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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Ashley Jackson. South - East Asia following the loss of Singapore . Other bases , however , were not a part of Britain's domains . Egypt was an independent nation state , neutral until two months before the end of the war , yet housed ...
... East . Tens of thousands of Canadians were brought to Britain , and Lend- Lease was delivered to Russia via ... South - East Asia and South Asia , and we have over 100,000 on salt water at the present time ' . This massive transfer of ...
... East and West , and facilities were developed in the region , particularly at Freetown , for convoy assembly and escort . This region was the responsibility of South ... Asia in the event of war . During the war the Indian Army grew to over ...
... East Command ( MEC ) , with headquarters in Delhi and Cairo . There were other commands , such as East Africa Command , Far East Command , Persia and Iraq Command and South East Asia Command . Established in 1939 , MEC was an ...
... South African Air Force squadrons served with the RAF . In Britain imperial ... East African campaign , against the Iraqi air force and against Vichy forces ... Asia and the Dutch East Indies . Britain's air forces were organized for home ...
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 |