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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... Garrison Artillery Chief of the Imperial General Staff CLT Colonial and Locally Raised Troops CMF Citizens Military Force CNVF Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force CSF DEMS EAC EAC EAMLS EGSC FAA Caribbean Sea Frontier Defensively Equipped ...
... garrison captured in June 1942 was South African , and the Eighth Army of which it was a part was the most ethnically varied army to assemble in modern history because of its imperial composition . In late 1941 the Eighth Army was a ...
... garrison and police force numbering less than 200,000 , with a third of its strength permanently based in India . Reflecting Britain's strategic heritage and the role allotted to its army in times of war , its standing expeditionary ...
... garrison on Java . Australian and New Zealand troops served in the Pacific and the Middle East . South Africans fought in the Middle East and East Africa . Over the course of the war Britain and its Empire and Commonwealth mobilized 103 ...
... garrisons , and it was the senior service in places like Iraq and Aden and the surrounding regions . During the war , however , the demands of British home defence meant that there were precious few modern aircraft to go around , and ...
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 |