Economic Contributions
The British Colonies in the West Indies made huge economic contributions during the Second World War. They contributed £1 million for war purposes, £3 million in interest free loans to Britain, half a million pounds to war charities and half a million pounds to aircraft manufacture. This is worth nearly 500 times more in today’s money.
© IWM (Art.IWM PST 15981) a depiction of a mining operation for bauxite in british guiana.
The Allies also relied on the production of key raw materials from these nations, including oil, cotton, cocoa, sugar, rice, timber and bauxite (aluminium ore which is a key component of aircraft manufacture).
British Guiana was an important source of bauxite (aluminium ore) which was crucial for aircraft manufacture, particularly within the Canadian Aircraft industry, a major aircraft producer for the war effort. This shows how interconnected the British Empire was and the reliance of Britain on its Empire to help it fight the war.
British Guiana was also a key source of timber, sugar and rice. Rice was particularly important after Japan invaded Burma (modern day Myanmar), which was a major rice producer and supplied a lot of rice to the British Empire. Without countries like Guiana increasing rice production, a serious situation would have been made much worse.
In order to supply the Allied Offensive in North Africa in 1942 Operation Torch, during which Troops from the British Empire and the USA defeated the Germans in North Africa, 25 million gallons of oil were used from Trinidad.
Did you know…?
St Vincent and Monserrat were important producers of sea island cotton, much of which was used to cover barrage balloons, which protected cities against air attack.
SECOND WORLD WAR CONTENTS:
COMING SOON!
Profiles People
Living through Conflict
Commemoration and Legacy
Artistic Responses to Conflict