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British Empire in World War II

When the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939 at the start of World War II, it controlled to varying degrees numerous crown colonies, protectorates, and India. It also maintained unique political ties to four of the five independent DominionsAustralia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand[note 1]—as co-members (with the UK) of the then "British Commonwealth".[1] In 1939 the British Empire and the Commonwealth together comprised a global power, with direct or de facto political and economic control of 25% of the world's population, and of 30% of its land mass.[2]

Propaganda poster promoting the joint war-effort of the British Empire and Commonwealth, 1939

The contribution of the British Empire and Commonwealth in terms of manpower and materiel was critical to the Allied war-effort. From September 1939 to mid-1942, the UK led Allied efforts in multiple global military theatres. Commonwealth, Colonial and Imperial Indian forces, totalling close to 15 million serving men and women, fought the German, Italian, Japanese and other Axis armies, air-forces and navies across Europe, Africa, Asia, and in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Commonwealth forces based in Britain operated across Northwestern Europe in the effort to slow or stop Axis advances. Commonwealth airforces fought the Luftwaffe to a standstill over Britain, and Commonwealth armies defeated Italian forces in East Africa and North Africa and occupied several overseas colonies of German-occupied European nations. Following successful engagements against Axis forces, Commonwealth troops invaded and occupied Libya, Italian Somaliland, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Madagascar.[3]

The Commonwealth defeated, held back or slowed the Axis powers for three years while mobilizing its globally-integrated economy, military, and industrial infrastructure to build what became, by 1942, the most extensive military apparatus of the war. These efforts came at the cost of 150,000 military deaths, 400,000 wounded, 100,000 prisoners, over 300,000 civilian deaths, and the loss of 70 major warships, 39 submarines, 3,500 aircraft, 1,100 tanks and 65,000 vehicles. During this period the Commonwealth built an enormous military and industrial capacity. Britain became the nucleus of the Allied war-effort in Western Europe, and hosted governments-in-exile in London to rally support in occupied Europe for the Allied cause. Canada delivered almost $4 billion in direct financial aid to the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand began[when?] shifting to domestic production[clarification needed] to provide material aid to US forces in the Pacific.[citation needed] Following the US entry into the war in December 1941, the Commonwealth and the United States coordinated their military efforts and resources globally. As the scale of the US military involvement and industrial production increased, the US undertook command in many theatres, relieving Commonwealth forces for duty elsewhere, and expanding the scope and intensity of Allied military efforts.[4][5] Co-operation with the Soviet Union also developed. However, it proved difficult to co-ordinate the defence of far-flung colonies and Commonwealth countries from simultaneous attacks by the Axis powers. In part this difficulty was exacerbated by disagreements over priorities and objectives, as well as over the deployment and control of joint forces.

Although the British Empire and the Commonwealth countries all emerged from the war as joint victors together with the USA, the USSR and the other Allies, and the conquered colonial territories were returned to British rule, World War II confirmed that Britain was no longer the great power it had once been, and that it had been surpassed by the United States on the world stage. The image of imperial strength in Asia had been shattered by the Japanese successes, and British prestige there was irreversibly damaged. Together with the nationalist fervour that the war had stoked, this became a catalyst for the decolonisation which took place in the following decades.[6][7]

Pre-war plans for defence Edit

From 1923, defence of British colonies and protectorates in East Asia and Southeast Asia was centred on the "Singapore strategy". This made the assumption that Britain could send a fleet to its naval base in Singapore within two or three days of a Japanese attack, while relying on France to provide assistance in Asia via its colony in Indochina and, in the event of war with Italy, to help defend British territories in the Mediterranean.[8] Pre-war planners did not anticipate the fall of France: Nazi occupation, the loss of control over the Channel, and the employment of French Atlantic ports as forward bases for U-boats directly threatened Britain itself, forcing a significant reassessment of naval defence priorities.

During the 1930s, a triple threat emerged for the British Commonwealth in the form of militaristic governments in Germany, Italy, and Japan.[9] Germany threatened Britain itself, while Italy and Japan's imperial ambitions looked set to clash with the British imperial presence in the Mediterranean and East Asia respectively. However, there were differences of opinion within the UK and the Dominions as to which posed the most serious threat, and whether any attack would come from more than one power at the same time.

Declaration of war against Germany Edit

 
Sir Robert Menzies broadcasting to Australia the news of the outbreak of war, 1939

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, on 3 September, after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Britain's declaration of war automatically committed India, the Crown colonies, and the protectorates, but the 1931 Statute of Westminster had granted autonomy to the Dominions so each decided their course separately.

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies immediately joined the British declaration on 3 September, believing that it applied to all subjects of the Empire and Commonwealth. New Zealand followed suit simultaneously, at 9.30 pm on 3 September (local time), after Peter Fraser consulted the Cabinet; although as Chamberlain's broadcast was drowned by static, the Cabinet (led by Fraser as Prime Minister Michael Savage was terminally ill) delayed until the Admiralty announced to the fleet a state of war, then backdated the declaration to 9.30 pm. South Africa took three days to make its decision (on 6 September), as the Prime Minister General J. B. M. Hertzog favoured neutrality but was defeated by the pro-war vote in the Union Parliament, led by General Jan Smuts, who then replaced Hertzog. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King declared support for Britain on the day of the British declaration, but also stated that it was for Parliament to make the formal declaration, which it did so one week later on 10 September. Ireland, though still a member of the Commonwealth, severed its legal ties as a dominion in 1937[10] and chose to remain neutral throughout the war.[11]

Empire and Commonwealth contribution Edit

 
British Empire and Commonwealth forms of government and production c 1940
 
Kenya Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve 1945

While the war was initially intended to be limited, resources were mobilized quickly, and the first shots were fired almost immediately. Just hours after the Australian declaration of war, a gun at Fort Queenscliff fired across the bows of a ship as it attempted to leave Melbourne without required clearances.[12] On 10 October 1939, an aircraft of No. 10 Squadron RAAF based in England became the first Commonwealth air force unit to go into action when it undertook a mission to Tunisia.[13] The first Canadian convoy of 15 ships bearing war goods departed Halifax just six days after the nation declared war, with two destroyers HMCS St. Laurent and HMCS Saguenay.[14] A further 26 convoys of 527 ships sailed from Canada in the first four months of the war,[15] and by 1 January 1940 Canada had landed an entire division in Britain.[16] On 13 June 1940 Canadian troops deployed to France in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium. As the fall of France grew imminent, Britain looked to Canada to rapidly provide additional troops to strategic locations in North America, the Atlantic and Caribbean. Following the Canadian destroyer already on station from 1939, Canada provided troops from May 1940 to assist in the defence of the British Caribbean colonies, with several companies serving throughout the war in Bermuda, Jamaica, the Bahamas and British Guiana. Canadian troops were also sent to the defence of the colony of Newfoundland, on Canada's east coast, the closest point in North America to Germany. Fearing the loss of a land link[clarification needed] to the British Isles, Canada was also requested to occupy Iceland, which it did from June 1940 to the spring of 1941, following the initial British invasion.[17]

From mid-June 1940, following the rapid German invasions and occupations of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the British Commonwealth was the main opponent of Germany and the Axis, until the entry into the war of the Soviet Union in June 1941. During this period Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa provided dozens of ships and several divisions for the defence of the Mediterranean, Greece, Crete, Lebanon and Egypt, where British troops were outnumbered four to one by the Italian armies in Libya and Ethiopia.[18][19] Canada delivered a further 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, pilots for two air squadrons, and several warships to Britain to face a possible invasion from the continent.

In December 1941, Japan launched, in quick succession, attacks on British Malaya, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, and Hong Kong.

Substantial financial support was provided by Canada to the UK and Commonwealth dominions, in the form of over $4 billion in aid through the Billion Dollar Gift and Mutual Aid and the War Appropriation Act. Over the course of the war over 1.6 million Canadians served in uniform (out of a prewar population of 11 million), in almost every theatre of the war, and by war's end the country had the third-largest navy and fourth-largest air force in the world.[citation needed] By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces (out of a population of under 7 million), whose military units fought primarily in Europe, North Africa, and the South West Pacific.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (also known as the "Empire Air Training Scheme") was established by the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK resulting in:

  • joint training at flight schools in Canada, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Australia and New Zealand;[20][21]
  • formation of new squadrons of the Dominion air forces, known as "Article XV squadrons" for service as part of Royal Air Force operational commands, and;
  • in practice, the pooling of RAF and Dominion air force personnel, for posting to both RAF and Article XV squadrons.

