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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... Station , for instance , began trans- ferring ships to other theatres , particularly the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean . The China Station became virtually an Indian Ocean force , a fact that was recog- nized when Admiral Sir Percy ...
... Station and the East Indies Station . Before the entry of Japan into the war , in December 1941 , the British position in the Indian Ocean was worrying but not critical , because the East Indies Station fleet was equal to the challenge ...
... Station.15 In the few years between 1937 and war with Japan in December 1941 , the China Station suffered death by a thou- sand cuts as diplomatic relations with Japan time and again constricted the fleet's room for manoeuvre , as ...