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The West intervenes
Hitler’s invasion of Poland, which
began on September 1, 1939, finally
forced Britain and France into
a war they had been trying
desperately to avoid. Deciding
that they needed to take a tougher
stance against Hitler after his
takeover of Czechoslovakia, the
two nations had guaranteed Poland
support in the event of German
aggression. Honoring this promise,
they declared war on Germany on
September 3, which meant British
and French colonies were also
drawn into conflict: Britain’s
dominions Australia and New
Zealand declared war immediately,
the Union of South Africa followed
on September 6, and Canada on
September 10.
Germany quickly overran
Poland with its tactic of blitzkrieg
(“lightning war”), which utilized
tank divisions supported by the
Luftwaffe, the German air force.
The British sent an Expeditionary
Force (BEF) to France, but neither
Britain nor France attempted
an offensive against Germany.
They were not ready for a large-scale attack, and some politicians
still believed that peace terms
could be negotiated.
This period became known as
the “Phoney War.” Expecting to be
bombed, Britain began to evacuate
its children from major cities. Air-
raid shelters were built, and gas
masks handed out. The Phoney War
ended in April 1940, when Germany
attacked and conquered Denmark
and Norway. A month later, they
turned on France, Belgium, and the
Netherlands. The French army was
poorly led and badly equipped.
France had relied on the Maginot
Line, a chain of fortresses along the
frontier with Germany, to halt any
attack. But the fortification did not
extend along the Franco-Belgian
border, and the Germans simply
bypassed it at the north end. Within
the space of six weeks, France had
fallen to the German onslaught.The Battle of Britain
Only a hesitation by Hitler, who
may have wanted to rest his troops
and spare them from a possible
counterattack, prevented the
destruction of British forces beforeNAZI INVASION OF POLAND
Operation Dynamo, in June 1940,
focused on the evacuation of Allied
soldiers from the port of Dunkirk,
in France, after they had become
surrounded by German troops.they could be evacuated by sea
from Dunkirk. Thousands of Allied
soldiers were transferred across
the Channel in all kinds of vessels
in Operation Dynamo. Winston
Churchill, the First Lord of the
Admiralty and later Britain’s
wartime prime minister, told the
British parliament, “The Battle of
France is over. I expect the Battle
of Britain is about to begin.”
However, Hitler’s attempts
to invade Britain in Operation
Sea Lion had to be abandoned
after the Luftwaffe failed to win
the battle of the skies. With the
Luftwaffe triumphant in both
Poland and France, the Germans
had hoped that Britain could
be beaten by air power alone.
However, German crews were
exhausted, intelligence was poor,
and Britain’s use of radar enabled
the Royal Air Force (RAF) to track
incoming planes and take off in
time to meet an attack. The Battle
of Britain in the summer of 1940We shall defend our island
whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on beaches,
landing grounds, in fields,
in streets, and on the hills.
We shall never surrender.
Winston ChurchillUS_286-293_Invasion-of-Poland.indd 290 15/02/2016 16:44
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was the first real check on Hitler’s
progress, but Britain alone could not
fight a power that now had control
of almost the entire continent.The world at war
What started as a European war
gradually became a world war. In
June 1940, Italy, emboldened by
German successes, declared war
on Britain and France, fulfilling
the terms of the Axis agreement
made between Hitler and Mussolini
on May 22, 1939. But Italy’s failures
in Greece and North Africa
forced Hitler to send German
armies into these areas, as well
as Yugoslavia.
On September 7, 1940 Germany
began its first major air raid on
London. The Blitz, as the bombing of
the English capital became known,
thrust civilians into the war and put
relentless pressure on industry, ports,
and British morale. With men joining
the army, women were required to
work in factories and on farms.
Food rationing was introduced in
Britain in January 1940, andpeople were urged to grow their
own food. Nazi-occupied Europe
also experienced food shortages,
which weighed most heavily on
the conquered populations.Collaboration or exile
In some locations, the Germans
worked with existing governments
and fully supported puppet
administrations, such as the pro-
Nazi Vidkun Quisling in Norway
and the Vichy regime in southern
France. Led by Marshal Philippe
Pétain, Vichy was officially neutral,
but it collaborated closely with
Germany, fighting the French
resistance, and implementing
anti-Semitic legislation.
Germany had total control in
Poland and eventual control of the
Baltic states. Monarchs and
politicians of more than a dozen
occupied countries escaped to
Britain. Polish ministers set up
headquarters in London, and
Belgium’s government operations
were transferred there. The
Dutch royal family, under QueenTHE MODERN WORLD
Wilhelmina, also sought refuge
in London. When France fell to
Germany, Charles de Gaulle,
who opposed the newly installed
Vichy government, became the
voice of French opposition to the
Nazi occupation.
In 1940 the biggest threat
facing Britain was from German
U-boats. As an island, Britain was
dependent on its merchant ships to
bring in vital supplies but also to
export equipment to its fighting
forces abroad, and German U-boats
were sinking dozens of Allied
ships each month. Merchant ships
traveled in convoy to increase
the chances of supplies getting
through on each journey, but
casualties were high.Fighting the USSR
In June 1941, Britain gained a
new ally when Germany invaded
the USSR in Operation Barbarossa.
Hitler had looked to the Soviet Union
for new territory for the German
people. It would also remove any
future threat from the east but ❯❯Declarations of war against
Germany began right after the
invasion of Poland and carried
on until the end of World War II.
Some nations (such as those
asterisked) switched sides
late in the conflict.Netherlands
Dec. 8, 1941Finland*
April 3, 1945France
Sept. 3, 1939UK
Sept. 3, 1939Italy*
Oct. 13, 1943Canada
Sept. 10, 1939Turkey
Feb. 23, 1945USA
Dec. 8, 1941
Egypt
Feb. 24, 1945
Nicaragua
Dec. 8, 1941China
Dec. 8, 1941Mexico
May 22, 1942Brazil
Aug. 22, 1942
Australia
South Africa Sept. 3, 1939
Sept. 6, 1939US_286-293_Invasion-of-Poland.indd 291 15/02/2016 16:44