Finances Edit

Britain borrowed everywhere it could and made heavy purchases of munitions and supplies in India and Canada during the war, as well as other parts of the Empire and neutral countries. Canada also made gifts. Britain's sterling balances around the world amounted to £3.4 billion in 1945 or the equivalent of about $US 200 billion in 2016 dollars.[22] However, Britain treated this as a long-term loan with no interest and no specified repayment date. Just when the money would be made available by London was an issue, for the British treasury was nearly empty by 1945.[23]

Crisis in the Mediterranean Edit

 
Second Officer Kalyani Sen and Chief Officer Margaret I. Cooper, Women's Royal Indian Naval Service, 1945

In June 1940, France surrendered to invading German forces, and Italy joined the war on the Axis side, causing a reversal of the Singapore strategy. Winston Churchill, who had replaced Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister the previous month (see Norway debate), ordered that the Middle East and the Mediterranean were of a higher priority than the Far East to defend.[24] Australia and New Zealand were told by telegram that they should turn to the United States for help in defending their homeland should Japan attack:[25]

Without the assistance of France we should not have sufficient forces to meet the combined German and Italian navies in European waters and the Japanese fleet in the Far East. In the circumstances envisaged, it is most improbable that we could send adequate reinforcements to the Far East. We should therefore have to rely on the United States of America to safeguard our interests there.[26]

Commonwealth forces played a major role in North and East Africa following Italy's entry to the war, participating in the invasion of Italian Libya and Somaliland, but were forced to retreat after Churchill diverted resources to Greece and Crete.[27]

Fall of Singapore Edit

 
Allied troops surrendering to Japanese troops in Singapore

The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded British Malaya and its stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in South East Asia and nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East". The fighting in Singapore lasted from 31 January 1942 to 15 February 1942. It followed a humiliating naval engagement in December 1941 in which two British capital ships were sunk.

It resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.[28] About 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the Malayan campaign. Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the ignominious fall of Singapore to the Japanese the "worst disaster" and "largest capitulation" in British history.[29]

Africa Edit

 
British (red) and Belgian (maroon) colonies fought with the Allies. Italian (light green) with the Axis. French colonies (dark blue) fought with the Allies until the Fall of France after which some supported Vichy and some the Free French. Portuguese (dark green) and Spanish (yellow) colonies remained neutral.

Africa was a large continent whose geography gave it strategic importance during the war. North Africa was the scene of a major campaign against Italy and Germany, which itself included the Tunisian Campaign, the Western Desert Campaign (resulting in tide-turning battles such as those in El Alamein and in Tobruk) and, with large-scale American support, Operation Torch. East Africa was also the scene of a major campaign against Italy which resulted in the liberation of Somalia, Eritrea and most chiefly Ethiopia which had been conquered by the Italian Empire in 1936. The vast geography provided major transportation routes linking the United States to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. The sea route around South Africa was heavily used even though it added 40 days to voyages that had to avoid the dangerous Suez region. Lend Lease supplies to Russia often came this way. Internally, long-distance road and railroad connections facilitated the British war effort. The Union of South Africa was part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and had been an independent self-governing country since 1931.[30] The British possessions in Africa were ruled by the colonial office, usually with close ties to local chiefs and kings. France had extensive possessions in Africa, but they played a much smaller role in the war, since they were largely tied to Vichy France. Portuguese holdings played a minor role. Italian holdings were the target of successful British military campaigns. The Belgian Congo, and two other Belgian colonies, were major exporters. In terms of numbers and wealth, the British controlled the richest portions of Africa, and made extensive use not only of the geography, but the manpower and the natural resources. Civilian colonial officials made a special effort to upgrade the African infrastructure, promote agriculture, integrate colonial Africa with the world economy, and recruit over a half million soldiers.[31][32]

Before the war, Britain had made few plans for the utilization of Africa, but it quickly set up command structures. The Army set up the West Africa Command, which recruited 200,000 soldiers. The East Africa Command was created in September 1941 to support the overstretched Middle East Command. The Southern Command was the domain of South Africa. The Royal Navy set up the South Atlantic Command based in Sierra Leone, that became one of the main convoy assembly points. The RAF Coastal Command had major submarine-hunting operations based in West Africa, while a smaller RAF command Dealt with submarines in the Indian Ocean. Ferrying aircraft from North America and Britain was the major mission of the Western Desert Air Force. In addition smaller more localized commands were set up throughout the war.[33]

Before the war, the military establishments were very small throughout British Africa, and largely consisted of whites, who comprised only two percent of the population outside Africa. As soon as the war began, newly created African units were set up, primarily by the Army. The new recruits were almost always volunteers, usually provided in close cooperation with local tribal leaders. During the war, military pay scales far exceeded what civilians natives could earn, especially when food, housing and clothing allowances are included. The largest numbers were in construction units, called Pioneer Units, with over 82,000 soldiers. The RAF and Navy also did some recruiting. East Africa provided the largest number of men, over 320,000, chiefly from Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. They did some fighting, a great deal of guard duty, and construction work. 80,000 served in the Middle East. A special effort was made not to challenge white supremacy, certainly before the war, and to a large extent during the war itself. Nevertheless, the soldiers were drilled and train to European standards, given strong doses of propaganda, and learn leadership and organizational skills that proved essential to the formation of nationalistic and independence movements after 1945. There were minor episodes of discontent, but nothing serious, among the natives.[34] Afrikaner nationalism was a factor in South Africa, but the anti-British and pro-neutrality Afrikaner prime minister J. B. M. Hertzog was replaced by a narrow vote of the South African parliament in 1939 by Jan Smuts, a fellow Afrikaner who was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire. The Smuts government closely cooperated with London and raised 340,000 volunteers (190,000 were white, or about one-third of the eligible white men).[35]

India Edit

 
Over 2.5 million Indians enlisted in the largest volunteer army in history[36]

The Viceroy Linlithgow declared that India was at war with Germany with no consultations with Indian politicians.[37]

Serious tension erupted over American support for independence for India, a proposition Churchill vehemently rejected.[38][39] For years Roosevelt had encouraged Britain's disengagement from India. The American position was based on principled opposition to colonialism.[40] The politically active Indian population was deeply divided.[41] One element was so insistent on the expulsion of the British, that it sided with Germany and Japan, and formed the Indian National Army (INA) from Indian prisoners of war. It fought as part of the Japanese invasion of Burma and eastern India. There was a large pacifist element, which rallied to Gandhi's call for abstention from the war; he said that violence in every form was evil.[42] There was a high level of religious tension between the Hindu majority and the Muslims minority. For the first time the Muslim community became politically active, giving strong support for the British war effort. Over 2 million Indians volunteered for military service, including a large Muslim contingent. The British were sensitive to demands of the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, since it needed Muslim soldiers in India and Muslim support all across the Middle East. London used the religious tensions in India as a justification to continue its rule, saying it was needed to prevent religious massacres of the sort that did happen in 1947. The imperialist element in Britain was strongly represented in the Conservative party; Churchill himself had long been its leading spokesman. On the other hand, Attlee and the Labour Party favoured independence and had close ties to the Congress Party. The British cabinet sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India with a specific peace plan offering India the promise of dominion status after the war. Congress demanded independence immediately and the Cripps mission failed. Roosevelt gave support to Congress, sending his representative Louis Johnson to help negotiate some sort of independence. Churchill was outraged, refused to cooperate with Roosevelt on the issue, and threatened to resign as prime minister if Roosevelt pushed too hard. Roosevelt pulled back.[43] In 1942 when the Congress Party launched a Quit India Movement of non-violent civil disobedience, the Raj police immediately arrested tens of thousands of activists (including Gandhi), holding them for the duration. Meanwhile, wartime disruptions caused severe food shortages in eastern India; hundreds of thousands died of starvation. To this day a large Indian element blames Churchill for the Bengal famine of 1943.[44] In terms of the war effort, India became a major base for American supplies sent to China, and Lend Lease operations boosted the local economy. The 2 million Indian soldiers were a major factor in British success in the Middle East. Muslim support for the British war effort proved decisive in the British decision to partition India, forming of the new state of Pakistan.[45]

Victory Edit

 
The front page of The Montreal Daily Star announcing the German surrender. 7 May 1945

On 8 May 1945, the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not until 9 May 1945. On 30 April Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin, and so the surrender of Germany was authorized by his replacement, President of Germany Karl Dönitz. The act of military surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France, and ratified on 8 May in Berlin, Germany.

In the afternoon of 15 August 1945, the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II. On this day the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made in Japan, and because of time zone differences it was announced in the United States, Western Europe, the Americas, the Pacific Islands, and Australia/New Zealand on 14 August 1945. The signing of the surrender document occurred on 2 September 1945.

