SEPTEMBER 1939: POLAND INVADED by Germany. Britain and France, honoring their guaranties of the Polish frontiers, declared war against Germany.
April 1940: Poland and Norway under the Nazi boot. Along the Maginot Line, across the English Channel, the Allied troops readied for the invasion everyone knew must come.
May 1940: Suddenly Hitler’s troops smashed into Holland, Belgium and France—the Nazi offensive on the Western front had begun.
It was soon over. Holland fell in five days. The Allied forces—no match for the modern, battle-tested German army—were cut in half. By May 20th the fighting withdrawal to the sea had begun. Ostend was lost in the north. To the south, Boulogne and Calais fell. The Nazi pincers tightened. Finally there was only Dunkerque, and the last retreat.
Across the Channel, all England waited and listened. This was their army in defeat—these were their brothers, sons, husbands, trapped on the beaches of France...