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The Confederal Army was the army of the Senegambia Confederation and was manly made up of Senegalese men.
History
[edit]A few months following the coup, the Kaur Declaration was signed, which created the Senegambia Confederation. A necessary element of this was the formation of a Gambian military, which came into existence following the Gambia Armed Forces Act 1985. Jawara emphasised that the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) should be kept "as small as possible". Initially, it consisted of the Gambia National Army (GNA) and the Gambia National Gendarmerie (GNG). The GNA was composed of new recruits and remnants of the Field Force, and was trained by the British. The GNG was composed of new recruits trained by the Senegalese Gendarmerie, on French lines. The Kaur Agreement also created the Confederal Army, which was two thirds Senegalese and one third Gambian, able to deploy anywhere in the Confederation.
Gambian soldiers that formed part of the Confederal Army were paid significantly more than Gambian soldiers in the GAF, which created a feeling of resentment. There were also accusations of widespread corruption and nepotism in the selection process for Gambian Confederal troops from the ranks of the GAF. Gambian soldiers were considered junior to their Senegalese counterparts, and Senegal also contributed far more resources and soldiers to the confederation. Senegalese soldiers were given the key tasks of guarding Banjul airport, the port, and the Gambian president. The confederation collapsed in 1989 over a dispute regarding the rotation of the Confederal presidency. In August, Senegal suddenly removed 300 Senegalese troops from The Gambia without warning, forcing the GAF to make up the difference.[1]
Composition
[edit]The Confederal Army was made up of 400 Senegalese troops and 99 Gambian Troops and many wear conscripts.
Organization
[edit]The SCA had two branches:
The branches not under the Ministry of Defense were the following:
- ^ Dwyer, Maggie (2017). "Fragmented forces: The development of the Gambian military". African Security Review. 26 (4): 362–377 – via Taylor and Francis.
Axis
[edit]This is a List of Axis and Axis puppet States in WW2
Tripartite Pact powers
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Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was the primary Axis Power in the European Theatre. German forces instigated the war in September 1939 by invading Poland. Poland was divided with the Soviet Union. The Phony War ensued and in the spring of 1940 German forces invaded and conquered Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Attempts to subdue the United Kingdom by air in the summer of 1940 failed and a planned invasion was called off. In the summer of 1941 Germany turned its forces east by invading the Soviet Union. The Eastern Front became the main theatre of war for the Germans. The invasion of the USSR had been delayed by campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia, aimed at assisting floundering Italian forces. The Afrika Korps was similarly dispatched to the Western Desert to assist struggling Italian forces there, and German forces grew to an entire army group. Major defeats at Stalingrad in February 1943 and the destruction of Axis forces in North Africa shortly are commonly thought to be the war's turning points. German forces fought on Sicily, and when Italy switched sides, German forces seized power, fighting a successful withdrawal and diverting Allied forces from Northwest Europe. Severe losses at Kursk in the summer of 1943 and during the Soviet summer offensives of 1944 shattered German fighting power, and Allied landings in Normandy and Southern France forced the Germans to fight on several fronts simultaneously. The surrender of the German forces between 4 May and 8 May 1945, signaled the end of the war in Europe.
German forces were very active at sea, primarily through its submarine force. The German air force provided effective tactical and logistical support until Allied air superiority was achieved by the middle of 1944. Strategic use of airpower failed and despite heavy aerial bombardment (and later, the V-1 and V-2 rockets) of the United Kingdom, failed to achieve lasting results.
Hitler's war aims included the destruction of the Jews of Europe, and at the Wannsee Conference in early 1942, a system of extermination was finalized which led to the Holocaust.
Italy had completed conquests (Ethiopia and Albania) prior to its entry into World War II. After the initially successful campaigns of Nazi Germany, Italy joined in the war in June 1940, planning to get a share of Allied territory with the defeat of France.
Italy's war effort went poorly, resulting in defeats in Greece and North Africa. The Allies started to invade Italy in the summer of 1943 and Mussolini's government collapsed.
