![]() ![]() With the Ribbentrop Pact signed between the Soviet Union and Germany in late August, Russia followed Germany into Poland in September. In eastern Europe and Scandinavia, however, there was nothing phoney about the war. Gas masks were distributed, and everybody waited for the proper war to begin. Preparations for war continued in earnest, but there were few signs of conflict, and civilians who had been evacuated from London in the first months drifted back into the city. Western Europe was eerily quiet during this 'phoney war'. While the USA proclaimed neutrality, it continued to supply Britain with essential supplies, and the critical Battle of the Atlantic between German U-Boats and British naval convoys commenced. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Three years of mounting international tension - encompassing the Spanish Civil War, the Anschluss (union) of Germany and Austria, Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland and the invasion of Czechoslovakia - culminated in the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. ![]() After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.Truman becomes President of the US on Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill.Russians reach Berlin: Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrenders on 7 May. ![]()
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