Britain did not stand alone against Hitler, war museum to say with new £30m gallery

THE Imperial War Museum will attempt to “dispel the myth” that Britain stood alone against Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the Second World War and instead emphasise the contribution of troops from the Empire in a new £30million gallery.

When France fell in 1940, it is often claimed that Britain was alone in opposing the Axis before the Soviet Union was invaded in 1941 and the US entered the war later that year.

But that Britain stood alone is a myth, the museum will tell visitors, with displays dedicated to the contribution of imperial subjects.

The Second World War and Holocaust gallery will include stories of Jamaican Royal Navy volunteers and troops from New Zealand, illustrating the resources the British war effort could draw on.

The changes are intended to appeal to a more international museum audience, and when it opens on Oct 20 the gallery will include a greater focus on far-flung theatres such as China.

Curator Vikki Hawkins, said: “One of the key messages of these new galleries will be to dispel the myth that Britain stood alone. When Britain went to war, so did its Empire; Britain relied heavily on its Empire’s people and resources.”

A display entitled Britain Alone? will question the narrative that the nation was isolated when it could “take soldiers, workers, money and goods from its vast global empire”. Troops from India, Australia and New Zealand swelled the ranks of British forces in theatres such as North Africa before Soviet and American involvement.

However, Dr Spencer Jones, a military historian, said that although he agreed “the resources of the British Empire were essential to British survival”, there was still merit in the idea that Britain stood alone. “It must be remembered that between June 1940 and April 1941 Britain was the only European power still fighting Nazi Germany,” he said.

“Forces from the British Empire and from European armies in exile provided crucial reinforcements, but it was the population of Britain which bore the brunt of the war in these dark months.”