Belgian Congo in World War II The involvement of the Belgian Congo ( the modern - day Democratic Republic of Congo ) in World War II began with the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940 . Despite Belgium ' s surrender , the Congo remained in the conflict on the Allied side , administered by the Belgian government in exile , and provided much - needed raw materials , most notably gold and uranium , to Britain and the United States . Congolese troops of the " Force Publique " fought alongside British forces in the East African Campaign , and a Congolese medical unit served in Madagascar and in the Burma Campaign . Congolese formations also acted as garrisons in Egypt , Nigeria and Palestine . The increasing demands placed on the Congolese population by the colonial authorities during the war , however , provoked strikes , riots and other forms of resistance , particularly from the indigenous Congolese . These were repressed , often violently , by the Belgian colonial authorities . The Congo ' s comparative prosperity during the conflict led to a wave of post - war immigration from Belgium , bringing the white population to 100 , 000 by 1950 , as well as a period of industrialisation that continued throughout the 1950s . The role played by Congolese uranium during the hostilities caused the country to be of interest to the Soviet Union during the Cold War . Background . Following World War I , Belgium possessed two colonies in Africa — the Belgian Congo , which it had controlled since its annexation of the Congo Free State in 1908 , and Ruanda - Urundi , a former German colony that had been mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the League of Nations . The Belgian colonial military numbered 18 , 000 soldiers , making it one of the largest standing colonial armies in Africa at the time . The Belgian government followed a policy of neutrality during the interwar years . Nazi Germany invaded on 10 May 1940 and , after 18 days of fighting , Belgium surrendered on 28 May ; it was thereafter occupied by German forces . King Leopold III , who had surrendered to the Germans , was kept a prisoner for the rest of the war . Just before the fall of Belgium , its government , including the Minister of the Colonies Albert de Vleeschauwer , fled first to Bordeaux in France , then to London , where it formed an official Belgian government in exile in October 1940 . The Governor - General of the Congo , Pierre Ryckmans , decided on the day of Belgium ' s surrender that the colony would remain loyal to the Allies , in stark contrast to the French colonies that later pledged allegiance to the pro - German Vichy government . The Congo was therefore administered from London by the Belgian government in exile during the war . Economic contribution . With the Congolese declaration of support for the Allies , the economy of the Congo and in particular its production of important raw materials , was placed at the disposal of other governments , particularly Britain and the United States : High taxes and price controls were enforced from 1941 , limiting the amount of profit that could be made and curbing profiteering . The Congo had become increasingly centralised economically during the Great Depression of the 1930s , as the Belgian government encouraged the production there of cotton , which had value on the international market . The greatest economic demands on the Congo were related to raw materials . Between 1938 and 1944 , the number of workers employed in the mines of the " Union Minière du Haut Katanga " ( UMHK ) rose from 25 , 000 to 49 , 000 to cope with the increased demand . The vast majority of the Congolese - produced raw resources were exported to other Allied countries . By 1942 , the entire colony ' s output of copper , palm oil and industrial diamonds were being exported to the United Kingdom , while almost all the colony ' s lumber was sent to South Africa . Exports to the United States also rose from US $ 600 , 000 in early 1940 to $ 2 , 700 , 000 by 1942 . The Congo possessed major uranium deposits and was one of the few sources of the material available to the Allies . Uranium extracted from the disused Shinkolobwe uranium mine , owned by the UMHK in Katanga in the southern Congo , was instrumental in the development of an atomic bomb during the American Manhattan Project . The director of UMHK , Edgar Sengier , secretly despatched half of its uranium stock to New York in 1940 ; in September 1942 , he sold it to the United States Army . Sengier himself moved to New York , from where he directed the UMHK ' s operations for the rest of the war . The U . S . government sent soldiers from the Army Corps of Engineers to Shinkolobwe in 1942 to restore the mine and improve its transport links by renovating the local aerodromes and port facilities . In 1944 , the Americans acquired a further of Uranium ore from the newly reopened mine . Tax revenue from the Belgian Congo enabled the Belgian government in exile and Free Belgian Forces to fund themselves , unlike most other states in exile , which operated through subsidies and donations from sympathetic governments . It also meant that the Belgian gold reserves , which had been moved to London in 1940 , were not needed to fund the war effort , and therefore were still available at the end of the war . Military involvement . The " Force Publique " ( or " Public Force " ) was the combined police and military force of both the Congo and Ruanda - Urundi . During World War II , it constituted the bulk of the Free Belgian Forces , numbering some 40 , 000 men . Like other colonial armies of the time , the " Force Publique " was racially segregated ; it was led by 280 white officers and NCOs , but otherwise comprised indigenous black Africans . The " Force Publique " had never received the more modern equipment supplied to the Belgian Armed Forces before the war , and so had to use outdated weapons and equipment like the Stokes mortar and the Saint Chamond 75 mm gun . East African Campaign . Three brigades of the " Force Publique " were sent to Abyssinia alongside British forces to fight the Italians in June 1940 . This was done in spite of the government in exile ' s reservations to demonstrate its allegiance to the Allied cause . The Belgian 1st Colonial Brigade operated in the Galla - Sidamo area in the South - West sector . In May 1941 , " Force Publique " elements under Major - General Auguste - Éduard Gilliaert successfully cut off the retreat of General Pietro Gazzera ' s Italians at Saio , in the Ethiopian Highlands . Gilliaert subsequently accepted the surrender of Gazzera and 7 , 000 Italian troops . Over the course of the campaign in Abyssinia , the " Force Publique " received the surrender of nine Italian generals , 370 high - ranking officers and 15 , 000 Italian colonial troops before the end of 1941 . The Congolese forces in Abyssinia suffered about 500 fatalities . After the Allied victory in Abyssinia , the " Force Publique " was redesignated the 1st Belgian Colonial Motorised Brigade Group . It garrisoned Egypt and British Mandatory Palestine during 1943 and 1944 . The British colony of Nigeria was also garrisoned by 13 , 000 Congolese troops . 