Страноведение доп 1 / Вторая Мировая и послевоенные годы

Britain in the Second World War and the after War Years.

The United Kingdom, along with France, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. Japan entered the war by attacking the United Kingdom's colonies in Asia. Although the United Kingdom had increased military spending prior to 1939, because of the threat of Nazi Germany, its forces were still weak by comparison - especially the army. Only the Royal Navy was of a greater strength than their German counterpart. Was GB ready for the war? There were massive air-raid precautions, trenches in public parks, barrage balloons; there were 38 mln gas-masks distributed, as Allies were expectant of chemical warfare. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren were evacuated from major cities to distant rural areas. Rationing of food, clothing and petrol was introduced. Home Guard, (части гражданской обороны), referred to as ‘Dad’s Army’ was set up. Its military effectiveness was fortunately never put to test.

The focus on agriculture to feed the nation gave some people their first introduction to the countryside, and women played an important part in the war effort as the Land Girls; there were also 500,000 women in the armed forces, with even Princess Elizabeth, the future queen, training as a lorry driver. The measure of freedom women received through these jobs, and working in factories in the jobs of male workers who had gone into battle, is considered as contributing to the later sexual revolution.

On September 3, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, after the UK had issued an ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Poland. The army immediately began despatching the British Expeditionary Force to support France. At first only regular troops from the pre-war Army made up its numbers. In 1940, however, men of the Territorial Army divisions being mobilised in the UK were sent. In the end, the BEF had I, II and III Corps under its command, controlling some 14 divisions. The Royal Air Force also sent significant forces to France at the start of hostilities. During the Phony War, the RAF carried out small bombing raids and a large number of propaganda leaflet raids (codenamed "Nickels") and the Royal Navy imposed a blockade on Germany.

On 10 May the so called Phony War between Germany and the Franco-British alliance ended with a sweeping German invasion through the Ardennes on 13 May. The Battle of France was shorter than Allies ever expected, with France surrendering after six weeks. The United Kingdom and her Empire were left to stand alone.

During the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, to be replaced by Winston Churchill, who had opposed negotiation with Hitler all along. When France fell the position changed drastically. A combination of the French, German and Italian navies could potentially deny the United Kingdom command of the Atlantic and starve her into submission.

Fortunately for the United Kingdom, much of its army escaped capture from the northern French port of Dunkirk. In total, 330,000 troops were pulled off the beaches, of which 230,000 were British. However almost all the army's heavy equipment had been abandoned in France, many soldiers were unable (?!) to bring even their rifles. British retreat from Dunkirk was a humiliating military disaster, and only Churchill’s political talent allowed him to turn it into a political triumph, a feat of patriotism (the evacuation from the pocket (котел, окружение) over the Channel was executed with the help of civilians, anyone who possessed anything from a yacht to a fishing boat; the RAF air support was not sufficient...)

In preparation for a planned cross-channel land invasion which was to be called Operation Sea Lion, the Luftwaffe began operations to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) and to thus gain advance air superiority over its next intended conquest, Britain. This battle for the skies over Britain is referred to as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe sought to bomb RAF ground installations and draw their fighters into airborne combat. In the Autumn of 1940, Hitler, having grown impatient with the failure to destroy the RAF, ordered a switch to bombing major British cities. Known as The Blitz, this was intended to demoralise the British people and destroy British industry.

After 1940 the war demonstrated wider, imperial themes. The white dominions – New Zealand, Canada, South Africa lent support in terms of raw materials, naval forces and troops. In May of 1941, only a few weeks after American president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease act, it became clear to German planners that the Luftwaffe was not likely to gain air superiority over Britain any time soon, and significant German forces in France were reassigned to the expanding German Eastern front which were soon to be used in Germany's imminent struggle with Russia. The German failure to achieve air superiority over Britain in the Battle of Britain marked a major turning point in the war. This failure ensured the survival of an independent Britain and marked the first major reverse in the German war effort of World War II.

Lend-Lease was a program of the United States Federal government during World War II which enabled the United States to provide the Allied nations with war material while the US was still officially a neutral country. The Lend-Lease program began in March 1941, nine months before the US entered the war in December of 1941.

In exchange for Lend-Lease the British had to accept that they would not export any Lend-Lease material and agree not to export British-made products which were similar to Lend-Lease materials. The United States sent officials to Britain to police these requirements and to make sure British industry was geared to war production instead of exports. This had the effect that by 1944 British exports were 31 per cent of what they were in 1938. When the Bill for Lend-Lease was passed in the American House of Representatives it was given the 'symbolic number' 1776, the date of American independence from Britain.

