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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Ashley Jackson. on the west coast of Sumatra as the Dutch East Indies fell to the advancing Japanese . Between them Tenedos and Scout ferried 1800 people to the waiting cruisers . ( Many Europeans from the Dutch East Indies were ...
Ashley Jackson. Allies . Thousands of British imperial troops and airmen congregated in the Dutch East Indies , many of them having managed to get out of Singapore . They did what they could , harrying Japanese invasion forces from the ...
... Dutch East Indies from the Dutch Governor - General to the new British Allied commander . Given the situation , however , perhaps the British and the Americans were wise not to invest more in the defence of the Dutch colonies . With ...