1919

Jun

Post Great War, the Versailles Treaty strips Germany of her African colonies.
German Cameroon and Togoland divided between Britain and France; German East Africa (Tanganyika) ceded to Britain.

1933

Jan

Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

Mar

Nazis consolidate their power, effectively taking control of the country.

1934

May

Nazis establish the Kolonialpolitisches Amt (KPA) or Colonial Policy Office.
Its objective is to regain the territories Germany lost after Versailles
and, in Hitler’s words, ‘to press energetically the preparatory work for a future
colonial administration’.

1938

Jul

Walter Hochburg assigned to Auslander Organisation in Tanganyika to agitate
against British rule. He will set up similar groups in French Cameroon and
British Togo.

1939

Mar

KPA begins systematic planning for new African colonies.

Sept

Operation Weiss – Germany invades Poland.
Britain and France declare war on Germany.

1940

May

Operation Geld – Germany invades Low Countries and France.
The British Expeditionary Force is destroyed at Dunkirk: 80 000 killed,
200 000 taken as prisoners of war.

June

Following the ‘Dunkirk Fiasco’ Churchill is forced to resign .
Lord Halifax becomes Prime Minister.
France surrenders.
Hitler threatens to invade Britain unless she comes to terms.
British press begins its “Bring ‘em Home” campaign to get the Dunkirk
POWs back in exchange for peace. Widespread political and public support.
KPA begins training courses at Hamburg University.

July

Colonial fever grips Nazi leadership.
Uniforms and weapons designed for use in tropics; a ‘multi-terrain automobile’ is developed that can be used anywhere in Africa.

Sept

Italy invades Egypt threatening the British garrison.

Oct

Summit meeting between Lord Halifax and Hitler in Berlin.
Britain and Germany sign a non-aggression pact in Europe; Britain agrees
to remain neutral should Germany attack the Soviet Union.
End of the war in Western Europe.

Dec

British counter-attack the Italians in Egypt, driving them back to Libya.
Dunkirk POWs return home.

1941

Jan

Afrika Korps formed under the command of Erwin Rommel.
Skirmishes between German and British forces in North Africa for dominance of the region.
SS establishes a colonial training academy in Berlin under the personal auspices of Himmler.

Apr

Operation Barbarossa – Germany invades Soviet Union.

Oct

Moscow falls.

Dec

Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour.
Pacific War begins; America fights in Asia but remains neutral in Europe and Africa.

1942

Jan

Wannsee Conference in Berlin to resolve the ‘Jewish question’.
The Jews of Europe are to be deported to Madagascar (off the coast of East
Africa in the Indian Ocean).

Feb

Second SS colonial academy established in Vienna.
Himmler proposes to run the policing of Africa.

May

Operation Vanille – Waffen-SS invades Madagascar .
Tana, the capital, falls.

Aug

‘Quit India Movement’ formed to drive the British out of the sub-continent.
Britain faces similar calls for independence in Ceylon, Malaya, Palestine and
Gold Coast.

Sept

Jews start arriving in Madagascar.

Oct

Rommel is beaten back at El-Alamein by the British.

Dec

Jerba Conference, Tunisia.
Britain, Germany and Italy agree to respect each other’s boundaries in North
Africa. Cessation of hostilities.
Hochburg made deputy Governor General of new German occupied territories in Africa, including the Sahara.

1943

Jan

Operation Banane – German expansion into French West Africa begins.
Former Prime Minister Churchill argues that Nazis must not be allowed to
dominate the continent.
Exiled governments of France and Belgium call on Britain to intervene in
Africa to secure their colonies from German aggression.

Mar

Rommel retires through ill health.
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim becomes commander of Afrika Korps.

Aug

Germany defeats Soviet Union.
Official end of the war in Eastern Europe; Soviet guerrilla campaign continues
east of the Urals.

Sept

With its grip weakening on India, British government fears for its other colonies.
A leaked Foreign Office memo talks of “a loss of prestige, prosperity and global influence unless Britain comes to an ‘understanding’ with Germany”.

Oct

Running on a “Peace for Empire” ticket, Halifax calls a general election and wins a landslide victory. Fifth National Government formed.

Dec

Casablanca Conference, Morocco, to decide the future of Africa .
Continent to be divided between Nazi Germany and British Empire.
Germany given a free hand in the west. Britain will maintain her colonies in the east of the continent, including Egypt, Sudan, Kenya and N&S Rhodesia.
Tanganyika returned to the Reich.
Italy given Libya, Abyssinia and Somaliland (known as ‘il Corno’).
Algeria to remain under Vichy France.
Portugal retains her two colonies, Angola and Mozambique.
Union of South Africa pledges neutrality.

1944

Jan

Berlin, capital of Greater German Reich, re-named: ‘Germania’.
Major construction work begins under Hitler’s architect, Speer.

Feb

Operation Sisal – Germany invades Belgian Congo.

Apr

Leopoldville, capital of the Congo, falls.
Subsequently re-named Neue Berlin (New Berlin).

Sept

Stanleyville in the east, Congo’s second city, falls.
Germany now controls the entire country.

Oct

Hochburg appointed Governor General of German Kongo.
Native Kongolese unfit for work deported north to the Sahara.

Dec

KPA sidelined as administrators of Africa.
With Hitler’s approval SS takes charge of the continent.
Under Hochburg its influence will eventually come to dominate every aspect of life in German Africa, from policing and security to industry, agriculture and ‘ethnic reallocation’.

1945

Jan

Operation Garnele – Germany invades French Cameroon.

Mar

Despite fierce resistance from French forces, Arnim captures the main city,
Douala.

May

German Africa divided into six spheres: Deutsch Kongo, Deutsch Ost-Afrika
(DOA), Deutsch Sud-West-Afrika (DSWA), Aquatoriana, Kameruns and Deutsch West Afrika (DWA, incorporating the Sahara), colloquially known as ‘Muspel’.
Sporadic deportations of black Africans to Muspel.

Nov

Construction of Pan African Autobahn (PAA) begins.
PAA is a joint Anglo-German project to construct a series of motorways linking Cairo to the Cape, New Berlin in the east to Roscherhafen (formerly Dar es Salaam) in the west.

1946

Feb

US forces invade Japan.

Sept

US forces reach Tokyo.
End of Pacific War.

1947

Aug

India becomes independent.

1948

Jun

Halifax returned to power but with a reduced majority.

1949

Apr

On Hitler’s sixtieth birthday the River Kongo is renamed the ‘Klara’ to honour the Führer’s mother.

June

Windhuk Conference (DSWA) chaired by Himmler and Hochburg to discuss ‘the racial security of German Africa’.
As a result of its decree, all black Africans to be sent to work in the industrial complexes of Muspel.

Nov

Operation Marmor – after a long running economic dispute over marble quarries, Waffen-SS invades southern Angola and annexes the country south of the Benguela Railway line.
Black Angolans deported.
North Angola begins a limited guerrilla campaign against German Africa.

1950

Mar

Number of Jews deported to Madagascar reaches 10.5 million.
Odilo Globocnik made Governor of the island.
Germany declares Europe to be ‘Jew free’.

May

‘Night of the Red Flag’ in Britain: all communist sympathisers interned.

1951

Oct

North Angola intensifies its guerrilla campaign (now clandestinely funded by the British). Hochburg demands action against them.

1952

Mar

German section of PAA opened.
British section of the road not due for completion until 1957.

Apr

Operation Nelke – German plans to invade North Angola and destroy the guerrilla camps are put on hold due to insufficient manpower.

Aug

Plot to assassinate Walter Hochburg.