Aftermath Edit

By the end of the war in August 1945, British Commonwealth forces were responsible for the civil and/or military administration of a number of non-Commonwealth territories, occupied during the war, including Eritrea, Libya, Madagascar, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Italian Somaliland, Syria, Thailand and portions of Germany, Austria and Japan. Most of these military administrations were handed over to old European colonial authorities or to new local authorities soon after the end of the hostilities. Commonwealth forces administered occupation zones in Japan, Germany and Austria until 1955. World War II confirmed that Britain was no longer the great power it had once been, and that it had been surpassed by the United States on the world stage. Canada, Australia and New Zealand moved within the orbit of the United States. The image of imperial strength in Asia had been shattered by the Japanese attacks, and British prestige there was irreversibly damaged.[46] The price for India's entry to the war had been effectively a guarantee for independence, which came within two years of the end of the war, relieving Britain of its most populous and valuable colony. The deployment of 150,000 Africans overseas from British colonies, and the stationing of white troops in Africa itself led to revised perceptions of the Empire in Africa.[47]

Historiography Edit

In terms of actual engagement with the enemy, historians have recounted a great deal in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as summarized by Ashley Jackson:

Terror, mass migration, shortages, inflation, blackouts, air raids, massacres, famine, forced labour, urbanization, environmental damage, occupation [by the enemy], resistance, collaboration – all of these dramatic and often horrific phenomena shaped the war experience of Britain's imperial subjects.[48]

British historians of the Second World War have not emphasized the critical role played by the Empire in terms of money, manpower and imports of food and raw materials.[49][50] The powerful combination meant that Britain did not stand alone against Germany, it stood at the head of a great but fading empire. As Ashley Jackson has argued," The story of the British Empire's war, therefore, is one of Imperial success in contributing toward Allied victory on the one hand, and egregious Imperial failure on the other, as Britain struggled to protect people and defeat them, and failed to win the loyalty of colonial subjects."[51] The contribution in terms of soldiers numbered 2.5 million men from India, over 1 million from Canada, just under 1 million from Australia, 410,000 from South Africa, and 215,000 from New Zealand. In addition, the colonies mobilized over 500,000 uniformed personnel who serve primarily inside Africa.[52] In terms of financing, the British war budget included £2.7 billion borrowed from the Empire's Sterling Area, And eventually paid back. Canada made C$3 billion in gifts and loans on easy terms.[53]

Military histories of the British Empire's colonies, dominions, mandates and protectorates Edit

The contributions from individual colonies, dominions, mandates, and protectorates to the war effort were extensive and global. Further information about their involvement can be found in the military histories of the individual colonies, dominions, mandates, and protectorates listed below.

Africa Edit

Americas Edit

East Asia Edit

Europe Edit

Middle East Edit

Oceania Edit

South Asia Edit

Southeast Asia Edit

See also Edit

Homefront Edit

Major military formations and units Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ Ireland was technically a dominion but operated largely as an independent republic and remained neutral during the war. Newfoundland, though still called a "Dominion", had ceased self-governing functions and was governed as a colony.

References Edit

  1. ^ The term "British Commonwealth of Nations", popularised during World War I, became official after the Balfour Declaration in 1926. The Statute of Westminster, passed in 1931, gave legal status to the independence of Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa. [1] After the Statute of Westminster was passed in 1931, the Dominions were "as independent as they wished to be". [2] W. David McIntyre, 1999, "The Commonwealth"; in Robin Winks (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography, Oxford University Press, p. 558-560.
  2. ^ Stephen Leacock, Our British empire; its structure, its history, its strength (1941) pp. 266–75. online free to borrow
  3. ^ Ashley7 Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War (2006).
  4. ^ Stacey, C P. (1970)
  5. ^ Edgerton, David (2011)
  6. ^ Compare: Madgwick, Peter James; Steeds, David; Williams, L. J. (1982). Britain Since 1945 (reprint ed.). Hutchinson. p. 283. ISBN 9780091473716. Retrieved 5 October 2020. The nationalist movements used the political principles of European democracy - self-determination, one man one vote - against European colonialism. Their cause was greatly assisted by the humiliating defeats to which Britain and the other colonial powers were subjected in the Second World War.
  7. ^ Compare: Lee, Loyd E., ed. (1997). World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Gale virtual reference library. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 468. ISBN 9780313293252. Retrieved 5 October 2020. [...] the war brought forth a new generation of African politicians who refused to accept the pace of political change laid down by the colonial governments. [...] politicians in British West Africa agitated for self-government [...]. [...] There is a paucity of material about how the Second World War facilitated the decolonization process in individual countries. However, some work has been done on Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia.
  8. ^ Louis, p. 315
  9. ^ Brown, p. 284
  10. ^ Stewart, Robert B. (July 1938). "Treaty-Making Procedure in the British Dominions". American Journal of International Law. Cambridge University Press. 32 (3): 467–487. Note: from 1937-1949, Ireland's status with regards to the British Empire is hard to define. Though the 1937 amendments abolished the post of Governor General and removed The Crown entirely from having any role in the State's internal governance, certain posts related to foreign policy, such as Irish diplomats continued to receive their accreditation from the monarch and Irish citizens legally remained royal subjects. This confusion was settled after Ireland formally became a recognized Republic in 1949.
  11. ^ Brown, pp. 307–9
  12. ^ McKernan (1983). p. 4.
  13. ^ Stephens (2006). pp. 76–79.
  14. ^ Byers, A.R., ed. (1986). The Canadians at War 1939–45. Westmount, QC: The Reader's Digest Association. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-88850-145-5.
  15. ^ Hague, 2000
  16. ^ Byers, p.26
  17. ^ Stacey 1970
  18. ^ McIntyre pp. 336–7
  19. ^ Grey (2008). pp. 156–164.
  20. ^ Brown, p. 310
  21. ^ Jackson, p 241.
  22. ^ See "Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency"
  23. ^ Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, "India as a creditor: sterling balances, 1940–1953." (Department of Economics, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, 2015) online
  24. ^ Louis, p. 335
  25. ^ McIntyre p. 339
  26. ^ Brown, p. 317
  27. ^ McIntyre p. 337
  28. ^ Smith, Colin (2006). Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II. Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-101036-3.[page needed]
  29. ^ Churchill, Winston (1986). The Hinge of Fate, Volume 4. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 81. ISBN 0395410584
  30. ^ The term "Commonwealth" was popularised during World War I and became official after the Balfour Declaration in 1926. The Statute of Westminster 1931 gave legal status to the independence of Australia, Canada, Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa. [3] After the Statute of Westminster was passed in 1931, the Dominions were "as independent as they wished to be". W. David McIntyre, 1999, "The Commonwealth"; in Robin Winks (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography, Oxford University Press, p. 558-560.
  31. ^ Ashley Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War (2006) 171–239.
  32. ^ David Killingray and Richard Rathbone, edfs. Africa and the Second World War (1986).
  33. ^ Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War (2006) 175-77.
  34. ^ Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War (2006) pp 180–189.
  35. ^ Jackson, The British Empire and the Second World War (2006) pp 240–45.
  36. ^ (PDF). Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  37. ^ Mishra, Basanta Kumar (1979). "India's Response To The British Offer Of August 1940". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 40: 717–719. JSTOR 44142017. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  38. ^ William Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay: The United States and the Decolonization of the British Empire, 1941–1945 (1978).
  39. ^ Andrew N. Buchanan, "The War Crisis and the Decolonization of India, December 1941 – September 1942: A Political and Military Dilemma." Global War Studies 8#2 (2011): 5–31.
  40. ^ Kenton J. Clymer, "Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louis Johnson, India, and Anticolonialism: Another Look." Pacific Historical Review 57#3 (1988): 261–284. online
  41. ^ Yasmin Khan, The Raj at War: A People's History of India's Second World War (2016)
  42. ^ Arthur Herman (2008). Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age. pp. 472–539. ISBN 9780553804638.
  43. ^ Warren F. Kimball (1994). The Juggler: Franklin Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman. pp. 134–35. ISBN 0691037302.
  44. ^ John Hickman, "Orwellian Rectification: Popular Churchill Biographies and the 1943 Bengal Famine." Studies in History 24#2 (2008): 235–243.
  45. ^ Eric S. Rubin, "America, Britain, and Swaraj: Anglo-American Relations and Indian Independence, 1939–1945," India Review" (Jan–March 2011) 10#1 pp 40–80
  46. ^ McIntyre, p. 341
  47. ^ McIntyre, p. 342
  48. ^ Ashley Jackson, "The British Empire" in Richard Bosworth and Joseph Maiolo, ed. (2015). The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume 2, Politics and Ideology. p. 559. ISBN 9781316298565.
  49. ^ for survey see Ashley Jackson, "The British Empire and the Second World War" online
  50. ^ For comprehensive coverage and up-to-date bibliography see "The British Empire at War Research Group"
  51. ^ Ashley Jackson, "The British Empire, 1939–1945 " in Richard J. B. Bosworth and Joseph A. Maiolo, eds., The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume II Politics and Ideology (2015) pp 558–580, quote on p 559.
  52. ^ Jackson, p 563.
  53. ^ Michael Geyer and Adam Tooz, eds.e (2015). The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume 3, Total War: Economy, Society and Culture. pp. 80–81. ISBN 9781316298800.

