ABSTRACT
The recruitment of Malawians into war service, whether as soldiers or military laborers, must be seen as part of a long-standing and larger phenomenon: Malawian emigration for work and schooling. The employment of Malawians on the Witwatersrand mines undoubtedly had declined following 1909, when official recruitment of Malawian labor ended after the unfortunate experiments begun in 1903. In Northern Rhodesian service, the Malawians held more senior positions, owing to their relatively longer military experience; many were non-commissioned officers, and not a few of them sergeants with the police. The men of the Northern Rhodesia Police served with their Malawi an colleagues for the more than four years of the East African campaign. Most were closely associated with the First Regiment of the King's African rifles, although one company served through much of the campaign with the Rhodesia Native Regiment. In England, Frederick Njilima contracted the disease, but in the comparatively well equipped military hospital at Crantham he quickly recovered.
