WW1: Unusual Tales from The Great War.
Oct 11, 2026 · 34 min · 8 segments
After the Battle of Tsingtao and the demise of the German Asian Fleet, what happened to the Islands? The New Zealanders on Samoa and the "Battle with the Wireless Mast". The Australians on New Guinea…
In the first episode of this series, we talked about how Germany was late to the imperial territorial acquisition race.
These collection of islands form Micronesia, Melanesia, part of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, and some others.
Colonial or native troops were not present, and there was no obligation to undertake any military training.
Many of the German residents living the colonial dream were there to avoid or had already evaded compulsory military service at home in Germany.
On some of the larger possessions, there were native police trained by Germans and sometimes commanded by natives, and these weren't particularly well-disciplined men.
The Samoan police were disbanded in January 1914 after four of its members caused some local problems, as the literature refers to it.
Where there were strategic assets, they came in the form of a growing network of radio communication masts and coal resupply stations.
News of increased stresses in Europe, the slide into and eventual declarations of war between the European powers, reached Samoa quickly through the brand-new Telefunken radio mast on the hills above Apia, the main town of the German-controlled island.
The presence of the East Asian Squadron was never going to be a protection for these islands.
The islands, and in particular their German and other European workers and residents, would quickly become dependent on supplies from Allied countries, be it Japan or the British Empire states.
Most of the islands were very quickly notified they were effectively under new management, and the practical reality was that it made no difference to the lives of the indigenous populations.
There was a significant exception with German New Guinea, known as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, and the Bismarck Archipelago to the north of Australia, which we'll come to in a bit.
In the first episode of this series, we talked about how Germany was late to the imperial territorial acquisition race.
These collection of islands form Micronesia, Melanesia, part of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, and some others.
Colonial or native troops were not present, and there was no obligation to undertake any military training.
Many of the German residents living the colonial dream were there to avoid or had already evaded compulsory military service at home in Germany.
On some of the larger possessions, there were native police trained by Germans and sometimes commanded by natives, and these weren't particularly well-disciplined men.
The Samoan police were disbanded in January 1914 after four of its members caused some local problems, as the literature refers to it.
Where there were strategic assets, they came in the form of a growing network of radio communication masts and coal resupply stations.
News of increased stresses in Europe, the slide into and eventual declarations of war between the European powers, reached Samoa quickly through the brand-new Telefunken radio mast on the hills above Apia, the main town of the German-controlled island.
The presence of the East Asian Squadron was never going to be a protection for these islands.
The islands, and in particular their German and other European workers and residents, would quickly become dependent on supplies from Allied countries, be it Japan or the British Empire states.
Most of the islands were very quickly notified they were effectively under new management, and the practical reality was that it made no difference to the lives of the indigenous populations.
There was a significant exception with German New Guinea, known as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, and the Bismarck Archipelago to the north of Australia, which we'll come to in a bit.
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