By Pascal Bianchini
In this interview, Mamadou Koné, curator at the Musée historique des forces armées du Sénégal, looks back at the long history of the Senegalese riflemen, the African troops employed by the French army during the colonial period. This military corps was founded in 1857 by the governor of the colony of Senegal, Louis Faidherbe, who created the first battalion in Saint-Louis du Sénégal, but the practice of recruiting Africans to maintain order existed since the 18th century. With the abolition of slavery – in 1848 for France – and the conquest of Africa by the European powers, mainly British and French, but also German, Belgian, Italian and Portuguese, the tirailleurs, many of whom were freed former slaves, were to play a new role. Mamadou Koné takes a closer look at the different ways in which these men were recruited, often under constraints. Although the name ‘Senegalese’ came to be used, these tirailleurs were in fact recruited under French domination from all over Africa, mostly from the Sahel.
From the First World War onwards and under the influence of racist doctrines developed with the French army, promoting the idea of ‘warrior races’, these men went to fight on European battlegrounds. Thus, the French were the only colonisers to bring African troops to their homeland, which triggered a whole series of interactions and representations among the civilian populations, generating new imaginaries that have persisted both in France and in Africa until today. The Thiaroye massacre occurred at the end of the Second World War. In December 1944, the extreme violence that had taken place in Europe and Asia was also to be found on the African continent. French soldiers massacred their own colonial soldiers, while at the same time, on the Metropolitan territory, French people were celebrating their liberation. The death toll, still being debated by historians, could be between 300 and 400. Thiaroye marked the beginning of a whole series of repressions and massacres in the French Empire: in Algeria from May 1945, in Indochina in November 1946, in Madagascar in the spring of 1947, and so on. This interview takes a closer look at the direct causes of this tragedy and the state of the search, while the French authorities have always sought to conceal the facts, if necessary, by forging documents.
On the other hand, West African societies quickly seized on this tragedy to make it a symbol in their struggle against colonialism. Initially, the fight was for the release of the thirty-four riflemen, considered mutineers by the army and convicted in a military trial in March 1945. This was the struggle of a new African political class that emerged in the post-war period. It was also a cultural struggle. Léopold Senghor wrote a poem, as did the Guinean Fodéba Keita, founder of the Ballets Africains in the 1940s and future minister under Sékou Touré before he was executed by the latter in 1969. During the 1950s, Senegalese also commemorated the massacre by organising what they called ‘pilgrimages’ to Thiaroye. After independence, in a context where Senghor’s Senegalese government remained very close to that of the former metropolis, the memory of Thiaroye was kept alive by various cultural and political activists who opposed Senghor. In these matters, the most famous piece is probably the film Camp de Thiaroye, by Ousmane Sembène and Thierno Faty Sow, released in 1988. From the 1990s and 2000s onwards, young Senegalese people, particularly through hip hop, continued to commemorate this tragedy, refusing to allow the memory of the colonial violence to disappear into oblivion.
Pascal Bianchini: Before talking about this massacre of ‘Tirailleurs Sénégalais’ (Senegalese riflemen) on 1st December 1944, we need to go back to the creation of these African troops in the French colonial army and the role they were made to play… The ‘Tirailleurs Sénégalais’ were set up as part of the colonial conquest in the 19th century. Can you briefly outline the historical context?
Mamadou Koné: The Tirailleurs corps was created on 21 July 1857 by Louis Faidherbe, who was still a colonel and later became a general. To understand this, we need to take into account the historical context in the long run. First, there was the triangular trade, when the French and other Europeans came to Africa to find slaves and take them to America. Then, in the 19th century, with the industrial revolution in Europe, first in England and then in France, Europeans no longer needed to call on slaves from Africa. In America, there were already slaves on the spot. With the advent of industrial machinery, Europe discovered that there were valuable minerals and raw materials in Africa. It was in this context that slavery was abolished, because it was no longer necessary, what was done in 1848 in the French colonies. Africa’s role was to provide raw materials and possibly also to become an outlet for consumer products manufactured in metropolitan France. In the case of Senegal – with Governor Faidherbe – in the middle of the 19th century, what particularly interested France was the gum trade. Therefore, it was important to have a climate of security. This is what was called at the time, ‘pacifying’ these territories…
Pascal Bianchini: ‘Pacifying’ is here to be put between commas?
