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Senegalese Tirailleurs
The Senegalese Tirailleurs (French: Tirailleurs Sénégalais) were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Saint-Louis, Senegal, the initial colonial capital city of French West Africa and subsequently throughout Western, Central and Eastern Africa: the main sub-Saharan regions of the French colonial empire. The noun tirailleur, which translates variously as 'skirmisher', 'rifleman', or 'sharpshooter', was a designation given by the French Army to indigenous infantry recruited in the various colonies and overseas possessions of the French Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Despite recruitment not being limited to Senegal and including regiments from French Soudan (contemporary Mali), these infantry units took on the adjective sénégalais since that was where the first black African Tirailleur regiment had been formed. The first Senegalese Tirailleurs were formed in 1857 and by the 1930s, men from territories like Chad and Gabon also comprised parts of the corps. These African soldiers served France in a number of wars, including World War I (providing around 200,000 troops, more than 135,000 of whom fought in Europe and 30,000 of whom were killed) and World War II (recruiting 179,000 troops, 40,000 deployed to Western Europe).
Other tirailleur regiments were raised in French North Africa from the Arab and Berber populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco; collectively they were called tirailleurs nord-africains or Turcos. Tirailleur regiments were also raised in Indochina; they were called Vietnamese, Tonkinese or Annamites Tirailleurs.
The Senegalese Tirailleurs were formed in 1857 by Louis Faidherbe, Governor-General of French West Africa, because he lacked sufficient French troops to control the territory and meet other requirements of the first phase of colonization. The formal decree for the formation of this force was signed on 21 July 1857 in Plombières-les-Bains by Napoleon III. Recruitment was later extended to other French colonies in Africa. During its early years the corps included some former slaves bought from West African slave-owners as well as prisoners of war.[dubious – discuss] [citation needed] By 1891, fugitive slaves from Liberty Villages, settlements established as part of France's effort to address the abolition of slavery, could receive official emancipation by enlistment with the tirailleurs sénégalais. Subsequent recruitment was either by voluntary enlistment or on occasion by an arbitrary form of conscription. Men who voluntarily joined the corps often did so partly due to the special opportunities to accumulate wealth or social standing outside of traditional paths. Newly liberated slaves were incorporated into Tirailleur military units or worked as auxiliary laborers. In some cases Tirailleurs married emancipated former slave women, allowing the soldiers to circumvent the common regional practice of familial negotiation and payment of bride-wealth.
In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the Senegalese tirailleurs continued to provide the bulk of French garrisons in West and Central Africa. Their overall numbers remained limited. However, in anticipation of the First World War, Colonel Charles Mangin described in his 1910 book La force noire his conception of a greatly expanded French colonial army, whilst Jean Jaurès, in his L'armée nouvelle, suggested that the French Army should look elsewhere to recruit its armies due to the falling birthrate in mainland France.
A company-sized detachment of tirailleurs sénégalais took part in the conquest of Madagascar (1895), although the bulk of the non-European troops employed in this campaign were Algerian and Hausa tirailleurs. Regiments of tirailleurs malgaches were subsequently recruited in Madagascar, using the Senegalese units as a model.
In 1896, a small expedition consisting mainly of 200 tirailleurs sénégalais was assembled in Loango (French Congo) under Captain Jean-Baptiste Marchand. This "Marchand Mission" took two years to cross hundreds of miles of unexplored bush until they reached Fashoda on the Nile. Here they encountered British and Egyptian troops under Major-General Kitchener, who had just defeated the Mahdi's Dervish army near Khartoum. While the Fashoda Incident raised the possibility of war between France and Britain, tribute was paid to the courage and endurance of Marchand and his Senegalese tirailleurs by both sides.
By a decree dated July 7, 1900 the Tirailleurs sénégalais, the Tirailleurs indochinois, Tirailleurs malgaches and the "marsouins" were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Navy and Colonies, but were reclassified as Troupes coloniales, different from the mainland elements Metropolitan army and separate from the Armée d’Afrique of the Maghreb. The anchor badge of the Troupes coloniales was worn on the collar from 1914, and when the Adrian helmet was adopted in WW1, an insignia with the anchor behind a flaming grenade was worn by the Tirailleurs Sénégalais.
