Kenya in World War II
The involvement of the British Colony of Kenya in World War II (Swahili: Vita vya Pili vya Dunia) began with the declaration of war on Nazi Germany by the British Empire in September 1939.
Main article: British Empire in World War IIThough some fighting with Italian troops occurred in Kenya itself from June 1940 to February 1941, it remained an important economic asset for the Allies and also contributed a significant number of soldiers to fight in the British Army.
Outbreak of war[edit]
Kenya bordered Italian East Africa to the north, and at the start of the war, it was feared that the much larger Italian army would advance into Kenya as it had into British Somaliland. The King's African Rifles (KAR), responsible for the defence of the whole of British-occupied east Africa with the Somaliland Camel Corps and Sudan Defence Force, numbered just 2,900 men in 1939,[1] compared with the 250,000 Italian colonial troops in the region.[2]
A drought in 1939–40 and accompanying crop failure, known at the time as the "Famine of the Italian", also encouraged Kenyans from the agricultural Akamba in eastern Kenya, who had not traditionally joined the army in large numbers, to enlist.[3] Enemy aliens in the colony were interned or placed under supervision.
Economic contribution[edit]
Kenya was an important source of agricultural products in the British Empire, supplying significant quantities of tea and tobacco. Traditionally, the Kenyan highlands (where much of the colony's agriculture was centred) were controlled by white farmers. Greater demands for agricultural products during the war caused the colonial authorities to order 200,000 Kenyan labourers to live and work on white-owned land until the end of the war in 1945.[16]