History
First and Second World Wars
The contribution of the Commonwealth Armed Forces
Five million men and women from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Caribbean volunteered to serve with the Armed Forces during the First and Second World Wars. Of these, almost 1.7 million died in service or of causes attributable to service.
Campaigns
This section details the campaigns pursued in each geographical territory.
First World War | Second World War
Participants
We also give the personal stories of some of the servicemen and women from the Commonwealth who participated in these campaigns.
First World War | Second World War
Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge the work of Christopher Sommerville – journalist, broadcaster and author of Our War: The story of the unsung heroes of Her Majesty's Foreign Legions – in providing the content for the History section of this website.