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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... Raid Precautions BAAG British Army Aid Group BEATS British Empire Air Training Scheme BNA Burma National Army BPF British Pacific Fleet BR Burma Rifles BIA Burma Independence Army CAM Catapult Armed Merchant Ship CBME Combined Bureau ...
Ashley Jackson. Empire escaped enemy attention , whether in the form of an occasional raid , prop- aganda broadcasts or leaflet drops , reconnaissance or bombardment , coastal minefields , the activities of secret agents , repeated ...
... raid precautions and scorched earth denial schemes , should war ever come to the particular part of the world in which the colony was located . In July 1938 a memorandum dealing with the role of the Colonial Empire in imperial defence ...
... raid shelters common in British cities , inhabited by people with less knowledge about what to do during an air raid , and completely unprepared for there to be any enemy bombing in the first place , the results of enemy action could be ...
... Raid Victims in Britain Fund ' . Imperial charities like the Red Cross had branches in the colonies that passed the cap around diligently throughout the war , raising funds and packing boxes of medical and other supplies for imperial ...
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 |