ABSTRACT
C O M M O N W E A L T H C O - O P E R A T I O N IN WAR 29 The eastward direction of the first German onslaught encouraged the notion
that, despite the spectacular success of German arms, the war might be one of limited liability for the dominions. On 8 September 1939 Mr. Mackenzie King quoted with approval a statement of Sir Henry Gullett, Australian Minister for External Affairs, to the effect that the Australian government had not seriously considered dispatching an expeditionary force overseas. He avowed his own belief that conscription for overseas service would not be necessary and repeated his pledge that no such measure would be introduced in Canada by his administration.1 In Canberra Mr. Menzies was equally categoric, stating on 20 October 1939: 'It must be made clear that there is no obligation for service abroad, except in the case of a volunteer for such service.'2 In Cape Town General Smuts, while pledging South African assistance, if need arose, to British colonies in Southern Africa, 'the northern outposts of the Union', restricted service outside the Union to volunteers, and it was not till March 1940 that a voluntary oath was taken by the great majority of the members of the Union Defence Force to serve 'anywhere in Africa'. The New Zealand documents contain evidence that New Zealand, also, lacked a sufficient sense of urgency. The government of the dominion which alone had doubted the wisdom of appeasement, which had most clearly foreseen its probable outcome, and whose policy was for ever epitomized in Mr. Savage's ringing declaration 'where she [Britain] goes, we go, where she stands, we stand',3 had no detailed plans worked out with the United Kingdom government about the use of its troops outside New Zealand and its area of local security on the outbreak of war. In part this was due to the fact that the aggressor, as always, enjoyed the initiative and could choose where and when he would strike, but even more was it to be attributed to the reluctance, more pronounced in other dominions, to contemplate realistically the demands that total war would make.