Mamadou Koné: Yes, such peace was based on the economic interests of colonisation. The slave trade was banned, but some unscrupulous slave traders continued to trade clandestinely. Sometimes these slaves were freed, but sometimes the slave traders took them back to sell them. To prevent this, the French army sometimes integrated these freed slaves into its colonial troops. Faidherbe then proposed that Napoleon III creates this corps. In this way, the French army killed two birds with one stone. Not only did they put an end to the clandestine slave trade, but these soldiers were also to be used for colonial expansion.
Pascal Bianchini: We talk about Senegalese riflemen, but they weren’t all Senegalese?
Mamadou Koné: The first battalion was created in 1857 with the Senegalese. Until 1880, there were only Senegalese among the tirailleurs. But as the colonial conquest continued east of Senegal with the conquest of Sudan, a battalion of Sudanese riflemen was created. Then, in each conquered territory, new battalions were created: Haoussa riflemen, Gabonese riflemen, Congolese riflemen, and so on… But in 1900, as a tribute to the first battalion created in Saint Louis, only the name ‘Tirailleurs Sénégalais’ was retained, encompassing all soldiers recruited south of the Sahara, in the French colonies. It was a generic name for African soldiers. These Senegalese Tirailleurs enabled France to acquire the second largest colonial empire in the world, after that of the British.
Pascal Bianchini: Later on, these riflemen would also be used in wars between European powers, outside the African continent?
Mamadou Koné: It happened at the beginning of the 20th century when alliances were being formed between these different powers, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. War seemed increasingly imminent. In 1910, Lieutenant-Colonel Mangin proposed using Senegalese riflemen to help France overcome its demographic deficit in relation to Germany.
Pascal Bianchini: It is the thesis of the ‘Force noire’ (Black Force). Could you elaborate this?
Mamadou Koné: Mangin had a career in Africa among the Senegalese and Africans. In his book ‘La force Noire’ (the Black Force), he explained that they were valorous warriors who simply had to be disciplined to become a military force that could compensate for the lack of troops in metropolitan France. On 14 July 1913, the first regiment of Senegalese riflemen was invited to parade in Paris and receive the Legion of Honour medal. The aim was to show these black troops to French people in order to accustom themselves with their presence.
Pascal Bianchini: These riflemen arrived on the battlefields in 1914. Can you tell us how they were recruited?
Mamadou Koné: They arrived as early as 1914. There were different ways of recruitment. First, there were freed slaves. There were also voluntary recruitments fostered by the difficulties of the agricultural economy: droughts or plagues of locusts. Rather than cultivate a land that had become ungrateful, it was tempting to go to Saint-Louis and be recruited to get a weapon, wear nice clothes and receive a salary. Many young people were recruited this way. From 1912, with the prospect of war looming, the French introduced what was known as conscription. In other words, when a young man reached the age to be recruited, he was recruited. But the problem was civil status, which was lacking in Africa. So, people were recruited based on physical appearance: a young man could be only 15, 16, etc., and they would say he was 20. Finally, there was also forced recruitment.
Pascal Bianchini: Were people sometimes refused conscription?
Mamadou Koné: It could happen but when someone was recruited for conscription, and refused or ran away, their relatives could be taken hostage. They were held until the conscript presented himself. To sum up, it was sometimes voluntary service and sometimes conscription.
Pascal Bianchini: Can you give us a figure on the number of African soldiers sent to fight in the First World War?