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  • Morton, Desmond (1999). A military history of Canada (4th ed.). Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-6514-0.
  • Mulvey, Paul. The British Empire in World War II. Academic.edu.
  • Stacey, C P. (1970) Arms, Men and Governments: The War Policies of Canada, 1939–1945 Queen's Printer, Ottawa (Downloadable PDF) ISBN D2-5569
  • Stewart, Andrew (2008). Empire Lost: Britain, the Dominions and the Second World War. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-1847252449.
  • Toye, Richard. Churchill's Empire (Pan, 2010).

Further reading Edit

  • Allport, Alan. Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938–1941 (2020)
  • Bousquet, Ben and Colin Douglas. West Indian Women at War: British Racism in World War II (1991) online
  • Butler, J.R.M. et al. Grand Strategy (6 vol 1956–60), official overview of the British war effort; Volume 1: Rearmament Policy; Volume 2: September 1939 – June 1941; Volume 3, Part 1: June 1941 – August 1942; Volume 3, Part 2: June 1941 – August 1942; Volume 4: September 1942 – August 1943; Volume 5: August 1943 – September 1944; Volume 6: October 1944 – August 1945
  • Churchill, Winston. The Second World War (6 vol 1947–51), classic personal history with many documents
  • Eccles, Karen E, and Debbie McCollin, edfs. World War II and the Caribbean (2017).
  • Edgerton, David. Britain's War Machine: Weapons, Resources, and Experts in the Second World War (Oxford University Press; 2011) 445 pages
  • Harrison, Mark Medicine and Victory: British Military Medicine in the Second World War (2004). ISBN 0-19-926859-2
  • Hastings, Max. Winston's War: Churchill, 1940–1945 (2010)
  • Jackson, Ashley. The British Empire and the Second World War (Continuum, 2006). 604pp; the standard scholarly history.
  • Khan, Yasmin. The Raj at War: A People's History of India's Second World War (2015); also published as India at War: The Subcontinent and the Second World War.
  • Raghavan, Srinath. India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia (2016)

British Army Edit

  • Allport, Alan. Browned Off and Bloody-Minded: The British Soldier Goes to War, 1939–1945 (Yale UP, 2015)
  • Atkinson, Rick. The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944 (2008) excerpt and text search
  • Buckley, John. British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944 (2004)
  • D'Este, Carlo. Decision in Normandy: The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign (1983). ISBN 0-00-217056-6.
  • Ellis, L.F. The War in France and Flanders, 1939–1940 (HMSO, 1953) online
  • Ellis, L.F. Victory in the West, Volume 1: Battle of Normandy (HMSO, 1962)
  • Ellis, L.F. Victory in the West, Volume 2: Defeat of Germany (HMSO, 1968)
  • Fraser, David. And We Shall Shock Them: The British Army in World War II (1988). ISBN 978-0-340-42637-1
  • Graham, Dominick. Tug of War: The Battle for Italy 1943–1945 (2004)
  • Hamilton, Nigel. Monty: The Making of a General: 1887–1942 (1981); Master of the Battlefield: Monty's War Years 1942–1944 (1984); Monty: The Field-Marshal 1944–1976 (1986).
  • Lamb, Richard. War in Italy, 1943–1945: A Brutal Story (1996)
  • Thompson, Julian. The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Burma 1942–1945 (2004)
  • Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh. Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (2008)

Royal Navy Edit

  • Barnett, Corelli. Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War (1991)
  • Marder, Arthur. Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 2: The Pacific War, 1942–1945 with Mark Jacobsen and John Horsfield (1990)
  • Roskill, S. W. The White Ensign: British Navy at War, 1939–1945 (1960). summary
  • Roskill, S. W. War at Sea 1939–1945, Volume 1: The Defensive London: HMSO, 1954; War at Sea 1939–1945, Volume 2: The Period of Balance, 1956; War at Sea 1939–1945, Volume 3: The Offensive, Part 1, 1960; War at Sea 1939–1945, Volume 3: The Offensive, Part 2, 1961. online vol 1; online vol 2

Royal Air Force Edit

  • Bungay, Stephen. The Most Dangerous Enemy: The Definitive History of the Battle of Britain (2nd ed. 2010)
  • Collier, Basil. Defence of the United Kingdom (HMSO, 1957) online
  • Fisher, David E, A Summer Bright and Terrible: Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain (2005) excerpt online
  • Hastings, Max. Bomber Command (1979)
  • Hansen, Randall. Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942–1945 (2009)
  • Hough, Richard and Denis Richards. The Battle of Britain (1989) 480 pp
  • Messenger, Charles, "Bomber" Harris and the Strategic Bombing Offensive, 1939–1945 (1984), defends Harris
  • Overy, Richard. The Battle of Britain: The Myth and the Reality (2001) 192 pages excerpt and text search
  • Richards, Dennis, et al. Royal Air Force, 1939–1945: The Fight at Odds – Vol. 1 (HMSO 1953), official history vol 1 online edition vol 2 online edition; vol 3 online edition
  • Shores, Christopher F. Air War for Burma: The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia 1942–1945 (2005)
  • Terraine, John. A Time for Courage: The Royal Air Force in the European War, 1939–1945 (1985)
  • Verrier, Anthony. The Bomber Offensive (1969), British
  • Walker, David. "Supreme air command-the development of royal air force command practice in the second world war." (PhD dissertation, . University of Birmingham, 2018.) online
  • Webster, Charles and Noble Frankland, The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany, 1939–1945 (HMSO, 1961), 4 vol. Important official British history
  • Wood, Derek, and Derek D. Dempster. The Narrow Margin: The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power 1930–40 (1975) online edition

Homefronts Edit

  • Mosby, Ian. Food Will Win the War: The Politics, Culture, and Science of Food on Canada's Home Front (2014)
  • Ollerenshaw, Philip. Northern Ireland in the Second World War: Politics, economic mobilisation and society, 1939–45 (2016). online

Historiography and memory Edit

  • Finney, Patrick, ed. Remembering the Second World War (2017) online
  • Henderson, Joan C. "Remembering the Second World War in Singapore: Wartime heritage as a visitor attraction." Journal of Heritage Tourism 2.1 (2007): 36–52.
  • Joshi, Vandana. "Memory and Memorialisation, Interment and Exhumation, Propaganda and Politics during WWII through the lens of International Tracing Service (ITS) Collections." MIDA Archival Reflexicon (2019): 1-12.
  • Summerfield, Penny. Reconstructing women's wartime lives: discourse and subjectivity in oral histories of the Second World War (1998).

External links Edit

  • "The British Empire at War Research Group". For comprehensive coverage and up-to-date bibliography
  • Checklist of official histories
  • Britain in World War II
  • The 11th Day: Crete 1941

