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Short Rounds
Britain's Colonies at War, 1939-1945
The role of the self-governing or autonomous members of the British Commonwealth -- Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Newfoundland, South Africa, India, and Rhodesia -- in
the "British" war effort during the Second World War is well
known. Less well known is that of the non-self-governing
members of the British Empire, the 50-some
crown colonies, protectorates, high commission territories, mandates, and so
forth. These were places like Kenya, Bermuda, Ceylon,
Bechuanaland,
Mauritius,
Malta,
Tonga,
Tanganyika, the Falklands, Fiji,
the Seychelles, Ascension, and many others.
Some colonies were backwater outposts of empire, while others were major
economic or manpower players that provided support for British power, and a few
were strategic bastions that protected imperial communications or from which
that power could be projected.
Long
before the outbreak of World War II many of these places had their own military
establishments, such as the King's African Rifles, recruited in Kenya, Tanganyika,
and Uganda, so that when war came there were already over 40,000 men in
colonial military formations, nearly half in Africa, another 10,000 or so in
Malaya and associated territories, and small numbers elsewhere. Naturally, the war led to a considerable
expansion of such forces. In some
places, local troops were raised to replace departing British garrisons, in
others existing forces were enlarged, and enlarged again. Many of the empire's warrior peoples quite willingly
came forward to offer their services, so that, for example, the southern
African protectorates of Swaziland,
Bechuanaland,
and Basutoland contributed some 36,000 men.
While
the "Native" leaders of many of the these colonies were quite aware
of their inferior status within the imperial system, they were nevertheless
willing to cooperate in the British war effort for a variety of reasons. Some recognized that the evils of British
imperialism were preferable to the potential horrors of Axis domination. And the more farsighted among them, looking
to the future, realized that by supporting the war effort they would accumulate
political capital for future use.
By
1945 there were more than 500,000 colonial troops were under arms, despite the
loss of extensive territories in the Far East
to the Japanese.
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Colonial Contingents, 1945
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Aden
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1,800
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Africa, East
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146,000
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Africa, West
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228,000
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African High Commission
Territories
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36,000
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American Dependencies
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10,000
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Ceylon
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26,000
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Cyprus
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9,000
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Falkland Is.
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200
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Fiji
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7,000
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Gibraltar
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700
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Gilbert/Ellice/Ocean Is.
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2,000
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Malta
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8,200
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Mauritius
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3,500
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New Hebrides
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100
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Palestine & Transjordan
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25,000
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Seychelle Is.
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1,500
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Solomon Is.
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2,000
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Somaliland
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2,500
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St. Helena
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200
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Tonga
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2,000
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Note:
Africa, East includes Uganda,
Tanganyika, & Kenya; Africa, West,
Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Togoland, Nigeria, & Cameroon; the
African High Commission Territories were Swaziland, Bechuanaland, & Basutoland;
American Dependencies includes the
various West Indian colonies, Guiana, British Honduras, & Bermuda.
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In addition to these forces, many men, and some women, from
these colonies also served in regular British or Dominion forces, so that the
total colonial contribution to the Commonwealth war effort was actually greater
than that of the Dominions.
Many of these troops served in garrison, relieving British,
Indian, or Dominion forces to be deployed elsewhere, or, as was the case for
most of the personnel from Swaziland, Bechuanaland, and Basutoland,
served primarily in combat service and support formations, often under fire. But many more, notably those recruited in West Africa and East Africa,
were combat troops, who served in combat fire in East
Africa in 1940-1941, and later in northeastern India and Burma in
1943-1945.
"The Faithful Wives of Weinsberg"/a>
In 1140, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III
(r. 1138-1152), the first
Hohenstaufen, invested Weinsberg, a small town in what is now Württemberg,
which was being held in the name of the rival Welf family.
The townspeople resisted stoutly, and with notable courage,
but eventually they were forced to ask for terms.
The Emperor imposed stern conditions. The women and, presumably, the children, were
to be free to go, taking with them only what they could carry. The men and the town itself were to be
surrendered to Conrad, who planned to put the defenders to the sword for
defying him and then, after thoroughly looting the place, raze it to the ground.
But when the town gates opened on the appointed day, December 21, 1140, Conrad
found, to his amazement that, led by the local duke's wife, the women of the
town were each carrying on her back her husband or other male kinsman.
Tradition has it that so impressed was Conrad by this
demonstration of uxorial devotion, he pardoned the men and spared the town.
And " Weibertreu -- The Faithful Wives of
Weinsberg" were afterwards celebrated in poetry, children's literature,
and paintings, not to mention the local castle, which was renamed Weibertreu.
Afterwards: Conrad prevailed in his struggle with the Welfs, and
the Hohenstaufen ruled the Holy Roman Empire,
and a good deal else besides, for more than a century, though the struggle between
the two families (also known as the Guelfs and Ghibellines), dragged on even
longer, being passed on to their descendants.
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and a more focused treatment of
Britain's colonies in imperial defense, 
.