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. |
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... Command Eastern Air Command ( India ) East African Military Labour Service Eastern Group Supply Council Fleet Air Arm FECB Far East Combined Bureau FMF Fiji Military Force GDP Gross Domestic Product GHQ General Abbreviations.
... labour remained constant at a time of global food and raw material shortage , and as countries unprepared for conflict became war zones . All the stops were pulled out to increase agricultural production , to produce more raw materials ...
... labour in 1941 , as Rommel pressed towards Cairo , led directly to the recruitment of nearly 40,000 men from Bechuanaland , Basutoland and Swazi- land . Later , the trying conditions encountered by Allied soldiers in Italy's Apennine ...
... labour for civilian and military war work , colonial governments had to take measures for passive air defence and general civil defence ; for the control of the procurement , distribution and rationing of food and other essential ...
... labour market , was for non - military labour on the home front . This might take the form of a civil labour corps to assist in defensive preparations , such as the construction of airfields or improvement of port facilities , or to act ...
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 |