{"id":176426780,"date":"2013-10-21T02:36:24","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T07:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176426780"},"modified":"2013-10-21T02:36:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T07:36:26","slug":"history-the-all-but-forgotten-contribution-of-african-soldiers-to-the-allied-victory-in-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2013\/10\/21\/history-the-all-but-forgotten-contribution-of-african-soldiers-to-the-allied-victory-in-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY: The all but forgotten contribution of African soldiers to the Allied victory in World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The all but forgotten contribution <\/span><\/h3>\n

of African soldiers <\/span><\/h3>\n

to the Allied victory <\/span><\/h3>\n

in World War II<\/span><\/h3>\n

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by\u00a0Atane Ofiaja<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"African<\/span><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0– Cicero<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On NPR<\/span><\/a>\u00a0a few days ago, the New-York-based Ghanaian lyricistBlitz the Ambassador<\/span><\/a>, speaking about the artists flying the flag for Africa internationally, said “What keeps us going? It is the fight against invisibility. It is the fight to say that, ‘Yo, we count, and we’re here.’ And, more importantly, we’re contributing so much color to the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Africans have been fighting against invisibility, and for the recognition of our contributions in various spheres of life for a long time, and there\u2019s a certain sadness in knowing that we still have to fight for it today, even as we celebrate our achievements. One of the historical cases of our contributions being made invisible by neglect was that of the role of African soldiers in the Allied forces\u2019 World War II victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

World War II was the\u00a0deadliest military conflict in history<\/span><\/a>. When history looks back at the events of that war, the focus is usually on the military might of the Allied nations, and their defeat of the Axis powers. Painfully neglected in the narrative of the war were the thousands of African soldiers conscripted by the British (and other colonial powers). The contributions of these soldiers in the conflicts have been omitted from the history books, or relegated to the margins of official records, and very few of the survivors remain, so their stories have gone with them to their graves. Yet the British Empire\u2019s military success in the\u00a0Burma Campaign<\/span><\/a>, and the\u00a0East African Campaign<\/span><\/a>, would not have happened without African soldiers. African soldiers participated heavily in the Burma Campaign in the Pacific theatre against Japanese forces, in the East African Campaign against Italy (Italy also used African soldiers), and in the Battle of Madagascar against the French Vichy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n