Frederik-Valdemar Olsen

Olsen as a young officer

Olsen sailed from Antwerp to Boma in December 1898, and was assigned to the Irebu camp under commander Luc-Arthur-Joseph Jeuniaux. He was sent to Orientale Province on 11 October 1899. On 7 December 1899 he joined the troops that were repressing the revolt that had begun in 1896 in the northeast of the Congo during the Congo-Nile expedition of Francis Dhanis. He replaced Lieutenant Paul Léon Delwart as leader of the elite company in the Ruzizi-Kivu region. There were constant incidents in the region with Germans who had occupied some of the Belgian territory during the revolt and were reluctant to return it to the Belgians. Commander Paul Costermans sent Olsen to found a post on Lake Kivu, which later became Bukavu. Olsen completed his first 3-year term and returned to Antwerp on 11 December 1901. His health had been damaged, and he took a 9-month leave of absence.[2]

Olsen was promoted to captain, and left Antwerp on 2 October 1902 for Boma. He went on to Stanleyville, where Justin Malfeyt gave him command of the mobile column that was to travel to Uvira. Due to a severe attack of malaria he temporarily handed over common of the column, but reached Uvira on 7 March 1903. He next came down with hematuria, and had to return to Europe, reaching Antwerp on 21 March 1904. He left Antwerp again on 6 October 1904 and returned to the Ruzizi-Kivu territory. On 9 December 1905 he was appointed captain-commander, and on 23 March 1906 was placed in command of the Uvira zone. On 12 February 1907 he was promoted to command of the Ruzizi-Kivu territories. He organized the border defenses, pacified the region and created a disciplined body of troops. He went on leave in Europe from 24 November 1907 to 23 July 1908.[2]

During his fourth term Olsen had to deal with a complicated situation due to unauthorized agreements between local Belgian and German officers, and agreements between the Germans and the British. It had been agreed that the Mufumbiro Mountains were British, but instead the Germans had ceded the plain of Ufumbiro near Rutshuru to the British despite its clearly being in Belgian territory. The British district commissioner John Methuen Coote notified the Belgians on 26 June 1909 that he was taking possession. Olsen travelled there from the Lake Albert region, arrested two British soldiers camped at Kurezi, and created three redoubts that blocked all access by the British. Coote decided to repossess Kurezi but was stopped in a marshy region and ran low of food. Olsen refused to meet Coote until he withdrew, which Coote would not do, and a stalemate ensued for ten months while the Belgian, German and British governments agreed on their respective borders in the region. At the same time Olsen had to deal with various provocations by the Germans in the volcano region to the north of Lake Kivu.[2]

After the Kivu border question had been settled in May 1910, Olsen was charged with creating a military force in Katanga to protect the rich mining region from attempts by South African Boer trekkers to settle it.[1] Olsen worked from the end of July to the end of October to transport a force to Katanga consisting of 26 Europeans, 1,000 Congolese, 26 machine guns, 20 cannons, with their food, equipment and ammunition. The only transport was the small steamer Delcommune on Lake Tanganyika. He organized a well trained force in Katanga, and pioneered the use of bicycles by the Force Publique. He was promoted to major on 20 November 1911.[2]

Tabora Offensive

With the outbreak of World War I, Olsen had to mobilize Katanga in August 1914. On 11 September 1914 he received a call for help from George Graham Percy Lyons, district commissioner of Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia, who was being attacked by the Germans. Olsen took action since he considered the move would help protect Katanga, and his cycling battalions soon arrived in Rhodesia, where they remained until relieved by British reinforcements. During this period Olsen had to be hospitalized for dysentery. On 23 June 1915 General Charles Tombeur ordered that the remaining troops in Rhodesia prepare to leave for Kivu. On 1 August 1915 the troops had started their movement when the Germans attacked Saisi, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Abercorn. Olsen decided to send a battalion under Gaston Heenen to defend Saisi. The troops did not resume their move to the north until 3 November 1915. Olsen again fell sick and had to remain in Elizabethville until 3 March 1916.[2]

Troops under Belgian command enter Tabora on 19 September 1916

Olsen was made lieutenant colonel of 23 January 1916 and was placed in command of the southern brigade for the Tabora Offensive. He joined the southern brigade in Shangugu on 23 April 1916. The northern brigade under Philippe Molitor attacked the Germans to the north of Lake Kivu, took Kigali, but lost momentum in the march towards Mwanza on Lake Victoria due to heavy rains. The southern brigade under Olsen attacked betwen Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika, where Georges Moulaert was in command of the naval forces. Olsen quickly took Shangugu and Kitega, then returned towards Lake Tanganyika and took Usumbura. Continuing south he took Kigoma on 28 July 1916 with little opposition, since its defenses were facing the lake, which Moulaert now dominated. On 2 August 1916 Olsen took Ujiji.[2]

In August the northern brigade occupied Maria-Hilf, then Ugaga, then Saint-Michael.[3] The Germans retreated towards Tabora, destroying the railway behind them. Moulaert sent railway equipment by barge from Albertville, which Olsen used to repair the railway as he advanced.[2] Olsen's brigade, advancing from Kigoma, was halted at the Malagarasi River. Around 15 August it gained a foothold on the opposite bank. Usoke station on the railway line was taken from the Germans on 30 August. The Germans made violent efforts from 2 to 6 September to retake it, but did not succeed. By the start of September the two brigades were converging on Tabora From September 10 to 12 Olsen's brigade took and defended Lulanguru, to the west of Tabora, while the northern brigade found Germans strongly entrenched in the Itaga hills. The two brigades joined on 16 September along an arc to the northwest of Tabora. Tombeur was to lead the final attack, but on the night of 18-19 September the Germans evacuated the city.[3] Olsen continued pursuit of the Germans until ordered to halt.[2] He gained a large part of the credit for the successful operations.[1]

Olsen took leave in France, then returned to East Africa via the Suez Canal and Dar es Salaam. When the armistice ended the war in November 1918 Olsen resumed his command of the troops in Katanga. In 1920 the Chamber and the Senate unanimously voted to make him a fully naturalized Belgian citizen (grande naturalisation belge).[2] The citation stated that "this brave man among all the brave men, who has spent 30 years in the Congo, has now become a great man of Belgium in heart and soul".[1] On 22 November 1920 Olsen was appointed colonel and became commander in chief of the Force Publique, which he reorganized for peacetime duties. In September 1924 Olsen was made governor of Congo-Kasaï, based in Léopoldville. He was promoted to general on 17 April 1925 and took retirement on 25 April 1925.[2]