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110-611: 1941 1942 1943 1944 1942 1943 1944 1945 Operation Wilfred was a British naval operation during the Second World War that involved the mining of the channels between Norway and its offshore islands to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters. The Allies assumed that Wilfred would provoke German retaliation in Norway and prepared Plan R4 to occupy Narvik , Stavanger , Bergen and Trondheim . On 8 April 1940,

220-659: A Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron , promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies. In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria , again provoking little response from other European powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on

330-578: A cautious French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort. Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw . The Polish counter-offensive to

440-658: A British infantry brigade, with three ski companies attached, were to land at Narvik and advance along the railway to take over the iron ore fields in Lapland . The French chasseurs and Foreign Legionnaires were to continue east towards Finland but keep away from the Red Army and risk being cut off by a German force when the ice in the Gulf of Bothnia thawed. Operation Stratford , was a plan for five battalions of British infantry to garrison Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim to deny

550-826: A confrontation with the Royal Norwegian Navy ( Sjøforsvaret ). The War Cabinet and the Ministry of Economic Warfare hesitated to support hostilities in Norwegian waters, because of the effect that they could have on British imports from Norway and Sweden. On 29 February, the prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain , decided to wait and see. Despite the uncertainty, the Allied army high commands worked on plans for land operations in Scandinavia. In Operation Avonmouth , three battalions of Chasseurs Alpins and

660-712: A cross-Channel attack. This concern was transmitted via Whitehall to the British chief of staff on the Western Front, General Haig , for whom it merely confirmed the need for an offensive in Flanders , and eventually led to the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres). During World War II, likewise, the Channel ports provided major supply routes which had to be reopened in 1944. Dunkirk

770-594: A decision that British and French troops were to go to Narvik and advance to the frontier with Sweden. The French Admiral Darlan saw the landing plan as a catalyst to bring out the German fleet and sent orders that the French forces which had just been disbanded to be reassembled; the War Office began to gather the forces that had dispersed after the cancellation of Operation Stratford and Operation Avonmouth. On 3 April,

880-524: A pretext to initiate the invasion. The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte . The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of

990-404: A pretext to send them to Norway. On 5 April a large force of warships, escorted by the battlecruiser HMS  Renown and the cruiser HMS  Birmingham , comprising elements of Operation Wilfred and Plan R4 set out from the main British naval base at Scapa Flow for the Norwegian coast. On 7 April, the force split, one to carry on to Narvik, the others to carry out Wilfred to the south. If

1100-673: A pretext to worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig , and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson , Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as

1210-544: A pretext. The deputy permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office , Orme Sargent , wrote ...our desire to assist Finland is only a pretext to justify our occupying Northern Sweden. The original object of a Scandinavia expedition was to prevent Germany from obtaining the Gällivare iron ore, because we believed that by depriving [Germany] of this we should bring her to her knees within a few months. and advocated

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1320-475: A secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland , Finland, Estonia , Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence. The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of

1430-774: A similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest, and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory . In June 1940,

1540-481: A torpedo attack and after receiving return fire and suffering severe damage, she rammed Admiral Hipper , sinking soon afterwards, with the loss 111 men; Roope was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross . Renown , which had diverted to assist Glowworm , fought the Action off Lofoten with the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau 80 nmi (150 km; 92 mi) off the coast. The Germans disengaged from

1650-531: A two-front war, as it had in World War   I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it. In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which served as

1760-534: Is Calais, with frequent sailings to Dover. Other close French channel include Dunkirk and Dieppe. Longer routes are served from Le Havre , Caen , Cherbourg , Roscoff and St Malo . There are services to Ireland ( Rosslare and Cork ). The ports are important commercial facilities, reinforcing connections between the British and European road systems. They are also vulnerable to industrial action such as strikes by port employees or blockades by disgruntled fishermen. Their importance as military facilities

1870-604: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had

1980-689: The British Empire , with fighting in the Balkans , Mediterranean, and Middle East , the aerial Battle of Britain and the Blitz , and naval Battle of the Atlantic . Through a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany took control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis alliance with Italy , Japan , and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of

2090-581: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic , was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into

2200-853: The German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France 's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria , on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor , who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and

