The Second World War

The rapid defeat of France in 1940 came as a great shock to many people. One of the chief reasons for this defeat was the confidence which the French had placed in the Maginot Line. This was a long series of concrete fortifications running down the eastern border with Germany. Believing that an attack would come in that region, and certain that the Maginot Line would stop it when it came, the French Generals were totally unprepared for what actually happened.

Instead of striking at France across the border protected by the Maginot Line, the Germans attacked through the forested, hilly areas of southern Belgium called the Ardennes. This took them round the end of the Maginot Line and enabled them to punch a hole in the French defences at a very weak point. The French never recovered from this blow. Their Army was split in two, and the Panzers were soon racing towards Calais and the coast of the English Channel.

At the start of the war, the British Expeditionary Force (B. E. F) had been sent across the Channel to assist France and Belgium in the event of a German attack. However when the attack came, the B. E. F soon found itself in trouble. Forced out of Belgium by the German advance, the British troops had to fight a desperate rearguard action in France to avoid being completely wiped out. Most of the troops fell back on Dunkirk and between May 29th and June 4th the bulk of them were evacuated, either by the Royal Navy or by the thousands of little ships which crossed the Channel to help in the rescue operation. It was touch and go, however, and although the Dunkirk evacuation saved men the B. E. F lost all its heavy equipment to the Germans. The battle-hardened soldiers rescued at Dunkirk formed the basis of the British Army which was able to hit back at Hitler in later years.