Alhaji Grunshi
RSM Alhaji Grunshi DCM MM was the first British soldier to fire a shot in the First World War.[1]
Germany's West African colony of Togoland was isolated from the rest of the German Empire, with the British Gold Coast to the west and French Dahomey to the west. Following the declaration of war by the British Empire on 3 August, 1914, the colony was completely cut off from reinforcement. With no German military presence in Togoland in 1914, the colony was defenceless other than a police force of 660 Togolese police officers serving under 10 German sergeants.
Although containing few resources of value to Germany, Togoland was strategically vital to the defense of Germany's overseas empire, with the powerful Kamina radio transmitters near Atakpamé the only radio link between Germany and its colonies of German Southwest Africa and German East Africa, as well as the only means of radio communication between Germany and shipping in the South Atlantic.[2]
Following the declaration of war, troops of the Gold Coast Regiment entered Togoland from the British Gold Coast and advanced on the capital, Lomé. The Gold Coast Regiment encountered the German-led police force on 7 August 1914 at Nuatja, and Regimental Sergeant Major Alhaji Grunshi fired a shot at the Togolese police.[3] On 8 August 1914 the commander of the police, Hauptmann Pfaeler, was shot after climbing a tree to get a better view of the Gold Coast Regiment, and resistance collapsed. German technicians destroyed the Kamina transmitters on 24 August, and Togoland surrendered to the British and French on 26 August 1914.
Grunshi survived the war, and as a Lance Corporal was Mentioned in Despatches on 5 March 1918.[4]
References
- ^ Strachan, Hew (2003). The First World War: To Arms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 495. ISBN 0199261911.
- ^ Rankin, Nicholas (2009). A Genius for Deception: How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 019538704X.
- ^ Thompson, J. Lee (2007). Forgotten Patriot: a life of Alfred, Viscount Milner of St. James's and Cape Town, 1854-1925. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 311. ISBN 0838641210.
- ^ "Third Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette (30560). London: 2881–2891. 1918-03-05.