Lend-Lease was however a critical factor in the eventual success of the Allies in World War II, particularly in the early years when the United States was not directly involved and the entire burden of the fighting fell on other nations, notably those of the Commonwealth, and after June 1941 the Soviet Union. Much of the aid can be better understood when considering the economic distortions caused by the war. Production of nonessentials was cut severely, industry concentrating on producing weapons. This inevitably produced shortages of related products needed by the military or as part of the military/industrial economy.

For example, the USSR was highly dependent on trains, yet the desperate need to produce weapons meant that fewer than 20 new locomotives were produced in the USSR during the entire war. In this context, the supply of 1,981 US locomotives can be better understood. Likewise, the Soviet air force was almost completely dependent on US supplies of very high octane aviation fuel. Although most Red Army tank units were equipped with Soviet-built tanks, their logistical support was provided by hundreds of thousands of high-quality US-made trucks. Indeed by 1944 nearly half the truck strength of the Red Army was US-built. Trucks such as the Dodge 3/4 ton and Studebaker 2.5 ton, were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front. US supplies of waterproof telephone cable, aluminium, and canned rations were also critical.

After USA entered into the war the British and French immediately began a blockade of Germany, which had little effect on German industry. The German Navy began to attack British shipping with both surface ships and U-boats. The Arctic convoys travelled from the USA and the United Kingdom to the northern ports of the USSR - Archangel and Murmansk. 85 merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost. The material significance of the supplies was probably not as great as the symbolic value - hence the continuation, at Stalin's insistence, of these convoys long after the Russians had turned the German land offensive.

Within the first stages of the war, much British military effort was put into preserving the bases in the Persian Gulf and their huge oil reserves. This explains Churchill’s Mideterranean commitment, which many considered a poor substitute to second front in France. On 13 September 1940, the Italian Tenth Army crossed the border from the Italian colony of Libya into Egypt, where British troops were protecting the Suez Canal. The Italian assault carried through to approximately 95 km inside Egypt. The Italians then began to entrench themselves. At this time there were only 30,000 British available to defend against 250,000 Italian troops. The Italian decision to halt the advance is generally credited to them being unaware of the British strength, and the activity of Royal Navy forces operating in the Mediterranean to interfere with Italian supply lines. Following the halt of the Italian Tenth Army, the British used the Western Desert Force's Jock columns to harass their lines in Egypt.

On 11 November 1940, the Royal Navy crippled or destroyed three Italian battleships in the Battle of Taranto.Then, on 8 December Operation Compass began. Planned as an extended raid, a force of British, Indian and Australian troops succeeded in cutting off the Italian troops. Pressing their advantage home, General O'Connor pressed the attack forward and succeeded in reaching El Agheila (an advance of 500 miles) and capturing tens of thousands of enemy. The Italian army was virtually destroyed, and it seemed that the Italians would be swept out of Libya. However at the crucial moment Churchill ordered that the advance be stopped and troops dispatched to defend Greece. Weeks later the first German troops were arriving in North Africa to reinforce the Italians.

The Italians attacked Greece from Albania in late 1940. Not only did the Greeks stop the attack, they forced the Italians back. Eventually, in the spring of 1941, the Germans intervened in Greece. They also invaded Yugoslavia .The Greeks had been reluctant to agree to British ground forces into the country, because the United Kingdom could not spare enough forces to be guaranteed to forestall a German attack. They had, however, accepted aid from the RAF in their war with the Italians in Albania. The trigger for British forces moving to Greece in large numbers was the entry of German forces into Bulgaria, which made clear the German intent to invade Greece.

British forces took position on a defensive line running north west to south east across the northern part of Greece. However, there were critical weaknesses in the defences. The Greek forces in the area were further forward than the British forces, and the Greek Government refused British advice to withdraw to a common line. The Greek forces were thus defeated in detail. There was also a large gap between the left flank of British forces and the right flank of the Greek forces in Albania. That was exploited to the full by the Germans.

After being thrown off the Greek mainland, British forces retreated to Crete. There, the Germans again exploited weaknesses in the defences with a bold invasion plan. In the largest and last German airborne assault, paratroops landed at several points on the island. In all but one location, they were cut off and destroyed, and the follow-on seaborne forces were dispersed by the Royal Navy. However, that one location was enough, and reinforcements were flown in to the point where the Germans were strong enough to break out and take the rest of the island.

