No war effort should be above criticism
I gave a lecture on the 1942 Occupation of Singapore last week and was surprised by the response. I was told by a couple of elderly gentlemen my analysis had been disrespectful. They did not like my interpretation of their living history. This may have had something to do with my impressions of the great man himself – Sir Winston Churchill. Or maybe it was my conclusion that we let down the young lads from the empire who came to fight our war without even knowing how to tie the laces on their boots. Thousands of Indian boys from the North West Province had never fired a machine gun, operated a Bren gun carrier or set a booby trap. They were scarce off their mother’s milk before they were dumped in north Malaya to face the lean mean Japanese juggernaut. Thousands died, some were taken prisoner, others defected.
It is uncomfortable history. We believed the empire would somehow hold out and hold us together. It didn’t. Imperial Britain was exposed for what it really was on that fateful day in February 1942 – too big and too brittle. We let our colonies down when they fought for us in our hour of need. After the war it was less about Great Britain and more about Little Britain. I am sorry if, for the two gentlemen in question, that was hard history to hear but sometimes a less bias selection of 2nd World War stories would benefit us all. It was that right war to fight but that did not mean we always fought it gloriously. Far from it.
Tessa Dunlop
April 1st, 2010 at 9:08 am
thanks that was really helpful
April 1st, 2010 at 7:55 pm
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April 5th, 2010 at 11:39 am
War is bad as it is, but worse is revising history to make those ‘uncomfortable’ truths dim away forgotten.
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June 27th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Congratulations on this post which is actually a sore spot in italian history.
In april 1945 italian partisans (“freedom fighter”) didn’t just kill german soldiers or fascist, but went on to solve personal problems by shooting persons who were not fascists, and still, when they are forced to face the truth (I recommend Giampaolo Pansa’s books) they reacted attacking the “revisionists”.
Personally I hate the word “revisionism” because it often secretly implies a personal agenda by the “revisionist”.
While, as you showed with your words, a honest historian will deal with the facts even if they are uncomfortable.