In the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain raged over the south of England and the Channel. Outnumbered Royal Air Force pilots outflew and outfought the German Luftwaffe to prevent the invasion of Britain. Supported by maintenance crews and newly invented radar, they were "the Few".

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", said Winston Churchill.

Below them in the English Channel, the destroyers and battleships of the Royal Navy formed another line of defence, protected by the RAF.

On the ground, 1 Canadian Corps and the Home Guard ( Dad’s Army), which was armed with pikes and pitchforks, old shotguns and carving knives, stood between the Nazi German Army and London.

For years Churchill had warned of the Nazi German menace, and had been ignored:

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. A dark tyranny spread across Europe.

Dunkirk

British and French armies retreated to Dunkirk in May, 1940. At first there appeared to be no way to bring 220,000 Tommies and their French comrades to safety. In his history of World War II Churchill writes -

. . . By intense effort Fighter Command maintained successive patrols over the scene, and fought the enemy at long odds. Hour after hour they bit into the German fighter and bomber squadrons, taking a heavy toll, scattering them and driving them away. . .Unhappily, the troops on the beaches saw very little of this epic confrontation in the air, often miles away or above the clouds. . .

Meanwhile,

The French in Lille fought on. . .These Frenchmen, under the gallant leadership of General Molinié, for four critical days contained no less than seven German divisions which otherwise could have joined in the assaults on the Dunkirk perimeter. This was a splendid contribution to the escape of their more fortunate comrades and of the British Expeditionary Force. . .

While across the Channel in Britain-

"From the streams and estuaries of Kent and Dover, a strange fleet appeared: trawlers and tugs, scows and fishing sloops, lifeboats and pleasure craft, smacks and coasters; the island ferry Gracie Fields; Tom Sopwith's America Cup challenger Endeavour; even the London fire brigade's fire-float Massey Shaw - all of them manned by civilian volunteers. . .

"They sailed across the Channel to Dunkirk and under the deadly fire of the German Air Force rescued their exhausted, bleeding sons" (William Manchester, Churchill biography).

The German Luftwaffe bombed London.
Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives 306-NT-3163V

Firemen worked tirelessly to control the inferno.
Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives 306-NT-901-19

Leading Britain, Churchill spoke for all when he defiantly said -

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

The German Luftwaffe bombed Manchester, Liverpool, Belfast, Coventry and Glasgow.
St. Paul's, symbol of British spirit, survived.
Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives, 306-NT-3173V

The people of the Dominions came to the help of their brothers and sisters in Britain, and were followed by Americans. Side-by-side, men and women from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and America fought the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan.

They fought in the jungles of the Far East, the icy waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, the deserts of Africa and the waters and islands of the Pacific. As the war went global, the Allies will include Russians, Free French, Poles, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Chinese, and the Nepalese Gurkhas.

In 1943 the Germans destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto as part of their Final Solution to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child. They also murdered Christians, ethnic groups, disabled people and gays. Before they were stopped, the Axis Powers killed more than 50 million civilians.
Photo credit: U.S. National Archives, 238-NT-282

World War II was fought with the help of British women who pitched in at farms and factories, and served in the fire brigades, the WACs (Women's Army Corps), WAAFs (Women's Auxiliary Air Force), ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service - Princess Elizabeth served in the ATS), and the WRENs (Women's Royal Naval Service). No job was too dirty, difficult or dangerous.
Photo Credit: National Maritime Museum

The Allies launched D-Day to liberate Europe and end the war. They battled to restore freedom, and to end the murderous horrors of the fascist regimes.

Three hundred and eighty-two thousand British men and women died in action during World War II. Three hundred thousand were wounded. Sixty-seven thousand British civilians perished. Four hundred and sixteen thousand Americans died in action. Forty thousand and 500 Australians died in battle aong with 45,300 Canadians, 11,900 Kiwis, and 87,000 Indians (Wiki). Many who were not killed or wounded gave five years of their lives to defeating Fascism.

On May 7th 1945 the Germans surrendered. On May 8th, the world celebrated.

Canadians.
Photo Credit: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The war in the Pacific ended on August 14th.

A veteran pays tribute to his Captain, who died during the Normandy Invasion.
Photo: J. Plank

The whole story is too great to be told here.

We salute the gallantry and courage of those who brought us V-E Day and decades of peace and freedom.

Posted by David and Cat at May 08, 2009 09:55 AM | E-mail This | Permalink |