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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... Eastern Fleet and all naval forces in the Far East then came under Phillips's command . On that day Phillips's fleet consisted of the two capital ships , the cruisers HMS Danae , Dragon and Durban , four destroyers ( the two at Hong ...
... Eastern Fleet's main purpose was to deter the Japanese from striking across the Indian Ocean . It was a game of bluff in which , as Somerville put it , he had ' to lie low in one sense but be pretty active in another - keep the old ...
... Eastern Fleet attacked Sourabaya , the main Japanese base in Java , as the USS Saratoga returned to the Pacific and the Eastern Fleet sailed from Ceylon to Exmouth Bay in Western Australia . The bombing of the dry dock severely hampered ...