british, empire, world, when, united, kingdom, declared, nazi, germany, september, 1939, start, world, controlled, varying, degrees, numerous, crown, colonies, protectorates, india, also, maintained, unique, political, ties, four, five, independent, dominions,. When the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939 at the start of World War II it controlled to varying degrees numerous crown colonies protectorates and India It also maintained unique political ties to four of the five independent Dominions Australia Canada South Africa and New Zealand note 1 as co members with the UK of the then British Commonwealth 1 In 1939 the British Empire and the Commonwealth together comprised a global power with direct or de facto political and economic control of 25 of the world s population and of 30 of its land mass 2 Propaganda poster promoting the joint war effort of the British Empire and Commonwealth 1939See also Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II and Diplomatic history of World War II The contribution of the British Empire and Commonwealth in terms of manpower and materiel was critical to the Allied war effort From September 1939 to mid 1942 the UK led Allied efforts in multiple global military theatres Commonwealth Colonial and Imperial Indian forces totalling close to 15 million serving men and women fought the German Italian Japanese and other Axis armies air forces and navies across Europe Africa Asia and in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Indian Pacific and Arctic Oceans Commonwealth forces based in Britain operated across Northwestern Europe in the effort to slow or stop Axis advances Commonwealth airforces fought the Luftwaffe to a standstill over Britain and Commonwealth armies defeated Italian forces in East Africa and North Africa and occupied several overseas colonies of German occupied European nations Following successful engagements against Axis forces Commonwealth troops invaded and occupied Libya Italian Somaliland Eritrea Ethiopia Iran Iraq Syria Lebanon Iceland the Faroe Islands and Madagascar 3 The Commonwealth defeated held back or slowed the Axis powers for three years while mobilizing its globally integrated economy military and industrial infrastructure to build what became by 1942 the most extensive military apparatus of the war These efforts came at the cost of 150 000 military deaths 400 000 wounded 100 000 prisoners over 300 000 civilian deaths and the loss of 70 major warships 39 submarines 3 500 aircraft 1 100 tanks and 65 000 vehicles During this period the Commonwealth built an enormous military and industrial capacity Britain became the nucleus of the Allied war effort in Western Europe and hosted governments in exile in London to rally support in occupied Europe for the Allied cause Canada delivered almost 4 billion in direct financial aid to the United Kingdom and Australia and New Zealand began when shifting to domestic production clarification needed to provide material aid to US forces in the Pacific citation needed Following the US entry into the war in December 1941 the Commonwealth and the United States coordinated their military efforts and resources globally As the scale of the US military involvement and industrial production increased the US undertook command in many theatres relieving Commonwealth forces for duty elsewhere and expanding the scope and intensity of Allied military efforts 4 5 Co operation with the Soviet Union also developed However it proved difficult to co ordinate the defence of far flung colonies and Commonwealth countries from simultaneous attacks by the Axis powers In part this difficulty was exacerbated by disagreements over priorities and objectives as well as over the deployment and control of joint forces Although the British Empire and the Commonwealth countries all emerged from the war as joint victors together with the USA the USSR and the other Allies and the conquered colonial territories were returned to British rule World War II confirmed that Britain was no longer the great power it had once been and that it had been surpassed by the United States on the world stage The image of imperial strength in Asia had been shattered by the Japanese successes and British prestige there was irreversibly damaged Together with the nationalist fervour that the war had stoked this became a catalyst for the decolonisation which took place in the following decades 6 7 Contents 1 Pre war plans for defence 2 Declaration of war against Germany 3 Empire and Commonwealth contribution 3 1 Finances 4 Crisis in the Mediterranean 5 Fall of Singapore 6 Africa 7 India 8 Victory 9 Aftermath 10 Historiography 11 Military histories of the British Empire s colonies dominions mandates and protectorates 11 1 Africa 11 2 Americas 11 3 East Asia 11 4 Europe 11 5 Middle East 11 6 Oceania 11 7 South Asia 11 8 Southeast Asia 12 See also 12 1 Homefront 12 2 Major military formations and units 13 Notes 14 References 15 Bibliography 16 Further reading 16 1 British Army 16 2 Royal Navy 16 3 Royal Air Force 16 4 Homefronts 16 5 Historiography and memory 17 External linksPre war plans for defence EditFrom 1923 defence of British colonies and protectorates in East Asia and Southeast Asia was centred on the Singapore strategy This made the assumption that Britain could send a fleet to its naval base in Singapore within two or three days of a Japanese attack while relying on France to provide assistance in Asia via its colony in Indochina and in the event of war with Italy to help defend British territories in the Mediterranean 8 Pre war planners did not anticipate the fall of France Nazi occupation the loss of control over the Channel and the employment of French Atlantic ports as forward bases for U boats directly threatened Britain itself forcing a significant reassessment of naval defence priorities During the 1930s a triple threat emerged for the British Commonwealth in the form of militaristic governments in Germany Italy and Japan 9 Germany threatened Britain itself while Italy and Japan s imperial ambitions looked set to clash with the British imperial presence in the Mediterranean and East Asia respectively However there were differences of opinion within the UK and the Dominions as to which posed the most serious threat and whether any attack would come from more than one power at the same time Declaration of war against Germany Edit nbsp Sir Robert Menzies broadcasting to Australia the news of the outbreak of war 1939On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland Two days later on 3 September after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored Britain and France declared war on Germany Britain s declaration of war automatically committed India the Crown colonies and the protectorates but the 1931 Statute of Westminster had granted autonomy to the Dominions so each decided their course separately Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies immediately joined the British declaration on 3 September believing that it applied to all subjects of the Empire and Commonwealth New Zealand followed suit simultaneously at 9 30 pm on 3 September local time after Peter Fraser consulted the Cabinet although as Chamberlain s broadcast was drowned by static the Cabinet led by Fraser as Prime Minister Michael Savage was terminally ill delayed until the Admiralty announced to the fleet a state of war then backdated the declaration to 9 30 pm South Africa took three days to make its decision on 6 September as the Prime Minister General J B M Hertzog favoured neutrality but was defeated by the pro war vote in the Union Parliament led by General Jan Smuts who then replaced Hertzog Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King declared support for Britain on the day of the British declaration but also stated that it was for Parliament to make the formal declaration which it did so one week later on 10 September Ireland though still a member of the Commonwealth severed its legal ties as a dominion in 1937 10 and chose to remain neutral throughout the war 11 Empire and Commonwealth contribution Edit nbsp British Empire and Commonwealth forms of government and production c 1940 nbsp Kenya Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve 1945While the war was initially intended to be limited resources were mobilized quickly and the first shots were fired almost immediately Just hours after the Australian declaration of war a gun at Fort Queenscliff fired across the bows of a ship as it attempted to leave Melbourne without required clearances 12 On 10 October 1939 an aircraft of No 10 Squadron RAAF based in England became the first Commonwealth air force unit to go into action when it undertook a mission to Tunisia 13 The first Canadian convoy of 15 ships bearing war goods departed Halifax just six days after the nation declared war with two destroyers HMCS St Laurent and HMCS Saguenay 14 A further 26 convoys of 527 ships sailed from Canada in the first four months of the war 15 and by 1 January 1940 Canada had landed an entire division in Britain 16 On 13 June 1940 Canadian troops deployed to France in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium As the fall of France grew imminent Britain looked to Canada to rapidly provide additional troops to strategic locations in North America the Atlantic and Caribbean Following the Canadian destroyer already on station from 1939 Canada provided troops from May 1940 to assist in the defence of the British Caribbean colonies with several companies serving throughout the war in Bermuda Jamaica the Bahamas and British Guiana Canadian troops were also sent to the defence of the colony of Newfoundland on Canada s east coast the closest point in North America to Germany Fearing the loss of a land link clarification needed to the British Isles Canada was also requested to occupy Iceland which it did from June 1940 to the spring of 1941 following the initial British invasion 17 From mid June 1940 following the rapid German invasions and occupations of Poland Denmark Norway France Belgium Luxembourg and the Netherlands the British Commonwealth was the main opponent of Germany and the Axis until the entry into the war of the Soviet Union in June 1941 During this period Australia India New Zealand and South Africa provided dozens of ships and several divisions for the defence of the Mediterranean Greece Crete Lebanon and Egypt where British troops were outnumbered four to one by the Italian armies in Libya and Ethiopia 18 19 Canada delivered a further 2nd Canadian Infantry Division pilots for two air squadrons and several warships to Britain to face a possible invasion from the continent In December 1941 Japan launched in quick succession attacks on British Malaya the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong Substantial financial support was provided by Canada to the UK and Commonwealth dominions in the form of over 4 billion in aid through the Billion Dollar Gift and Mutual Aid and the War Appropriation Act Over the course of the war over 1 6 million Canadians served in