H-War British Commonwealth in the Pacific War

Discussion published by Robert Nash on Friday, December 1, 2017

Greetings,

I am looking for advice and assistance concerning the role of the British Commonwealth in the Parcific War, 1941-1945.

The wartime histories of Australia and New Zealand are well represented in the literature, if not well know. In contrast, the experiences of the many protectorates, colonies and overseas territories that were adminsitered by Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand and that served as battlefields or staging, training and rest areas for [mostly] American forces during the Second World War in the Pacific are much less well known. These include the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Canton and Enderbury Islands, Cook Islands, Savage Island, Pitcairn Islands, Tonga, Nauru, Fiji, British Solomon Islands, New Hebrides and New Guinea - They all played a role in the war, and suffered accordingly. My interest is in those roles, and that suffering. For example, the indigenous population in the Solomon Islands suffered under Japanese occupation and served as scouts, porters and coastwatchers for the American forces that fought on Guadalcanal from August 1942 to February 1943. Elsewhere, the Ellice Islands, now Tuvalu, served as a staging base for American attacks in the Gilberts, notably Tarawa, in 1943. In both cases, the local populations offered vauable service while experiencing sever disruptions to the lives and challenges to traditions and customs.

Please direct your suggestions for sources and ideas that might help me advance my research to the e-mail address below. Thank you.

Robert Nash, MIntlSy, MA, BSc [email protected]

Citation: Robert Nash. British Commonwealth in the Pacific War. H-War. 12-01-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/discussions/970981/british-commonwealth-pacific-war Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1