Soon after the U.S declared war on Germany in April 1917, Native Americans began to enlist to fight for their country. This was as country that did not consider them to be citizens. The Dawes Act or The Allotment Act of 1887, was Congress’s attempt to incorporate Native Americans into white society by granting them citizenship if they moved away from their tribal lands or took up land allotments. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek Indians that resided in the Indian Territory were all exempt from the act. The act was amended under The Burke Act in 1906, meaning that those Na ..read more

Following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and Japan’s subsequent entry into the Second World, the Dutch requested that Australian troops were deployed to defend their island territories in the Far East. ‘’Lark Force’’ were deployed to Rabaul, New Britain in Papua New Guinea, ‘‘Gull Force’’ was deployed to the island of Ambon and ‘‘Sparrow Force’’ was deployed to Timor. The island of Timor was divided with Dutch held territory, with its capital Koepang, in the West and Portuguese territory in the east the capital of which was Dili. The force was to defend the aerodrome a ..read more

Formation and Mobilisation When war broke out in September 1939, Māori leaders offered the services of men for both the defence of New Zealand and for overseas fighting. Politician Sir Āpirana Ngata and other leaders requested that an all-Māori unit, be formed. The 28th (Māori) Battalion was specially formed, volunteer battalion, of the 2nd New Zealand Division (2NZ), the infantry element of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) Over the course of the war, the battalion was attached to each of the Division’s three brigades (4th, 5th and 6th). The Battalion was organised along tribal ..read more

With Allied success in North Africa and Sicily between July and August 1943 and the fall of Mussolini, in late July, the Allies believed that there was an opportunity to capture Rome from the Axis powers. On the 3rd of September 1943, two divisions of the British 8th Army, under General Montgomery, invaded mainland Italy landing at Taranto and Reggio on the Adriatic coast (Operation Baytown). Simultaneously, further to the north, at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on the Mediterranean coast, one division of the US 5th Army, under General Mark Clark, began invasion on the 9th of September. These ..read more

Operation Longcloth, the first Chindit operation in February 1943, was not a military success. It did, however, provide experience in Long-Range Penetration (LRP) warfare, aided the propaganda campaign and despite losses, boosted morale for British troops . Critically, it also impacted Japanese thinking and lead the Japanese to ‘adopt a more forward defensive policy’[1] and a change in Japanese thinking and offensive strategy, which ultimately led to their downfall in the China- Burma India (CBI) theatre. The operation also meant that Wingate was able to attend the Quebec Conference in August ..read more

On the eve of war in 1914, King George V asked ‘my people of the Overseas Dominions’[1] stand alongside Britain and the crown in the face of war. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and General Governor of Canada, answered the call. He informed the King that ‘Canada stands united from the Pacific to the Atlantic in her determination to uphold the honour and tradition of our Empire’.[2] On August 4th 1914, Great Britain and its overseas Empire went to war. The 1st Canadian Division would aid the allied objective on the Western Front, to push and break through German lines across t ..read more

In the first months of 1915, as the stalemate on the Western Front continued, the Allies launched a plan to attack the Ottoman Empire. As an ally of the Central Powers, the troops of the Ottoman Empire had been attacking Russian ports and supply routes. The Allies, with the aim of relieving pressure for their Russian ally, made the decision to attack Constantinople via the Dardanelles Strait and attempt to open a supply route to Russia through the Black Sea. This would allow the supply of arms and resources to Russia, which they were considerably lacking. First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston ..read more

Special Operations Executive (SOE) In June 1940, a secret volunteer service was recruited to create havoc and to wage war behind enemy lines. The Special Operations Executive (SOE), formed by Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, was tasked by Churchill to ‘set Europe ablaze.’ Agents were trained, under the Head of Training and Operations, Colonel Colin Gubbins, to conduct espionage, sabotage and aide local resistance groups. Agents were sent into Nazi occupied territory as well as the Far East (in a branch known as Force 136). The SOE recruited women in the only combat role that was perm ..read more

On August 5,1942, the 333rd Field Artillery Regiment was organised as a segregated coloured unit at Camp Gruber in Muskogee, Oklahoma. On March 10, 1943, the regiment was reorganized into the 333rd Field Artillery Group, the 1st Battalion became the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, and the 2nd Battalion became the 969th Field Artillery Battalion. The two Battalions consisted of mostly African-American soldiers. At the time, less than 3% of the men fighting in the US Army were coloured troops, most of which were active in labour and service roles, all in segregated units, commanded by white off ..read more

On the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916,19,000 British troops were killed and 57,470 were wounded. This tragic loss highlighted and enhanced the ever-growing struggle for manpower. More men were going to fight on the front lines but as the need for ammunition, food and resources grew, so did the need for manpower in factories, in transportation, at depots, warehouses, ports and in construction. The French had begun recruiting from China in May 1916, for these same reasons, and formed the Chinese Labour Force (CLF). In total the French would recruit around 40,000 Chinese to ..read more