In May 1941, to add to British troubles in the area, there was a coup d'etat against the pro-British government in Iraq. A pro-German ruler took power in the coup and ordered British forces out of Iraq. There were two main British bases in Iraq, around Basra and at Habbaniya north east of Baghdad. Basra was too well defended for the Iraqis to consider taking. The Soviet Union desperately needed supplies for its war against Germany. Supplies were being sent round the North Cape convoy route to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, but the capacity of that route was limited and subject to enemy action. Supplies were also sent from American to Vladivostok in Soviet-flagged ships. However, yet more capacity was needed, the obvious answer was to go through Persia. The Shah of Persia was somewhat pro-German, and so would not allow this. Consequently British and Soviet forces invaded and occupied Persia. The Shah was deposed and his son put on the throne.

British forces were thin on the ground in east Africa, and the two nations that made the greatest contribution to victory on land were South Africa and India. South Africa provided much needed airpower and troops from the Indian Army made up the mainstay of the British ground forces. In the end, two Indian divisions saw combat in Ethiopia. An important aspect of the campaign to retake Ethiopia was irregular forces. Major Orde Wingate, later to gain fame in Burma with the Chindits was a major mover behind the Ethiopian 'patriots' as they were referred to by the British. The irregulars, formed into the Gideon Force, disrupted Italian supply lines and provided vital intelligence to British forces.

The regular push to take Ethiopia began once reinforcements arrived from Egypt. The arrival of the first Australian division had released Indian 4th Infantry Division to be sent to the area. It quickly took the offensive from Sudan, and was supported by a thrust from Kenya. An amphibious assault was made on British Somalialand, staged from Aden. The three thrusts converged on the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, which fell early in 1941. The Italians made a final stand around the town of Golkar, before they were finally defeated in the middle of 1941.

The arrival of the German Afrika Korps under General Rommel reversed the initiative. Rommel's first offensive saw the British forces thrown back into Egypt. However, the important port of Tobruk remained in British hands, with a largely Australian garrison. It withstood a siege for several months. After this first offensive by Rommel, initiative see-sawed between the two sides as each gained more supplies and troops.

After Rommel's first offensive, a reorganisation of British command took place. In November 1941 the Eighth Army was activated under command of Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham. Its first offensive failed disastrously as Rommel blunted the thrust. British operational doctrine was at fault through failing to use tanks effectively; a prerequisite for successful desert warfare. Cunningham was relieved of command and Major General Neil Ritchie was put in his place. A second British offensive in late 1941 turned Rommel's flank and lead to the relief of Tobruk. However outside events again intervened to impede British efforts; as the British attack reached El Agheila Japan attacked in the Far East. That meant that reinforcements that had been destined for the Middle East went elsewhere. This was to have disastrous effects. Rommel took the offensive again in January 1942. Confusion in British ranks was horrendous as attempts to shore up the position failed time and again. Rommel not only drove the British out of Libya, and somewhat into Egypt, he pushed deep into the protectorate. Tobruk fell quickly. The British managed to stop Rommel's offensive with the First Battle of El Alamein.

A new command team arrived in the Middle East, with Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Montgomery assuming command of the Eighth Army. Rommel tried to break through again during the Battle of Alam Halfa, but his thrust was stopped. Montgomery then began preparations for a great breakthrough offensive that would result in the pursuit of Axis forces all the way to Tunisia. In Operation Torch, 1942, an Anglo-American force landed on the shores of Algeria and Morocco. The resistance did not last long. The French surrendered and then shortly afterwards joined the Allied cause. One of the main reasons for quick switch of sides was because the Germans had moved into unoccupied France, ending the Vichy regime, shortly after the north African garrisons had surrendered.

The Second Battle of El Alamein saw enormous use made of artillery. Rommel's forces had laid enormous amounts of mines in the desert, and the terrain of the area prevented his position being outflanked, and British naval forces were not powerful enough to land a significant force directly behind Rommel to cut his supply lines directly at the same time as Operation Torch. Consequently, the German lines had to be attacked directly. However, that did not mean that Montgomery did not try to use feint and deception in the battle. Dummy tanks and other deceptions were used liberally to try to fool the Germans where the stroke would fall. After El Alamein, Rommel's forces were pursued through the western desert for the last time. Cyrenaica was retaken from Axis forces, and then Tripolitania was won for the first time.

