Picture this: the mud-splattered trenches of France, the suffocating jungles of Burma, the searing deserts of North Africa. Now, populate these scenes not just with Tommies and Yanks, but with the ebony faces of African soldiers ⚔️, the sturdy frames of Caribbean porters ⛵, and the sun-scorched feet of barefoot carriers laden with supplies they would never use. These men—and women, though far fewer—marched, bled, and died in wars often reduced to the dramas of Europe and America. Yet, across both World War I and World War II, a staggering 2.9 to 3.2 million Africans and Caribbeans served as combatants, porters, labourers, and non-combatants. Their contributions, like so much of their history, remain hidden in the shadows of imperial amnesia.

The Hidden Hands Behind the Guns

In World War I, African and Caribbean men were not just reluctant conscripts; they were the sinews of empire at war. Somewhere between 1.6 million and 1.7 million from Africa and the Caribbean answered the call—or were dragged into it. From the King’s African Rifles (30,658 strong) to the Tirailleurs Sénégalais (a formidable 190,000), these regiments crisscrossed continents, their sweat and blood paving the road to Allied victory.

Yet, not all wore uniforms or carried guns. Behind every soldier was a porter ⚒️, bent double under crates of ammunition, medical supplies, and rations. 340,000 to 400,000 men served in the East African Carrier Corps alone. Most walked barefoot through lethal terrain, dodging both enemy fire and tropical disease. Their deaths—around 95,000—were not glorious, nor are they remembered with wreaths. They collapsed under their loads, drowned crossing rivers, or succumbed to infections their white officers barely noted.

Even the unsung West Africa Carrier Corps (14,200) from Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and the Cameroon Carriers (up to 15,000), kept the logistical lifeblood flowing through hostile territory. To call them pack animals would be cruel—if it weren’t so close to the truth.

Death Without Honour

The killing fields stretched far beyond Europe. In Africa, tens of thousands died in colonial skirmishes directly tied to European conflicts. 11,000 Sudanese men perished at the Battle of Karari in 1898, a grim rehearsal for the coming cataclysms. In the Franco-Algerian Wars, some 480,000 Algerians paid with their lives. These were wars that primed Africa to be both battlefield and labour pool when global war erupted.

In the trenches and deserts of the Great War, African and Caribbean troops served with both loyalty and bitterness. The South African Native Labour Contingent (25,000) provided unarmed labour, hauling and building under horrific conditions. Meanwhile, the British West India Regiments—numbering anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000—fought in Europe and the Middle East, only to return home to islands that barely acknowledged their sacrifice.

The Invisible Casualties

The human cost wasn’t limited to soldiers. Civilian populations across Africa suffered under wartime requisitions, forced labour schemes, and supply chain collapse. In East Africa alone, 365,000 civilians died during World War I, and another 1.5 million succumbed to the post-war influenza pandemic, a death toll Europe conveniently left out of its tally.

In South Africa, 200,000 civilians perished, some through famine and disease triggered by wartime economic disruption. War was not just a soldier’s burden. It crushed entire economies, societies, and futures.

World War II: A Bigger Stage, The Same Thanklessness

If the first war pulled in 1.6 to 1.7 million Africans and Caribbeans, World War II demanded another 1.3 to 1.5 million. By now, the machine had learned how to efficiently strip resources—and men—from colonies.

The Royal West African Frontier Force expanded to up to 300,000 men from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Gambia. Their feet blistered across Burmese jungles, while the King’s African Rifles, now swollen to 289,530 men, chased fascists from Ethiopia to Burma. South Africa alone contributed 334,000 men, black and white, to fight Hitler’s legions.

The British West India Regiments returned with 15,000 men, still dreaming of proving their worth to an empire that preferred them invisible. Even Mauritius and Seychelles sent 6,500 of their sons into this storm.

The French drew deeply from Africa’s veins too. 122,800 troops from Senegal, Mali, Chad, and beyond joined the Free French forces, while 67,200 Moroccans, Tunisians, and Algerians served in the French Expeditionary Corps.

The Carriers and the Forgotten Corps

Though their names rarely appear in textbooks, the Eritrean colonial troops (60,000) and Ethiopian irregulars (30,000) helped expel Italy from East Africa. Behind them, thousands of porters—unrecorded, unnamed—dragged supplies across the rugged terrain.

In Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the West Africa Carrier Corps again did the backbreaking work of empire, though their numbers remain to be confirmed. Alongside them, the Cameroon Carriers and West Africa Inland Water Transport Services navigated rivers and trails, keeping armies fed and armed.

Cheap Labour, Expensive Lives

What united all these men and women across both wars was their expendability. Their pay—if it came—was often 25% to 90% lower than white troops. Their equipment was inferior, their medical care often absent, and their deaths recorded with the casual indifference of bean-counting clerks. The European soldiers feared malaria; African troops died of it in droves.

A Patchwork Legacy

The wars were over, but the ledger of African and Caribbean service remained heavily in credit. Many returned to colonies still gripped by poverty and racism, denied pensions and even basic recognition. Their stories became whispers, and their medals—if they received any—gathered dust in family trunks.

Yet, their sacrifice reshaped the future. Veterans of both wars became the backbone of independence movements across Africa and the Caribbean. Having fought for freedom abroad, they demanded it at home. From Kenya’s Mau Mau fighters, many of whom were war veterans, to the anti-colonial movements in Ghana and Nigeria, the skills, discipline, and anger forged in those wars ignited revolutions.

A Call to Remember

Today, when we mark the silence of Armistice or the triumph of V-E Day, we must remember that those moments were not purely European. They were made possible by the sweat, blood, and quiet endurance of Africans and Caribbeans who fought wars that were not theirs, on land that was not theirs, for freedoms they would not fully taste.

Their story is not just a footnote. It is the foundation.

And so, when the bugle sounds and the wreaths are laid, let there be not just poppies, but baobab leaves and ackee flowers, symbols of the forgotten millions who carried empires on their backs—barefoot, unarmed, and unremembered.

history #blackhistorymonth #africa #veterans

Lest we forget, and lest we erase.