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The article I posted on how "Dunkirk" deliberately overlooked almost all non European involvement in the evacuation of the BEF is quite accurate. The Indian Service Corps was a significant part of supporting the retreat. Moreover, the Indian armed forces were an essential part of the Allied war effort after Dunkirk when the British Army was being reconstructed as a result of the losses suffered.
In the same way the support of the African units was an important part of the whole WW2 effort. The question raised in article posted is "Why are these facets of WW2 ignored ?" Perhaps the uncomfortable reason is that in 2017 Europe is trying to stem millions of economic refugees from Africa and doesn't want to see them as worthy of any consideration?
Again I suggest it comes back to who is telling the story and the picture they want to create.
What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Dunkirk
John Broich
.. (Much excellent information in the body of this story. Well worth a read)
What’s missing from the film that a historian might add?
In the film, we see at least one French soldier who might be African. In fact, soldiers from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and elsewhere were key to delaying the German attack. Other African soldiers made it to England and helped form the nucleus of the Free French forces that soon took the fight to the Axis.
Soldiers from West and North Africa were key to delaying the German attack.
There were also four companies of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps on those beaches. Observers said they were particularly cool under fire and well-organized during the retreat. They weren’t large in number, maybe a few hundred among hundreds of thousands, but their appearance in the film would have provided a good reminder of how utterly central the role of the Indian Army was in the war. Their service meant the difference between victory and defeat. In fact, while Britain and other allies were licking their wounds after Dunkirk, the Indian Army picked up the slack in North Africa and the Middle East.
John Broich is an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University and the author of London: Water and the Making of the Modern City and the forthcoming Squadron: Ending the African Slave Trade.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/07/20/what_s_fact_and_what_s_fiction_in_dunkirk.html
In the same way the support of the African units was an important part of the whole WW2 effort. The question raised in article posted is "Why are these facets of WW2 ignored ?" Perhaps the uncomfortable reason is that in 2017 Europe is trying to stem millions of economic refugees from Africa and doesn't want to see them as worthy of any consideration?
Again I suggest it comes back to who is telling the story and the picture they want to create.
What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Dunkirk
John Broich
.. (Much excellent information in the body of this story. Well worth a read)
What’s missing from the film that a historian might add?
In the film, we see at least one French soldier who might be African. In fact, soldiers from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and elsewhere were key to delaying the German attack. Other African soldiers made it to England and helped form the nucleus of the Free French forces that soon took the fight to the Axis.
Soldiers from West and North Africa were key to delaying the German attack.
There were also four companies of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps on those beaches. Observers said they were particularly cool under fire and well-organized during the retreat. They weren’t large in number, maybe a few hundred among hundreds of thousands, but their appearance in the film would have provided a good reminder of how utterly central the role of the Indian Army was in the war. Their service meant the difference between victory and defeat. In fact, while Britain and other allies were licking their wounds after Dunkirk, the Indian Army picked up the slack in North Africa and the Middle East.
John Broich is an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University and the author of London: Water and the Making of the Modern City and the forthcoming Squadron: Ending the African Slave Trade.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/07/20/what_s_fact_and_what_s_fiction_in_dunkirk.html
