Belgian Force Publique Artillery and Enginner company

Did the men from the "Compagnie d'Artillerie et de Génie" had any particular uniforms, or were their dress the same of the other askaris? This information is being hard to find...

Hello Abadu. I have sighted four photographs of the Force Publique artillery detachments - all of which show them in identical uniforms to contemporary FP infantry. However these are khaki uniforms dated respectively 1917, 1918 (2) and 1941. Whether the dark blue and red uniforms worn by the Force Publique from the Free State period until about 1915 had special distinctions for the small Compagnie d'Artillerie et de Genie is an open question. I think probably not - badges or other insignia were not worn by the askaris (except possibly for a universal FP headdress badge adopted in 1914) during this period and different coloured facings or fezs etc for artillery/engineers would seem likely to have left some record. Belgian officers and NCOs were another matter - they had crossed infantry rifles on their khaki tunic collars and it seems likely that the crossed cannons (for artillery) or the plumed helmet (for engineers) retained by the Belgian army until modern times also appeared in colonial units.

Thank you! You can't imagine how hard was to find this information!