WWII - Britain Stands Alone (Lesson)

Britain Stands Alone. 

Hitler knew that his next step would more than likely result in war and he needed to be prepared. It was important to Hitler to have a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union as he wanted to avoid a two front war, a pact that Hitler and Stalin signed in 1939. On September 1, 1939 the 2nd World War began when the Germans invaded Poland. Upon the invasion of Poland, France and Britain declared war beginning World War II. Poland fell in less than a month with the Soviets marching into Poland from the east. The Russians then invaded Finland , annexed the Baltic States, and forced Romania to cede the province of Bessarabia.

Though war was declared, the Allied forces needed time to pull together their armies and the Germans needed to move their army to the west. The Sitzkrieg (sitting war or phony war) resulted as neither side made a move for six months (with the exception of the Russians.) The Sitzkrieg came to an immediate end as Germany moved in to take Denmark and Norway during the spring of 1940. Neville Chamberlain stepped down as Prime Minister in Britain in the face of serious opposition due to his failed appeasement policies. Winston Churchill became the new Prime Minister and guided Britain throughout the war. In May of 1940, Hitler's army marched through Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium, surprising France as it expected the attack from the east, not the north. As in Poland, the German used the tactic of Blitzkrieg ("lightening war") resulting in the Battle of France beginning on June 5th. Shortly after the battle began, Italy joined the war by attacking France from the south and by June 14th, Paris had fallen to the German army. One of the final battles in France was the Battle of Dunkirk which resulted in massive evacuations of English and French troops to England. These French troops, under the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle, became the Free French Army.

Miracle At Dunkirk The allied forces were forced to the north east corner of France. Hitler agrees to let the German airforce have the victory, and waits to send in planes rather than use his troops. Fog rolls in the morning of the attack, planes can't take off because they have no visibility - radar had not yet been invented. Under the clouds every possible ship that is available comes across the English channel to gather soldiers (cruise ships, cargo ships even small fishing vessels.) Fog finally lifts and the allied soldiers have disappeared. The reality is much more complicated and includes the fact that almost all of the supplies were left behind in order to retrieve as many men as possible. But the "Miracle at Dunkirk" rallies the soldiers and helps create Free France.

On June 20th, Henri Petain signed an armistice with the German government which divided Germany into an occupied state in the north and west with the remainder (Vichy France, named after its new capital) to be ruled by Petain as a collaborative government. Once France had fallen, Europe for all intents and purposes belonged to Germany with only Britain standing alone against the German war machine.

And so the Battle of Britain began, a six month period in which the Germans hit Britain with air strikes on a daily basis. The Royal Air Force (RAF) was pitted against the Luftwaffe, a superior air power. The RAF and its dedicated pilots were given a great deal of credit for saving Britain not only by repelling air strikes, but by helping to prop up the dwindling morale of the people. With the urging of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States did institute the Lend-Lease Program which allowed the British to borrow or lease old war materials (post WWI laws forbade the US to sell to belligerent nations) in exchange for leases on military bases around the world.

Sidenote - Fought entirely in the British skies, the Battle of Britain was won by the Royal Air force, despite being outnumbered three to one. How did they win? 3 reasons: 1. Radar - the British develop it, Germans don't yet have it which means the British pilots can see more in the skies than the Germans. 2. Enigma Code - the Germans used the seemingly unbreakable Enigma code. After taking a German ship, the British gained access to an Enigma Code machine and thus can translate the German battle orders. 3. Morale - The RAF themselves never gave up and the pilots are credited, more than anything else, with saving Britain.

Photograph of London after the Blitz

Aftermath of the "Blitz" in London.

 

 

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