Mamadou Koné: It is estimated that 185,000 riflemen were recruited during this war. Of these, more than 130,000 were sent to Europe, while the rest fought in Africa, particularly in Togo and Cameroon. Every year a new recruitment was made. Because of the high numbers of casualties during this war, the French army needed more and more recruits. In 1917, there was a shortage of French soldiers, which led to the idea of even more mass recruitments. During the previous year, in 1916, people in the French Sudan could no longer stand conscription. When the recruiting sergeants arrived, there was an alarm system (with a tamtam or balafon) to warn the young people to flee and take refuge in the bush. It was probably because the first soldiers to return to their villages from this war recounted the horrors they had experienced in Europe. Sometimes, populations rose up to fight against recruitment in Sudan (present-day Mali), as well as in Burkina Faso (the former Upper Volta). These uprisings were brutally suppressed and recruitment continued.
Pascal Bianchini: Can we talk about the role of Blaise Diagne, who was Senegal’s Member of Parliament at the time?
Mamadou Koné: With the bloodshed of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, the French army needed more and more reinforcements. The French government led by Clémenceau once again turned its attention to Africa. But within the colonial administration in Africa, some people were reluctant. In Dakar, Governor General Van Vollenhoven replied that enough troops had been sent, and that manpower was needed for agricultural work. Then, Blaise Diagne intervened. He told Clémenceau that he was in a position to recruit these new soldiers. In exchange, he asked to be appointed to the government, which was accepted as he became commissioner of the Republic for recruitment, with the rank of minister. In practice, this meant that he was the superior of all civil servants in the colony, including the Governor General who resigned when he learned of Blaise Diagne’s appointment. Whereas Blaise Diagne was asked to recruit 47,000 soldiers, he succeeded in recruiting 77,000, 63,000 of them in West Africa and the rest in Equatorial Africa. To achieve this, he arrived with a very large delegation, including senior French officers from the colonial army, politicians such as Galandou Diouf and marabouts such as Seydou Nourou Tall. The result was massive recruitment wherever he went. It was also because he had some charisma. Several famous marabouts like El Hadj Malick Sy of the Tidjane Brotherhood and Cheikh Ibra Fall sent their own sons to fight in the French army. Following these examples, many ‘talibés’ (followers) left. Another issue was the situation of the ‘four communes’, Saint-Louis, Rufisque, Gorée and Dakar, where some of the inhabitants were considered to be French citizens. However, this was not full citizenship, as one could reproach them for not having done their military service. So, the First World War was an opportunity to obtain full French citizenship.
Pascal Bianchini: During World War II, a similar scenario was repeated?
Mamadou Koné: Yes, the same procedures would apply: conscription, voluntary service and roundups. So, the first contingent of 63,000 arrived in France. They went to fight against the Germans during the ‘phoney war’ and experienced the defeat of the French army in 1939-40. Then came the armistice.
Pascal Bianchini: In this colonial context, what ranks were Africans given in the army? Were there any non-commissioned officers or officers among them?
Mamadou Koné: There were non-commissioned officers and even a few officers, but the bulk of the troops were infantrymen, the rank and file. The highest rank for Africans was captain. Charles N’Tchoréré from Gabon was one of the few officers. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and later executed.
Pascal Bianchini: After the French defeat by the Germans in 1940, were African soldiers treated differently from white French soldiers as prisoners of war?
Mamadou Koné: …the French soldiers were so many that the Germans, to avoid taking so many prisoners, disarmed them and asked them to mingle with the French population fleeing the advance of the German army in what was called the ‘exodus’ in June 1940. But as for the Africans, they were told, ‘You blacks, stand aside’. They thought they were going to be freed, but in reality, once their French officers had left, they were isolated and summarily executed because the Germans didn’t want any black prisoners. However, the massacres stopped as they became known, and the German army command intervened to put a stop to them. They were then locked up in open-air prisons, camps known as Frontstalags. Consequently, many African soldiers died there from cold and hunger. Faced with this hecatomb, some protective measures were taken, in particular by appealing to the wartime godmothers who sent them food and sometimes a little money.
Pascal Bianchini: Was it the French army that organised this system?
