An Imperial Army? Innovation and Adaptation in MiddleEast Command,1941-1942

Abstract

Over the past decade a scholarly consensus has emerged that there was a high degree of inter-operability between the British, Indian and Commonwealth armies during the Second World War. This article demonstrates, contrary to this, that there were key cultural and organisational frictions between the British and Indian Armies which maintained the functional independence of these national armies. It demonstrates this by using the twin theories of innovation and adaptation to examine how General Headquarters (GHQ) Middle East Command (MEC), during Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck's tenure, collected and implemented the lessons of Operation CRUSADER between December 1941 and May 1942.