Britain was not fighting for rights of independent democratic nations

Much has been written about the courage of deserters, by commentators who have not the moral courage to face unwelcome facts.

Dan Buckley (Irish Examiner, Jul 2) is apparently unaware that during the Second World War democrats such as Nehru and Gandhi were interned without trial in India, whose British rulers’ agenda did not include the Independence of their country, nor that the Battle of Kohima was fought to keep India British.

It might be added that De Gaulle’s Free French were no less intent on re-imposing French rule on their Asian and African colonies against the will of their inhabitants than Churchill was to see the British hold on to her own empire. The Belgians and the Dutch were not champions of human rights in their empires either.