In 1939 Nazi Germany proposed to shift Poland's eastern borders. Having a British and French guarantee of protection, the Polish government refused. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Immediately upon the outbreak of war, the Army began the despatch of the British Expeditionary Force to France to aid in its defence. At first only regular troops from the pre-war Army made up its numbers. In 1940, however, men of the Territorial Army divisions being mobilised in the UK were sent over. In the end, the BEF had I, II and III Corps under its command, controlling some 14 divisons. The RAF also sent significant forces over to France at the start of hostilities. Some were Army cooperation squadrons to help with matters like reconnsaissance and artillery spotting for the Army. Others were squadrons from Fighter Command flying the Hawker Hurricane. Separately, the Advanced Air Striking Force was sent over by Bomber Command. It comprised squadrons flying the shorter ranged machines in the Command, which did not have the range to reach Germany from the UK. These were mainly the horribly out of date Fairey Battle.
The Royal Navy began to impose a naval blockade on Germany, which was of limited success as Germany was already obtaining most of its critical supplies by land routes. The German Navy also began to attack British shipping with surface warships and U-boats. The Royal Air Force began to conduct small bombing raids. However no major offensive operations were carried out. This period of the war became known as the Phony War.
One notable success during the Phony War was the sinking of the German cruiser Graf Spee by a force under Commodore Henry Harwood in December 1939.
On 10 May the Phony War ended with a sweeping German invasion Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, that bypassed French fortifications along the Maginot Line. After overrunning these countries Germany turned against France, entering the country through the Ardennes on 13 May - the French had made the fatal mistake of leaving this area almost totally undefended, believing its terrain to be impassible for tanks. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, and were cut off from the French heartland. As a result of this, and also the superior German communications, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all prewar Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted six weeks, after which France surrendered. In order to further the humiliation of the French people, Hitler arranged for the surrender document to be signed in the same railway coach where the German surrender had been signed in 1918. The fall of France left Britain and its Empire to stand alone.
During the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, correctly believing that the country no longer trusted him to conduct the war. He was replaced by Winston Churchill, who had opposed negotiation with Hitler all along.
Fortunately for Britain, much of its army escaped capture from the northern French port of Dunkirk. Although the Royal Navy still had command of the seas, the warships were unable to get close enough to the beaches to pick up troops. At the request of the government, thousands of small boats from the coast of Britain were therefore sailed to Dunkirk by their civilian masters, and ferried the troops from the beaches to the waiting warships, often under air attack or bombardment. In total, 330,000 troops were pulled off the beaches, of which 230,000 were British. However almost all of the army's heavy equipment had been abandoned in France - many soldiers were unable to bring even their rifles back with them.
See Battle of Dunkirk for more detail.
After the fall of France, Hitler offered to discuss peace terms with Britain, but this offer was rejected by Churchill.
The Germans began to make preparations for a possible invasion, codenamed Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe). Air superiority was considered an essential pre-requisite to invasion, and the Luftwaffe began operations intended to destroy the Royal Air Force. This became known as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe sought to destroy the RAF by bombing their ground installations and drawing their fighters into airborne combat. In the Autumn of 1940 the Luftwaffe switched to bombing major British cities, intending to demoralize the British people and destroy British industry. Neither was successful. That bombing campaign is commonly known as The Blitz. Towards the end of 1940 it became clear to German planners that the RAF defences were not being worn down, and plans for the invasion were called off.
The Battle of Britian marked a turning point of the war. It ensured the survival of an independent Britian, without which the course of the war would have been very different. It also represented the first failure of the German war machine. Possibly most importantly world opinion began to undergo a shift. Those in the United States who previously believed that Britian had no chance of victory began to change their minds.
Churchill famously honoured the RAF who fought the battle saying that "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few". The pilots who fought the battle were referred to as "The Few" from then on.
At the start of the war the British and French believed their Navies to be more than a match for the German Navy, even in alliance with the Italian, and expected to have command of the oceans. They immediately began a blockade of German trade, which although mainly successful had little effect on German industry. The German Navy began to attack British shipping with both surface ships and U-boats. The German pocket battleship Graf Spee was sunk in the Battle of the River Plate.
When France fell the position changed drasticly. A combination of the French, German and Italian navies could potentially deny Britian command of the Atlantic and starve her into submission. Unable to discover whether the terms of the French surrender would permit Germany the use of French warships, it was decided that their use must be denied to the enemy. Those that had taken refuge in British ports were simply taken over (many volunteered to join the British). Units of the Royal Navy were dispatched to Mers-el-Kebir in North Africa to demand that the bulk of the French fleet which was there surrender to the British or face destruction. After hours of negotiation the French ships declined to surrender and were attacked. Most were destroyed, but several escaped. The Vichy French government broke off all ties with the British as a result.
See also: Italian military history of World War II
On September 13, 1940, the Italian Tenth Army crossed the border from the Italian colony of Libya into Egypt, where British troops were stationed to protect the Suez Canal. The initial Italian assault carried through to Sidi Barrani, approximately 95km inside the Egyptian border. The Italians then began to entrench themselves. At this time there were only 30,000 British available to defend against 250,000 Italian troops. The Italian decision to halt the advance is generally credited to them being unaware of the British strength, and the activity of Royal Navy forces operating in the Mediterranean to interfere with Italian supply lines. There were Royal Navy seaports at Alexandria, Haifa, and Port Said. Following the halt of the Italian Tenth Army, the British would use the Western Desert Force's Jock columns to harass their lines in Egypt.
On November 11, a very notable strike was made on Taranto with a squadron of Fairey Swordfish. The raid at Taranto left three Italian battleships crippled or destroyed; two British aircraft were shot down. It provided at least some of the inspiration for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Then, on December 8, Operation Compass began. Planned as an extended raid, a force of British Indian and Australian troops succeeded in cutting off the Italian troops. Pressing their advantage home, General O'Connor pressed the attack forward and succeeded in reaching El Agheila; an advance of 500 miles. The Italian army was virtually destroyed, and it seemed that the Italians would be swept out of Libya. However at the crucial moment Churchill ordered that the advance be stopped and troops dispatched to defend Greece. Weeks later the first German troops were arriving in North Africa to reinforce the Italians
The Beginning of WWII
Western Europe, 1940
The Battle of France
Dunkirk
The Battle of Britain
The War at Sea
The North African Desert
Britain Goes on the Offensive
The Air War
Airfields
Elite Forces
Military Structures
Technology
See also