[niteowl77]

The native troops fought under von Lettow to the end. They had started thinking of themselves as citizens of the German Reich, and took pride in it. The British viewed von Lettows arming of black troops to fight white men as an abomination.

I read where the standard post-WWI German "test" to see if an askari had really been in Imperial German military service was for a civil servant to bellow a couple of crisp drill-ground commands, watching how quickly and correctly they obeyed.

[Reily]

And this was still done up until sometime in the 1960s to early 1970s. Done at the German consulate in Namibia to see if some old African codger was indeed a German askari. This was the test to get his WWI pension.

[redgolum]

I read that also.

They not only could do the drills, but when an aging von Lettow came for a visit, many of his old soldiers praised with him.

I have come to admire von Lettow. An honorable man. When asked by Hitler to be a diplomat, he told der furher to go f himself. Lost both of his sons at the Eastern Front