uniform out of a prewar population of 11 million in almost every theatre of the war and by war s end the country had the third largest navy and fourth largest air force in the world citation needed By the end of the war almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces out of a population of under 7 million whose military units fought primarily in Europe North Africa and the South West Pacific The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan also known as the Empire Air Training Scheme was established by the governments of Australia Canada New Zealand and the UK resulting in joint training at flight schools in Canada South Africa Southern Rhodesia Australia and New Zealand 20 21 formation of new squadrons of the Dominion air forces known as Article XV squadrons for service as part of Royal Air Force operational commands and in practice the pooling of RAF and Dominion air force personnel for posting to both RAF and Article XV squadrons Finances Edit Britain borrowed everywhere it could and made heavy purchases of munitions and supplies in India and Canada during the war as well as other parts of the Empire and neutral countries Canada also made gifts Britain s sterling balances around the world amounted to 3 4 billion in 1945 or the equivalent of about US 200 billion in 2016 dollars 22 However Britain treated this as a long term loan with no interest and no specified repayment date Just when the money would be made available by London was an issue for the British treasury was nearly empty by 1945 23 Crisis in the Mediterranean Edit nbsp Second Officer Kalyani Sen and Chief Officer Margaret I Cooper Women s Royal Indian Naval Service 1945In June 1940 France surrendered to invading German forces and Italy joined the war on the Axis side causing a reversal of the Singapore strategy Winston Churchill who had replaced Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister the previous month see Norway debate ordered that the Middle East and the Mediterranean were of a higher priority than the Far East to defend 24 Australia and New Zealand were told by telegram that they should turn to the United States for help in defending their homeland should Japan attack 25 Without the assistance of France we should not have sufficient forces to meet the combined German and Italian navies in European waters and the Japanese fleet in the Far East In the circumstances envisaged it is most improbable that we could send adequate reinforcements to the Far East We should therefore have to rely on the United States of America to safeguard our interests there 26 Commonwealth forces played a major role in North and East Africa following Italy s entry to the war participating in the invasion of Italian Libya and Somaliland but were forced to retreat after Churchill diverted resources to Greece and Crete 27 Fall of Singapore Edit nbsp Allied troops surrendering to Japanese troops in SingaporeMain article Fall of Singapore The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South East Asian theatre of World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded British Malaya and its stronghold of Singapore Singapore was the major British military base in South East Asia and nicknamed the Gibraltar of the East The fighting in Singapore lasted from 31 January 1942 to 15 February 1942 It followed a humiliating naval engagement in December 1941 in which two British capital ships were sunk It resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese and the largest surrender of British led military personnel in history 28 About 80 000 British Australian and Indian troops became prisoners of war joining 50 000 taken by the Japanese in the Malayan campaign Britain s Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the ignominious fall of Singapore to the Japanese the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history 29 Africa Edit nbsp British red and Belgian maroon colonies fought with the Allies Italian light green with the Axis French colonies dark blue fought with the Allies until the Fall of France after which some supported Vichy and some the Free French Portuguese dark green and Spanish yellow colonies remained neutral Africa was a large continent whose geography gave it strategic importance during the war North Africa was the scene of a major campaign against Italy and Germany which itself included the Tunisian Campaign the Western Desert Campaign resulting in tide turning battles such as those in El Alamein and in Tobruk and with large scale American support Operation Torch East Africa was also the scene of a major campaign against Italy which resulted in the liberation of Somalia Eritrea and most chiefly Ethiopia which had been conquered by the Italian Empire in 1936 The vast geography provided major transportation routes linking the United States to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions The sea route around South Africa was heavily used even though it added 40 days to voyages that had to avoid the dangerous Suez region Lend Lease supplies to Russia often came this way Internally long distance road and railroad connections facilitated the British war effort The Union of South Africa was part of the British Commonwealth of Nations and had been an independent self governing country since 1931 30 The British possessions in Africa were ruled by the colonial office usually with close ties to local chiefs and kings France had extensive possessions in Africa but they played a much smaller role in the war since they were largely tied to Vichy France Portuguese holdings played a minor role Italian holdings were the target of successful British military campaigns The Belgian Congo and two other Belgian colonies were major exporters In terms of numbers and wealth the British controlled the richest portions of Africa and made extensive use not only of the geography but the manpower and the natural resources Civilian colonial officials made a special effort to upgrade the African infrastructure promote agriculture integrate colonial Africa with the world economy and recruit over a half million soldiers 31 32 Before the war Britain had made few plans for the utilization of Africa but it quickly set up command structures The Army set up the West Africa Command which recruited 200 000 soldiers The East Africa Command was created in September 1941 to support the overstretched Middle East Command The Southern Command was the domain of South Africa The Royal Navy set up the South Atlantic Command based in Sierra Leone that became one of the main convoy assembly points The RAF Coastal Command had major submarine hunting operations based in West Africa while a smaller RAF command Dealt with submarines in the Indian Ocean Ferrying aircraft from North America and Britain was the major mission of the Western Desert Air Force In addition smaller more localized commands were set up throughout the war 33 Before the war the military establishments were very small throughout British Africa and largely consisted of whites who comprised only two percent of the population outside Africa As soon as the war began newly created African units were set up primarily by the Army The new recruits were almost always volunteers usually provided in close cooperation with local tribal leaders During the war military pay scales far exceeded what civilians natives could earn especially when food housing and clothing allowances are included The largest numbers were in construction units called Pioneer Units with over 82 000 soldiers The RAF and Navy also did some recruiting East Africa provided the largest number of men over 320 000 chiefly from Kenya Tanganyika and Uganda They did some fighting a great deal of guard duty and construction work 80 000 served in the Middle East A special effort was made not to challenge white supremacy certainly before the war and to a large extent during the war itself Nevertheless the soldiers were drilled and train to European standards given strong doses of propaganda and learn leadership and organizational skills that proved essential to the formation of nationalistic and independence movements after 1945 There were minor episodes of discontent but nothing serious among the natives 34 Afrikaner nationalism was a factor in South Africa but the anti British and pro neutrality Afrikaner prime minister J B M Hertzog was replaced by a narrow vote of the South African parliament in 1939 by Jan Smuts a fellow Afrikaner who was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire The Smuts government closely cooperated with London and raised 340 000 volunteers 190 000 were white or about one third of the eligible white men 35 India EditMain articles India in World War II and Indian Army during World War II nbsp Over 2 5 million Indians enlisted in the largest volunteer army in history 36 The Viceroy Linlithgow declared that India was at war with Germany with no consultations with Indian politicians 37 Serious tension erupted over American support for independence for India a proposition Churchill vehemently rejected 38 39 For years Roosevelt had encouraged Britain s disengagement from India The American position was based on principled opposition to colonialism 40 The politically active Indian population was deeply divided 41 One element was so insistent on the expulsion of the British that it sided with Germany and Japan and formed the Indian National Army INA from Indian prisoners of war It fought as part of the Japanese invasion of Burma and eastern India There was a large pacifist element which rallied to Gandhi s call for abstention from the war he said that violence in every form was evil 42 There was a high level of religious tension between the Hindu majority and the Muslims minority For the first time the Muslim community became politically active giving strong support for the British war effort Over 2 million Indians volunteered for military service including a large Muslim contingent The British were sensitive to demands of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah since it needed Muslim soldiers in India and Muslim support all across the Middle East London used the religious tensions in India as a justification to continue its rule saying it was needed to prevent religious massacres of the sort that did happen in 1947 The imperialist element in Britain was strongly represented in the Conservative party Churchill himself had long been its leading spokesman On the other hand Attlee and the Labour Party favoured independence and had close ties to the Congress Party The British cabinet sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India with a specific peace plan offering India the promise of dominion status after the war Congress demanded independence immediately and the Cripps mission failed Roosevelt gave support to Congress sending his representative Louis Johnson to help negotiate some sort of independence Churchill was outraged refused to cooperate with Roosevelt on the issue and threatened to resign as prime minister if Roosevelt pushed too hard Roosevelt pulled back 43 In 1942 when the