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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... Burma ( which was administered by India until 1937 , and thereafter by a separate Burma Office ) . Aden was also separated from India in 1937 , though it became a Colonial Office responsibility and thus a part of the Colonial Empire ...
... Burma National Army BPF British Pacific Fleet BR Burma Rifles BIA Burma Independence Army CAM Catapult Armed Merchant Ship CBME Combined Bureau Middle East CGA CIGS Ceylon Garrison Artillery Chief of the Imperial General Staff CLT ...
... Burma is paradoxically remembered as the ' Forgotten Army ' . These imperial features , however , tend to be recalled in isola- tion , or to be viewed , as in the case of the war in the Mediterranean and the Western Desert , as ...
... Burma , rode into battle not just in British tanks but in American Honeys , Grants , and most famously , Shermans . British imperial force received about 30 per cent of all American tank production , as well as 86,000 jeeps . Else ...
... Burma an American Volunteer Group threw its Tomahawks into the ring in defence of the Burma Road and its precious supply cargoes trucking overland to China . In September 1942 the three pioneering American Eagle squadrons serving with ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
21 | |
41 | |
5 The Atlantic | 53 |
6 The Caribbean | 77 |
7 The Mediterranean | 97 |
8 Iraq Iran and Syria | 145 |
11 The Islands of the Indian Ocean | 307 |
12 India and Burma | 351 |
13 SouthEast Asia and the Far East | 405 |
14 Australia and New Zealand | 463 |
15 The Pacific | 513 |
16 Epilogue | 525 |
Notes | 535 |
Bibliography | 561 |