Control of the German colonies of New Guinea, in Samoa, and in Togoland was performed by small local police detachments.

As part of the East Asian Station the navy garrisoned Qingdao with the marines of Seebataillon III, the only all-German unit with permanent status in an overseas protectorate.

Schutztruppe contingents arose from local police forces or private paramilitary units, where German colonizers met with stronger resistance.

When in 1888 the Abushiri revolt broke out in the dominions of the German East Africa Company, Bismarck's government in Berlin had to send mercenary troops under Reichskommissar Hermann Wissmann to subdue the uprising.

Upon the establishment of German East Africa, this Wissmanntruppe was changed to Schutztruppe by an act of the Reichstag parliament on 22 March 1891.

The police forces for South-West Africa under Curt von François and for German Cameroon were re-established as Schutztruppe by the act of 9 June 1895.

At the outbreak of the First World War, the Schutztruppe in German East Africa was organised into 14 field companies (Feldkompanien) with 2,500 men under arms, with headquarters at the capital Dar es Salaam.

On 13 April 1914, Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck assumed command in German East Africa.

Each of the 14 companies also had a minimum 250 man carrier contingent as well as native irregulars known as Ruga-Ruga, called Fita-Fita in German Samoa, of approximately the same size units.

The Schützenkompagnies were originally composed of white settlers, their sons, plantations administrators and trading company employees but some units became racially mixed as the war dragged on.

A single unit, called the Baster Company, consisting of non-local biracial white European-black Africans, was raised and deployed.

Because of the often humid conditions in the upper Rhine valley of the Grand Duchy of Baden, the area provided some early acclimatisation.

The uniforms corresponded to the cut of the Prussian Army, initially in grey but later in "field gray" for home service ("Tuchuniform"/"Tuchrock") or khaki ("Feldrock") for the tropics.

Schutztruppe Askaris wore a pocketless cotton khaki tunic and breeches with blue puttees and ankle boots, which replaced bare lower legs and feet.