Congress Party launched a Quit India Movement of non violent civil disobedience the Raj police immediately arrested tens of thousands of activists including Gandhi holding them for the duration Meanwhile wartime disruptions caused severe food shortages in eastern India hundreds of thousands died of starvation To this day a large Indian element blames Churchill for the Bengal famine of 1943 44 In terms of the war effort India became a major base for American supplies sent to China and Lend Lease operations boosted the local economy The 2 million Indian soldiers were a major factor in British success in the Middle East Muslim support for the British war effort proved decisive in the British decision to partition India forming of the new state of Pakistan 45 Victory EditMain articles Victory in Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day nbsp The front page of The Montreal Daily Star announcing the German surrender 7 May 1945On 8 May 1945 the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler s Third Reich The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not until 9 May 1945 On 30 April Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin and so the surrender of Germany was authorized by his replacement President of Germany Karl Donitz The act of military surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims France and ratified on 8 May in Berlin Germany In the afternoon of 15 August 1945 the Surrender of Japan occurred effectively ending World War II On this day the initial announcement of Japan s surrender was made in Japan and because of time zone differences it was announced in the United States Western Europe the Americas the Pacific Islands and Australia New Zealand on 14 August 1945 The signing of the surrender document occurred on 2 September 1945 Aftermath EditBy the end of the war in August 1945 British Commonwealth forces were responsible for the civil and or military administration of a number of non Commonwealth territories occupied during the war including Eritrea Libya Madagascar Iran Iraq Lebanon Italian Somaliland Syria Thailand and portions of Germany Austria and Japan Most of these military administrations were handed over to old European colonial authorities or to new local authorities soon after the end of the hostilities Commonwealth forces administered occupation zones in Japan Germany and Austria until 1955 World War II confirmed that Britain was no longer the great power it had once been and that it had been surpassed by the United States on the world stage Canada Australia and New Zealand moved within the orbit of the United States The image of imperial strength in Asia had been shattered by the Japanese attacks and British prestige there was irreversibly damaged 46 The price for India s entry to the war had been effectively a guarantee for independence which came within two years of the end of the war relieving Britain of its most populous and valuable colony The deployment of 150 000 Africans overseas from British colonies and the stationing of white troops in Africa itself led to revised perceptions of the Empire in Africa 47 Historiography EditIn terms of actual engagement with the enemy historians have recounted a great deal in South Asia and Southeast Asia as summarized by Ashley Jackson Terror mass migration shortages inflation blackouts air raids massacres famine forced labour urbanization environmental damage occupation by the enemy resistance collaboration all of these dramatic and often horrific phenomena shaped the war experience of Britain s imperial subjects 48 British historians of the Second World War have not emphasized the critical role played by the Empire in terms of money manpower and imports of food and raw materials 49 50 The powerful combination meant that Britain did not stand alone against Germany it stood at the head of a great but fading empire As Ashley Jackson has argued The story of the British Empire s war therefore is one of Imperial success in contributing toward Allied victory on the one hand and egregious Imperial failure on the other as Britain struggled to protect people and defeat them and failed to win the loyalty of colonial subjects 51 The contribution in terms of soldiers numbered 2 5 million men from India over 1 million from Canada just under 1 million from Australia 410 000 from South Africa and 215 000 from New Zealand In addition the colonies mobilized over 500 000 uniformed personnel who serve primarily inside Africa 52 In terms of financing the British war budget included 2 7 billion borrowed from the Empire s Sterling Area And eventually paid back Canada made C 3 billion in gifts and loans on easy terms 53 Military histories of the British Empire s colonies dominions mandates and protectorates EditThe contributions from individual colonies dominions mandates and protectorates to the war effort were extensive and global Further information about their involvement can be found in the military histories of the individual colonies dominions mandates and protectorates listed below Africa Edit nbsp Ascension Island nbsp Basutoland nbsp Bechuanaland Protectorate nbsp British Cameroons nbsp Gambia nbsp Gold Coast nbsp Kenya nbsp Mauritius nbsp Nigeria nbsp Northern Rhodesia nbsp Nyasaland nbsp Saint Helena nbsp Seychelles nbsp Sierra Leone nbsp Somaliland nbsp South Africa nbsp South West Africa nbsp Southern Rhodesia nbsp Anglo Egyptian Sudan nbsp Swaziland Protectorate nbsp Tanganyika nbsp Togoland nbsp Uganda nbsp ZanzibarAmericas Edit nbsp Bahamas nbsp Barbados nbsp Bermuda nbsp Canada nbsp Cayman Islands nbsp Falkland Islands nbsp British Guiana nbsp British Honduras nbsp Jamaica nbsp Leeward Islands nbsp Newfoundland nbsp Trinidad and Tobago nbsp Turks and Caicos nbsp Windward IslandsEast Asia Edit nbsp Hong KongEurope Edit nbsp Cyprus nbsp Gibraltar nbsp Guernsey nbsp Jersey nbsp Ireland nbsp Isle of Man nbsp Malta nbsp United KingdomMiddle East Edit nbsp Aden nbsp Bahrain Protectorate nbsp Egypt nbsp Kuwait Protectorate nbsp Mandatory Palestine nbsp Qatar Protectorate nbsp Transjordan nbsp Trucial StatesOceania Edit nbsp Australia nbsp New Guinea nbsp Norfolk Island nbsp Papua nbsp Fiji nbsp Gilbert and Ellice Islands nbsp Nauru nbsp New Hebrides nbsp New Zealand nbsp Western Samoa nbsp Pitcairn Islands nbsp Solomon Islands nbsp Tonga ProtectorateSouth Asia Edit nbsp Ceylon nbsp India nbsp Maldives ProtectorateSoutheast Asia Edit nbsp Brunei Protectorate nbsp Burma nbsp Malaya nbsp North Borneo nbsp Sarawak nbsp Straits SettlementsSee also Edit nbsp British Empire portal nbsp World War II portalDiplomatic history of World War II Historiography of the British Empire Military history of the United Kingdom during World War IIHomefront Edit Australian home front during World War II Christmas Island Mutiny and Battle Gibraltar evacuation in the Second World War British home front during the Second World War Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands Japanese occupation of British Borneo Japanese occupation of Nauru Japanese occupation of Singapore Major military formations and units Edit List of British Empire corps of the Second World War List of British Empire divisions in the Second World War List of British Empire brigades of the Second World War East Africa Command Far East Command India Command Malaya Command Middle East Command Persia and Iraq Command West Africa Command Pacific Fleet Eastern Fleet Home Fleet Mediterranean Fleet Reserve Fleet Bomber Command Ferry Command Fighter Command RAF Squadrons British Commonwealth Air Training Plan British Commonwealth Occupation ForceNotes Edit Ireland was technically a dominion but operated largely as an independent republic and remained neutral during the war Newfoundland though still called a Dominion had ceased self governing functions and was governed as a colony References Edit The term British Commonwealth of Nations popularised during World War I became official after the Balfour Declaration in 1926 The Statute of Westminster passed in 1931 gave legal status to the independence of Australia Canada the Irish Free State Newfoundland New Zealand and South Africa 1 After the Statute of Westminster was passed in 1931 the Dominions were as independent as they wished to be 2 W David McIntyre 1999 The Commonwealth in Robin Winks ed The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume V Historiography Oxford University Press p 558 560 Stephen Leacock Our British empire its structure its history its strength 1941 pp 266 75 online free to borrow Ashley7 Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War 2006 Stacey C P 1970 Edgerton David 2011 Compare Madgwick Peter James Steeds David Williams L J 1982 Britain Since 1945 reprint ed Hutchinson p 283 ISBN 9780091473716 Retrieved 5 October 2020 The nationalist movements used the political principles of European democracy self determination one man one vote against European colonialism Their cause was greatly assisted by the humiliating defeats to which Britain and the other colonial powers were subjected in the Second World War Compare Lee Loyd E ed 1997 World War II in Europe Africa and the Americas with General Sources A Handbook of Literature and Research Gale virtual reference library Westport Connecticut Greenwood Publishing Group p 468 ISBN 9780313293252 Retrieved 5 October 2020 the war brought forth a new generation of African politicians who refused to accept the pace of political change laid down by the colonial governments politicians in British West Africa agitated for self government There is a paucity of material about how the Second World War facilitated the decolonization process in individual countries However some work has been done on Ghana Nigeria Kenya Uganda and Zambia Louis p 315 Brown p 284 Stewart Robert B July 1938 Treaty Making Procedure in the British Dominions American Journal of International Law Cambridge University Press 32 3 467 487 Note from 1937 1949 Ireland s status with regards to the British Empire is hard to define Though the 1937 amendments abolished the post of Governor General and removed The Crown entirely from having any role in the State s internal governance certain posts related to foreign policy such as Irish diplomats continued to receive their accreditation from the monarch and Irish citizens legally remained royal subjects This confusion was settled after Ireland formally became a recognized Republic in 1949 Brown pp 307 9 McKernan 1983 p 4 Stephens 2006 pp 76 79 Byers A R ed 1986 The Canadians at War 1939 45 Westmount QC The Reader s Digest Association p 22 ISBN 978 0 88850 145 5 Hague 2000 Byers p 26 Stacey 1970 McIntyre pp 336 7 Grey 2008 pp 156 164 Brown p 310 Jackson p 241 See Pounds Sterling to Dollars Historical Conversion of Currency Marcelo de Paiva Abreu India as a creditor sterling balances 1940 1953 Department of Economics Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro 2015 online Louis p 335 McIntyre p 339 Brown p 317 McIntyre p 337 Smith Colin 2006 Singapore Burning Heroism and Surrender in World War II Penguin Group ISBN 0 14 101036 3 page needed