The new royal government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice with the allies, but most of the country was quickly occupied by the Germans, who established a puppet government under Mussolini in the north, the Italian Social Republic (also known as the Salò Republic, from its headquarters). Badoglio and King Victor Emmanuel III escaped to Brindisi without giving any order to the army, which was left in chaos and without leadership: some divisions surrendered to the Germans, other fought back on their own.
The royal government remained in control of the south and declared war on Germany; the military forces it still controlled joined the Allies in a position of co-belligerence. It was eventually re-established as the government of all of Italy shortly before the end of the war in the spring of 1945, when partisan uprisings liberated northern Italy. Italy would become a member of NATO after the war, but lost the region of Istria and the Dalmatian city of Zadar to Yugoslavia, and all its colonies excluding Somalia. [citation needed]
Japan was the leader of the Axis powers in the Pacific Theatre. Some people consider that World War II actually began with the invasion of China by Japan in 1937. The war ended with the capitulation of Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. Although the US saw most action in the Pacific Theatre, the United Kingdom also had a role in Japan's defeat, particularly in the Burma campaign. The USSR did not declare war on Japan until 9 August 1945 when it invaded Manchuria.[citation needed]
States that adhered to the Tripartite Pact
[edit]
Romania had its first involvement in the war in providing transit rights for members of the Polish government, its treasury, and many Polish troops in 1939. During 1940, threatened with Soviet invasion, Romania ceded territory to the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Bulgaria, and following an internal political upheaval, Romania joined the Axis. Subsequently, the Romanian army participated with over 600,000 men in the German-led invasion of the Soviet Union, with its forces taking part in the capture of Odessa, Sevastopol and ultimately suffering irrecoverable losses at Stalingrad. Romania was also a major source of oil for Nazi Germany via the Ploiești oil fields.
With the entry of Soviet troops into Romania and a royal coup in August 1944, a pro-Allied government was installed, and after Germany and Hungary declared war on Romania, the country joined the Allies as a co-belligerent for the remainder of the war. The total number of troops deployed against the Axis was 567,000 men in 38 army divisions.[citation needed] The Romanian Army was involved in the siege of Budapest and reached as far as Czechoslovakia and Austria.[citation needed]
Hungary was a significant German ally. It signed the Tripartite Pact on 20 November 1940, and joined in the invasion of the Soviet Union the next year. When, in 1944, the government of Regent Miklós Horthy wished to sign a ceasefire with the Allies, he was overthrown by the Nazis and replaced by a government run by the fascist Arrow Cross movement, which ruled the country until it was overrun by the Soviets.
The (First) Slovak Republic (Slovak: [prvá] Slovenská republika), otherwise known as the Slovak State (Slovak: Slovenský štát), was a client state of Nazi Germany which existed between 14 March 1939 and 4 April 1945. It controlled the majority of the territory of present-day Slovakia but without its current southern and eastern parts, which had been ceded to Hungary in 1938. The Republic bordered Germany, constituent parts of "Großdeutschland", the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Poland – and subsequently the General Government (German-occupied remnant of Poland) – along with independent Hungary.
Bulgaria was a German ally, signing the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941, their main contribution being transit rights for German units involved against Yugoslavia and Greece. Bulgaria occupied portions of Greece and Yugoslavia to recreate the 19th century boundaries of Greater Bulgaria, but it did not participate in the Invasion of the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
After the Communist-dominated Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 of 9 September and the simultaneous arrival of Soviet troops, the Bulgarian government declared war on Germany. Bulgarian armies attacked the German positions in Yugoslavia. An armistice was signed with the Allies in Moscow on 28 October 1944. After the Nazis fled Yugoslav territory, the Bulgarian Army continued its offensive in Hungary and Austria under the command of General Vladimir Stoychev. It withstood the Wehrmacht offensive on the Drava River. Bulgaria's participation in World War II ended when its soldiers met British troops in Klagenfurt, Austria in May 1945.
The Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia in 1941 and created several puppet states and client states including the Independent State of Croatia, Nedić's Serbia, and the Kingdom of Montenegro. Other parts of Yugoslavia were occupied directly. Yugoslavs opposing the Nazis soon started to organize resistance movements, the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito and Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the monarchist Chetniks, led by Draža Mihailović. The two movements had conflicting goals, and the Chetniks started to collaborate with the Axis powers to fight against the Partisans.
