THERE has been intense discussion across the nation about the Operation Yellowhammer documents and whether the government’s predictions for a no-deal Brexit would actually come true.

Among the points of view thrown around are “Britain stood alone in the war and saved Europe” and thus could stand alone successfully after a no-deal Brexit.

This argument is a deeply flawed one, which ignores actual history. Yes in September 1940, Britain was ‘alone’ fighting against Nazi Germany, but it was never truly alone. Britain at that time was the world’s largest empire, with unparalleled global reach in terms of shipping and trade.

Britain’s tiny army would not have been able to fight a global conflict without the enormous manpower provided by its empire.

According to the BBC, during the war the British Empire and Dominions raised a total of 8,586,000 men for military service.

More than 5million came from the British Isles, 1,440,500 from India, 629,000 from Canada, 413,000 from Australia, 136,000 from South Africa, 128,500 from New Zealand and more than 134,000 from other colonies.

In 1941, when Britain was supposedly ‘standing alone’, Montgomery’s famous Eighth Army was made up of British, Australian, Indian, Canadian, Free French, Greek, New Zealand, Polish, Rhodesian and South African units.

Britain would not have been able to defend Suez and keep itself alive if it did not have the support of millions of people in other countries.

As much as the Brexiters would try to claim the brave British lion stood defiant and alone, it isn’t really true.

Let us not forget, too, that Britain was kept alive in the war to a large extent by material provided by the United States, and that without the overwhelming predominance of American goods, the Allied armies which liberated Europe could not have carried out their work.

None of this is to downplay Britain’s role in the war, this country’s refusal to surrender in 1940 ensured the Germans would have to commit themselves to exactly the kind of two-front war they could not afford.

Politicians like to use history to make political points, but saying that Britain stood alone is simply not true. We face many problems as a human race, and we can deal with them better if we work together.