WW II

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THE FIRST YEAR

The storm which had been brewing over Europe broke on September 1, 1939, when German troops crossed their eastern frontier and invaded Polish soil

 Since 1936, when she sent her troops into the Rhineland, Germany had executed each step of a carefully calculated plan, the ultimate objective of which was the regaining of her position as one of the world's great powers. The occupation of the Rhineland, previously demilitarized by the treaty of Versailles, was the first overt act. Then came the bloodless annexation of Austria in 1935, and the mockery of the Munich Pact which gave the Sudetenland to the Reich in the same year. In the Spring of 1939 she took the rest of Czechoslovakia, an appropriation which resulted in no display of resistance by either France or Great Britain. In August she effected the non-aggression pact with Russia which temporarily removed the threat of a two-front war and completed her preparations for the subjugation of Poland.

GERMAN DEMANDS

The free city of Danzig was to be given to the Reich; Gdynia to remain Polish; the fate of the Polish corridor to be decided within twelve months by a plebiscite under international supervision; only those resident in the region before January 1, 1915, were to be permitted to vote (this would automatically insure a plurality in favor of Germany); until the plebiscite both Germany and Poland were to have free access to certain roads in the Corridor; if the Corridor voted for Poland, Germany was to have a corridor across it to East Prussia; if the region fell to Germany, there was to be an exchange of populations; complaints of the minorities were to be submitted to an international commission. 

RUSSIAN-FINNISH WAR

On November 28, after a brief wrangle during which Russian demands that Finland cede certain territory in the Karelian Isthmus were denied, diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken. The United States government offered to mediate the dispute, but by November 30, Russia's land, air and sea forces had gone into action. For the first two months of the struggle, the Finns put up a magnificent fight. The Mannerheim Line in Karelia proved stronger than the Soviet had anticipated, while in the north Finnish ski troops deployed in a type of guerrilla warfare that kept the Russian army constantly off balance. But, gradually the Russians brought to bear the weight of its vast resources of manpower and armament. The small Finnish air force was gradually eliminated, and Russian bombers were able to pound at will the Mannerheim fortifications. Finland finally gave up and signed a treaty of peace at Moscow on March 12, 1940.

The price she paid was the secession of the Karelian Isthmus, including the eastern island on the Gulf of Finland, the City of Viipuri and the region around Lake Ladoga; parts of the communes of Kuusamo and Salla; the western section of the Rybachi peninsula on the Arctic Sea; a lease to Russia for 30 years of the Hango Peninsula. 

WAR IN THE WEST

Thus far operations in the west had been so limited that American journalists began to write about the "phony" war. With the exception of minor skirmishes, French and German forces remained inactive on opposite sides of the Maginot Line. But on April 9 Germany opened her great assault by simultaneous movements into Denmark and Norway. Denmark's King Christian recognized the futility of his position and immediately ordered his subjects to submit. In Norway, Germany struck at several points. Troop transports accompanied by the main units of the German Navy steamed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. Here they met the British and French fleets in engagements costly to both sides. It has since been estimated that Germany lost one-third of her naval power in the Skagerrak and along the Norwegian Atlantic coastline. But her objective was accomplished when she forced landings at Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen and Narvik.

The surprise nature of the attack and the treachery of Norway's Vidkun Quisling gave the important initial advantages to the German forces. The British did manage to land forces at Aandalsnes, Namsos, Trondheim, and the Narvik area. But by May 8, most of the British forces had been withdrawn, and in June the last of the British left Narvik.

On May 10, Germany struck at France in a pattern which closely followed that of World War I. Skirting the Maginot Line she sent her troops through Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. British forces, already established in France, went into Belgium to fight at the side of King Leopold's troops. On May 14, the Dutch surrendered after their army and civilian population had taken an unmerciful pounding. On May 28, King Leopold capitulated to prevent bloodshed in a hopeless cause. By this time the German mechanized divisions had crossed the French border at Sedan and were making their way towards the Channel ports. They captured Boulogne May 25, Calais May 26, and now had the British bottled in Flanders with Dunkirk presenting the only avenue of escape.

