A. September 3, 1939, War

(a) Poland Invaded, Britain Declares War, Australia Follows
(b) Britain continues ‘Standing By’ - the Phoney War
(c) German U-boat and Air Superiority

B. Early Defeats

(a) Norway, then France, Fall
(b) A British Settlement with Hitler?
(c) Challenge to Churchill’s leadership fails

(a) Germany Invades Russia, June 22, 1941
(b) Churchill and Roosevelt Meet - the Atlantic Charter

D. Japan Enters WWII

(a) Japan’s early lightning gains - with early historical roots
(b) Singapore Falls; facing invasion, Australia fights back
(c ) Midway Battle turns the Naval Tide
(d) Young Australians repel forces aimed at Port Moresby
(e) Its Security Assured, how then should Australia have fought the Pacific War?

E. Back to ‘Germany First’ - and further delaying the Second Front!

(a) The Strategy and Rationale
(b) Post-Stalingrad Eastern Front: January 1943 - May 1945
(c) Britain’s Contribution to Winning the War against Germany

F. The Dominions and the RAF’s Air War on Germany

(a) The Origins of the ‘Empire Air Training Scheme’ (EATS)
(b) EATS and the Defence of Australia - any Connection?
(c) Air Operations - Europe
(d) Ill-used Australian Aircrew
(e) RAF Bomber Command and its Operations (do see official UK, US Reports!)
(f) The contrast: US Air Force’s Specific Target Bombing from mid-1944

G. Defeating Japan

(a) Victory Over Japan Clinched by Economic Strangulation (not Bombs)
(b) As the Japanese Ready to Quit, why Fire- and Atom-Bomb them?!!
(c) Japan Surrenders

H. WWII’s Human Costs

(a) Country by Country - historian David Kennedy’s figures
(b) Some Economic Outcomes

I. WWII and the Origins of the Cold War

(a) Contrived Origins
(b) And MAD Nuclear options
(c) Non-nuclear Strategies of the Cold War - and Civil Wars

J. Sources