The defeat of other European countries followed – Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France – alongside the British Expeditionary Force which led to the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940.

British forces played major roles in the production of Ultra signals intelligence, the strategic bombing of Germany, and the Normandy landings of June 1944.

[2][page needed] Nonetheless, "Britain was a very wealthy country, formidable in arms, ruthless in pursuit of its interests and sitting at the heart of a global production system from its empire.

"[3] After becoming Prime Minister in 1940, Winston Churchill engaged industry, scientists and engineers to advise and support the government and the military in the prosecution of the war effort.

[8][9][10] Under the clause of the 1943 Quebec Agreement that specified that nuclear weapons would not be used against another country without mutual consent, the atomic bombing of Japan was recorded as a decision of the Combined Policy Committee.

Separately, Bomber Command sent the Advanced Air Striking Force, composed of squadrons flying the Fairey Battle and other machines that did not have the range to reach Germany from the UK.

[15] Norway loomed large in German strategy because of the great iron ore deposits in northern Sweden and the long seacoast that would preclude a blockade of the sort that hurt Germany in the First World War.

Predicting correctly that the UK would make a preemptive move against neutral Norway to stop the flow of ore from Narvik, Adolf Hitler ordered an invasion to begin on 9 April 1940.

Churchill and the Chiefs-of-Staff originally decided to form a "Second BEF" that would help defend the rest of France but General Alan Brooke managed to persuade them that the remaining forces faced annihilation if they tried to fight on.

From 15 to 25 June 191,870 allied troops (144,171 of them British) and a large amount of their equipment were rescued from eight major sea ports on the southwest coast of France in Operation Aerial.

On 11 November 1940, the Royal Navy crippled or destroyed three Italian battleships in port by using carrier borne aircraft, the obsolescent Fairey Swordfish, in the Battle of Taranto.

[45] After the surrender of the Italian fleet, naval operations in the Mediterranean became relatively mundane, consisting largely of supporting ground troops by bombardment, anti-submarine missions, covert insertions of agents on enemy coast and convoy escort.

One of the main reasons for the quick switch of sides was because the Germans had moved into unoccupied France, ending the Vichy regime, shortly after the North African garrisons had surrendered.

The Germans were pouring men and supplies into Tunisia, and the Allies were trying to get sufficient troops into the country quickly enough to stop them before the need for a full-scale campaign to drive them out occurred.

Oliver Leese, the commander of Eighth Army, made an enormous mistake by sending the heavily mechanised XIII Corps up the Liri Valley towards Rome.

Speculation surrounds this whole episode and many in the Allied command felt that Mark Clark had disobeyed direct orders for his own glory and contributed to the war's extension.

Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in August 1944 was carried out almost entirely by American and Free French troops, though British naval forces took part in bombardment duties and air protection of the beachhead.

Montgomery and Eisenhower had long been debating the merits of a broad front attack strategy versus concentrating power in one area and punching through German lines.

[57] American paratroops were dropped at intermediate points north of Allied lines, with the British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade at the tip of the salient at Arnhem.

In the last great amphibious operation of the war in Europe, British Commandos and Canadian troops captured the island in the late autumn of 1944, clearing the way for Antwerp to be opened and for the easement of the critical logistical problems the Allies were suffering.

[64][page needed][65] The British Commonwealth air and naval units and personnel deployed were primarily from the UK, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.

Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the Chindits in 1944 penetrated deep behind enemy lines in an attempt to gain intelligence, break communications and cause confusion.

[68] On the central front, IV Corps advanced into Burma, before indications that a major Japanese offensive was building caused it to retreat on Kohima and Imphal.

The RAF demonstrated the importance of speed and maneuverability in the Battle of Britain (1940), when its fast Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane fighters easily riddled the clumsy Stukas as they were pulling out of dives.

Another 43 squadrons were formed during the war out of aircrews from occupied European countries, comprising designated Polish, French, Norwegian, Czechoslovakian, Dutch, Greek, Belgian and Yugoslavian units.

However, due to the German defences raids could only generally be flown at night, and the navigational technology of the time simply did not allow even a large city to be accurately located.

It provided a radar map of the ground beneath the aircraft, allowing navigation with more accuracy to cities like Berlin which were at that time beyond the effective range of systems like Gee.

Bomber Command heavily bombed targets in France and helped to paralyse the transport system of the country in time for the launching of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944.

The German night fighter defences were also reducing in strength due to the crippling of Germany's fuel supplies by American bombing of synthetic oil plants.

In February 1945, as Soviet forces closed in on the German city of Dresden, which had been largely spared of heavy bombing raids due to its historic status, they asked for attacks to be made on the extensive transport links around the population centre.