2310-576: The Italian mainland , and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy , while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. At the same time, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled

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2420-553: The Japanese Navy and captured key islands . The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories ; the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide ; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 . Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration ,

2530-695: The League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant . The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria . When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to

2640-731: The Nationalist rebels , led by General Francisco Franco . Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops, 6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic . More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades , also fought against

2750-690: The Rome–Berlin Axis . A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , which Italy joined the following year. The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies and new regional warlords . In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan , which had long sought influence in China as

2860-553: The Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers . Nearly all the world's countries —including all the great powers —participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war , blurring the distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and aircraft played major roles , with

2970-590: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later. On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that

3080-598: The Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation ; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe , drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact

3190-709: The Sudetenland , an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement , which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed

3300-707: The Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan . After the 1936 Xi'an Incident , the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with

3410-579: The Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia. Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded

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3520-558: The Treaty of Craiova . The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu , with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee. Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation gradually stalled, and both states began preparations for war. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden , which

3630-749: The United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , in which they had agreed on " spheres of influence " in Eastern Europe. In 1940, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania . After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and

3740-601: The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their equipment. On 10 June, Italy invaded France , declaring war on both France and

3850-451: The aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan . Key events leading up to the war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria , the Spanish Civil War , the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland . World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany , under Adolf Hitler , invaded Poland , prompting

3960-404: The reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War   II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which also restored full diplomatic relations between them. World War I had radically altered

4070-421: The Allies broadcast a statement to the world that justified their action and defined the mined areas. The Norwegian government issued a strong protest and demanded their immediate removal; the German fleet was already advancing up the Norwegian coasts. Later that day, the ore carrier Rio de Janeiro , sailing from Stettin, in northern Germany was sunk in the Skagerrak by the Polish submarine Orzeł . The ship

4180-409: The Allies were attempting to cut off . Denmark capitulated after six hours , and despite Allied support , Norway was conquered within two months. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10   May 1940. On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France . To circumvent

4290-400: The Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union . In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta , a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt . In October, Italy attacked Greece , but the attack

4400-421: The Blitz , but largely ended in May 1941 after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy , using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic . The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27   May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck . In November 1939,

4510-411: The British began to receive reports of an accumulation of shipping and troops in the Baltic German ports of Rostock , Stettin and Swinemunde . It was assumed that it was part of a force being sent to counter an Allied move against Scandinavia (the Germans had some awareness of Allied plans as a result of their own intelligence) and so that day, the British took the decision to proceed with the mining of

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4620-402: The British ships went back to the Northern Patrol . By late March 1940, after the resignation of Daladier and the appointment of Paul Reynaud as prime minister of France, at the Supreme War Council , Chamberlain presented Operation Royal Marine, a scheme to put floating mines into the Rhine to disrupt river traffic downriver in the Rhineland . The French agreed to the plan provided that it

4730-461: The British troops would be able to hold their positions until reinforced. On 3 April, the cruisers Berwick , York , Devonshire and Glasgow with the destroyers HMS  Afridi , Cossack , Gurkha , Mohawk , Sikh and Zulu embarked their troops at Rosyth to be transported to Norway for Plan R4. Additional troops embarked onto transport ships in the Clyde with other troops, held in readiness until evidence of German intentions gave

4840-405: The European Axis declaring war on the US. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast Asia , but its advances in the Pacific were halted in mid-1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway ; Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and

4950-412: The French government's determination to fight. Admiral Gabriel Auphan , the Deputy Chief of the Maritime Staff ( Sous-chef d'état-major des forces maritimes ) wrote later, ...It's a little cynical to say so, but no-one really expected to stop the Soviet army and Save Finland. The idea was to use the pretext of such an operation to lay out hands on the Swedish Iron-ore, and thus deny it to Germany. and

5060-410: The French possessions of Syria and Lebanon , assisted by the Free French . With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia , the two powers signed

5170-470: The German invasion of Norway. Force WV to the north confronted the German landings. The Norwegians were taken by surprise by the German invasion on 9 April, which began with German landings in the Norwegian cities of Stavanger, Oslo, Trondheim, Narvik and Bergen. British and French troops landed at Narvik on 14 April to assist the Norwegians, pushing the Germans out of the town and almost forcing them to surrender. Despite Allied landings between 18 and 23 April,

