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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... campaign . His rise to prominence owed much to the fact that the Commander - in - Chief Middle East , General Wavell , remembered him from pre - war days . As General Officer Commanding in Pales- tine in 1937 , Wingate had come to ...
Ashley Jackson. Madagascar campaign five days after Tobruk's capitulation . From February 1943 the 6th ( South African ) Armoured Division was raised . It landed at Taranto in April 1944 for service in the Italian campaign . The South ...
... campaigns and the second largest American land campaign after north - west Europe . Anxious to release more American troops for the Philippines campaign , MacArthur sent Australian units to conduct peripheral mopping up campaigns , for ...