Rhodesian Army

The African colony of Rhodesia contributed a higher percentage of its white male population to wartime service than any other territory of the British Empire. A local game hunter, Major Boyd Cunningham, recruited 2,700 men into his volunteer Northern Rhodesia Rifles. These men fought on the southern frontiers of German East Africa. These were supported by some of the 1,800 strong Southern Rhodesia Volunteers. Others went to the Western Front and by the end of the war, a total of 6,831 Rhodesians, out of around 12,000 adult male Europeans, saw military service. A total of 732 men from Rhodesia were killed during the First World War.