Communist Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia was convened on in Bihać in 1942 and in Jajce. Near the end of the war, Western governments attempted to reconcile the various sides, which led to the Tito-Šubašić Agreement in June 1944. However, the Communist Party ruled the post-war state.
After heavy bloodshed in a complex war, Yugoslavia was reestablished in 1945, including areas previously ruled by Kingdom of Italy (Istria and parts of Dalmatia). General Mihailović and many other royalists were rounded-up and executed by the Partisans. Mihailović was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit by President Harry S. Truman for his resistance efforts throughout the war and for his role in Operation Halyard.
The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, or NDH) became a member of the Axis on 10 April 1941[dubious – discuss] and joined the Tripartite Pact on 15 June 1941. The state was nominally a monarchy and a de facto Italian-German quasi-protectorate until the Italian capitulation on 8 September 1943, after which it remained a de facto German quasi-protectorate until the German withdrawal near the end of the war. It had a government controlled by the fascist Ustaše movement. Its military fought alongside Axis troops; mainly on anti-Partisan operations within the NDH. Volunteers from the NDH fought in Wehrmacht formations on the Eastern Front as the 'Croatian Legion' for some time. The Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia remained engaged in battle a week after the capitulation of Germany on 8 May 1945 in an attempt to surrender to Allied forces rather than the Yugoslav Partisans. During the war they launched a campaign of genocide against Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. They also had their own separate concentration camps, such as the Jasenovac death camp.
Co-belligerent states
[edit]
Finland was left to the Soviet sphere of interest in Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and when it refused to allow the Soviet Union to build bases on its territory, it was attacked by Soviet forces in the Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940). After the war, Finland unsuccessfully sought protection from the United Kingdom and from Sweden to counter the continuing Soviet pressure, before turning to improving relations with Nazi Germany. This produced cooperation between the countries, which led three days after the start of Operation Barbarossa to a Soviet pre-emptive air attack on Finland, which started the Continuation War (25 June 1941 – 4 September 1944), in which Finland was a co-belligerent of Germany. The UK declared war on Finland on 6 December 1941. Canada and New Zealand declared war on Finland on 7 December, as did Australia and South Africa the following day.
To secure military support needed to stop the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive coordinated with D-Day, the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement was signed on 26 June 1944, in which Finnish and Nazi German relations became closest to an alliance. An armistice was signed after the Soviet offensive was fought to a standstill, and the Wehrmacht was retreating from the Baltic states. The treaty required Finland to expel all German troops, which led to the Lapland War (15 September 1944 – 25 April 1945). This was shortly before the complete surrender of Nazi forces all over Europe on 7–8 May 1945 (V-E Day). Complete peace with the UK and the USSR was concluded in the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947.
Iraq was important to Britain through its position on a route to India and the strategic oil supplies that it provided. After the ejection of the Ottoman Turks at the end of the First World War, these were protected by a significant Royal Air Force base at Habbaniya and the maintenance of sympathetic governments. Because of the United Kingdom's weakness early in the war, Iraq backed away from its Anglo-Iraqi Alliance with the country. When the British High Command requested to send reinforcements to Iraq, the country's Prime Minister, Nuri-es Said, allowed a small British force to land. Consequently, he was forced to resign after a pro-Axis coup under Rashid Ali in April 1941. Later British requests to reinforce Iraq were denied by the new leadership.
The new regime secretly began negotiations with the Axis Powers. The Nazis responded quickly and sent military aid by Luftwaffe aircraft to Baghdad via Syria. Indian troops consequently invaded in late April 1941 and reached Baghdad and RAF Habbaniyah in May. The Iraqi army attacked Habbaniyah but quickly capitulated and Rashid Ali fled the country. The United Kingdom urged Iraq to declare war on the Axis in 1942. British forces remained to protect the vital oil supplies. Yet Iraq declared war on the Axis powers in 1943 after cutting diplomatic ties. The Iraqi army played a role in protecting the logistic routes of the Allies, especially the military aids to the Soviet Union which used to arrive from Basra, Baghdad and Kirkuk. British and Indian operations in Iraq should be viewed in conjunction with events in neighbouring Syria and Persia.
