King's African Rifles

The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in British East Africa in the present-day African Great Lakes region from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within the colonial territory, and later served outside these territories during the World Wars. The rank and file (askaris) were drawn from native inhabitants, while most of the officers were seconded from the British Army. When the KAR was first raised there were some Sudanese officers in the battalions raised in Uganda, and native officers were commissioned towards the end of British colonial rule.

Until independence, the parade uniform of the KAR comprised khaki drill, with tall fezes and cummerbunds. Both items were normally red, although there were some battalion distinctions with Nyasaland units, for example, wearing black fezes.

Prior to 1914, the regiment's field service uniforms consisted of a dark blue jersey and puttees, khaki shorts and a khaki fez cover with integral foldable cloth peak and neck flap. African askaris wore sandals or were barefoot, on the rationale that the heavy military boots of the period were unsuitable for recruits who had not previously worn footwear. Fezzes bore an Arabic or Roman number with the wartime raised battalions wearing theirs on geometric-shaped patches of cloth. During the Great War, all the dark blue items were replaced with khaki equivalents, and a short pillbox hat with a khaki cover was worn on campaign. After the war, the khaki shirt was replaced by a collarless blue-grey angora shirt called a "greyback".

Six battalions were formed in 1902 by the amalgamation of the Central Africa Regiment, East Africa Rifles and Uganda Rifles, with one or two battalions located in each of Nyasaland, Kenya, Uganda and British Somaliland:

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