The British Empire and the Second World WarIn 1939 Hitler went to war not just with Great Britain; he also went to war with the whole of the British Empire, the greatest empire that there had ever been. In the years since 1945 that empire has disappeared, and the crucial fact that the British Empire fought together as a whole during the war has been forgotten. All the parts of the empire joined the struggle and were involved in it from the beginning, undergoing huge changes and sometimes suffering great losses as a result. The war in the desert, the defence of Malta and the Malayan campaign, and the contribution of the empire as a whole in terms of supplies, communications and troops, all reflect the strategic importance of Britain's imperial status. Men and women not only from Australia, New Zealand and India but from many parts of Africa and the Middle East all played their part. Winston Churchill saw the war throughout in imperial terms. The British Empire and the Second World War emphasises a central fact about the Second World War that is often forgotten. |
From inside the book
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... squadrons of fighter aircraft engaged in the war against Japan . The British Empire Air Training Scheme prepared 130,000 airmen for war in training schools in Australia , Canada , South Africa and Southern Rhodesia . Places such as ...
... squadrons that had historically policed the world , from the South Atlantic Station to the Mediterranean Fleet and from the China Station to the Eastern Fleet . All over the world imperial ports were used to the full by warships and ...
... Squadron . ' In my generation ' , he explained , ' as schoolboys we always thought of [ Britain ] as the home country , always referred to it as the Mother Country . That was the old colonial tie ... There was no question that if this ...
... squadrons that in 1918 had given it a front - line strength of over 1500 machines . The money afforded the RAF in the 1930s did not mean , however , that there was sufficient construction undertaken to provide key imperial strongholds ...
... squadrons serving with the RAF in Britain were transferred to the United Stated Army Air Force . Elsewhere , American forces and merchant vessels worked alongside British forces before December 1941 , for example in patrolling the ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
21 | |
41 | |
5 The Atlantic | 53 |
6 The Caribbean | 77 |
7 The Mediterranean | 97 |
8 Iraq Iran and Syria | 145 |
11 The Islands of the Indian Ocean | 307 |
12 India and Burma | 351 |
13 SouthEast Asia and the Far East | 405 |
14 Australia and New Zealand | 463 |
15 The Pacific | 513 |
16 Epilogue | 525 |
Notes | 535 |
Bibliography | 561 |