Thailand was nominally an ally of Japan at the beginning of the war. The country was ruled at first by Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, a military dictator with nationalist leanings, under the Thai King. Thailand remained uninvolved when war broke out in Europe, but it took the opportunity of France's defeat to settle historical claims to parts of French Indochina. The conflict between Thailand and the Vichy regime is known as the French–Thai War. The December 1941 Japanese invasion of Thailand brought five hours of war after which Phibun surrendered and acquiesced, making the country a stepping-stone to open the Burma Campaign.
Japanese victory in the Malayan Campaign made the Premier more enthusiastic about co-operation, and on 21 December, a formal "alliance" was concluded. At noon on 25 January 1942, Thailand declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. Some Thais supported the alliance, arguing that it was in the national interest, or that it was better to ally oneself with a victorious power. Others formed the Free Thai Movement to resist. Eventually, when the war turned against the Japanese, Phibun was forced to resign, and a Free Thai-controlled government was formed. On 16 August 1945, Thailand rescinded its declarations of war.[citation needed]
Puppet governments
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After the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939, 100,000 Italian soldiers and 11,000 Italian colonists who wanted to integrate Albania into the Italian Empire settled in the country. Initially the Albanian Fascist Party received support from the population, mainly because of the unification of Kosovo and other Albanian-populated territories with Albania proper after the conquest of Yugoslavia and Greece by the Axis in Spring 1941. Benito Mussolini boasted in May 1941 to a group of Albanian fascists that he had achieved the Greater Albania long wanted by the Tirana nationalists. On June 22, 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and on June 28 Albania also declared war on the USSR.
In October 1941, small Albanian Communist groups established an Albanian Communist Party in Tirana of 130 members under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. In mid-1942, however, party leaders increased their popularity by calling young people to fight for the liberation of their country from Italy. In September 1942, the party organized the Albanian National Anti-Fascist Front, from a number of resistance groups, including several that were strongly anticommunist. They assembled a National Liberation Army.
Germany occupied Albania in September 1943, dropping paratroopers into Tirana before the Albanian guerrillas could take the capital, and soon drove the guerrillas into the hills and to the south. Berlin subsequently announced it would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. Many Balli Kombëtar units and leaders collaborated. The partisans entirely liberated Albania from German occupation on November 29, 1944. The Albanian partisans also helped in the liberation of Kosovo and parts of Yugoslavia.
The State of Burma (Burmese: ဗမာ) was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, created in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II.
The Republic of China had been fighting Japan intermittently since the 1931 Mukden Incident, when Japan annexed Manchuria. On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident led the two countries to full-scale war. With this and a civil conflict between the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) and the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Nationalist Government's full attention was within its borders. However, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek still managed to send troops to Britain's aid in Burma, in early 1942. More than 1.5 million Japanese military personnel were bogged down in China with casualties estimated at 1.1–1.9 million. At the start of the war the Chinese army had 2.6 million soldiers; by end of the war it had grown to 5.7 million (excluding communist soldiers).
The war cooled China's formerly warm relations with Germany (see Sino-German cooperation), and following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, China formally joined the Allies and declared war on Germany on 9 December 1941.
Many of China's urban centers, industrial resources, and coastal regions were occupied by Japan for most of the war. China suffered a large death toll from the war, both military and civilian. The Chinese Nationalist army suffered some 3.2 million casualties, and 17 million civilians died in the crossfire. After the war, China gained one of the permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
After the war ended, the Chinese Civil War resumed between the Nationalists and the Communists. The Nationalist government was defeated by the Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan, while the communist People's Republic of China was established on the mainland.
Greece initially resisted the Italian invasion of 28 October 1940 and pushed Mussolini's forces back into Albania. Hitler reluctantly sent forces to bail out his ally and subdue Greece (Operation Marita). The resulting Battle of Greece in April 1941 delayed the invasion of the Soviet Union, and the heavy losses of the German Fallschirmjäger over Crete effectively put a halt to large-scale German airborne operations.