5280-520: The Germans bridgeheads. In Operation Plymouth three divisions were to stand ready to cross to Trondheim to aid Sweden if the Swedish government requested it. French ships and troops assembled in the French Channel Ports and Brest . Up to 100,000 British and 50,000 French troops with generous air and naval support might participate, the main effort being in Norway, with 10,000 to 15,000 troops advancing into Finland. German counter-landings were expected in southern Norway up to Stavanger. The latest date that

5390-426: The Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6   October . Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland. A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of

5500-423: The Gulf of Bothnia could be expected to remain frozen was 3 April. The French view was that an operation in Scandinavia had many advantages it would divert German troops from the Maginot Line and if iron ore deliveries to Germany were prevented it would have a severe effect on the German war economy. The British would have to carry the naval burden and a few thousand troops of the French Foreign Legion would show

5610-479: The Narvik landing and seize the railway terminus. On 13 March the embarkation began, only to be cancelled that day on the news of the Finnish capitulation to the USSR. Churchill and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , General Sir Edmund Ironside tried to get permission to land at Narvik but were rebuffed, most of the troops for Operation Avonmouth being sent to France and the Chasseurs Alpins sent to their base. The French ships resumed their normal duties and

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5720-450: The Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War   II but generally favoured the Axis . His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front . In July 1937, Japan captured

5830-413: The Norwegian prime minister rejected the request on 4 March, the Swedish prime minister having rejected the request the day before. On 11 March the French told the War Cabinet that Daladier would be forced to resign over the Finland question, unless something was done. The British agreed to dispatch troops to Narvik regardless of whether the Norwegians acquiesced. In Plan R3, Major-General Pierse Macksey ,

5940-458: The Norwegians surrendered on 9 June 1940. Operation Wilfred failed to cut off iron ore shipments to Germany but for the rest of the war British ships and aircraft could enter Norwegian waters and attack German ships at will. HMS  Glowworm (Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Roope ), had become detached from the main force on 6 April to look for a man lost overboard and encountered the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper . Glowworm carried out

6050-407: The Norwegians swept the minefields, the British would lay new ones close by. If the Norwegians challenged the British ships, the latter were to inform them that they were there to protect merchant vessels. The British would then withdraw, leaving the Norwegians to guard the area. As Force WS sailed for Stadtlandet on 7 April, German ships were sighted in the Heligoland Bight on passage to Norway and

6160-426: The Prime Minister, Edouard Daladier , wanted swift action. The Norwegians had been warned in January and could be ignored during a "swift occupation of the main Norwegian ports and landing of an expeditionary force". Having decided to wait, the British on 1 March resolved to try to obtain permission from the Norwegians and the Swedes to allow the transit of a military force to Finland via Narvik, Kiruna and Gällivare but

6270-452: The Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at the end of March 1941, Rommel 's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back Commonwealth forces. In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged

6380-423: The Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to

6490-421: The Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains. Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and the Asia-Pacific , and by 1937 was at war with the Republic of China . In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific , including Pearl Harbor in Hawaii , which resulted in the US and the UK declaring war against Japan, and

6600-418: The Soviet Union and Mongolia . The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron , which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed

6710-575: The Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine , the Baltic states and Byelorussia . However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact. In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued

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6820-402: The US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago , the possibility of further atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria , Japan announced its unconditional surrender on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945 , marking

6930-424: The United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence ; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece . Shortly after the Franco - British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel . Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced

7040-489: The United Kingdom attacked on 3   July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. The air Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours . The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain . The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in

7150-401: The United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14   June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany ; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones , and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime , which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which

7260-473: The United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased . In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases . Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in

7370-434: The Yellow River ; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan , but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war. In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with

7480-412: The auxiliary minelayer HMS  Teviot Bank and four destroyers was to lay mines off Stadtlandet (62°N, 5°E). Force WB, with two destroyers, was to lay a dummy minefield off the Bud headland, south of Kristiansund (62°54'N, 6°55'E) if the Norwegians swept the mines, they were to be replaced by the minelayers. The British anticipated that Operation Wilfred would prompt German retaliation and Plan R4

