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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... East Africa Command Eastern Air Command ( India ) East African Military Labour Service Eastern Group Supply Council Fleet Air Arm FECB Far East Combined Bureau FMF Fiji Military Force GDP Gross Domestic Product GHQ General Abbreviations.
... eastern Mediterranean and East Africa into the front line ; and the rise of Japan brought the war suddenly to the doorstep of Ceylon and engulfed Malaya and the great ' fortress ' of Singapore , in which so many hollow inter - war ...
... East . Tens of thousands of Canadians were brought to Britain , and Lend- Lease was delivered to Russia via ... Africa towards the hungry mouths of the million imperial servicemen fighting in the Middle East.21 In announcing the fall of ...
... African coast from West Africa to the Cape was important for shipping bound between East and West , and facilities were developed in the region , particularly at Freetown , for convoy assembly and escort . This region was the ...
... East Africa Command , Far East Command , Persia and Iraq Command and South East Asia Command . Established in 1939 , MEC was an overarching structure uniting the commands in Egypt , Palestine , Jordan and the Sudan . It was also ...
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 |