The government and the King fled the country to Egypt, from where they continued the fight. The occupation forces installed a series of puppet governments, which commanded little allegiance. A vigorous Resistance movement developed from 1942 on, dominated largely by the leftist National Liberation Front (EAM).
Throughout 1943, the guerrillas liberated much of the country's mountainous interior, establishing a free zone called "Free Greece". After the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Germans took over the Italian zone, often accompanied by bloodshed, as the Italians tried to resist both them and the Allies trying to occupy Italian-held areas (the Dodecanese Campaign). As Liberation approached, the Resistance became divided along political lines, and a mini civil war ensued. An agreement establishing a national unity government was reached in the May 1944 Lebanon conference, which eased tension somewhat.
With the advance of the Red Army through Eastern Europe in summer 1944, the German forces withdrew from the Greek mainland in October–November 1944, although many island garrisons were left behind and surrendered after the unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. The returning government in exile, backed by British forces, soon clashed with EAM forces in Athens, beginning the Greek Civil War; a conflict that would last until 1949 and leave a divisive legacy.
On 23 March 1942, Japanese forces invaded the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In December 1943, the Japanese-sponsored Free India Movement (Provisional Government of Free India) was formed. The Andaman Islands were renamed Shaheed Islands, and the Nicobars were renamed Swaraj Islands. Andaman & Nicobar Islanders fought alongside the Japanese during this time. The islands were not reoccupied by the British until 6 October 1945.
Established in 1931 as a puppet state of Japan, the Empire of Manchukuo was led by Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, who reigned as Emperor Kang De. The state contributed little to the war but remained a loyal ally to Japan until 1945. In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and Manchukuo was subsequently invaded and abolished. The former puppet state was returned to communist China.[citation needed]
The governorate of Montenegro existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended to establish a quasi-independent Montenegrin kingdom, these plans were permanently shelved after a popular uprising in July 1941. Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, the territory of Montenegro was occupied by German forces which withdrew in December 1944.
The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Nasjonale regjering (English: National Government). Actual executive power was retained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven.
Given the use of the term quisling, the name Quisling regime can also be used as a derogatory term referring to political regimes perceived as treasonous puppet governments imposed by occupying foreign enemies.
In 1941, the Philippine Commonwealth was a semi-independent commonwealth of the United States, with full Independence scheduled for 4 July 1946. The Philippine Commonwealth Army was commanded by American General Douglas MacArthur, and the Philippines was one of the first countries invaded by the Empire of Japan; combined Filipino and American forces maintained a stubborn resistance against the invasion. General MacArthur was ordered by the President to withdraw his headquarters to Australia, where he made his famous statement "I came out of Bataan, and I shall return". The Americans in the Philippines surrendered at Corregidor, on 6 May 1942.
Despite the official surrender, there was a significant local resistance movement to the Japanese Occupation. Elements of the Philippine Army continued their activity and were able to free all but twelve of the then-fifty Provinces of the Philippines, whilst other groups such as the Hukbalahap were also involved. While in exile, President Manuel L. Quezon continued to represent the Philippines until his death from tuberculosis in 1944. American forces under General MacArthur made their return in October 1944, beginning with amphibious landing on Leyte.[citation needed]
The Government of National Salvation (Serbo-Croatian: Vlada narodnog spasa / Влада народног спаса; German: Regierung der nationalen Rettung), also referred to as the Nedić's regime (Nedićev režim / Недићев режим), was the second Serbian puppet government, after the Commissioner Government, established on the Territory of the (German) Military Commander in Serbia during World War II. It was appointed by the German Military Commander in Serbia and operated from 29 August 1941 to October 1944. The GNS enjoyed some support. The Prime Minister throughout was General Milan Nedić. The Government of National Salvation was evacuated from Belgrade first to Sofia than to Budapest and later to Kitzbühel in the first week of October 1944 before the German withdrawal from Serbia was complete.