Mamadou Koné: The French army had set up this system of godmothers since the First World War. The idea was to call on women to support these young conscripts. They played an important role, particularly for those who had no family in France. The Germans also had the idea of using soldiers to work for German companies to support their war effort. Many riflemen took advantage of the situation to escape, and some joined the French resistance. As for the work done for the Germans, this was remunerated in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention. Some African soldiers were able to save relatively large sums of money, up to 15,000 or 20,000 metropolitan francs. I have even seen in some archives that some saved as much as 40,000.
Pascal Bianchini: They kept the money in their pockets? And then they had to change it when returning to Africa?
Mamadou Koné: Most of the time, they kept the money with them. Sometimes, they put it in their godmothers’ hands. But then, most of them wanted to change the money. That’s what caused the problem when it came to making the exchange. They were offered an exchange at only half the normal rate. This problem should not be confused with that of pay arrears, which we’ll discuss later, but it was also one of the tirailleurs’ demands. Then, in 1943, the Allies began to organise troops in North Africa, in preparation for the landings that were to take place the following year. And when the troops were reorganised in 1944, they were able to proceed with the Normandy landings on 6 June.
Pascal Bianchini: An important point to make is that these allied troops included Africans, right?
Mamadou Koné: You could even say that the Africans were at the origin of this French army. So, from West and Central Africa, African soldiers came to North Africa to form the first French army. From Senegal, for example, they sent the 18th Regiment of Senegalese Riflemen, which included many intellectuals, schoolteachers and so on. Their presence allowed France to take part at the landings. Initially, it was the Leclerc column that set off from Brazzaville to reach Chad. Then the Leclerc column would be transformed into the Second Armoured Division (‘Deuxième DB’ in French). Initially, the Second Armoured Division should have taken part in the Normandy landings, but the Americans said ‘No. No Negroes in the 2nd Armoured Division’. In response to this order from the Americans, the Second Armoured Division was ‘whitened’: it was made up entirely of white men, with a few exceptions, for example, nationals of the four communes, or the case of Claude Mademba Sy who was a captain, the son of a chief, etc., whom Leclerc himself personally defended.
Pascal Bianchini: How was it possible for this regiment to be formed in Senegal? I thought Dakar was held by the Petainists under Governor Boisson?
Mamadou Koné: To cut the long story short, the Petainists were no longer there, and Boisson had been replaced in 1943. In fact, at the beginning, he was not a Petainist. It was when the British bombed the French fleet at Mers el Kébir to prevent it falling into German hands that he changed his position, as did others. Moreover, when the armistice was signed in 1940, some Senegalese soldiers who refused to accept defeat managed to join the Leclerc column clandestinely. Many of them went through Gambia. But if they were caught, they were shot. Some were shot on the Corniche in Dakar.
Pascal Bianchini: Then these African troops landed in France?
Mamadou Koné: There were two landings, first in Normandy in June, then in Provence in August 1944. Then the Allied armies advanced and the two troops joined forces. Victory was now certain. It was here that another type of ‘whitening’ of the troops took place. Before entering Paris and other major cities, the black soldiers of the Allied troops were brought out.
Pascal Bianchini: Why did the American order this ‘whitening’?
Mamadou Koné: The Americans said they didn’t want black people because they were not supposed to drive tanks. It was a form of racism that existed in the American army. Another whitening took place after the landing in Provence when the troops were advancing to liberate the rest of France. This second whitening took place because the French did not want a parade of black troops during the liberation of France’s major cities. Then, on another level, we had to bear in mind France’s political situation. The Communists carried a lot of weight in the Resistance. Hence the idea of mobilising the maquisards by making them wear uniforms to control them better. The African riflemen who were wearing the uniforms the Americans had given them were stripped naked and exchanged their uniforms for those of the maquisards. This caused a great deal of frustration among the riflemen.
