World War II has long been acknowledged as a watershed in modern history of Africa, yet there are few books that examine the years of the war in a particular African country. This book helps to fill this gap byanalysing the wartime mobilisation of settlers, soldiers and labourers in colonial Zimbabwe. It examines the sacrifices demanded of ten of thousands of Africans who were coerced into settler production as their contribution to the British war effort. Africans did not remain passive in the face of this onslaught, and the book also addresses their efforts to make their own history, especially on relation to the post-war rebellions of 1945 and 1948.