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. |
From inside the book
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... Bomber Command's strength in Europe . In the Mediterranean Australian warships made an important contri- bution , as did South African minesweepers , bombers and fighter aircraft . The Royal Canadian Navy expanded to become the third ...
... bombing or years of enemy occupation . The use of colonies as bases for Allied military operations was a form of transformational ' friendly ' occupation in itself , affecting people's lives on many levels . And of course , had Britain ...
... bombers to wreak havoc on Britain's major ports and cities , though it had of course shed most of the squadrons that ... bomber - was wholly inadequate across the Empire , and when the storm broke in the East , obsolete aircraft instead ...
... bombers in Canada , Bren gun carriers in New Zealand and minesweepers in Australia . Early in the war these imperial sources of armaments were vital at ' a time when a few million rounds of small arms ammunition from India or Australia ...
... bomber's fatal power over land targets was widespread by 1939 ( ' the bomber will always get through ' , as Stanley Baldwin phrased it in 1932 ) , at sea the spell of the battleship remained unbroken and British carrier aircraft were ...
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 |