This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the shoots of flame which came up and almost blinded us from our guns. Hello and welcome to the world war two

Hello and World War II Podcast. I'm Angers Wallace. The war in Asia and the Pacific against Japan is often seen as an American affair. While the US did play a dominant role,

the British and Commonwealth forces also made major contributions on land, at sea and in the air,

eventually involving over a million men and vast armadas of ships and aircraft.

Joining me to discuss Britain and the Commonwealth's war in the Far East is Brian Walters.

Author of Forgotten War, the British Empire and Commonwealth's epic struggle

against Imperial Japan.

Long time listeners might recall I discussed the war in the Atlantic with Brian in episode

127 and we looked at the

naval campaign in the Mediterranean in episode 173. It's great to have you back

Brian let's start with the end of the First World War. Japan had been on the side of the

allies and was a rising power. Did Britain see Japan as a future threat at the

end of the First World War? At this time I think it's important to understand that Britain comes out of the

first world war basically at the pinnacle of its military power. I mean Britain is arguably the

premier military power in the world at this time. The Royal Navy is second to none. the And even though the British Army isn't the largest army in the world necessarily,

but it's come out of the war as arguably the premier fighting force and it's performed

very well in World War I.

So they emerge from World War I at the pinnacle of Britain's military power, but the country was also equally exhausted, financially exhausted, psychologically exhausted from the war war and accordingly they really were taught

nothing other than to return to a form of peacetime normality and over the next

few years the British government is going to embrace the notions of

...