Brian Ross (bxr307@coombs.anu.oz) (11/09/89)
From: Brian Ross (bxr307@coombs.anu.oz)
In the recent list of nations involved in WWII I counted
several discrepancies. They are:-
North America:- Jamaica was a colony of Britain, hence
automatically at war with Germany in 1939.
South America:- Brazil entered the war in 1943, Argentina 1944,
the rest were neutral I think.
Europe:- Turkey entered the war in 1945 (Although I
always believed Turkey was Asia Minor! :-)) The Papal state was
also neutral.
Asia:- Tibet, nominally independant and although
officially neutral was heavily involved via the "Hump" air route.
Nepal was not neutral (a British dependancy), however as it had
no modern army it was not directly involved. Gurkhas are though,
mercenaries and were heavily utilised by Britian (the last large
force of mercenaries employed in the world as whole units, except for the
Papal state's Swiss Guard). The Indonesian islands were part of
the Netherland East Indies (NEI) and were under the control of
the Dutch Government in exile. They were attacked by the
Japanese in 1941. The Phillipines was nominally a seperate
government was actually controlled by the US (hence "Dug-out-
Doug"/"Choco" (as the Australian troops referred to him)
MacArthur being the commander of their armed forces). Papua/New
Guinea (the eastern half of the island, the western half was part
of the NEI) was a colony of Australia (not Britian).
Asia Minor:- (Which I would have called the Middle East myself)
The French colonies in Lebanon and Syria were under the control
of a nominally independant colonial administration which was
actually very pro-vichy. As a consequence in late 1940/early
1941 the British using mainly South African and Australian troops
invaded and captured these colonies which were a threat to Egypt
and the Suez Canal. Iraq, a British colony also had a pro-
axis revolt in 1941 which was suppressed. Palestine &
TransJordon (Isreal/Jordon of today) was not a very calm area
with Jews and Arabs at each others throats (as they still are
:-)) however it largely supported the war. Iran was occupied
jointly by Soviet (northern half) and Britian (south) in 1941.
Africa:- Madagascar, a pro-vichy colony was invaded by Britain
in 1941. Fighting occured in Somalia, Kenya, Uganda (all on the
periphery of Italian controlled Ethopia) in 1940. South Africa
was heavily involved in this campaign and the Western Desert.
Hopefully that gives a fuller picture of the "sideshow"
peripheral campaign that went on away from spotlight of Europe.
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|
Brian Ross |Snail Mail:-
"Bill Bracket the self-made man who came|
in a a packet" | Brian Ross
----------------------------------------| Sociology Dept.R.S.S.S.
E-Mail Addresses:- bxr307@coombs.anu.oz | Australian National University
| CANBERRA,A.C.T.,2601,
bxr307@csc.anu.oz | AUSTRALIA
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