Sicily was invaded by the Allies on 19 July 1943. The operation named Operation Husky was directed from Malta. Eighth Army eventually battered its way past the German defences and enveloped Mount Etna; by this time the Germans and Italians were retreating. By 17 August all the Axis forces had evacuated the island, and Messina was captured that day. After operations in Sicily, the Italian Government was teetering on the brink of collapse. Mussolini was deposed, and peace feelers were put out to the Allies. However, the invasion of Italy still proceeded. News of the Italian surrender was broadcast as the troop convoys were converging on Salerno. The Germans reacted extremely quickly to the surrender, disarming the Italian troops near their forces, and took up defensive positions near Salerno.

The landings at Salerno were made by the US Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. It consisted of the US VI Corps landing on the right flank and the British X Corps landing on the left. Initial resistance was heavy, however heavy naval and air support combined with the approach of Eighth Army from the south eventually forced the Germans to withdraw. By 25 September a line from Naples to Bari was controlled by Allied forces.Further relatively rapid advances continued over the next few weeks, but by the end of October, the front was stalled. The Germans had taken up extremely powerful defensive positions on the Winter Line. There the front would remain for the next six months.

A little-known British military operation took place in Greece in late 1944 and early 1945. Operations against the Germans themselves were confined strictly to harassment of retreating forces. The retreat had been forced upon the Germans by the approach of Soviet forces in the Balkans threatening to cut the lines of communication to Greece. The UK simply could not spare enough troops from the Italian, North-Western Europe and Burmese operations to do any more. In the aftermath of the German withdrawal, and with the approach of Soviet forces, Greek communist guerillas staged an attempted coup. They were defeated, but a vicious conflict developed.

On 6 June 1944, the invasion of Normandy, the largest amphibious assault in history, took place. It involved the landing of five assault divisions from the sea and three assault divisions by parachute and glider. Of those, one airborne and two seaborne divisions were British. One further assault formation was from the British Empire; 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. The remaining divisions were provided by the United States.

The British Empire formations were assigned to the eastern end of the beachhead. The 6th Airborne Division landed to secure the eastern flank of the assault forces. The first Allied units in action were the glider-borne troops that assaulted Pegasus Bridge. The three Empire seaborne formations were landed on Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. Beyond the main formations, various smaller units went ashore. Prominent among those were the British Commandos. The United Kingdom was the main base for the operation and provided the majority of the naval power for it. Nearly eighty percent of the bombarding and transporting warships were from the Royal Navy. Airpower for the operation was a more even divide. The United States contributed two air forces to the battle, the Eighth Air Force with strategic bombers, and the Ninth Air Force for tactical airpower. All the home commands of the RAF were involved in the operation. Coastal Command secured the English Channel against German naval vessels. Bomber Command had been engaged in reducing communications targets in France for several months to paralyse the movement of German reinforcements to the battle. It also directly supported the bombardment forces on the morning of the assault. Air Defence of Great Britain, the temporarily renamed Fighter Command, provided air superiority over the beachhead.

The operation was a success. Both tactical and strategic surprise were achieved, to the amazement of the Allied commanders. A firm beachhead was established. It was gradually built up until offensive operations could begin in earnest. The first major success was the capture of Cherbourg. In the east, the first major British objective was Caen, an extremely tough nut to crack. The battle for the city turned into a long drawn-out slog. It eventually fell in July. By then, American forces were poised to break out of the Normandy beachhead and into France as a whole.

The American forces broke out in late July 1944, with Operation Cobra. American forces and British forces began trapping the German forces remaining in Normandy. Hitler ordered a counterattack on the seemingly vulnerable strip of territory that the US forces controlled on the Normandy coast, linking First and Third Armies, but appearances were deceiving. The attack drew German forces west when they should have been retreating east.

As American forces swept round to the south, British, Canadian and Polish forces pinned the Germans from the north. An enormous pocket formed, centred on the town of Falaise. An entire German Army was trapped there and largely destroyed. Following the battle, all Allied forces swept east. Paris fell at the end of August 1944, and by the end of September virtually the whole of France had been liberated. However, logistical difficulties then caught up with the Allies. Because of thinly-stretched supply lines, the fast broad-front advance could not be sustained, grinding to a halt in the Lorraine and Belgium.

After December 1944, the strategy was to complete the conquest of the Rhineland and prepare to break into Germany proper. However, what happened next completely caught the Allied staffs by surprise. The Germans launched their last great offensive in December, resulting in the Battle of the Bulge. In an attempt to repeat their 1940 success, German forces were launched through the Ardennes. Again they encountered weak forces holding the front, as the American formations there were either new to the war or exhausted units on a quiet sector of the front rehabilitating. There were however also some important differences to 1940 which resulted in the German offensive ultimately failing. They were facing enormously strong airpower as unlike 1940 when they had ruled the skies.

