War in Vietnam (1945–46)

War in Vietnam

Part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War

A Japanese naval officer surrenders his sword to a British Lieutenant in Saigon on 13th September 1945.

Date

September 13, 1945 – March 30, 1946
(6 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)

Location

Southern Vietnam below the 16th parallel

Result

Operational success

Restoration of French rule in Indochina
First Indochina War begins

Belligerents

United Kingdom

India

France

Japan

Việt Minh

Cao Đài militia

Hòa Hảo militia

Bình Xuyên militia

Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng

Commanders and leaders

Casualties and losses

40 British/Indian soldiers killed

Unknown

2700 killed

First Indochina War

Masterdom Haiphong Hanoi Cao Bằng Papillon Léa Ceinture Đông Khê RC4 Vĩnh Yên Mạo Khê Đáy River 1st Nghĩa Lộ Hòa Bình 2nd Nghĩa Lộ Lorraine Nà Sản Bretagne Adolphe Muong Khoua Atlante Camargue Hirondelle Brochet Mouette Pollux Castor Điện Biên Phủ Condor Mang Yang Pass

The War in Vietnam, codenamed Operation Masterdom^[1] by the British, and also known as Nam Bộ kháng chiến (English: Southern Resistance War)^[2] by the Vietnamese, was a post–World War II armed conflict involving a largely British-Indian and French task force and Japanese troops from the Southern Expeditionary Army Group, versus the Vietnamese communist movement, the Viet Minh, for control of the country, after the unconditional Japanese surrender.

The wars in Indochina, for about 45 years, had caught the world's attention during the last part of the 20th century. France's unsuccessful nine-year conflict (1945–1954), America's equally unsuccessful involvement, ending in 1973 to the conflict in Cambodia, sparked by the Vietnamese invasion in 1978 have been often referred to, respectively, as the First, Second and Third Indochina Wars. Historically, they are misnumbered by one, for the first war in Vietnam after World War II, from 1945 to 1946, was a brief but important conflict that grew out of the British occupation landing at Saigon to receive the surrender of Japanese forces.

The French collapse

Further information: Vietnam during World War II, Empire of Vietnam, August Revolution, and Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

In July 1945 at Potsdam, Germany, the Allied leaders made the decision to divide Indochina in half at the 16th parallel to allow Chiang Kai-shek to receive the Japanese surrender in the North, while Lord Louis Mountbatten to receive the surrender in the South. The Allies agreed that France was the rightful owner of French Indochina, but because of the fact that France was critically weakened as a result of the German occupation, a British-Indian force was installed in order to help the French in re-establishing control over their former colonial possession.^[3]

To carry out his part of the task, Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia Command, was to form an Allied Commission to go to Saigon and a military force consisting of an infantry division was to be designated as the Allied Land Forces French Indochina (ALFFIC). It was tasked to ensure civil order in the area surrounding Saigon, to enforce the Japanese surrender, and render humanitarian assistance to Allied prisoners of war and internees.^[3]

As for the Control Commission its concern was primarily with winding down the Supreme Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army Southeast Asia and also render humanitarian assistance to prisoners of war. Thus Major-General Douglas Gracey was appointed to head the Commission and the 80th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier D.E. Taunton, of his crack 20th Indian Division was the ALFFIC which followed him to Vietnam.

In late August 1945, British occupying forces were ready to depart for various Southeast Asian destinations, and some were already on their way, when General Douglas MacArthur caused an uproar at the Southeast Asia Command by forbidding reoccupation until he had personally received the Japanese surrender in Tokyo, which was actually set for 28 August, but a typhoon caused the ceremony to be postponed until 2 September.

Free French 6th Commando C.L.I. in Saigon are saluted by surrendered Japanese in November 1945.

MacArthur's uproar had enormous consequences, for Allied prisoners of war in Japanese camps had to suffer living in a ghastly state for a little bit longer and also this delay, before the Allied troops arrived, enabled revolutionary groups to fill the power vacuums that had existed in Southeast Asia since the announcement of the Japanese capitulation on 15 August. The chief beneficiaries in Indochina were the Communists, who exercised complete control over the Viet Minh, the nationalist alliance founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1941. In Hanoi and Saigon, they rushed to seize the seats of government, by killing or intimidating their rivals.^[4]

While the Allies stated that the French had sovereignty over Indochina, America opposed the return of Indochina to the French; but there was no such official America animosity towards the Communist-led Viet Minh.^[5]

MacArthur finally had his ceremony on board the USS Missouri on 2 September, and three days later the first Allied medical rescue teams parachuted into the prisoner of war camps. During the following days a small advance party of support personnel and infantry escort from Gracey's force arrived in Saigon to check on conditions and report back; on the 11th a brigade was flown in from Hmawbi Field, Burma via Bangkok. When these advance Allied units landed in Saigon they found themselves in a bizarre position of being welcomed and guarded by fully armed Japanese and Viet Minh soldiers. The reason these soldiers were armed was because six months earlier (March 9) they disarmed and interned the French, for the Japanese feared an American landing in Indochina after the fall of Manila and did not trust the French.

