gautrek Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 I am having a discussion on another forum and have been asked how many "ethnic" people fought for Britain in WWII.Can anyone supply some good info for me as my google foo seems to have failed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Ethnic? As in Scots? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Well here's a geographic map of the participants in WW2 just work out what were the possible ethnicity's of Commonwealth allies, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ww2_allied_axis.gif Chinese Black / Black British: Other Black / Black British: African Black / Black British: Caribbean Asian / Asian British: Other Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi Asian / Asian British: Pakistani Asian / Asian British: Indian Mixed: Other Mixed: White & Asian Mixed: White & Black African Mixed: White & Black Caribbean White: Other White: Irish etcetera etcetera 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 http://books.stonebooks.com/book/1016311/ There is also a related journal article by Killingray available through JSTOR and the like. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Chinese Black / Black British: Other Black / Black British: African Black / Black British: Caribbean Asian / Asian British: Other Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi Asian / Asian British: Pakistani Asian / Asian British: Indian Mixed: Other Mixed: White & Asian Mixed: White & Black African Mixed: White & Black Caribbean White: Other White: Irish The only ethnic group here is Irish (and mentioning India, Bangladesh and Pakistan as separate entities would be ahistorical). 'Indian' or 'African' are as much ethnic groups as 'European' is. Colonies were not formed by ethnic divisions so that won't work either, there is no such ethnicity as Nigerian or South African for example. Hence the question, does Gautrek really want a list of ethnicities or something else. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 The Indian forces could be split on ethnic lines quite easily with Gurkha, Rajput, Sikh but lets use a list : ) http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27327644/Infantry-Regiments-of-the-Indian-Army-1939-1945 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 I wonder if one should include the Norwegian, French, Danes etc who served in HM forces. Even Americans. However I doubt that is ethnic : ) There were certainly Fijians, and Maori's. Added detail on Indian Army "India's army grew from 200,000 in 1939 to 2.5 million in 1945, with Muslims making up about a third of the numbers at any one time. Most Muslim recruits came from what is now Pakistan. In all, 87,000 Indian army soldiers were killed in the war, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Jahan's study, which focuses on 5,500 Indian army deaths in Italy, fascinates its audiences because it breaks down Muslim casualties according to recruitment areas within British India, and then traces links between today's British Pakistani communities and the areas where recruitment took place. Czechs, and quite possibly Slovaks : ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Independent_Carpathian_Rifle_Brigade Off to bed now - please a complete list by tomorrow! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Belenko Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Well here's a geographic map of the participants in WW2 just work out what were the possible ethnicity's of Commonwealth allies, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ww2_allied_axis.gif Chinese Black / Black British: Other Black / Black British: African Black / Black British: Caribbean Asian / Asian British: Other Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi Asian / Asian British: Pakistani Asian / Asian British: Indian Mixed: Other Mixed: White & Asian Mixed: White & Black African Mixed: White & Black Caribbean White: Other White: Irish etcetera etcetera Would the Canadians and ANZAC forces be included in the etcetera etcetera??? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MajorOrigins1916-SK.jpg In 1916 Canadian ethnecities, at least in one particular area, look predominately white European. Not sure why native Canadians don't figure http://www.lermuseum.org/ler/mh/wwii/enemyaliens.html As had been the case during the First World War, the Canadian government was deeply suspicious of ethnic groups whose homelands were at war with Canada. It forced German Canadians who had been naturalized after 1921 to register, and it saw to the arrest of 800. Once Italy entered the war on Germany's side in June 1940, Italian Canadians met a similar fate, with some 700 interned on the suspicion of being fascist sympathizers. Among this number, 200 were naturalized citizens, and 20 were born in Canada. Japanese Canadians would suffer a worse fate. After the fall of France, Britain interned nearly all enemy aliens. Ironically, a large number of those arrested had come to Britain to flee Nazi oppression. Over the next two years, most of the internees would be released, and many would go on to serve with the Allies. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pak_43 Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I believe something like 30% of the RAF pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain were not born in Britain... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gautrek Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 Hence the question, does Gautrek really want a list of ethnicities or something else. I think its something else i want. Maybe a list of units which contained "ethnic" (mainly dark skinned) soldiers who fought under the British flag. Thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 You need a better word than 'ethnic'. The answer to your revised question is "all of them". It's not quite right, but as a first approximation it's pretty damn close. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 IIRC there was a Jewish brigade fought in the Desert too...... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 IIRC there was a Jewish brigade fought in the Desert too...... ... and Italy, but they ain't darkies, so they don't count. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Some of it's going to be pretty hard to unravel anyway. For example, there were plenty of Aboriginals who fought in the Australian forces, but their ethnicity wouldn't have been recorded as there was no official segregation of the type seen in the US Forces. (Even though these men were not even classified as 'citizens' under Australian law at the time.) Likewise there were men from places like the West Indies who served in the British forces without any distinction being made of it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 ... and Italy, but they ain't darkies, so they don't count. Just to be slightly more precise, some of them served in North Africa too. Many of the German born ones interrogated POWs, for instance. And most famously a squad or two pretended to be German soldiers guarding British POWs who were actually armed so that they could slip into Tobruk on a commando raid in September, 1942. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 I think its something else i want. Maybe a list of units which contained "ethnic" (mainly dark skinned) soldiers who fought under the British flag. There were at least two brigades of East African troops in Burma. Idi Amin was one of the troops. There was also the Sudanese Defense Force which must have been of at least brigade strength and did a few numbers in North Africa, although mostly as garrison troops so far as I know. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 There were at least two brigades of East African troops in Burma. Idi Amin was one of the troops. There was also the Sudanese Defense Force which must have been of at least brigade strength and did a few numbers in North Africa, although mostly as garrison troops so far as I know. Michael Bit more than that. Think of Gideon Force with Orde Wingate. That was one battalion of Sudanese and one of Ethiopians. They kicked the Italians out of the region. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 Bit more than that. Think of Gideon Force with Orde Wingate. That was one battalion of Sudanese and one of Ethiopians. They kicked the Italians out of the region. True. I just recently read an article about that and failing to mention it was an oversight. Sorry. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 Not quite under the Commonwealth banner but there was the US Alaskan Guard comprised of Eskimo Scouts http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/101607/sta_20071016015.shtml 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 Did Inuit people serve with the Canadian forces? IIRC Blackburn mentions having a native American batman. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Did Inuit people serve with the Canadian forces? IIRC Blackburn mentions having a native American batman. I don't know about Inuits, but I think a lot of Crees did. Check the book Green Beach some time. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Some of it's going to be pretty hard to unravel anyway. For example, there were plenty of Aboriginals who fought in the Australian forces, but their ethnicity wouldn't have been recorded as there was no official segregation of the type seen in the US Forces. (Even though these men were not even classified as 'citizens' under Australian law at the time.) Completely OT, but nor were the white guys at that time. They were British subjects one and all, then citizens one and all in 1948. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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