By the end of January, the salient had effectively been reduced back to its former size, and the mission of liberating the Rhineland started anew. The penultimate preliminary operation to close up to the Rhine in the British section was the clearing of the Roermond Triangle. The XIII Corps removed German forces from the west bank of the Roer during the second half of January. Following the reaching of the Roer, Second Army shifted to the mission of pinning German forces opposing it. Ninth Army and First Army began a great pincer movement to destroy the remaining German forces west of the Rhine. By 5 March, the Canadian, British and American forces had closed up to the Rhine in all but a small salient on their sectors of the front. That salient was reduced by five days later.

The operations to cross the Rhine in the north began on 23 March, with British Second and U.S. Ninth Armies taking the lead. Ninth Army, on the south flank, took part in the great encirclement of German forces in the Ruhr. The U.S. First Army on the right crossed the Rhine in early April and then swung left to liberate northern the Netherlands. Second Army drove straight across the north German plain, reaching the Ems on 1 April and the Weser on 4 April. After the closing of the Ruhr pocket on that day, Ninth Army reverted to the command of 12th Army Group.

By 18 April, First Army had reached the coast in much of the Netherlands, isolating the German forces there. Second Army reached the Elbe the next day. The only moves in the Netherlands that the Canadian and Polish forces made for the remainder of the war were reducing a small amount of the coast that had not been captured and liberating a small amount of territory. Most of German Frisia also fell to Canadian and Polish forces. British units reached the Baltic on 2 May, and then halted as they had reached the agreed line of meeting Soviet forces. The war came to an end on 7 May, and British forces reoriented to the task of occupying Germany itself.

The combined bomber offensive was born out of the need to strike back at Germany during the years when the United Kingdom had no forces on the continent of Europe. During and after the Battle of Britain, bomber forces pounded the invasion fleets assembling in channel ports. However, they also flew a raid against Berlin after German bombs had fallen on London. The attack on Berlin by Bomber Command so enraged Hitler that he ordered the deliberate and systematic targeting of British cities in revenge. During the summer of 1942, the first 1,000 bomber raids were launched on German cities. Hamburg was the victim of one of the most destructive air raids in history during 1943. The city was easy to find using radar, being located on the distinctively shaped Elbe estuary. It was devastated in a large raid that ignited a firestorm and killed some 50,000 people.

The destruction of Hamburg was not to be repeated during the rest of 1943 and 1944. During that winter, Berlin was attacked a large number of time, with heavy losses being sustained by Bomber Command. During early 1944, the emphasis began to change. As the invasion of France drew closer, the independent role of the bomber forces was considerably reduced, and eventually they were placed under the direction of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, General Eisenhower.

Bomber Command heavily bombed targets in France and helped to paralyse the transport system of the country in time for the launching of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944. Following Overlord, further direct support was provided to the troop; striking of German cities resumed. By the winter of 1944, the power of the British and American bomber forces had grown enormously. It was now routine for 1,000 bomber raids to be mounted by both American and British forces flying from the UK. Accuracy had improved, but it was still nowhere near good enough for 'precision bombing' in the modern sense of the term. Precision was not a single building, it was at best a district of a city.

The German night fighter defences were reducing in strength due to the crippling of Germany's fuel supplies by American bombing of synthetic oil plants. There remained one last great controversy during the war which would blacken the name of Bomber Command and surpass the firestorm of Hamburg in both destruction and casualties.

In February 1945, as Soviet forces closed in on the German city of Dresden, thus far largely spared heavy bombing raids due to its historic status, they asked for attacks to be made on the extensive transport links that existed in and around the population centre. Bomber Command and American forces obliged, subjecting the city to a series of extremely heavy raids. Somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 people were killed in those raids, and questions were asked whether they were necessary so late in the war. Even Churchill, who had supported area bombing later backed from involvement.

The outbreak of war in the Far East found the United Kingdom critically overstretched. British forces in the area were weak in almost all arms.The first major setback to British power in the region was the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse on 10 December 1941 by Japanese land-based planes. The sinking was triply significant. It represented the loss of the last Allied capital ships in the Pacific left after Pearl Harbor, the only Allied modern or 'fast' battleship to be sunk in the entire war and the first time that a battleship had been sunk by enemy aircraft whilst underway at sea.