7590-472: The battle, drawing Renown and her escorts away from the German landings at Narvik. The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, which had taken part in the mining of the Vestfjord, took part in the First Naval Battle of Narvik (10 April). Icarus captured Alster (11 April) and took part in the Second Naval Battle of Narvik (13 April 1940). Second World War Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups World War II or

7700-405: The capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese . In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang , but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding

7810-410: The commander of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division , was made land commander and Admiral Edward Evans the naval commander, with Audet in command of the Corps éxpeditionnaire français en Scandinavie . The British commanders were briefed on 12 March that the weer to land a force at Narvik, assist Finland and deny Russia and Germany the Swedish iron ore fields for as long as they could. The force

7920-403: The conflict well into 1941. In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an " arsenal of democracy " and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it

8030-526: The creation of a " New Roman Empire ". Adolf Hitler , after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of

8140-855: The directive to prepare for an invasion of the Soviet Union. Channel Ports The ports vary in size and their relative importance has fluctuated during recent history. Dover has established a lead in the cross-Channel ferry routes through its geographic position and development of its facilities and hinterland . This business has been sustained despite competition from the Channel Tunnel . Other minor ports in Kent and Sussex have retained some trade but these tend to be single routes, such as Newhaven – Dieppe . Longer routes mainly radiate from Portsmouth but there are lesser ports at Poole and Plymouth , with routes to Normandy , Brittany and Spain. The major French port with cross-Channel connections

8250-757: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference . The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament , as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration. Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War   I , irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of

8360-662: The end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans. Partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , which continued until the end of the war. In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria . Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied

8470-511: The end of the war. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it set the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming

8580-631: The first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia , staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo . China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai , Rehe and Hebei , until

8690-864: The former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident , which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany . From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan , engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou , and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai , but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing

8800-580: The heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee . On 20 February 1940, Churchill ordered the Admiralty urgently to prepare a minelaying plan which "being minor and innocent may be called Wilfred". Churchill thought that a landing in Norway, without Norwegian acquiescence, was a mistake, even if there was no more than a minor exchange of fire with the Norwegian army. Churchill held that laying mines in the Indreled (Inner Leads) in Norwegian waters, could be done without

8910-525: The invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia ) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy ( Regno d'Italia ), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea . The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of

9020-545: The iron ore route separately from Operation Royal Marine, setting a date of 8 April for the Admiralty to implement it. The mining plan became Operation Wilfred and the new landing operation Plan, R4. Force WV, consisting of four destroyer minelayers and four escorting destroyers was to lay mines off just south of the Lofoten Islands in Vestfjorden (67°24'N, 14°36'E) in the channel leading to Narvik . Force WS,

9130-682: The latter enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths , more than half being civilians. Millions died in genocides , including the Holocaust of European Jews, as well as from massacres, starvation, and disease. Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany , Austria , Japan , and Korea were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders . The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in

9240-475: The mine laying was cancelled. Early the next day, 8 April, the day scheduled for Wilfred, the British government informed the Norwegian authorities of its intention to mine Norwegian territorial waters. Soon afterwards, Force WB simulated mine laying off the Bud headland by using oil drums and patrolled the area to "warn" shipping of the danger. Force WV laid the minefield in the mouth of Vestfjord. At 05:15 that morning,

9350-425: The morning of 8 April, to depart later in the day, in six destroyers, escorted by the cruisers HMS  Penelope and Aurora ; Admiral Evans and Major-General Mackesy on Aurora. Although waiting on the Germans conceded the initiative, sixteen submarines were sent to patrol the likely German approach routes to give warning. An infantry battalion bound for Trondheim was due to follow on 9 April. Plan R4 expected that

9460-502: The operation was partly carried out but was overtaken by events, when the Germans began Operation Weserübung on 9 April, the invasion of Norway and Denmark , which began the Norwegian Campaign . The British War cabinet expended considerable energy on plans for land operations in Scandinavia during the winter of 1939–1940. The Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940) between the Soviet Union and Finland could be used as

9570-502: The permanent members of its security council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War . In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion . World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with