Britain in Vietnam

Upon Gracey's arrival on September 13 to receive the surrender of Japanese forces, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation in the country. Anarchy, rioting, and murder were widespread, Saigon's administrative services had collapsed, and a loosely controlled Communist-led revolutionary group had seized power. In addition, since the Japanese were still fully armed, the Allies feared that they would be capable of undermining the Allied position. Furthermore, Gracey had poor communications with his higher headquarters in Burma because his American signal detachment was abruptly withdrawn by the U.S. government for political reasons; it was a loss that could not be rectified for several weeks.

Gracey wrote that unless something were done quickly, the state of anarchy would worsen. This situation was worsened by the Viet Minh's lack of strong control over some of their allied groups. Because of this, the French were able to persuade Gracey (in a move which exceeded the authority of his orders from Mountbatten) to rearm local colonial infantry regiments who were being held as prisoners of war.

Gracey also allowed about 1,000 former French prisoners of war to be rearmed. They, with the arrival of the newly formed 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment (RIC) commandos, would then be capable of evicting the Viet Minh from what hold they had on the Saigon administration. Gracey saw this as the quickest way to allow the French to reassert their authority in Indochina while allowing him proceed in disarming and repatriating the Japanese.

Gracey faced another problem in his relations with Mountbatten. One example of this occurred on Gracey's arrival in September. He drew up a proclamation that declared martial law and stated that he was responsible for law and order throughout Indochina south of the 16th parallel. Mountbatten, in turn, made an issue of this, claiming that Gracey was responsible for public security in key areas only. The proclamation was published on September 21 and, although Lord Mountbatten disagreed with its wording, the Chiefs of Staff and the Foreign Office supported Gracey.

During the following days, Gracey gradually eased the Viet Minh grip on Saigon, replacing their guards in vital points with his own troops. These vital points were then turned over to French troops.^[6] This procedure was adopted because the Viet Minh would not have relinquished their positions directly to the French.^[7]

French reassert control in Saigon

By September 23, most of Saigon was back in French hands, with less than half a dozen vital positions in Viet Minh control. The French subsequently regained total control of Saigon. On that day, former French prisoners of war who had been reinstated into the army together with troops from the 5th RIC ejected the Viet Minh in a coup in which two French soldiers were killed.^[7]

On the night of the 24/25 the Vietnamese reacted as a mob (not under Viet Minh control) and abducted and butchered a large number of French and French-Vietnamese men, women, and children. On the 25th, the Viet Minh attacked and set fire to the city's central market area, while another group attacked Tan Son Nhut Airfield. The airfield attack was repelled by the Gurkhas, where one British soldier was killed along with half a dozen Viet Minh. The British now had a war on their hands, something which Mountbatten had sought to avoid.

For the next few days, parties of armed Viet Minh clashed with British patrols, the Viet Minh suffering mounting losses with each encounter.^[8]^:70 The British soldiers were highly professional and experienced troops who had just recently finished battling the Japanese; many officers and soldiers had also experienced internal security and guerrilla warfare in India and the North West Frontier. In contrast, even though the Viet Minh were courageous, they were still learning how to fight a war.

In early October, Gracey held talks with the Viet Minh and a truce was agreed upon. On the 5th, General Philippe Leclerc, the senior French commander, arrived in Saigon where he and his troops were placed under Gracey's command. However, on October 10, a state of semi-peace with the Viet Minh was broken by an unprovoked attack on a small British engineering party which was inspecting the water lines near Tan Son Nhut Airfield. Most of the engineering party were killed or wounded. Gracey accepted the fact that the level of insurrection was such that he would first have to pacify key areas before he could repatriate the Japanese. It was at this time that his small force had been strengthened by the arrival of his second infantry brigade, the 32nd, under Brigadier E.C.V. Woodford. Gracey deployed the 32nd Brigade into Saigon's troublesome northern suburbs of Gò Vấp and Gia Định. Once in this area the Viet Minh fell back before this force, which included armoured car support from the Indian 16th Light Cavalry.^[9]^:206