Reverses in the air and on the ground soon followed. Japanese forces had naval superiority, and they used it to make outflanking amphibious landings as they advanced down the Malayan peninsula towards Singapore. The RAF took a toll of Japanese forces, but there were never enough aircraft to do anything more than delay the Japanese offensive.

Indian, British and Australian army forces in Malaya were larger in numbers, but equally ill-prepared and ill-led. Singapore was critically unprepared for the assault that came in early 1942. The colony was run by a Governor who did not want to "upset" the civilian population. He even refused to allow defensive preparations before the Japanese arrived. Following Japanese landings on Singapore, intense fighting occurred over several days, but the poorly-led and increasingly disorganised Allied forces were steadily driven into a small pocket on the island. On February 15, 1942, General Arthur Percival surrendered the 80,000 strong garrison of Singapore. This was the largest surrender of personnel under British leadership in history. Many of the troops saw little or no action. The civilian population then suffered a brutal Japanese occupation. Some aircraft escaped to Sumatra and Java, but those islands fell to the Japanese too within a short time. British forces were forced back to India and Ceylon.

In Burma, the Japanese attacked shortly after the outbreak of war. However, they did not begin to make real progress until Malaya and Singapore had fallen. After that, they aimed at taking Rangoon, the major port in Burma, which offered the Allies many advantages of supply. By the start of March, Japanese forces had cut the British forces in two. Rangoon was evacuated and the port demolished. With the fall of Rangoon, a British evacuation of Burma became inevitable. Supplies could not be moved to maintain fighting forces in Burma on a large scale, since the ground communications were dreadful, sea communications risky in the extreme. Besides the Japanese superiority in training and experience, command problems beset the Burma campaign. Responsibility for Burma was transferred back to India. Interactions with the Chinese proved problematic. Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of Nationalist China, was a poor strategist, and the Chinese Army suffered from severe command problems, with orders having to come directly from Chiang himself if they were to be obeyed. The ability of many Chinese commanders was called into question.

Finally, the Chinese Army was lacking in the ancillary services which allow a force to fight a modern war. The problems with the Chinese were never satisfactorily resolved. However, , India retained control of operations in Burma until the formation of South East Asia Command in late 1943. A skeleton force was formed under Lieutenant General Sir William Slim, later to gain fame as the commander of the Fourteenth Army. It retreated almost constantly, and suffered several disastrous losses, but eventually managed to reach India in May 1942, just before the monsoon broke. Had it still been in Burma after the monsoon broke, it would have been cut off, and likely destroyed by the Japanese. The divisions making up Burcorps were withdrawn from the line for long refit periods.

Operations in Burma over the remainder of 1942 and in 1943 were a study of military frustration. The UK could only just maintain three active campaigns, and immediate offensives in both the Middle East and Far East proved impossible due to lack of resources. The Middle East won out, being closer to home and a campaign against the far more dangerous Germans. During the 1942-1943 dry season, two operations were mounted. The first was a small scale offensive into the Arakan region of Burma. The Arakan is a coastal strip along the Bay of Bengal, crossed by numerous rivers. The First Arakan offensive largely failed due to difficulties of logistics, communications and command. The Japanese troops were also still assigned almost superhuman powers by their opponents. The second attack was much more controversial; that of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, better known as the Chindits. Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the Chindits penetrated deep behind enemy lines in an attempt to gain intelligence, break communications and cause confusion. The operation had originally been conceived as part of a much larger offensive, which had to be aborted due to lack of supplies and shipping.

Almost all of the original reasons for mounting the Chindit operation were then invalid. Nevertheless, it was mounted anyway. Some 3,000 men entered Burma in many columns. They caused damage to Japanese communications, and they gathered intelligence. However, they suffered dreadful casualties, with only two thirds of the men who set out on the expedition returning. Those that returned were wracked with disease and quite often in dreadful physical condition. The most important contributions of the Chindits to the war were unexpected. They had had to be supplied by air. At first it had been thought impossible to drop supplies over the jungle. Emergency situations that arose during the operation necessitated supply drops in the jungle, proving it was possible. It is also alleged by some that the Japanese in Burma decided to take the offensive, rather than adopt a purely defensive stance, as a direct result of the Chindit operation. Whatever the reason for this later change to the offensive, it was to prove fatal for the Japanese in Burma.

In their final actions of the war, substantial British naval forces took part in the invasion of Okinawa, and the final naval strikes on Japan. British forces made a significant contribution to the success of the invasion. During the final strikes against Japan, Brititain operated as an integral part of the American task force.

