British Army 1939-45 (3) - The Far East

WORLD War II was a GLOBAL conFLIct not only in the territories fought over, but in the number of nations that declared themselves at war - although many did so only as a political expedient, with no actual military involvement. This was certainly true of the conflict in the Far East that began on 7 December 1941 with the surprise Japanese attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii - an event which overshadowed the simultaneous attacks on British-held Hong Kong and Malaya. On the following day the USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, but also Costa Rica, Salvador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic declared war on Japan; later that month Cuba, Guatemala and Panama followed suit. More than three years later the impending defeat of Germany led to other unlikely enlistments in the Allied cause: February 1945 saw Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Venezuela. Uruguay, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon declare war on Japan, followed within four months by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil and Italy. If the GIs and Marines clawing their way over the Pacific islands and the British Commonwealth soldiers struggling through the jungle hills of New Guinea and Burma even heard about these new 'allies', one can readily imagine their comments. The war in the Far East was fought and won by the United States and the British Commonwealth.
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