German Polizeitruppe Officers and NCOs
in German East Africa, Cameroon, Togo, New Guinea & Samoa

Because of the very few numbers of German personnel employed by the Polizeitruppe and thus the lack of clear period photos or remaining uniforms, it is very difficult to confirm all the details of the uniforms as described in the few sets of uniforms regulations we have available or described. The sometimes partial descriptions we do have are the regulations passed by the Imperial Colonial Office (Reichskolonialamt) for the German East African Polizeitruppe 27 October 1906, 16 March 1912 as well as 8 July and 1 October 1910 (both referred to in Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon, Band 3, 1920 P72-73), and also 30 July 1912 (Deutsches Kolonialblatt XXIII 1912, P925), the Togo Polizeitruppe of 31 August 1908 and 4 September 1914, the Cameroon and Togo Polizeitruppe of 8 May 1913 (Deutsches Kolonialblatt XXIV 1913, P464), the New Guinea Polizeitruppe of 13 April 1912 confirming green as the colony colour and the regulations for Army Officers Seconded to the Colonies of 1912 (Deutsches Kolonialblatt XXIII 1912, P925-6). These uniform regulations were all very well researched and helpfully pointed out to me by Klaus Ahlf.

German Officers of the Polizeitruppe
The Polizeitruppe were usually commanded in military matters by a small number of military officers. In German East Africa and Cameroon, these were seconded from the local Schutztruppe, and wore standard Schutztruppe officers uniforms. In Togo and New Guinea regular army officers were seconded to the colonies to command the Polizeitruppe. They wore Schutztruppe khaki and white tropical uniforms without the Schutztruppe blue piping. Their tropical helmets, peaked caps and Südwester hats had a small state cockade below the Imperial one. They wore the shoulder straps, lace belts and swords of their home units. From 1912, officers in Togo were entitled to wear yellow as a facing colour on their peaked caps and Südwester hats, while those in New Guinea could wear green. No army officers were seconded to Samoa, though if they were, they were entitled from 1912 to use pink as a facing colour. It is not sure how much these new colony colour uniforms were issued before the outbreak of the First World War.

German Polizeimeister NCOs
While the officers commanding the Polizeitruppe came from military backgrounds, the NCOs commanding each police station had pervious police experience in Germany, and had also completed their obligatory military service. These personnel then were technically civilian officials (Beamte) in the colony rather than members of the military. There was generally only one rank of Police NCO in the colonies, usually titled as Polizeimeister (or sometimes Polizeiwachtmeister in German East Africa or Polizeisergeant in 1890s Togoland). In Cameroon, there was a specially titled Exerziermeister to train the African police solders, but this title was not distiguished by special insignia.

Uniforms
These Police Sergeants wore the white and khaki tropical uniforms of the Schutztruppe but without the Schutztruppe blue piping. The buttons of the tunic were in brass and bore the Imperial eagle of colonial officials, rather than the steel buttons of the Schutztruppe with the Imperial crown. The uniform regulations for Togo, list their buttons as silvered which contradicts the regulations for both Togo and Cameroon which have them as brass. Trousers were matching white or khaki, with some sergeants wearing riding breeches. Footwear was as for the Germans in the Schutztruppe, usually white leather shoes with the white parade uniform and brown leather ankle boots sometimes with leather gaiters, with the khaki field uniform. They had no grey home uniform.

Period photographs show quite a lax attitude towards uniforms worn by the Polizeimeister in distant outposts. Many did not wear their shoulder boards or carry a sword on duty. Some are seen in shirtsleeves in tropical climates and others even just wearing civilian suits on the Micronesian Islands.

Shoulder Boards
The shoulder boards of the tunic were red with silver lace down either side with vertical threads of black, red and black down the lace. From 1912, these shoulder boards were authorised in green and pink in New Guinea and Samoa respectively (though there is some doubt as to if or how often these new shoulder boards were worn). Polizeitruppe NCOs in Togo wore the Hussar-style shoulder straps of the Schutztruppe NCOs in black, white and red threads.

Peaked Cap and Südwester Hat
The Polizeimeister wore the grey peaked field cap or Südwester hat with a single Imperial cockade and piping and hatband in red, although in reality the Südwester hat was rarely worn. Above the cockade on the field cap a brass Imperial eagle badge was authorised though not always worn. White tropical field caps were also worn, likewise with red hatbands and piping. From 1912, the new colony colours were authorised as yellow for Togo, green for New Guinea and pink for Samoa (though as mentioned above it is not certain how often these new colours were used).

Tropical Helmet
A tall white tropical helmet was authorised with a small NCOs Imperial cockade at the front. From 31 August 1908, a small brass imperial eagle was added above the cockade for NCOs in German East Africa. This was probably also done in the other colonies, as confirmed by the Cameroon and Togo Polizeitruppe regulations of 1913. A khaki cover could be worn over the white tropical helmet. From 4 September 1912, a black/silver/red twisted cord was worn around the hatband of the tropical helmet for the rank of Wachtmeister in German East Africa, this practice was presumably authorised in the other colonies though was not always followed.

Equipment and Weapons
A brown leather belt was worn with the same naval belt buckle as worn by Schutztruppe NCOs. Polizeimeister were entitled to carry a Schutztruppe senior NCO sword with brown Faustriemen and gold sword knot. The 1913 regulations for Cameroon and Togo authorise a more practical kS98 bayonet to replace the sword, and it may well be that missing regulations recommended the same for the NCOs of other colonies before the First World War. Privately purchased or issue pistols were most likely carried in action.

The First World War
When the First World War broke out, the Polizeitruppe of German East Africa and Cameroon (with their German NCOs) were incorporated into the Schutztruppe. The Polizeitruppe of Togo and New Guinea (with their German NCOs) became the backbone of defence in their colonies, though neither were reliable fighting forces and were not able to conduct sustained resistance. Samoa and its tiny Polizeitruppe surrendered without a fight.