World War II: Equal or Junior

It really isn't an historic blunder.  You were not OUR equal.  In some undertakings you took the lead, in some you were on the front lines, but due to the - very simple numbers - you could not be equal as the US plowed ashore and marched through France and into Berlin, nor through Algeria, nor through the Pacific.




Cameron's historic blunder: Fury as PM says we were 'junior partner' to Americans in 1940




By Tim Shipman, Deputy Political Editor
22nd July 2010
Daily Mail




David Cameron faced a furious backlash yesterday for the astonishing claim that the UK was a 'junior partner' to America in 1940 - a year before the U.S. even entered the war.


The Prime Minister was accused of forgetting the sacrifices made in 1940 by those who fought in the Battle of Britain, the heroes of Dunkirk and the Londoners bombed out of their homes in the Blitz.

Downing Street hastily claimed that Mr Cameron had meant to refer to the 1940s in general. But by then the damage was done.

General Sir Patrick Cordingley, former commander of the Desert Rats, said: 'I am quite sure if Winston Churchill were alive today he would be dismayed.'


Mr Cameron, on his first visit to the U.S. as Prime Minister, made his gaffe in an interview with Sky News.


'I think it's important in life to speak as it is, and the fact is that we are a very effective partner of the U.S., but we are the junior partner,' he said. 'We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis.'

In fact, Britain under the leadership of Churchill - one of Mr Cameron's heroes - stood alone in 1940 against Nazi Germany and had far more men under arms than the U.S. until 1944.

While Britain fought on, with some material assistance from the U.S., America did not actually enter the war until December 1941 after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

And Britain lost a total of 449,800 war dead compared with 418,500 Americans.

Even as Downing Street was trying to repair the damage, the PM's error was compounded in a further interview, recorded earlier, with the American network ABC news.

He said: 'We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting against Hitler; we are the junior partner now. I think you shouldn't pretend to be something you're not.'

Historian Andrew Roberts, author of the recent Second World War history The Storm of War, said: 'The Prime Minister is wrong. He shouldn't wear a hair shirt.


'In the early years of the war Britain had an army of 2.4 million men in the field when the Americans had 240,000 - one tenth of the fighting force.

'It was not really until 1944 that the Americans had more men in the field than the UK, the British Empire and Commonwealth.


'In 1940 there was material help from America, but not belligerency against the Nazis. Britain was the dominant partner in terms of the strategy until at least 1943.'

Labour was quick to leap on Mr Cameron's mistake.

Former defence minister Kevan Jones told the Mail: 'David Cameron is guilty of talking down Britain and disrespecting Second World War veterans who know that Britain was fighting alone against Nazi tyranny while America was still putting its fighting boots on.'

As hostile reaction swept the internet, Mr Cameron's gaffe was greeted with dismay by retired military men.


SAS hero Andy McNab said: 'It's very important to get this history right because people are still living who fought in 1940. There are still survivors of Dunkirk and fighter pilots from the Battle of Britain. For them it is very, very important to recognise the role they played. This is living history.'

General Cordingley said: ' Having just spent the day with some Normandy veterans, I'm surprised that the Prime Minister has forgotten the sacrifice of those who fought in the Battle of Britain and North Africa before the U.S. entered the war and those who were bombed during the Blitz.'

General Sir Mike Jackson, a former head of the Army, said: 'The Prime Minister's history is not as good as it should be. Without doubt we were the superior partner until America's entry into the war. I'm sure the Prime Minister's jet lag is catching up with him.'

















blunder