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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... thousands more in Bombay , Rangoon and Viza- gapatam when Japanese shells and bombs , or rumours of Japanese landings , hit the home front . Enemy bombing or shelling was a sure - fire way for the migratory trend from country to town to ...
... thousands of American soldiers and airmen , Britain was to be ' softened up ' by the arrival of tens of thousands of their North American neighbours , as well as a constellation of exiled European warriors and those from the other ...
... thousands of Indians . For many Indians , Bose is as important a figure as Nehru or Gandhi in the struggle for Indian freedom , firm in his belief that only armed struggle would remove the British from his homeland . In some ways he was ...