SCHOOLS PAGE: A short history of World War Two

4 - Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain

Once Poland had been taken, Hitler turned his attention westwards and his army began to invade other counties such as Holland, Belgium, Norway and Denmark. 

Even though aircraft had been used in World War One, by the time World War Two started, planes were much better, bigger, faster, and could carry more bombs.  Hitler sent his bomber planes to attack countries first, with many bombs falling on carefully chosen targets to weaken the military in those countries.  Afterwards, his tanks and soldiers swooped in, travelling miles each day.  This kind of fighting was called "Blitzkrieg" which means "lightning war".

Right: The German Army quickly invaded much of Europe.  It did this by sending in its bomber planes, and then rapidly moving in tanks and men.  This type of fast attacking warfare became known as "Blitzkrieg".  

Dunkirk

Britain sent a lot of its soldiers over to France to help the French army stop the Germans invading that country too, but the German army was too powerful.  The British soldiers were pushed back onto the beach next to the French town of Dunkirk in 1940. 

There were not enough ships left to bring all the British soldiers across the English Channel, so hundreds of brave people with small boats and ships set out from England's ports to rescue them as the Germans closed in.  

Left: Abandoned boats and vehicles on the beach at Dunkirk in France, after the British had fled.

Evacuation

With many countries in Europe having been invaded, people in Britain feared that their country would be next.  They had read about the bombing of European cities and feared that Hitler would send bomber planes to drop bombs onto British towns and cities too.

From 1939, it had been decided that many children who lived in built-up areas and in danger of being killed by enemy bombs should be sent to live in the countryside.  In nearly all cases, children had to go and live with strangers in small towns and villages. These children became known as "evacuees" because they were being evacuated to keep them safe. 

It was a very sad time for children and their parents, who often waved goodbye to each other at railway and bus stations in many of the big cities.  Parents needed to stay at home.  Many fathers had joined the Army and were preparing to fight back against the Germans, whilst mothers had to go to work in the factories and offices where the men had worked before the war.  This was an important time for women, as it proved that they could do many of the jobs men had always thought only they  were capable of doing.

As a result of the shortage of teachers who had gone to fight, and the danger of having so many children in one place where a bomb could fall, some schools had to close for the duration of the war.  Children who had been sent to the country often had to help on local farms to grow food and look after the animals.

Some children felt that having to leave their homes and go to live with total strangers was an adventure, and they enjoyed the experience.  But others were very homesick and a few were very cruelly treated by the people who they stayed with.

A British Spitfire flies past a German Heinkel bomber over southern England.

Next: The Blitz and Pearl Harbor

The Battle of Britain

In the summer of 1940, Britain then had to wait - as the German army prepared to cross the English Channel to invade it too.  The new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made speeches to reassure the British people that everyone would fight to prevent the Germans from doing so.

The first thing the Germans needed to do was to gain control of the skies above Britain.  Britain had its well trained pilots of the Royal Air Force (or RAF) who flew planes such as Spitfires and Hurricanes. If the British planes could take off, they could attack any German invasion ships trying to cross the English Channel - so the German Luftwaffe had to try to bomb them on the ground at British airbases that were dotted around the country.

Britain also had a new secret weapon called "radar", which warned of German planes crossing the sea to make attacks on English airfields and towns. 

During the summer of 1940, children in the southern half of England watched as German and British fighter planes battled in the skies.  Although the Germans had more planes, the British pilots were very well trained and fought hard to defeat them. 

By the end of the summer, the Germans had failed to knock the RAF out of the sky, so Hitler gave up trying and postponed his planned invasion of Britain.

This famous period of history is today known as "The Battle of Britain".