British Empire in World War II 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.
Postage stamps and postal history of Germany for the various colonial territories which had a uniform appearance depicting the imperial yacht "SMY Hohenzollern". After Germany lost control of its colonies in the course of World War I, overprinted yacht stamps were temporarily used by the new colonial rulers. Imperial Germany maintained post offices in certain towns in Morocco, Turkey, and China. Issued stamps can be recognized by the cancellation stamp or the overprint may show local denomination and the name of the country. During World War I, German authorities issued stamps in occupied countries, namely Belgium, Poland, Romania, and areas of the western and eastern front. The