Great Britain was done but not out. In June, 1940, Hitler had conquered all of continental Europe, leaving Britain, under Churchill's adamant leadership, standing alone. At the time, Hitler and Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact, and the U. S. was strictly anti-war except for President Roosevelt, who could do little except send supplies.
Britain still had colonial troops from Australia and India but they were too far away to do much good. The weakened British army itself had barely escaped from Dunkirk and had to leave all its equipment behind. It was a dangerous situation. Britain was vulnerable to invasion across the English channel.
One of the first orders Churchill gave was to destroy the French fleet moored in a North African port for fear it would fall into German hands, which was very likely. The French admiral was warned but procrastinated and the British capital ships destroyed the navy and about 1,000 sailors of a nation that had been its ally a month earlier, leaving many French embittered.
Hitler made what appeared to be genuine peace offers to Churchill in return for a free hand in Europe but Churchill was having none of it, reckoning that Hitler would then turn the British fleet into an arm of the Kriegsmarine. Hitler had plans for invading Britain but shrugged and gave them up when Goering's Luftwaffe was unable to gain air supremacy in the Battle of Britain. Thereafter, Hitler turned to his U-boats to isolate the island nation of Britain from outside help. In 1939, 1940, and 1941, Americans were dead set against involvement in another European war but President Roosevelt was able to send valuable goods like fuel, military supplies, and foodstuffs. He also sent 50 World War I destroyers to Britain, hungry for escorts and he extended the maritime security zone as far as Iceland to protect American shipping. Hitler ordered no attacks on American ships but mistakes were inevitable. Of course, after the Japanes attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war on the United States and Roosevelt's response was applauded by the Allies.
One of the most powerful weapons of the U-boats was a coding machine called Enigma, which was used in communicating with submarines. The machine had so many possible settings that there was only one chance in 150 million that a message could be deciphered. Nevertheless, four Polish mathematicians went to work on it, did much of the heavy lifting, and borough the results to Britain when Germany invaded Poland. Cryptographic geniuses were recruited in an odd way, though not mentioned in the film. Bletchley Park ran an ad in the newspapers with an extremely difficult crossword puzzle and a request that anyone solving it in less than ten minutes should give them a call. The Brits can be demonic in constructing crossword puzzles. Here's a recent one from the London Times. "Name a seed you put in the garage." (Caraway.) Led by Tesla, the Brits built their own decrypting machine for Engima and could then read German messages to U-boats.
Also covered are the formation of commando units and their raids on coastal positions in Norway and France, as well as the insertion of British and French saboteurs and spies by air, The saboteurs and spies had conflicting missions, not mentioned in the film. The former were to set Europe ablaze and attract the attention of the occupying Germans. The latter were ordered to carefully and quietly insinuate themselves into communities and gather data without drawing attention to their activities.
But, whatever, the program clearly deals with far more than the famous Battle of Britain. The title is "Britain at Bay," and that's the subject of this episode.
Britain still had colonial troops from Australia and India but they were too far away to do much good. The weakened British army itself had barely escaped from Dunkirk and had to leave all its equipment behind. It was a dangerous situation. Britain was vulnerable to invasion across the English channel.
One of the first orders Churchill gave was to destroy the French fleet moored in a North African port for fear it would fall into German hands, which was very likely. The French admiral was warned but procrastinated and the British capital ships destroyed the navy and about 1,000 sailors of a nation that had been its ally a month earlier, leaving many French embittered.
Hitler made what appeared to be genuine peace offers to Churchill in return for a free hand in Europe but Churchill was having none of it, reckoning that Hitler would then turn the British fleet into an arm of the Kriegsmarine. Hitler had plans for invading Britain but shrugged and gave them up when Goering's Luftwaffe was unable to gain air supremacy in the Battle of Britain. Thereafter, Hitler turned to his U-boats to isolate the island nation of Britain from outside help. In 1939, 1940, and 1941, Americans were dead set against involvement in another European war but President Roosevelt was able to send valuable goods like fuel, military supplies, and foodstuffs. He also sent 50 World War I destroyers to Britain, hungry for escorts and he extended the maritime security zone as far as Iceland to protect American shipping. Hitler ordered no attacks on American ships but mistakes were inevitable. Of course, after the Japanes attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war on the United States and Roosevelt's response was applauded by the Allies.
One of the most powerful weapons of the U-boats was a coding machine called Enigma, which was used in communicating with submarines. The machine had so many possible settings that there was only one chance in 150 million that a message could be deciphered. Nevertheless, four Polish mathematicians went to work on it, did much of the heavy lifting, and borough the results to Britain when Germany invaded Poland. Cryptographic geniuses were recruited in an odd way, though not mentioned in the film. Bletchley Park ran an ad in the newspapers with an extremely difficult crossword puzzle and a request that anyone solving it in less than ten minutes should give them a call. The Brits can be demonic in constructing crossword puzzles. Here's a recent one from the London Times. "Name a seed you put in the garage." (Caraway.) Led by Tesla, the Brits built their own decrypting machine for Engima and could then read German messages to U-boats.
Also covered are the formation of commando units and their raids on coastal positions in Norway and France, as well as the insertion of British and French saboteurs and spies by air, The saboteurs and spies had conflicting missions, not mentioned in the film. The former were to set Europe ablaze and attract the attention of the occupying Germans. The latter were ordered to carefully and quietly insinuate themselves into communities and gather data without drawing attention to their activities.
But, whatever, the program clearly deals with far more than the famous Battle of Britain. The title is "Britain at Bay," and that's the subject of this episode.
