1914: August 9
ADVERTISEMENTJust days after war had broken out in Europe, British and French troops stationed in Africa began to move on the German colonial territory of Togoland. The small country did not have many German forces, only around 700 military police and 300 colonists with military training, but the city of Kamina was the home of a new wireless station that could link Berlin with the Atlantic and South America.
The French and British first took the coastal station of Lome without a fight as the German-led troops retreated inland to protect Kamina. The Allied troops suffered casualties as they advanced but with a larger and better-equipped force they eventually reached Kamina to find the wireless station destroyed. The majority of the local German troops had abandoned their posts and around 200 of the remaining men surrendered. Togoland was quickly split between the French and the British.