of the United Kingdom (hereinafter TNA), CO 534 Colonial Office: King's African Rifles Original Correspondence, 1905-1906. This series can be downloaded free of charge as digital microfilm through the online catalogue.
4 For a detailed account of the role of the regiment in the East Africa campaign, see Moyse-Bartlett, King's African Rifles, op. cit.
5 The second volume of the official history has not been published, and but drafts were written up and can be consulted at TNA CAB 44.
6 The material collected on the East African campaign is included in TNA CAB 45.
7 For example, Paice, E., Tip and Run: the untold tragedy of the Great War in Africa (London, Phoenix, 2008);Google Scholar Anderson, R., The Forgotten Front: The East African Campaign 1914-1918(Stroud, Tempus Publishing, 2004).Google Scholar
8 TNA WO 95/5323 3/2 Battalion KAR (Lindi Force), August-September 1917.
9 For example, Paice, E., Tip and Run: the untold tragedy of the Great War in Africa (London, Phoenix, 2008);Google Scholar Anderson, R., The Forgotten Front: The East African Campaign 1914-1918 (Stroud, Tempus Publishing, 2004);Google Scholar Samson, A. Britain, South Africa and the East Africa Campaign, 1914-1918 (London, I.B. Tauris Academic Studies, 2006);Google Scholar Strachan, H. The First World War in Africa (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
10 TNA WO 95/5324 No 150 Combined Field Ambulance, (Lindi Force) August-September 1917.
11 TNAWO 95/5322,3/3 Battalion (Hanforce No. 2 Column), May-November
12 TNA WO 95/5324 3/2 Battalion, KAR, October 1917.
13 TNA WO 95/5322 3/3 Battalion, KAR, June-August 1917.
14 TNA WO 95/5331 3/2 Battalion, KAR, March-June May 1918.
15 TNA WO 95/5321,2/2 Battalion, KAR, May 1917.
16 TNA WO 95/5325, 3/2 Battalion, KAR, (Lindi Column), June 1917.
17 TNA WO 95/5325,1/2 Battalion, KAR, (Lindi Column), March-July 1917.
18 Recipients of this award are listed in Arnold, J.,The African DCM: The Awards of the King's African Rifles and West African Frontier Force Distinguished Conduct Medal (Newton Abbot, John Arnold, 1998).Google Scholar
19 TNA WO 95/5325,1 /2 Battalion, KAR, (Lindi Column), March-July 1917.