Fort St Angelo at the tip of the Vittoriosa promontory, Grand Harbour, Malta. Constructed by the Knights of St John, it was adopted by the British Army as a fort and, from the 1900s, by the Royal Navy as an administration, communication, and accommodation facility, finally evacuated in 1979 when Britain’s military presence in Malta ended.

A map of Grand Harbour prepared by the Royal Navy in the 1880s, showing the fortifications of Valletta (left) and the ‘three cities’ opposite, including Fort St Angelo at the tip of the Vittoriosa promontory (centre).

RAF training aircraft being serviced in Southern Rhodesia by Basotho ‘hangar boys’. Copyright Imperial War Museum.

A Second World War recruitment poster for the King’s African Rifles aimed at East African men.

Women in the Bechuanaland Protectorate knitting comforts for Tswana soldiers serving with the British Army in the Middle East, 1941. Copyright Imperial War Museum

The Western Front, June 1917: Zulu members of the South African Native Labour Contingent perform in a War Dance and Sports event at Dannes. Copyright Imperial War Museum.

The crew of the Colony class cruiser HMS ‘Mauritius’ clean her guns during the Second World War

Royal Marines training in Ceylon during the Second World War