Colonial Africa 1913 German East Africa map

The 25th (Frontiersmen) Service Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

unit that served during World War I. It was raised by the Legion of Frontiersmen. The battalion served in the African Theatre of the war from 1915–1918, centered mostly in the area around

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British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Bri ...

n and

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...

n territory. The battalion was largely composed of older men who hailed from diverse backgrounds and varied occupations, some of whom were

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veterans. Amongst these occupations were English big-game hunters, a British millionaire, several American cowboys, a Scottish light-house keeper, a naturalist, a circus clown, an Arctic explorer, an opera singer, a photographer, and a lion tamer. There were also

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aries and Russians (reportedly prison escapees from

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). The unit was formed on 12 February 1915 by Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Patrick Driscoll, who was, at that time, fifty-five years of age, well above that of an average soldier. Another noted serving officer (and eventually the Second in Command of the battalion) was

Frederick Courteney Selous Frederick Courteney Selous, DSO (; 31 December 1851 – 4 January 1917) was a British explorer, officer, professional hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in Southeast Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir Henry Ride ...

, a veteran of various small African wars and skirmishes, a big-game hunter and friend of

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. Selous had previously hunted with Roosevelt during his famed 1909 African safari. Selous is also known for having served as the inspiration for Sir

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

to create his fictional Allan Quatermain character, a 19th-century African explorer and hunter of big-game beasts. Captain Selous was later killed in action with the unit, shot through the mouth by a German sniper in January 1917. The unit gained the nickname "Old and the Bold", due to its members' ages, their veteran status, and reputation for endurance and daring against the enemy, even though the majority of volunteers were young men. The battalion was disbanded on 19 June 1918. The exploits of "The Old and the Bold" were later the loose basis of '' The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' episode "The Phantom Train of Doom" (German East Africa, November 1916). Veteran ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ro ...

'' actor Paul Freeman portrayed Selous as an adventurous, cunning, yet decisive commander.

References

External links

The 25th Fusiliers (Frontiersmen Historian website)The 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Frontiersmen) in the Great War (The Old and the Bold website)
* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2013 Battalions of the British Army in World War I Royal Fusiliers East Africa Military units and formations established in 1915 Military units and formations disestablished in 1918