Churchill Winston 1986 The Hinge of Fate Volume 4 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt p 81 ISBN 0395410584 The term Commonwealth was popularised during World War I and became official after the Balfour Declaration in 1926 The Statute of Westminster 1931 gave legal status to the independence of Australia Canada Irish Free State Newfoundland New Zealand and South Africa 3 After the Statute of Westminster was passed in 1931 the Dominions were as independent as they wished to be W David McIntyre 1999 The Commonwealth in Robin Winks ed The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume V Historiography Oxford University Press p 558 560 Ashley Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War 2006 171 239 David Killingray and Richard Rathbone edfs Africa and the Second World War 1986 Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War 2006 175 77 Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War 2006 pp 180 189 Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War 2006 pp 240 45 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Report on India 2007 2008 PDF Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archived from the original PDF on 18 June 2010 Retrieved 7 September 2009 Mishra Basanta Kumar 1979 India s Response To The British Offer Of August 1940 Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 40 717 719 JSTOR 44142017 Retrieved 2 November 2020 William Roger Louis Imperialism at Bay The United States and the Decolonization of the British Empire 1941 1945 1978 Andrew N Buchanan The War Crisis and the Decolonization of India December 1941 September 1942 A Political and Military Dilemma Global War Studies 8 2 2011 5 31 Kenton J Clymer Franklin D Roosevelt Louis Johnson India and Anticolonialism Another Look Pacific Historical Review 57 3 1988 261 284 online Yasmin Khan The Raj at War A People s History of India s Second World War 2016 Arthur Herman 2008 Gandhi amp Churchill The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age pp 472 539 ISBN 9780553804638 Warren F Kimball 1994 The Juggler Franklin Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman pp 134 35 ISBN 0691037302 John Hickman Orwellian Rectification Popular Churchill Biographies and the 1943 Bengal Famine Studies in History 24 2 2008 235 243 Eric S Rubin America Britain and Swaraj Anglo American Relations and Indian Independence 1939 1945 India Review Jan March 2011 10 1 pp 40 80 McIntyre p 341 McIntyre p 342 Ashley Jackson The British Empire in Richard Bosworth and Joseph Maiolo ed 2015 The Cambridge History of the Second World War Volume 2 Politics and Ideology p 559 ISBN 9781316298565 for survey see Ashley Jackson The British Empire and the Second World War online For comprehensive coverage and up to date bibliography see The British Empire at War Research Group Ashley Jackson The British Empire 1939 1945 in Richard J B Bosworth and Joseph A Maiolo eds The Cambridge History of the Second World War Volume II Politics and Ideology 2015 pp 558 580 quote on p 559 Jackson p 563 Michael Geyer and Adam Tooz eds e 2015 The Cambridge History of the Second World War Volume 3 Total War Economy Society and Culture pp 80 81 ISBN 9781316298800 Bibliography EditBrown Judith 1998 The Twentieth Century The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume IV Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 924679 3 Bryce Robert Broughton 2005 Canada and the cost of World War II McGill Queen s University Press ISBN 978 0 7735 2938 0 Butler J R M et al Grand Strategy 6 vol 1956 60 official overview of the British war effort Volume 1 Rearmament Policy Volume 2 September 1939 June 1941 Volume 3 Part 1 June 1941 August 1942 Volume 3 Part 2 June 1941 August 1942 Volume 4 September 1942 August 1943 Volume 5 August 1943 September 1944 Volume 6 October 1944 August 1945 Chartrand Rene Ronald Volstad 2001 Canadian Forces in World War II Osprey Publishing ISBN 1 84176 302 0 Copp J T Richard Nielsen 1995 No price too high Canadians and the Second World War McGraw Hill Ryerson ISBN 0 07 552713 8 Edgerton David Britain s War Machine Weapons Resources and Experts in the Second World War Oxford University Press 2011 445 pages Hague Arnold The allied convoy system 1939 1945 its organization defence and operation St Catharines Ontario Vanwell 2000 Jackson Ashley 2006 The British Empire and the Second World War London Hambledon Continuum ISBN 978 1852854171 Leacock Stephen Our British empire its structure its history its strength 1941 online Louis Wm Roger 2006 Ends of British Imperialism The Scramble for Empire Suez and Decolonization I B Tauris ISBN 1 84511 347 0 McIntyre W Donald 1977 The Commonwealth of Nations University of Minnesota Press ISBN 0 8166 0792 3 Morton Desmond 1999 A military history of Canada 4th ed Toronto McClelland and Stewart ISBN 0 7710 6514 0 Mulvey Paul The British Empire in World War II Academic edu Stacey C P 1970 Arms Men and Governments The War Policies of Canada 1939 1945 Queen s Printer Ottawa Downloadable PDF ISBN D2 5569 Stewart Andrew 2008 Empire Lost Britain the Dominions and the Second World War London Continuum ISBN 978 1847252449 Toye Richard Churchill s Empire Pan 2010 Further reading EditAllport Alan Britain at Bay The Epic Story of the Second World War 1938 1941 2020 Bousquet Ben and Colin Douglas West Indian Women at War British Racism in World War II 1991 online Butler J R M et al Grand Strategy 6 vol 1956 60 official overview of the British war effort Volume 1 Rearmament Policy Volume 2 September 1939 June 1941 Volume 3 Part 1 June 1941 August 1942 Volume 3 Part 2 June 1941 August 1942 Volume 4 September 1942 August 1943 Volume 5 August 1943 September 1944 Volume 6 October 1944 August 1945 Churchill Winston The Second World War 6 vol 1947 51 classic personal history with many documents Eccles Karen E and Debbie McCollin edfs World War II and the Caribbean 2017 Edgerton David Britain s War Machine Weapons Resources and Experts in the Second World War Oxford University Press 2011 445 pages Harrison Mark Medicine and Victory British Military Medicine in the Second World War 2004 ISBN 0 19 926859 2 Hastings Max Winston s War Churchill 1940 1945 2010 Jackson Ashley The British Empire and the Second World War Continuum 2006 604pp the standard scholarly history Khan Yasmin The Raj at War A People s History of India s Second World War 2015 also published as India at War The Subcontinent and the Second World War Raghavan Srinath India s War World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia 2016 British Army Edit Allport Alan Browned Off and Bloody Minded The British Soldier Goes to War 1939 1945 Yale UP 2015 Atkinson Rick The Day of Battle The War in Sicily and Italy 1943 1944 2008 excerpt and text search Buckley John British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944 2004 D Este Carlo Decision in Normandy The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign 1983 ISBN 0 00 217056 6 Ellis L F The War in France and Flanders 1939 1940 HMSO 1953 online Ellis L F Victory in the West Volume 1 Battle of Normandy HMSO 1962 Ellis L F Victory in the West Volume 2 Defeat of Germany HMSO 1968 Fraser David And We Shall Shock Them The British Army in World War II 1988 ISBN 978 0 340 42637 1 Graham Dominick Tug of War The Battle for Italy 1943 1945 2004 Hamilton Nigel Monty The Making of a General 1887 1942 1981 Master of the Battlefield Monty s War Years 1942 1944 1984 Monty The Field Marshal 1944 1976 1986 Lamb Richard War in Italy 1943 1945 A Brutal Story 1996 Thompson Julian The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Burma 1942 1945 2004 Sebag Montefiore Hugh Dunkirk Fight to the Last Man 2008 Royal Navy Edit Barnett Corelli Engage the Enemy More Closely The Royal Navy in the Second World War 1991 Marder Arthur Old Friends New Enemies The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy vol 2 The Pacific War 1942 1945 with Mark Jacobsen and John Horsfield 1990 Roskill S W The White Ensign British Navy at War 1939 1945 1960 summary Roskill S W War at Sea 1939 1945 Volume 1 The Defensive London HMSO 1954 War at Sea 1939 1945 Volume 2 The Period of Balance 1956 War at Sea 1939 1945 Volume 3 The Offensive Part 1 1960 War at Sea 1939 1945 Volume 3 The Offensive Part 2 1961 online vol 1 online vol 2Royal Air Force Edit Bungay Stephen The Most Dangerous Enemy The Definitive History of the Battle of Britain 2nd ed 2010 Collier Basil Defence of the United Kingdom HMSO 1957 online Fisher David E A Summer Bright and Terrible Winston Churchill Lord Dowding Radar and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain 2005 excerpt online Hastings Max Bomber Command 1979 Hansen Randall Fire and Fury The Allied Bombing of Germany 1942 1945 2009 Hough Richard and Denis Richards The Battle of Britain 1989 480 pp Messenger Charles Bomber Harris and the Strategic Bombing Offensive 1939 1945 1984 defends Harris Overy Richard The Battle of Britain The Myth and the Reality 2001 192 pages excerpt and text search Richards Dennis et al Royal Air Force 1939 1945 The Fight at Odds Vol 1 HMSO 1953 official history vol 1 online edition vol 2 online edition vol 3 online edition Shores Christopher F Air War for Burma The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South East Asia 1942 1945 2005 Terraine John A Time for Courage The Royal Air Force in the European War 1939 1945 1985 Verrier Anthony The Bomber Offensive 1969 British Walker David Supreme air command the development of royal air force command practice in the second world war PhD dissertation University of Birmingham 2018 online Webster Charles and Noble Frankland The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany 1939 1945 HMSO 1961 4 vol Important official British history Wood Derek and Derek D Dempster The Narrow Margin The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power 1930 40 1975 online editionHomefronts Edit Mosby Ian Food Will Win the War The Politics Culture and Science of Food on Canada s Home Front 2014 Ollerenshaw Philip Northern Ireland in the Second World War Politics economic mobilisation and society 1939 45 2016 onlineHistoriography and memory Edit Finney Patrick ed Remembering the Second World War 2017 online Henderson Joan C Remembering the Second World War in Singapore Wartime heritage as a visitor attraction Journal of Heritage Tourism 2 1 2007 36 52 Joshi Vandana Memory and Memorialisation Interment and Exhumation Propaganda and Politics during WWII through the lens of International Tracing Service ITS Collections MIDA Archival Reflexicon 2019 1 12 Summerfield Penny Reconstructing women s wartime lives discourse and subjectivity in oral histories of the Second World War 1998 External links Edit The British Empire at War Research Group For comprehensive coverage and up to date bibliography Checklist of official histories Britain in World War II The 11th Day Crete 1941 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title British Empire in World War II amp oldid 1181234831, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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