A Tear For Somalia

Douglas Collins was drafted to the Somalia Gendarmerie at the age of 22 and immediately given command of a detachment of thirty Abyssinians newly released from jail. He and his detachment were ordered up-country on a punitive expedition. All went well until the second night - when his Abyssinians forgot they were themselves upholding the law and raided a Somali village where they raped all the women. Such was Douglas Collins' introduction to the land where he was to spend ten years and in which he became a District Commissioner.