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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... Burma - via the port of Rangoon , the railway to Mandalay and Lashio , and then the Burma Road opened by the British in 1937 - was the only supply line between Chiang Kai - shek's Chinese government and the outside world . The Japanese ...
... Burma . Though renowned for its horror and the death of a worker for every sleeper laid , experiences on the Burma - Thailand railway were not entirely uniform . For example , conditions in base camps were generally much better than ...
... Burmese soldiers . At sea , Burma fell within the area of the Eastern Fleet , though , since its main capital ships had been sunk in December 1941 , its Ceylon - based ships were not in a position to dominate in the Bay of Bengal and ...