10 ( Belgian Congo ) Casualty Clearing Station . A medical unit from the Congo , the 10th ( Belgian Congo ) Casualty Clearing Station , was formed in 1943 , and served alongside British forces during the invasion of Madagascar and in the Far East during the Burma Campaign . The unit included 350 black and 20 white personnel , and continued to serve with the British until 1945 . Life in the Belgian Congo during the war . At the start of the war , the population of the Congo numbered approximately 12 million black people and 30 , 000 whites . The colonial government segregated the population along racial lines and there was very little mixing between the colours . The white population of Léopoldville lived in a quarter of the city separated from the black majority , and all blacks in the city had to adhere to a curfew . Education was overwhelmingly controlled by Protestant and Catholic missions , which were also responsible for providing limited medical and welfare support to the rural Congolese . Food remained unrationed during the war , with only the sales of tyres and automobiles restricted by the government . One of the consequences of the Congo ' s economic mobilisation during the war , particularly for the black population , was significant urbanisation . Just 9 % of the indigenous population lived in cities in 1938 ; by 1950 , the figure stood at close to 20 % . The colonial authorities arrested enemy alien s in the Congo and confiscated their property in 1940 . Unrest during the war . Strikes . The demands made by the colonial government on Congolese workers during the war provoked strikes and riots from the workforce . Whites in the colony were allowed to form trade unions for the first time during the war , and their demands for better pay and working conditions were often emulated by black workers . In October 1941 , white workers in the colony unsuccessfully attempted a general strike across the colony . In December 1941 , mine workers at various sites , including Jadotville and Élizabethville , went on strike , demanding that their pay be increased from 1 . 50 francs to 2 francs to compensate for rising living costs . The strike started on 3 December , and by the next day 1 , 400 workers had downed tools . All UMHK sites were affected by 9 December . The strike was also fuelled by other grievances against the colonial order and segregation : From the start , the colonial authorities attempted to persuade the strikers to disperse and go back to work . When they refused , they were fired on . In Jadotville , 15 strikers were shot dead by the military . In Élizabethville , the strikers were invited to negotiations at the town ' s stadium , where they were offered various concessions , including a 30 % pay rise . When the workers refused , the Governor of Katanga , Amour Maron , shot Mpoyi , killing him . The Governor then ordered his soldiers to fire on the other strikers in the stadium . Between 60 and 70 strikers were killed during the protest , although the official estimate was around 30 . The miners returned to work on 10 December . Numerous smaller strikes occurred in the Congo later in the war , though not on the same scale as in 1941 . In 1944 strikes broke out in Katanga and Kasaï , provoked by the conscription of workers for the mines and deteriorating working conditions . In 1945 , riots and strikes occurred among the black dockworkers in the port city of Matadi . Luluabourg mutiny . The colonial government in the Congo depended on its military to maintain civil order and , above all , it depended on the loyalty of the native troops who made up the bulk of the " Force Publique " . Black non - commissioned Officers led by First Sergeant - Major Ngoie Mukalabushi , a veteran of the East Africa Campaign , munitied at Luluabourg in the central Congolese province of Kasaï in February 1944 ; the trigger for this was a plan to vaccinate troops who had served at the front , though the soldiers were also unhappy about the demands placed on them and the way the white officers treated them . The mutineers broke into the base ' s armoury on the morning of 20 February and pillaged the white quarter of the town . The town ' s inhabitants fled , and a Belgian officer and two white civilians were killed . The mutineers attacked visible signs of the colonial authorities and proclaimed their desire for independence . The mutineers then dispersed to their home villages , pillaging on the way ; they failed to spread the insurrection to neighbouring garrisons . Two mutineers , including Mukalabushi , were executed for their part in the insurrection . Legacy . As a result of the Congo ' s comparative prosperity during the conflict , the post - war period saw a wave of immigration to the country from Belgium . By 1950 , 100 , 000 whites were living in the Congo . Nevertheless , the war highlighted the precarious nature of the colonial administration , leading Governor Ryckmans to remark that " the days of colonialism are over " in 1946 . In the years after the war , the colonial government underwent extensive reform . Black people were granted significantly more rights and freedoms , leading to the growth of a so - called " Évolué " ( " evolved " ) class . Following the industrial unrest , trade unions for black workers were instituted in 1946 , though they lacked power and influence . Workers at the UMHK continued to demand higher wages , and strikes were common in the colony for the next decade . Nevertheless , both wages and living conditions improved significantly in the years after the war . The war began a second wave of industrialisation that lasted right up to Congolese independence in 1960 . The 1941 Élizabethville massacre is a recurrent theme in Congolese art and folklore , and was later incorporated into the popular Congolese anti - colonial narrative . The importance of Congolese uranium during the war caused the Soviet Union to become interested in the territory ; it was subsequently an area of Soviet interest during the Cold War .