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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... raid mounted against German - occupied France . Only 2211 of those Canadians made it back across the Channel from Dieppe to Britain , leaving behind them over a thou- sand dead and the rest captured as prisoners of war . Over one ...
... raid on Ceylon , the Air Officer Commanding 222 Group Ceylon , Air Vice - Marshal J. H. D'Albiac , had just fifty serviceable Hurricanes , fourteen Blenheims , six Catalinas and a few squadrons of Fulmars . The Order of Battle on 31 ...
... raid shelters . The most serious raid was that visited upon Darwin in February 1942. This disrupted Allied communications and supply routes , and was bad enough to be concealed from the Australian public by a federal government ...