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?. Though it was cold, the men were sweating.Home > Churchill > Biography > WWII - Finest HourĬhurchill's Finest Hour- World War II 1939-1945 "Never Give In!" Vomit filled the bottom of the boats, and as water kept rushing in over the gunwales, the green-faced men had to bail this vile stew with their helmets. Most of the Americans were packed into flat-bottomed Higgins boats launched from troop transports 10 miles from the French coastline. Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled began moving through the storm-tossed waters toward the beaches. Their job was to blow up bridges, sabotage railroad lines, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from rushing reinforcements to the invasion beaches. Just after midnight on June 6, Allied airborne troops began dropping behind enemy lines. It was one of the gutsiest decisions of the war. The delay was unnerving for soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when meteorologists forecast a brief window of clearer weather over the channel on June 6, Eisenhower made the decision to go. But on the morning of June 4, foul weather over the English Channel forced Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours. “We couldn’t wait.” Meanwhile, the American and British air forces in England conducted a tremendous bombing campaign that targeted railroad bridges and roadways in northern France to prevent the Germans from bringing in reserves to stop the invasion.Īllied leaders set June 5, 1944, as the invasion’s D-Day. “We were getting ready for one of the biggest adventures of our lives,” an American sergeant said. Trucks, tanks, and tens of thousands of troops poured into England. In the meantime, they prepared ceaselessly for the attack. At the Tehran Conference in August 1943, Allied leaders scheduled Overlord to take place on or about May 1, 1944.
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