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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... soldiers with men of the 81st West African Division 19 British mortar detachments at the Battle of Imphal - Kohima , July 1944 20 The Royal Garwhal Rifles search Japanese soldiers , Malaya , 1945 21 An Australian Matilda tank , Solomon ...
... soldiers . Britain's historic dependence upon its Empire for imports and exports inevitably also decided the way in which Britain's enemies sought to defeat it , most notably by seeking to cut the sea routes on which Britain depended ...
... soldiers are pictured looking out to sea . ' So our poor Empire is alone in the world ' , remarks the first soldier . ' Aye , we are ' , replies the second , ' the whole five hundred million of us . ' In Britain the war is primarily ...
... soldiers than any other Allied formation in the war . By the summer of 1945 58 per cent of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten's South East Asia Command's personnel were Indian , and 25 per cent were African . This reflected the scale of ...
... soldiers in Australia and RAF bombers on Okinawa so that Britain could contribute to the invasion of the Japanese home islands . As it happened , the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki curtailed the realization of this major ...
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 |