All in all, British casualties through the war amounted to 270.000 servicemen and over 60.000 civilians.(Cf: 20 mln in the USSR)... In public opinion it was ‘a good war’, in spite of rationing; the war conditions ensured medical and food provisions for children, full employment, comprehensive social security, maternity benefits, employment insurance, old age pension and death benefits. It even gave a certain boost to arts and to creation of CEMA (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts). Right after the war GB was in a mood of noticeable political radicalism – there was wide-spread public enthusiasm for the Red Army; as a result, the Labour enjoyed a landslide victory at elections.

As to the international context, the British won the war but lost the Empire. World War II fatally undermined Britain's already weakened commercial and financial leadership and heightened the importance of the Dominions and the United States as a source of military assistance. Australian prime minister John Curtin's unprecedented action (1942) in successfully demanding the recall for home service of Australian troops earmarked for the defence of British-held territiries. Burma demonstrated that Dominion governments could no longer be expected to subordinate their own national interests to British strategic perspectives. As it was written in a national newspaper the year before, Australia should look to the United States for protection, rather than Britain.

After the war, Australia and New Zealand joined with the United States in the ANZUS regional security treaty in 1951 (although the US repudiated its commitments to New Zealand following a 1985 dispute over port access for nuclear vessels). Britain's pursuit (from 1961) and attainment (1973) of European Community membership weakened the old commercial ties to the Dominions, ending their privileged access to the UK market.

In the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, post-war decolonisation was accomplished with almost unseemly haste in the face of increasingly powerful (and sometimes mutually conflicting) nationalist movements, with Britain rarely fighting to retain any territory. Britain's limitations were exposed to a humiliating degree by the Suez Crisis of 1956 in which the United States opposed Anglo-French intervention in Egypt, seeing it as a doomed adventure likely to jeopardise American interests in the Middle East.

The independence of India in 1947 ended a 40-year struggle by the Indian National Congress, firstly for self-government and later for full sovereignty, though the land's partition into India and Pakistan entailed violence costing hundreds of thousands of lives. 1947 witnessed hysterical mob violence in Penjab and Bengal when Moslems and Hindus found themselves on the wrong side of the border. About 250.000 were murdered, giving a lesson of the cost of ‘independence’ without due preparation for everyone who could learn from history. The acceptance by Britain, and the other Dominions, of India's adoption of republican status (1949) is now taken as the start of the modern Commonwealth.

Singapore became independent in two stages. The British did not believe that Singapore would be large enough to defend itself against others alone. Therefore, Singapore was joined with Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo to form Malaysia upon independence from the Empire. This short-lived union was dissolved in 1965 when Singapore left Malaysia and achieved complete independence. Burma achieved independence (1948) outside the Commonwealth; Burma being the first colony to sever all ties with the British; Ceylon (1948) and Malaya (1957) within it.

Britain's Palestine Mandate ended (1948) in withdrawal and open warfare between the territory's Jewish and Arab populations. In the Mediterranean, a guerrilla war waged by Greek Cypriot advocates of union with Greece ended (1960) in an independent Cyprus, although Britain did retain two military bases - Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

The reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the current Queen, has seen the gradual dismantling of the Empire. The end of Britain's Empire in Africa came with exceptional rapidity, often leaving the newly-independent states ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of sovereignty: Ghana's independence (1957) after a ten-year nationalist political campaign was followed by that of Nigeria (1960), Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (1961), Uganda (1962), Kenya and Zanzibar (1963), The Gambia (1965), Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) and Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) (1966) and Swaziland (1968).

British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was complicated by the region's white settler populations: Kenya had already provided an example in the Mau Mau Uprising of violent conflict exacerbated by white landownership and reluctance to concede majority rule. White minority rule in South Africa remained a source of bitterness within the Commonwealth until the ending of apartheid policy in 1994.

Although the white-dominated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ended in the independence of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) and Zambia (the former Northern Rhodesia) in 1964, Southern Rhodesia's white minority (a self-governing colony since 1923) declared independence with their UDI rather than submit to equality with black Africans. The support of South Africa's apartheid government kept the Rhodesian regime in place until 1979, when agreement was reached on majority rule in an independent Zimbabwe.

Most of Britain's Caribbean territories opted for eventual separate independence after the failure of the West Indies Federation (1958-62): Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1962) were followed into statehood by Barbados (1966) and the smaller islands of the eastern Caribbean (1970s and 1980s). Britain's Pacific dependencies underwent a similar process of decolonisation in the latter decades. At the end of Britain's 99-year lease of the mainland New Territories, all of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.

