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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... East and South - East Asia . This was because , in war as in peace , it was ... Indies Fleet before December 1941 and again after November 1944 ) . * Though ... East Asia Command . " Freetown was its gateway as it stretched around the ...
... East , and similar units were also recruited in the Seychelles . Ceylon ... Indies , and earlier in the war India Command had deployed troops in the ... East Africa Command had forces dispersed throughout British East Africa , ex ...
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 ...