Eighty years ago the scene is set for decisive struggles in the Pacific, Russia, the desert and over the future of India

 

US forces seized an airfield newly constructed by the Japanese at the southwesterly limit of their expansion. It would have helped them dominate the Solomon Islands which lay astride access from the East to New Guinea which was being bitterly fought over. It was on a hitherto almost unknown island called Guadalcanal. The allied naval forces covering the landing almost immediately suffered a severe defeat in a night engagement, called the Battle of Savo Island, but the US Marines held on. More important, the US could afford to lose ships, whilst the Japanese could not. Savo Island was only the first of the many fights that gave the patch of the sea the nickname "Ironbottom Sound" from the number of ships that would be sunk there. After a series of set-piece naval fights, the Pacific War now featured a ferocious battle of sea, land and air attrition.

 

German forces too a set a new south-easterly limit to the pentration of the USSR when they reached the city of Stalingrad which dominated the bend in  River Volga  as it turns south east towards the Caspian Sea. It held the key to the USSR's oil producing provinces to the South as well as carrying a politically significant and emotive name. Here too a major fight was inevitable.

 

After months of ambiguous conversation the British finally paid the price for failing to open a serious dialogue with domestic Indian political movements. The Viceroy was a relic of Victorian imperialism, dedicated to preserving the status quo and nothing else, incapable of spotting that the political dynamic demanded more; Churchill rather shared his view. Mahatma Gandhi delivered his now celebrated "Quit India" speech to the Congress Party calling for independence and placing Britain and Japan on the same plane as enemies of liberty. Gandhi inisted on non-violent methods so the most severe practical outcome was non-cooperation. Gandhi and most of the Congress leadership were arrested, which further restricted the immediate  material effects of the speech, on which a publicity black-out was imposed.

 

Churchill visited Cairo at the crucial moment in the desert war with Rommel's advance halted at the first Batte of Alamein. He was determined to restore British fortunes with hands-on personal decisions about detailed military affairs. The immediate victim of his discontent with local leadership was General Auchinleck, both C-in-C Middle East and temporary commander of the Eighth Army. He had held Rommel's advance at Alamein but his earlier offensive had failed and he did not project aggression and determination that Churchill craved. Churchill's first choice to replace him as Eighth Army commander, 'Strafer' Gott VC was killed and he had to settle for Bernard Montgomery with Harold Alexander as theatre commander.