Pascal Bianchini: Then the issue of the service pays arose with the demobilisation of these soldiers…
Mamadou Koné: Prisoners released from the frontstalags started demanding the money they were owed. There began to be unrest. Fearing that these movements would spread to all the troops in France, the authorities chose to evacuate them. An offer was made to give them an advance corresponding to a quarter of the sums owed. Some of them accepted. But the others did not agree… Those who accepted the offer, between 1,600 and 1,700, were shipped off to Morlaix in Brittany. But according to the official version, at the stopover in Casablanca, around 400 of them got off …. But this official version is not credible, since in his logbook, the battalion commander who was convoying the ‘tirailleurs’ said on arrival in Dakar that there was nothing to report. In fact, this story about the riflemen disembarking in Casablanca was later invented to downplay the number of deaths at Thiaroye.
Pascal Bianchini: You mean that the French army deliberately forged documents to disguise the reality, i.e. the death toll in Thiaroye?
Mamadou Koné: It seems that the number of infantrymen on arrival in Dakar was reduced so that the number of those who died in the events could be reduced by the same amount. This is a working hypothesis that has yet to be backed up by historical research, but it is a strong one.
Pascal Bianchini: They arrived in Dakar and then what happened?
Mamadou Koné: They were evacuated to the Thiaroye transit camp, where the soldiers had to spend a few days before returning to their locality. But before going home, they asked for their money. They had been given an advance before they left, and were told that in Dakar they would receive the rest of the money. When they arrived in Dakar, they were told to go to their villages and that they would receive the money later. They refused to leave, knowing that if they split up, they would no longer have the strength in numbers to claim for their rights.
Pascal Bianchini: Let’s talk about the Thiaroye massacre. What exactly occurred?
Mamadou Koné: It was a premeditated massacre using heavy weapons. Armoured cars and a tank were used. I interviewed someone who was a child trooper at the Prytanée de Saint Louis in 1944. Their supervisor had told them that they were going to be away for a few days, because they had to go and collect some American equipment in the Sahara, to transport it to Dakar. When they returned to Saint Louis, they told their pupils that they had gone to Dakar to subdue the riflemen.
Pascal Bianchini: Were there local witnesses to the massacre from the village of Thiaroye ?
Mamadou Koné: In fact, Thiaroye today looks nothing like it did in 1944. It was a bush. The camp was isolated from the surrounding villages. However, we have testimonies from survivors among the riflemen. Some of them were published much later.
Pascal Bianchini: Precisely, some of these survivors were brought before the military courts…
Mamadou Koné: They were accused of having had a leading role. It is said that they were made to walk from Thiaroye to Dakar barefoot, in order to humiliate them. Thirty-four of them were condemned.
Pascal Bianchini: For a long time, the official version was that it was a mutiny. I myself heard that expression for a long time.
Mamadou Koné: According to this official version, the mutineers were armed and the French army had to fire back at the mutineers.
Pascal Bianchini: Regarding this official theory, was there any evidence to suggest that they were armed?
Mamadou Koné: Hardly. As shown in the inventory of the weapons held by the riflemen, there were only a few pistols, one or two, I think. The rest were bayonets and knives, among other things; in other words, ‘hardware’. Nothing compared to heavy weapons… Some of the riflemen were still having their coffee. They heard some shouting…
Pascal Bianchini: How were they massacred? Were they asked to regroup?
Mamadou Koné: They received the order to leave the barracks and gather on the esplanade next door. They were told to go to the station, which they refused. This was considered disobedience, rebellion. Then, an order to fire was given. The shots didn’t last long, less than a minute, but many were hit. The others were then ordered to leave for the station with their luggage. They rushed to get their luggage and left for the station. Officially, according to General Dagnan (the army commander for Senegal and Mauritania), 24 people were killed on the spot and 11 mortally wounded. But the same general says in another message that 24 people were killed and 46 were wounded, but they also eventually died. So, according to this same official source, depending on the version, there were either 35 or 70 deaths in the end. But each of these versions underestimates the reality.
Pascal Bianchini: Another question is where are the bodies? Where were they buried?