Aerial reconnaissance by Spitfires revealed that the roads approaching Saigon were blocked: the Viet Minh were attempting to strangle the city. On October 13, Tan Son Nhut came under attack again by the Viet Minh; their commandos and sappers were able this time to come within 275m of the control tower. They were also at the doors of the radio station before the attack was blunted by Indian and Japanese soldiers. As the Viet Minh fell back from the airfield, the Japanese were ordered to pursue them until nightfall, when contact was broken.^[9]^:284

By mid-October, 307 Viet Minh had been killed by British/Indian troops and 225 were killed by Japanese troops, including the new body count of 80 more Viet Minh at Da Lat. On one occasion, the Japanese repulsed an attack on their headquarters at Phú Lâm, killing 100 Viet Minh. British, French, and Japanese casualties were small by comparison. On the 17th, the third brigade, the 100th, commanded by Brigadier C.H.B. Rodham, arrived in Indochina.

Viet Minh attacks on Saigon's infrastructure

The Viet Minh next assaulted Saigon's vital points—the power plant, docks, airfield, and for the third time, even the city's artesian wells. Periodically, Saigon was blacked out at night and the sound of small arms, grenades, mines, mortars, and artillery became familiar throughout the city. Unable to overwhelm Saigon's defences, the Viet Minh intensified their siege tactics. During this time, newly arrived French troops were given the task of helping to break the siege while aggressive British patrolling kept the Viet Minh off-balanced.^[8]^:75

On October 25, the only known evidence of direct Soviet involvement in the area came about, when a Japanese patrol captured a Russian adviser near Thủ Dầu Một. He was handed over to Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Jarvis, commander of the 1/1 Gurkha Rifles at Thủ Dầu Một. Jarvis tried several attempts at interrogation, but it was fruitless, so the intruder was handed over to the Sûreté, the French criminal investigation department (equivalent to the CID). From there he disappeared from the annals of history.

On October 29, the British formed a strong task force with the objective of pushing the Viet Minh further away from Saigon. This force was called 'Gateforce' after its commander, Lt.-Col. Gates of 14/13th Frontier Force Rifles. Gateforce consisted of Indian infantry, artillery, and armoured cars, and a Japanese infantry battalion. During their operations they killed around 190 Viet Minh; during one operation around Xuân Lộc, east of Saigon, the Japanese killed 50 Viet Minh when they surprised a Viet Minh group in training.

Japanese POW's under British supervision repairing the taxiing strip at Saigon airfield, with behind them RAF de Havilland Mosquito aircraft, December 1945

On November 18, a Gurkha unit set out for Long Kiến, south of Saigon, to rescue French hostages held there. While en route, the force was forced to turn back as it was not strong enough to overcome the Viet Minh they encountered. A few days later a stronger force was dispatched. According to the Gurkhas, they had seen Japanese deserters leading some Viet Minh war parties. During this operation the only kukri (Nepalese knife) charge in the whole campaign occurred. According to a Gurkha platoon leader, at one point during the operation they were held up by determined Viet Minh defenders occupying an old French fort. The Gurkhas brought up a bazooka, blew in the doors, then without hesitation drew out their kukris and charged into the fort, putting the defenders to the knife. Long Kien was finally reached on that same day, but no hostages were recovered; however, about 80 Viet Minh had been killed during this operation.^[10]

By early December, Gracey was able to turn over Saigon's northern suburbs to the French, when 32 Brigade relinquished responsibility to General Valluy's 9th Colonial Infantry Division. On Christmas Day, the 32nd set out for Borneo. Many of the newly arrived French soldiers were ex-Maquis (French Resistance), not accustomed to military discipline.

During the battles of the South Central Highlands, the Viet Minh forced French troops to leave many villages and newly captured positions in the Central Highlands. The town of Buôn Ma Thuột was regained by the Vietnamese in mid-December. It was during this operation that Spitfires of 273 Squadron RAF executed the only acknowledged offensive action against the Viet Minh on 11 December.

On 3 January 1946 the last big battle occurred between the British and the Viet Minh. About 900 Viet Minh attacked the 14/13 Frontier Force Rifles camp at Biên Hòa. The fighting last throughout the night, and when it was over about 100 attackers had been killed without the loss of a single British or Indian soldier. Most Viet Minh casualties were the result of British machine-gun crossfire.

