Blitzkrieg

On September 3, 1939, two days after the invasion of Poland, England and France declared war on Germany. World War II had officially begun. This cassette begins with Chamberlain's declaration of war and ends with the fall of France less than ten months later. It includes eyewitness accounts from Poland and the Russo-Finnish War, as well as Franklin Roosevelt's famous speech on American neutrality and accounts and speeches from the period of the "Phony War." The German blitzkrieg ravages Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Chamberlain resigns. In his first address to the House of Commons Prime Minister Winston Churchill says, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." Several participants recall the scene on the beaches and on the ships at Dunkirk. They attest to Churchill's description of it as a "miracle of deliverance." The cassette ends with eyewitness reports of the fall of France, the signing of the armistice at Compiegne and Churchill's speech bracing his people for the coming Battle of Britain.