Doing Britain's Dirty Work

I've been on a bit of a WWII tear, so please bear with me, I really plan for this to be an American Military History blog, but been inspired by a good friend of mine...thanks Dave.

A while back, I recently looked into the European Theater of Operations and made a startling realization about the British Army:  they let the "colonials" do all the dirty work.  Let's look shall we?

Canada -  Their troops got some pretty raw deals.  First, Dieppe.  I mean, the British select the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division for this raid on a port city.  They take serious losses...granted the Allied did learn a lot that would save Allied lives at Normandy two years later, but still, I think the Canucks got the short end of the stick.  Next, the 1st Canadian Army was assigned the far left flank of the Allied advance, although they were not on the left flank of the landing at Normandy (Juno, the middle British sector beach versus Sword, the leftmost beach).  It was their job to clear the Channel ports of German resistance (Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk).  For their big finale, the clearing of the Scheldt Estuary was left to the Canadians in fighting on Walchren Island.


New Zealand - The 2nd New Zealand Division was assigned to Europe and fought in Greece and Crete.  After being evacuated to Egypt, the division participated in the fight with Italy and Germany in the desert.  They played a major supporting role in El Alamein and ultimately worked to expel the Axis from the North African shore.  They were refitted during Sicily, but were sent to Italy and was involved in one of the most vicious assaults of the war at Monte Cassino.  They finally went on to help penetrate the Gothic Line in Italy.

Australia - They took some serious beatings in World War II.  They served in Greece, Crete and Egypt along with surrendering to the Japanese at Singapore.  One of the most difficult fights for the Aussies was the defense of Tobruk, the port in Libya in North Africa.  The Aussies were surrounded for nearly a year before being relieved, constantly harassed by air and on land, only getting supplied by the sea.  In 1941 it was the Australians who broke Rommel's back at El Alamein through ferocious fighting.

India - These troops made up the bulk of the 14th Army found in Burma.  They fought in the jungle and kept the Japanese out of India especially at the vicious jungle fights at Imphal and Kohima.  Their forces also helped liberate Burma through the unbearable jungles.

Sure makes me wonder what was Britain's motivation...expendable colonials?  Necessary Allies?  We may never know.  Just something to think about...