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The years 1939-1942 saw a string of victories for the WW2 Axis Powers
September 1939 – Germany invaded and occupied Poland.
April/May 1940 – Germany invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway.
10th May 1940 – Hitler launched a Blitzkrieg against Holland and Belgium. Both countries were occupied.
19th May 1940 – British troops were pushed back to the beach at Dunkirk and had to be rescued by British boats.
22nd June 1940 – France was occupied by Germany.
Early 1941 – Germany and Italy attacked and had successes in Yugoslavia, Greece and North Africa.
22nd June 1941 -
WW2 Axis powers had enough successes early in the war to make dramatic gains in the European and Pacific theaters of war, but enough failures to doom themselves to ultimate defeat.
Britain’s policy of appeasement had failed to stop Hitler. Hitler invaded Poland on 1st September 1939 and Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. However, there was little fighting for the first six months of the war and this period is known as ‘the phoney war’.