Key Facts
- Duration
- 6–26 August 1914 (20 days)
- Key German asset
- Kamina Funkstation wireless transmitter
- Partition year
- 1916
- League of Nations mandates
- British and French Togoland, July 1922
- Attacking colonies
- Gold Coast (British) and Dahomey (French)
Strategic Narrative Overview
German colonial forces abandoned the capital Lomé and the coastal province, withdrawing northward toward Kamina while fighting delaying actions. Allied columns advanced along the road and railway from the coast, while smaller forces converged from the north. German defenders slowed the Allied advance at the Affair of Agbeluvoe and the Affair of Khra, but were unable to hold the colony against the combined pressure of the converging forces.
01 / The Origins
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Britain and France moved quickly against Germany's colonial territories in Africa. Togoland, a narrow German colony on the West African coast, housed the Kamina Funkstation, a powerful wireless transmitter linking Berlin to the Atlantic and South America. Eliminating this communications hub became the primary strategic objective for Allied forces advancing from neighbouring British Gold Coast and French Dahomey.
03 / The Outcome
German forces surrendered the colony on 26 August 1914, just twenty days after the campaign began. The Kamina Funkstation was destroyed before capture. In 1916 the victors partitioned Togoland between themselves, and by July 1922 British Togoland and French Togoland were formally established as League of Nations mandates, ending German colonial presence in the territory.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.