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Before the late 1960s, historians generally agreed that World War II had increased mass support for African nationalism. Initially, they claimed that soldiers returned home politicised by war-time experiences and looking for opportunities to spread new ideas acquired through contacts with Asian nationalists. Subsequent scholars gradually chipped away at these assumptions, some completely discarding them as 'myths'. Current opinion suggests that the way African soldiers reacted to the war depended on their ethnicity, class origins, education levels, and military occupations, and that their role in independence politics depended on local conditions.

During World War II, some 65,000 Ghanaians were under the command of British officers in the Royal West African Frontier Force, and since India was the transit and refuelling station for those en route to Burma, the 30,000 who served there briefly experienced life in both countries. There has been much conjecture about the impact of the war on participating African soldiers,1 and this article focuses on the nature and socio-economic implications of their experience as later revealed by the veterans themselves in two rather overlooked sources of information: oral interviews and locally published materials.

Diskussion der Erfahrungen, die ghanaische Soldaten (rd. 65.000 standen unter britischem Befehl) während des Zweiten Weltkriegs durch ihren Einsatz in anderen Ländern machten. Erstmalige Kontakte mit Erscheinungsformen der Rassendiskriminierung (ungleicher Lohn, rassisch motivierte Bestrafungen und Restriktionen). Erfahrungen während kurzer Zwischenaufenthalte in Südafrika (Durban) auf dem Wege nach Indien. Kontakte mit den dortigen Zulus. Eindrücke, die aus Asien mit nach Hause gebracht wurden. Nach Rückkehr wurden viele dieser 'aufgeklärten' Ghanaer zu einer wichtigen Stütze der Goldküste bei ihren Bemühungen um Erlangung der Unabhängigkeit. (DÜI-Hlb)