By June 4, the British had accomplished the historic evacuation of Dunkirk. They had succeeded in the impossible of safely ferrying 330,000 out of a possible 400,000 troops to England. In facing alone the German war machine, the French assumed a hopeless task. Paris fell on June 14 and, on June 22, France surrendered and signed the armistice terms at Compiegne. 

 Meanwhile Italy had gained much doubtful fame by declaring war on France and Great Britain on June 10, a date when the defeat of France was assured. During the remaining few days of French resistance, Italian troops deployed along the French border in an ineffectual manner which earned her some minor territorial awards at the armistice.

 "Britain is at war with Germany"
September 3, 1939

 First sirens sound in London
September 3, 1939

WAR COMES TO BRITAIN

Anxious faces lined the pavement in Downing Street on that eventful Sunday as Mr. Chamberlain, in the Cabinet Room of No. 10, began his broadcast. Almost as he finished speaking the wail of air raid sirens all over the country electrified the already tense atmosphere. Londoners, expecting bombs to drop, made their way into the shelters in quiet and orderly groups. It was a false alarm, and soon the sirens sounded the "raiders passed" signal, but no declaration of war could have been more dramatic. 

GERMAN ARTILLERY MOVES UP

To economize their stocks of gasoline the Germans used thousands of horse-drawn vehicles to follow up the advance of their mechanized units during the Polish campaign. Here a German gun team, crossing a river by one of the few intact bridges, seems to be finding the Polish road churned up by their own tanks and armored cars, difficult to negotiate.

B.E.F. LANDS IN FRANCE

The plans for the transportation of men and material to France had been drawn up by the French and British General Staffs long before the war clouds broke, so that when war was declared it only remained to put them into operation. With great speed—and even greater secrecy—men, guns, tanks and all the equipment and supplies necessary to maintain an army in the field, were shipped across the Channel, and it was not until September 12, by which time most of the material had safely arrived, that the British public were let into the secret. The second picture shows troops and guns being disembarked at a French port. Above is seen Viscount Gort, V.C., who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British armies in France, under supreme command of General Maurice Gustave Gamelin. 

GERMAN ADVANCE FROM MAY 10 TO JUNE 1

Germany's brilliant plan of campaign in Northern France and Belgium consisted of a wide sweep through the Low Countries, to draw the Allied armies northwards, followed by a swift thrust against the French right flank near Sedan, and an advance towards the coast to cut the Allied armies in two and encircle their left wing. The French were taken completely by surprise when the Germans on May 14 hurled their armored divisions against the comparatively lightly held defenses near Sedan, and drove a rapidly enlarged bulge into the French lines. After Boulogne had fallen on May 23 the Germans violently attacked the Belgian left flank, and Belgium surrendered on May 28, leaving the British front unsupported. The Allies fell back towards Dunkirk, whence they were evacuated by sea, and Belgium, Holland and all France north of the Somme were thus now in German hands. The arrows indicate the spearheads of the enemy attack; the lines show the positions reached by the German advanced troops on various dates

REARGUARD COVERS THE EMBARKATION

During the evacuation from the sands, thousands of men carried a rearguard action on the outskirts of Dunkirk in order to hold up the advance of the enemy and draw off as far as possible the artillery attacks on the town and the rescue ships. Meanwhile, a small British detachment sent to hold Calais, to reduce German pressure on Dunkirk, held out against enormous odds for several days, thus contributing invaluably to the withdrawal of the main body of the B.E.F. Practically the whole of this gallant force was either killed or taken prisoner. To the last moment, unprotected even by dugouts on the open ground, small groups of men armed only with ordinary service rifles did what they could to reply to the incessant bombing and machine gunning of the Nazi planes. Above, one such defender is seen falling to a shrapnel hit, his rifle still defying the enemy in the skies. In the distance bombs aimed at the rescue ships raise huge columns of water as they fall harmlessly into the sea.

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