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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... carriers ( such as HMS Khedive , Nabob , Rajah and Shah ) . Many colonies and cities had ships named for them HMS Cairo , Calcutta , Cape Town , Colombo , Jamaica , Kandahar , Khartoum , Uganda and dozens more providing a touch of ...
... carriers ( Indomitable and Formidable ) , the vintage carrier HMS Hermes , seven cruisers , sixteen destroyers and seven submarines ( two of the cruisers and two of the submarines were Dutch ) . This fleet was simply no match , however ...
... carriers that had devastated the American Pacific Fleet sought to extend the favour to the British Eastern Fleet . The Chief of the Imperial General Staff , General Sir Alan Brooke , arrived for his daily meeting with the Chiefs of ...