9680-589: The political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers —including Austria-Hungary , Germany , Bulgaria , and the Ottoman Empire —and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I , such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of

9790-599: The port of Tobruk . By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact ; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece , commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month. The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at

9900-722: The remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state , the Slovak Republic . Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region , formerly the German Memelland . Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig ,

10010-522: The seizure of the Lapland iron ore fields to prevent a Finnish defeat and German control of Sweden . German iron-ore imports from Sweden were about 20,000,000 long tons (20,000,000 t) in 1938; about 9,000,000 long tons (9,100,000 t) had been denied Germany by the Allied blockade since 1939. In the summer the ore was sent from Luleå in the Gulf of Bothnia but the winter ice closed this route and ore

10120-410: The significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions , while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces . The German Empire was dissolved in

10230-498: The start or prelude to World War II. The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 ( V-J Day ), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia . A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed

10340-593: The strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg . The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles. By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,

10450-585: The two wars became World War II in 1941. Other proposed starting dates for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War   II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as

10560-513: The war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian , and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, promising

10670-475: The war. Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland ; the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland ; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia . On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which

10780-512: The west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht . Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw . On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan , the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the supposed pretext that the Polish state had ceased to exist. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to

10890-707: The world order , and soon began a massive rearmament campaign . France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia , which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription. The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed

11000-614: Was invaded by Germany. The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers . The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary , Slovakia , and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to

11110-468: Was a scheme to forestall German landings by occupying Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik as soon as the Germans revealed their intentions. Brigadier C. G. Phillips and two battalions of infantry for Bergen and two for Stavanger embarked at Rosyth on 7 April in the cruisers HMS  Berwick , York , Devonshire and Glasgow . Troops for Narvik were assembled on the Clyde to commence embarkation on

11220-594: Was carrying troops, horses and tanks for the German invasion of Norway, part of Operation Weserübung . Around half of the 300 men on board were drowned, survivors telling the crews of the Norwegian fishing boats that picked them up that they were on their way to Bergen to defend it from the British. Operation Wilfred was complete, the southern ships of Force WS and Force WB rejoined the Home Fleet and took part in Operation Rupert , British operations against

11330-401: Was demonstrated during two World Wars. During World War I the British and French Channel ports were major conduits for British materiel and troops. The Belgian ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge were considered a major threat by British Admiral Admiral Jellicoe . He was concerned by their use not only as German U-boat ports, but also as torpedo boat bases and even possible departure points for

11440-593: Was linked to mining operations in the Norwegian Leads. By 1 April a warning would have been sent to the Norwegian and Swedish governments that the Allies would stop the passage of German iron-ore ships. A few days later mines would be laid in the Leads and operations against German shipping would be undertaken as floating mines were to be placed in the Rhine and other German rivers. Churchill and Ironside managed to get

11550-534: Was only to attempt a landing if the Norwegians made only token resistance. Force was not to be used except in self-defence. The plan caused confusion in the War Cabinet because several partly-trained British divisions were to be imposed on Norway and Sweden. Reaching Finland was unlikely and the force might have to re-embark if the Norwegians resisted. During 12 March the War Cabinet decided only to implement

11660-456: Was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign

11770-772: Was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes. To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean. In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensives were successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with

11880-673: Was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year. Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement . In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed

11990-590: Was sent instead by rail to Narvik , for shipment to Germany. At the Admiralty , Winston Churchill , the First Lord of the Admiralty , wanted an offensive policy, particularly after the Altmark incident (16–17 February 1940). British ships had entered Norwegian territorial waters to rescue merchant sailors being held on Altmark and taken to Germany after being taken prisoner when their ships had been sunk by

12100-625: Was the route from which British and Allied troops were evacuated in 1940 ; see Dunkirk evacuation . Dunkirk was left under siege until the general German surrender. In September 1944, the First Canadian Army (Canadian, British, Polish, Czechoslovak and other national units) was to capture the ports from Le Havre to Zeebrugge. Dieppe and Ostende were undefended but major military actions were required for Le Havre ( Operation Astonia ), Boulogne ( Operation Wellhit ) and Calais ( Operation Undergo ). It took several weeks to bring

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