This permitted the United States to provide war material to Britain, including WWI-era destroyers to combat German submarines. In one glimmer of hope, President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act (March 1941). In Asia, Japan pressed further into China, occupied French Indo-China (Vietnam), and threatened the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Initial British victories in North Africa against the Italians were reversed by the arrival of German forces under Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox." Germany defeated the British in Greece and Yugoslavia surrendered. Britain had thwarted Hitler's invasion plan, but its retaliation was confined to a small Bomber Command force limited to nighttime raids. "The Grand Alliance" 1941įor Britain, 1941 was a desperate scramble. Italy's invasion of Greece (October 1940) was keeping a large number of Italian troops occupied and brought Britain an ally, but victory was nowhere in sight. Britain was losing the battle at sea despite the 50 aging WWI-era destroyers the United States had provided in exchange for land to establish air and naval bases on seven British possessions in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. But, at sea, German submarines had sunk 567 merchant ships carrying 2,771,483 gross tons of vital supplies. In a sense, the Blitz saved the RAF and Britain itself.īritain survived 1940 and war from the skies. This diversion allowed the RAF to rebuild its strength. When Churchill ordered a retaliation raid on Berlin, Hitler responded in kind. German aircraft had earlier bombed London by mistake. On 31 August, Hitler ordered bombers to attack London rather than the airfields. Two days later Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain the Battle of Britain was won. At its height, Churchill asked Air Vice Marshall Park, "What other reserves have we?" Park replied, "There are none." The Battle of Britain peaked on September 15, 1940. From June through the fall, a massive air battle raged in the skies over England as the Luftwaffe bombed air bases and civilian targets. Hitler's armies were looking at Britain as their next target.īefore Hitler could invade Britain itself, he had to knock out the Royal Air Force. The British Empire countries of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and, later, South Africa followed Britain in declaring war, but could provide minimal immediate support. Japan was about to join forces with Germany and the Axis Powers. The United States continued to sit on the sidelines. Italy had declared war on Britain (June 1940). Russia had signed a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, with Germany (1939). Within a month of Churchill becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, most of Europe from Poland to France had fallen to Nazi domination. "How the British People held the fort alone till those who hitherto had been half blind were half ready." all my life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial." It was. When Churchill became Prime Minister, at Britain's most desperate hour, he remarked, "I felt as if. He was.Ĭhurchill's words of encouragement, challenge, and inspiration seemed just right for each occasion. Churchill was sixty-five years old in May 1940, yet his energy exhausted aides half his age.įrom bombed-out London streets ,to far-flung battlefields, to the capitals of Moscow and Washington, he seemed to be everywhere. The world's most enduring image of Winston Churchill is that of Britain's wartime leader - determined scowl, homburg hat, ever-present cigar, the V-for victory sign. "You ask, what is our policy? It is to wage war." "You ask, what is our aim?. Home > Churchill > Biography > WWII - Finest HourĬhurchill's Finest Hour- World War II 1939-1945 "Never Give In!"
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