'Mesdames tirailleurs' and indirect clients: West African women and the French colonial army, 1908-1918

Between 1908 and 1918, women associated with tirailleurs senegalais1 migrated to regional West African training centers and distant North African battlefields in order to support West African infantrymen serving in the French colonial army. In 1908, the French colonial army deployed two regiments of West African troops in Casablanca, Morocco. West African women, referred to as mesdames tirailleurs in the North African context, were an essential element of that fighting force. French military officials, particularly Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Mangin, envisioned North Africa as a training ground for the tirailleurs senegalais,2 who would then provide defense for France if eminent war with Germany became a reality. The deployment of West African troops in North Africa signaled a new development in French colonial military policy- the deployment of tirailleurs senegalais outside of sub-Saharan Africa Sanctioning and providing for West African soldiers' female companions in Morocco was also exceptional to French military policy. By the twentieth century, civilians no longer accompanied French infantrymen into battle. In 1914, Germany's declaration of war prompted the French to deploy tirailleurs senegalais in mainland France, but conspicuously without mesdames tirailleurs. The outbreak of World War I engendered a shift in how the military viewed tirailleurs senegalais' female companions, as well as how West African women fit into France's broader effort to modernize its colonial army. Mesdames tirailleurs' participation in the Moroccan campaign was seen as necessary for military success in the campaign to "pacify" Morocco. During World War I, migrant West African women's presence on the periphery of West African military bases inspired the French colonial state to narrow the definition of wife in order to nudge these women from the state's visibility and marginalize them from its protection. Women accompanying tirailleurs senegalais to Morocco were implicitly recognized as wives. After the onset of World War I, women following recruits to military camps were explicitly not recognized as wives. Few women won official recognition as wives of tirailleurs senegalais, but those who did often requested and received varying forms of assistance from the army. West African women could manipulate their connections through tirailleurs senegalais with the French colonial military to achieve personal goals. The uncontested inclusion of West African women in France's conquest of Morocco, and the greater scrutiny on their marital status in French West Africa (AOF) during World War I, indicates that the French colonial army's attitude toward tirailleurs senegalais' wives radically shifted over the course of a decade. The French military viewed these women as beneficial or disadvantageous based on how well they could be controlled and monitored. This is a common trope in historical debates broadly regarding civilian women associated with soldiers, who were often deemed "official" or "unofficial" by military personnel. Regardless of whether their relationships with soldiers were sanctioned, West African women navigated the French colonial state and military's growing presence in their lives in order to preserve some autonomy, as well as to safeguard their personal interests. West African women included in the following article were linked to the French colonial army and state through their relationship with tirailleurs senegalais. While the relationship between these women and tirailleurs senegalais did not radically alter over the course of a decade (1908-1918), the ways in which the French colonial army defined their relationship with tirailleurs senegalais' wives evolved drastically. The shift from a colonial war of conquest in Morocco to a large-scale war in mainland France prompted the French military to reassess the desirability of having West African women as auxiliaries in the tirailleurs senegalais serving outside of AOF. …