What Did The UK Do During The Second World War?

When Germany rearmed itself to start WW2, UK had sided with all the European nations, as the Nazis went on a campaign to expand its borders. UK was the the only nation to hold out against the Nazis, and they held their ground b/c the USA was providing food and supplies to UK. Nazis tried to stop this by sinking merchant ships bound for the UK from USA. WW2 helped the USA recover from the Great Depression, which had lasted for almost a decade. Orders for food/supplies from Europe created jobs, as American factories started hiring to fill the orders. Hitler was frustrated of not taking UK b/c USA was rearming and resupplying, so he formally declared war on USA the same moment the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. USA was dragged into the war, and had to fight 2 operations; the Japanese and the Nazis. Hitler had timed his declaration at the same moment Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan and Nazis were allies in WW2. UK was behind in developing tanks and sub-machineguns. UK depended on USA to furnish Sherman tanks, which were inferior in design to German tanks. UK copied (stole) submachine gun designs to quickly develop/mass produce the Sterling, which provided rapid fire, & easier (and cheaper) to carry than the Bren light machinegun. UK did furnished fuel-efficient engines that allowed USA fighter planes to escort bombers deep into German lines. Prior to joint venture of Packard (USA) and Merlin (UK), USA fighter planes could not escort bombers to their target b/c of fuel concerns. Mfg of USA fighter plane engines was Packard. Merlin (mfg of Spitfire's engines) came forward and introduced a fuel-efficient engine, which allowed USA fighter planes to fly deeper behind German lines, to escort bombers to their targets, then return to base. It had been speculated that if Hitler had not formally declared war against USA, UK may had eventually fallen to Germany. At the time, most Americans felt the war in Europe was "none of our business." America was stigmatized by the loss of lives suffered in WW1, and people became uncomfortable with the idea of sending Americans overseas. This idea became more entrenched with the Great Depression, as Americans felt we didn't have the $$ to fund a military campaign. When USA entered WW2, the feds funded the war by selling War Bonds, which were I.O.U.s to whomever would buy the bonds. Out of patriotism, Americans bought war bonds, which in turn funded the cost of producing all the supplies, equipment, and materials to simultaneously carry out 2 separate military campaigns. Most significant is UK provided USA and other allies with staging point to launch D-Day Invasion. D-Day marked the beginning of Nazi's demise. Other factors came into play that contributed to success of invasion. History has down-played contribution of French partisan fighters to D-Day. Realizing Normandy was the target, Hitler dispatched all his tanks to push the allies back to the sea. Partisans delayed tanks by destroying key bridges to Normandy. Allies had established beach head by the time Nazi tanks could resume their mission. My source=HistoryChannel

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