Economy: After WWII, the British economy had again lost huge amounts of absolute wealth. Her economy was driven entirely for the needs of war and took some time to be reorganised for peaceful production. Immediately after the war had ended, the USA halted Lend-Lease. This had been fundamental to the sustainability of the British economy during the war and it was expected that it would continue during the period of transition. Instead, the Labour Government under Clement Attlee sent John Maynard Keynes to negotiate a loan, known as the Washington Loan Agreement in December 1945. The terms were not as favourable as the British had hoped for, and included crucially a convertibility clause. In this, the USA expected that within two years, the British currency, Sterling, would become fully convertible. The winter of 1946-1947 proved to be very harsh curtailing production and leading to shortages of coal which again affected the economy so that by August 1947 when convertibility was due to begin, the economy was not as strong as it needed to be. When the Labour Government enacted convertibility, there was a run on Sterling, meaning that Sterling was being traded in for

dollars, seen as the new, more powerful and stable currency in the world.

This damaged the British economy and within weeks it was stopped. By 1949, the

British pound was over valued and had to be devalued though this is often considered a measure of last resort for Governments.The Labour Governments of 1945-1951 enacted a political programme rooted in collectivism including the nationalisation of industries and state direction of the economy. Both wars had demonstrated the possible benefits of greater state involvement. This underlined the future direction of the post-war economy, and was supported in the main by the Conservatives.Major industries and institutions were brought into public ownership – coal, railways, road transport, civil aviation, gas, electricity, even the Bank of England. 20% of industry was brought into public sector. However, the initial hopes for nationalisation were not fulfilled and more nuanced understandings of economic management emerged, such as state direction, rather than state ownership.

To make matters worse, British traditional markets were changing as Commonwealth countries made bilateral trade arrangements with local or regional powers. Second, the initial gains Britain made in the world economy were in relative decline as those countries whose infrastructure was seriously damaged by war repaired these and reclaimed a stake in world markets. Third, the British economy changed structure shifting towards a service sector economy from its manufacturing and industrial origins leaving some regions economically depressed. Finally, part of consensus politics meant support of the Welfare State and of a world role for Britain; both of these needed funding through taxes and needed a buoyant economy in order to provide the taxes. Britain, however, was still a world power, one of the ‘big 3’ at the international peace conferences. It demonstrated the fact by manufacturing its own atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Social Panorama. The Labour Party victory after the war was seen as a vote by the returning soldiers for what they felt were their rights after serving their country. The most important reform was the founding on the 5 July 1948 of the National Health Service, which promised to give "cradle to grave" care for everyone in the country regardless of their income. Doctors were made state employees; the sale of private practices was abolished. Rationing, which had been instituted during the war, was actually extended afterwards with bread only being rationed between 1946-1948 and sweets being rationed until 1954.

For some of the very poorest, though, rationing was beneficial as their rationed diet was of greater nutritional value than their pre-war diet. Just as after the First World War there was a short-lived boom after the Second World War and then an economic downturn, with the early 1950s known as the austerity years.

Wages rose to 30% above their 1938 level. Leisure began to be more accessible to more people after the struggles of war. Holiday camps, which had first opened in the 1930s, became popular holiday destinations in the 1950s and people increasingly had money to pursue their personal hobbies.Culturally, one of the most noticeable phenomena in the after-war years was ‘the Angry young men’- a literary trend, militantly aggressive towards old Empire virtues and values. In many respects, Britain still played Greece to America’s Rome.

The BBC's early television service was given a major boost in 1953 with the coronation of Elizabeth II, attracting an estimated audience of 20 million, proving an impetus for people to buy televisions. At the same time other new consumer goods were coming into houses, and the houses themselves were often owned with mortgages. The markets where people traditionally bought their goods were being replaced by chain stores and shopping centres and advertising became widespread. Cars were also becoming a significant part of British life, with city-centre congestion and ribbon developments springing up along many of the major roads; and these problems led to the idea of the green belt to protect the countryside which was at risk from development.

The 1960s were seen across much of the western world as a time with great shifts in attitudes, and the same can be seen in Britain. One notable event was the publication by Penguin Books of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1960. Although first printed in 1928, the publication of a cheap mass-market paperback version prompted a court case. The prosecuting council's question, "Would you want your wife or servants to read this book?" highlighted how far society had changed but how little some people had noticed the change. The book was seen as one of the first events of a general relaxation of sexual attitudes, although the prudish Victorian attitudes which were being rejected were