Mamadou Koné: That’s the question of mass graves. Some people are talking about mass graves near the motorway interchange. But I don’t believe it. The slabs are in fact water reservoirs that had been built by the Americans. I can’t rule out the possibility that bodies were buried in the Thiaroye cemetery itself. There’s also a part of the camp where there are paratroopers, where it’s possible that mass graves were dug. I interviewed a witness who told me that he took part in burying the bodies of the riflemen. He told me that he would be able to recognise the location, but with urbanisation, it was actually impossible to find the site.
Pascal Bianchini: Why were excavations not carried out? Were there any obstacles that prevented this?
Mamadou Koné: On this issue, the cat’s got my tongue. I just hope that with the new regime, the ‘omerta’ will be broken, which has not been the case in the past. All they have to do is order a search. Sooner or later, these searches will take place.
Pascal Bianchini: In addition to the question of historical truth, which has yet to be established and confirmed, there is also the question of justice…
Mamadou Koné: It’s true. Now, in their demands, not only are the descendants of the Tirailleurs asking for a reversal of this financial spoliation, but they also want a review of the trials, which France has always refused to do. For this to be legally possible, France would have to officially accept that it was a massacre. Since Macron has just acknowledged this fact, it could allow the files to be reopened, but I’m not a legal expert.
Pascal Bianchini: This raises the question of relations between the two states: France and Senegal. For a long time, the subject was not put on the agenda. It was only in 2014, when Hollande went to Dakar, that the French state started to acknowledge the facts, but his president did not then speak of a ‘massacre’. He also promised to return the archives. A commission was appointed in Senegal headed by Iba Der Thiam, who is deceased. Where do we stand now?
Mamadou Koné: Recently, François Hollande also used the term ‘massacre’. I was part of the commission that was appointed ten years ago. There were nine of us, including historians and archivists. Macky Sall received us. He entrusted us with the archives that had been digitised and granted us a budget. All the archives were brought together, and someone was asked to make an inventory. The archivists then produced a guide to these archives. They wanted to pass this guide on to Macky Sall and then, with his agreement, hand it all over to the historians so that they could do their work. But afterwards, we never got Macky Sall’s agreement and the historians were unable to work on the archives. We were supposed to hold a conference to present these archives. In fact, there was only a pre-conference in 2016 since we were unable to hand over the archives to the historians who had come… That’s when people started to wonder what was going on… We were accused, as members of this commission, of withholding archives or of being complicit in this situation…
Pascal Bianchini: And now, with the new government, has that changed?
Mamadou Koné: In principle, the archives are now available. Except that when historians wanted access to these archives, they were told: ‘Wait, there hasn’t been an official decision yet’. Finally, they took a decision recently. The archives have been declassified.
Pascal Bianchini: Now a new commission of historians has been appointed, headed by Mamadou Diouf?
Mamadou Koné: This is the ad hoc committee that has been set up to commemorate the 80th anniversary, etc. It is divided into two commissions: a commission of experts and a commission for the commemoration. At the same time, a special delegation has been appointed to collect archive documents in France.
Pascal Bianchini: There is one final point that does not directly concern the Thiaroye affair, but is linked to the claims of the Tirailleurs and their descendants, and that is the discrimination in the pensions paid to them…
Mamadou Koné: When independence was proclaimed, the French ‘crystallised’ the pensions of veterans from countries that had become independent. This meant that the level of pensions was set definitively with no possible increase. To avoid this, the only possible option was to take or keep French nationality. But in order to receive the pension, you had to visit France at least every six months. It was only some twenty years ago, when Jacques Chirac was head of state, that the first steps were taken to decrystallise these pensions. A few years later, under President Sarkozy, the crystallisation was completely abandoned, but in fact there were almost no veterans left who could benefit from these pensions. Not to mention the fact that many of them had not kept the necessary papers to qualify…
Pascal Bianchini: However, to conclude this interview, despite many efforts to conceal the Thiaroye tragedy, a number of political activists, artists and intellectuals have spoken about it on several occasions in the past. It hasn’t been completely swept under the carpet.
Mamadou Koné: Yes, that’s Thiaroye 44, in posterity. It’s a subject in itself. I’m due to talk about it in a conference soon.