In mid-January, the Viet Minh began to avoid large-scale attacks on the British, French, and Japanese forces. They began to take fighting characteristics which later became common: ambushes, hit-and-run raids, and assassinations, while the British, French, and Japanese constantly patrolled and conducted security sweeps. This was the first modern unconventional war, and although the Viet Minh had sufficient manpower to sustain a long campaign, they were beaten back by well-led professional troops who were familiar with an Asian jungle and countryside.^[11]

By the end of the month, 80 Brigade handed over its theater of operations to the French, and the 100 Brigade was withdrawn into Saigon. Gracey flew out on the 28th. Before his departure, he signed control over French forces to Gen. Leclerc. The last British forces left on March 26, so ending the seven-month intervention in Vietnam; and on March 30, the SS Islami took aboard the last two British/Indian battalions in Vietnam. Only a single company of the 2/8 Punjab remained to guard the Allied Control Mission in Saigon, and on May 15 it left, the mission having been disbanded a day earlier as the French became responsible for getting the remaining Japanese home. The last British troops to die in Vietnam were six soldiers killed in an ambush in June 1946.^[12]

Casualties

For Britain's involvement in the First Vietnam War, the officially stated casualty list was 40 British and Indian soldiers killed and French and Japanese casualties a little higher. An estimated 2,700 Viet Minh were killed. The unofficial total may be higher, but given the methods with which the Viet Minh recovered their dead and wounded, the exact number may never be known. About 600 of the dead Viet Minh were killed by British soldiers, the rest by the French and Japanese.

Significance

Main articles: First Indochina War and Second Indochina War

Four more bloody decades of fighting lay ahead which would end in defeat for two major world players. From March to July, 1946, armed and backed up by the French, the Viet Minh systematically set about executing leaders and members of nationalist Vietnamese groups, as Ho's lieutenant Lê Duẩn said, "(to) wipe out the reactionaries." Known as the "Great Purge", the goal was to eliminate everyone thought dangerous to the Communist Party of Vietnam, and tens of thousands of nationalists, Catholics and others were massacred from 1946 to 1948.^[13]

Between May and December, Ho Chi Minh spent four months in France attempting to negotiate full independence and unity for Vietnam, but failed to obtain any guarantee from the French. After a series of violent clashes with Viet Minh, French forces bombarded Hai Phong harbor, captured Haiphong and attempted to expel the Viet Minh from Hanoi, a task that two months December 19, 1946 is often cited as the date for the beginning of the First Indochina War as on that day 30,000 Viet Minh under Giap initiated their first large-scale attack on the French in the Battle of Hanoi.^[13] The War in Vietnam of 1946 – 1954, had begun.

Notes

↑ George Rosie and Bradley Borum, Operation Masterdom: Britain's Secret War in Vietnam
↑ Concert to mark 66th anniversary of the Southern Resistance War
1 2 Joseph Buttinger, Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled (New York: Praeger, 1967), p. 244.
↑ Marvin E. Gettleman, ed., Vietnam (Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, 1065), pp. 65–66.
↑ Lloyd C. Gardner, Approaching Vietnam (New York. Korton, 1988), p. 25.
↑ Dennis J. Duncanson, "General Gracey and the Vietminh", Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society Vol. 55, No. 3 (October 1968), p. 296.
1 2 Philip Ziegler, Mountbatten (New York: Knopf, 1985), p. 331.
1 2 George Rosie, The British in Vietnam (London: Panther Books, 1970).
1 2 Dunn, First Vietnam War, p. 206.
↑ G. R. Stevens, History of the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles 1921–1948. (Aldershot, 1952), pp. 278–279.
↑ Rajendra Singh, Official History of the Indian armed Forces in the Second World War: Post-War occupation Forces (1958), p. 199.
↑ Peter Dennis, Troubled Days of Peace (New York: St. Martin's, 1987), p. 173.
1 2 Vietnam, past and present, p.59

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North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century

1579 New Albion 1583–1907 Newfoundland 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1607–1776 Virginia Since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1623–1883 Saint Kitts *(Saint Kitts and Nevis) 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis *(Saint Kitts and Nevis) 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua *(Antigua and Barbuda) 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony	1643–1860 Bay Islands Since 1650 Anguilla 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702–1776 New Jersey Since 1666 British Virgin Islands Since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *The Bahamas 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1671–1816 Leeward Islands 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1754–1820 Cape Breton Island 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada Since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	1818–1846 Columbia District/Oregon Country¹ 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1860–1981 *British Antigua and Barbuda 1862–1863 Stickeen Territories 1866–1871 British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983 *Saint Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1907–1949 Newfoundland³ 1958–1962 West Indies Federation

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Name of Canada.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America

1631–1641 Providence Island colony 1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵

4. Now the one the departments of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1862–1906 Lagos Colony 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1900 Oil Rivers/Niger Coast 1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1903–1976 Seychelles 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1960 Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (Nigeria) 1915–1931 South-West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1961 British Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century

1685–1824 Bencoolen 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757–1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1781-1784 Padang (Indonesia) 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1795-1819 Padang (Indonesia) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Sheikhdom of Kuwait 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century

1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Kingdom of Rarotonga/Cook Islands Federation⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 and 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic

Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)

14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).

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