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. |
From inside the book
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... ports of the Sudan and Egypt . American forces took over the operation of air bases in British West Africa , and released British forces for fighting duties , when , in the summer of 1941 , they took over an increased share of the ...
... Port Said . ' Nearby was a steamer full of Italian soldiers off to Abyssinia . Baden - Powell told his young ... ports and harbours of the Empire and the wider world.15 The Merchant Navy was a multinational force , 28 THE BRITISH ...
... ports in Ceylon , Egypt , Gibraltar , Sierra Leone , South Africa , the Sudan and Trinidad became assembly points for ships and their escorts waiting to form into convoy . The famous ' HX ' ( Halifax ) Atlantic and ' WS ' ( ' Winston's ...
... ports in England and Scotland , the Home Fleet and Western Approaches Command ( created in February 1941 to conduct the U - boat war with headquarters in Liverpool ) were responsible for the defence of Britain and the Atlantic convoy ...
... Ports were full of warships and merchant vessels , gathering for convoys or for naval operations to hunt enemy vessels and protect the convoys on which the island depended . Many families were affected as fathers , sons and brothers ...
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 |