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Senegalese Tirailleurs
The Senegalese Tirailleurs (French: Tirailleurs Sénégalais) were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Saint-Louis, Senegal, the initial colonial capital city of French West Africa and subsequently throughout Western, Central and Eastern Africa: the main sub-Saharan regions of the French colonial empire. The noun tirailleur, which translates variously as 'skirmisher', 'rifleman', or 'sharpshooter', was a designation given by the French Army to indigenous infantry recruited in the various colonies and overseas possessions of the French Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Despite recruitment not being limited to Senegal and including regiments from French Soudan (contemporary Mali), these infantry units took on the adjective sénégalais since that was where the first black African Tirailleur regiment had been formed. The first Senegalese Tirailleurs were formed in 1857 and by the 1930s, men from territories like Chad and Gabon also comprised parts of the corps. These African soldiers served France in a number of wars, including World War I (providing around 200,000 troops, more than 135,000 of whom fought in Europe and 30,000 of whom were killed) and World War II (recruiting 179,000 troops, 40,000 deployed to Western Europe).
Other tirailleur regiments were raised in French North Africa from the Arab and Berber populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco; collectively they were called tirailleurs nord-africains or Turcos. Tirailleur regiments were also raised in Indochina; they were called Vietnamese, Tonkinese or Annamites Tirailleurs.
The Senegalese Tirailleurs were formed in 1857 by Louis Faidherbe, Governor-General of French West Africa, because he lacked sufficient French troops to control the territory and meet other requirements of the first phase of colonization. The formal decree for the formation of this force was signed on 21 July 1857 in Plombières-les-Bains by Napoleon III. Recruitment was later extended to other French colonies in Africa. During its early years the corps included some former slaves bought from West African slave-owners as well as prisoners of war.[dubious – discuss] [citation needed] By 1891, fugitive slaves from Liberty Villages, settlements established as part of France's effort to address the abolition of slavery, could receive official emancipation by enlistment with the tirailleurs sénégalais. Subsequent recruitment was either by voluntary enlistment or on occasion by an arbitrary form of conscription. Men who voluntarily joined the corps often did so partly due to the special opportunities to accumulate wealth or social standing outside of traditional paths. Newly liberated slaves were incorporated into Tirailleur military units or worked as auxiliary laborers. In some cases Tirailleurs married emancipated former slave women, allowing the soldiers to circumvent the common regional practice of familial negotiation and payment of bride-wealth.
In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the Senegalese tirailleurs continued to provide the bulk of French garrisons in West and Central Africa. Their overall numbers remained limited. However, in anticipation of the First World War, Colonel Charles Mangin described in his 1910 book La force noire his conception of a greatly expanded French colonial army, whilst Jean Jaurès, in his L'armée nouvelle, suggested that the French Army should look elsewhere to recruit its armies due to the falling birthrate in mainland France.
A company-sized detachment of tirailleurs sénégalais took part in the conquest of Madagascar (1895), although the bulk of the non-European troops employed in this campaign were Algerian and Hausa tirailleurs. Regiments of tirailleurs malgaches were subsequently recruited in Madagascar, using the Senegalese units as a model.
In 1896, a small expedition consisting mainly of 200 tirailleurs sénégalais was assembled in Loango (French Congo) under Captain Jean-Baptiste Marchand. This "Marchand Mission" took two years to cross hundreds of miles of unexplored bush until they reached Fashoda on the Nile. Here they encountered British and Egyptian troops under Major-General Kitchener, who had just defeated the Mahdi's Dervish army near Khartoum. While the Fashoda Incident raised the possibility of war between France and Britain, tribute was paid to the courage and endurance of Marchand and his Senegalese tirailleurs by both sides.
By a decree dated July 7, 1900 the Tirailleurs sénégalais, the Tirailleurs indochinois, Tirailleurs malgaches and the "marsouins" were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Navy and Colonies, but were reclassified as Troupes coloniales, different from the mainland elements Metropolitan army and separate from the Armée d’Afrique of the Maghreb. The anchor badge of the Troupes coloniales was worn on the collar from 1914, and when the Adrian helmet was adopted in WW1, an insignia with the anchor behind a flaming grenade was worn by the Tirailleurs Sénégalais.