Alhaji Grunshi, DCM, MM, serving in the Gold Coast Regiment, was the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the First World War.

[1][2][3] At the start of the First World War, Germany's West African colony of Togoland was isolated from the rest of the German Empire.

Following the declaration of war by the British Empire on 4 August 1914, the colony was completely cut off from reinforcement.

[3] On 8 August 1914 the commander of the police, Hauptmann Pfaeler, was shot after climbing a tree to get a better view of the Gold Coast Regiment, and resistance collapsed.

Grunshi survived the war, having fought in three African campaigns,[3] and as a lance corporal was mentioned in dispatches on 5 March 1918.