A Few Books, Articles and Videos

On 1 December 1944, the French army opened fire on Tirailleurs sénégalais who were waiting to be paid and de-commissioned at Camp Thiaroye, near Dakar, Senegal.  35 Tirailleurs sénégalais died in the massacre.  Photo credit.




Some videos re the Tirailleurs sénégalais in the French Army
  • Eveline Berruezo and Patrice Robin, Le Tata - paysages de pierres. Documentary film, 60', 1992. Espace Mémoire, France.
  • Indigènes (Days of Glory), 2006, directed by Rachid Bouchareb.
  • L'histoire oubliée: soldats noirs, réalisé par Éric Deroo, Les Films du Village, ADAV, Paris, 1985-2003?, 52' (DVD)
  • Camp de Thiaroye, un film d'Ousmane Sembène, 1988, 147' (docu-fiction)
  • Pour mémoire, un film de Christian Richard, production Handicap International, 1992.
  • Les Enfants du pays, un film de Pierre Javaux avec Michel Serrault, France, 200633 (fiction)Le Tata sénégalais de Chasselay, Mémoires du 25° RTS, un film de Dario Arce et Rafael Gutierrez, Productions Chromatiques, TLM, 2007, 52' (documentaire)
  • Days of Glory (2006 film)



Some books re the Tirailleurs sénégalais in the French Army

  • Rodolphe Alexandre, La Révolte des tirailleurs sénégalais à Cayenne, 24-25 février 1946, 1995.
  • Anthony Clayton, France, Soldiers and Africa. 1988.
  • Eugène-Jean Duval, L'épopée des tirailleurs sénégalais. 2005.
  • Myron Echenberg, Colonial Conscripts: The Tirailleurs Senegalais in French West Africa, 1857-1960. 1990.
  • Mar Fall, Les Africains noirs en France: des tirailleurs sénégalais aux ... blacks. 1986.
  • Julien Fargettas, Les tirailleurs sénégalais - Les soldats noirs entre légendes et réalités, 1939-1945.Helene de Gobineau, Noblesse d'Afrique (Paris, 1946)
  • Nancy Ellen Lawler. Soldiers of Misfortune: Ivoirien Tirailleurs of World War II. 1992.
  • Clarence Lusane. Hitler's Black Victims: The Historical experiences of Afro-Germans, European Blacks, Africans, and African Americans in the  Nazi Era. New York: Routledge, 2002.Gregory Mann, Native Sons. West African Veterans and France in the Twentieth Century. London: Duke University Press, 2006.
  • Charles Onana, La France et ses tirailleurs. Paris: Eds Duboiris, 2003.
  • Raphaël Onana, Un homme blindé à Bir-Hakeim : Récit d'un sous-officier Camerounais qui a fait la guerre de 39-45. France, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 1996.
  • János Riesz et Joachim Schultz, "Tirailleurs sénégalais" : zur bildlichen und literarischen Darstellung afrikanischer Soldaten im Dienste Frankreichs. Présentations littéraires et figuratives de soldats africains au service de la France, Frankfurt-am-Main, P. Lang, 1989.
  • Fayez Samb, La patrouille du caporal Samba: tirailleurs sénégalais à Lyon. Paris, L'Harmattan, 2003.
  • Raffael Scheck,  Hitler’s African victims. The German Army massacres of Black French soldiers in 1940. Cambridge University Press, 2006.  (en allemand: Hitlers afrikanische Opfer. Die Massaker der Wehrmacht an schwarzen französischen Soldaten)
  • M. Thomas, The French Empire at War, 1940-45. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.


Some articles re the Tirailleurs sénégalais in the French Army
  • Moulaye Aïdara, " L'histoire oubliée des tirailleurs sénégalais de la Seconde Guerre mondiale", Éditions Le manuscrit, 2005
  • T. Chafer and M. Evans, “The Second World War and the Colonial Imagination”, in M. Riera and M. Echenberg, ‘“Morts pour la France”: the African soldier in France during the Second World War’, Journal of African History, 26, 1985, pp. 363-80.
  • Michael Crowder, “The 1939-1945 War and West Africa,” in J. F. A. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds.), History of West Africa, vol. 2 (London, 197I), pp. 596-62 I.
  • R. Ginio, "African Colonial Soldiers between Memory and Forgetfulness: The Case of Post-Colonial Senegal’, Outre-Mers, 94, 350-1, 2006, pp. 141-55.
  • R. Hendrick, "African Soldiers in World War II," Armed Forces & Society, 4, 3, 1978, pp. 501-25.
  • Myron Echenberg, "Tragedy at Thiaroye: The Senegalese Soldiers' Uprising of 1944 ", in Peter Gutkind, Robin Cohen and Jean Copans (eds), African Labor History, Beverly Hills, 1978, p. 109-128
  • Julien Fargettas, “Le massacre des soldats du 25ème Régiment des Tirailleurs Sénégalais Région lyonnaise, 19 et 20 juin 1940,” (Mémoire de maîtrise, Université de Saint-Étienne, 2000)
  • Raffael Scheck, “The Killing of Black Soldiers from the French Army by the "Wehrmacht" in 1940: The Question of Authorization,” German Studies Review, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Oct., 2005), pp. 595-606
  • Panivong Norindr, “Incorporating Indigenous Soldiers in the Space of the French Nation” [Review of Rachid Boucharib’s Indigenes] Yale French Studies , No. 115, New Spaces for French and Francophone Cinema (2009), pp. 126-140
  • Laura Rice, “African Conscripts/European Conflicts: Race, Memory, and the Lessons of War”
  • Cultural Critique, No. 45 (Spring, 2000), pp. 109-149
  • Martin C. Thomas, “The Vichy Government and French Colonial Prisoners of War, 1940-1944"
  • French Historical Studies , Vol. 25, No. 4 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 657-692


Some books and articles re African-Americans in the US Army (There are actually many, many more)

  • James, C.L.R., Georges Breitman, and Edgar Keemer. Fighting Racism in World War II. New York: Monad Press, 1980.
  • Fighting for America: Black Soldiers--the Unsung Heroes of World War II
  • Lusane, Clarence. Hitler's Black Victims: The Historical experiences of Afro-Germans, European Blacks, Africans, and African Americans in the  Nazi Era. New York: Routledge, 2002.
  • Morrow, John H, Jr., “Black Africans in World War II: The Soldiers' Stories,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 632 (Nov 2010): 12-25.

There are actually quite a few books covering the African-American experience in World War II.  It is clear that it has been much better documented, especially in recent years, than that of the tirailleurs sénégalais.  So instead of listing a lot of books here, see this nice book list compiled by the Cincinnati Library (a good starting place for research).
Here is a link to another decent bibliography of materials:  African Americans in Military History.
Barnes and Noble also has a pretty good search system.