The Commonwealth at War

1. British Tommy and a bearded Canadian sailor

2. Australian soldier in New Guinea

3. Soldier front Malay

4. New Zealand gunner on El Alamein front

5. South African colored troops at Anzio

6. Sikh soldiers on the Arakan front

Retreat from Dunkirk. France was falling. Britain alone remained in the fight.—Courtesy Press Association.

The bombing of London was the greatest devastation wreaked upon a city in modern warfare until the Allied raids on Germany.—Courtesy Acme News Pictures.

Maintenance of the Irak-to-Haifa pipe line, through which flowed the vital oil supplies for the African front.—Courtesy Black Star.

New Zealanders after participation in Allied victories in Africa and Italy on parade in the Volturno Valley, Italy, 1944

Canadian-built corvettes, fresh from shipyards, join the Battle of the Atlantic.

South African armored car chassis, powered with Canadian motors, leave the assembly lines.

Royal Air Force, victorious in the Battle of Britain, carries the war to Germany.

Mahatma Gandhi, who dominates the India Congress party, and Sir Stafford Cripps, Britain’s emissary, discussed British proposals for self-government for India. Although agreement wasn’t reached, India’s war effort continued. India’s volunteer army of 2 1/2 million fought in the United Nations’ armies.—Courtesy Wide World.

Fiercely fighting Australians battle Rommel’s Afrika Corps in the western desert.—Courtesy Associated Press.

British women have filled many important jobs in defense and industry. Here, members of the ATS are assembling parts of a Churchill tank.—Courtesy Wide World.

From EM 16: What Makes the British Commonwealth Hold Together? (1946)