June 1940 was one of the most volatile months in world history. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info When this month enters the last day, people find that the whole world is completely different from a month ago.

A month earlier, General Gammerin of France had sworn that the Germans would be battled in the face of his strong lines.

On 5 June, more than 300,000 British expeditionary forces and remnants of French and Belgian troops fled back across the Channel, and the troops previously sent to Norway withdrew from Scandinavia with King Haakon VII. The aircraft carrier "Glorious" was sunk by the battle cruiser "Gneisenau", and more than 1,500 people drowned off the coast of Norway.

On 10 June, the French government moved from Paris to the south, and the commander of the city's defenses, General Herring, declared Paris to be an undefended city. With 12 million French people – fugitive soldiers and terrified civilian refugees – filling every city's roads to the south, Paris turned into a ghost town in a matter of days.

On 14 June, the Germans marched into the heart of the City of Light, where the queues met no resistance as they passed through the almost completely empty streets. Soon the swastika began to fly on the Eiffel Tower, and the luxury hotel where the Johann family lived became the temporary headquarters of the German army.

On 15 June, the Soviet Red Army crossed the border with Lithuania, and the Lithuanian president and his family fled the capital by plane. A few days later, the Soviets occupied Estonia and Latvia in order to implement what Stalin called "preventive joint defense measures."

On 18 June, French Undersecretary of Defense Charles de Gaulle jumped on a Royal Air Force plane and fled to Britain at the last minute to see off the British delegation. That evening, with Churchill's consent, he issued a call to resistance via the BBC, declaring that "the flame of French resistance will not be extinguished." ”

In a stadium lent to him by the British government, de Gaulle formed the organization "Free France". Of the tens of thousands of French troops who retreated from Dunkirk to Britain, nearly 3,000 joined him. Others, having learned of the surrender of France, chose to return to the area controlled by the "Vichy" France.

Petain's government was outraged by de Gaulle's "treason" and sentenced the French brigadier general to death in a later trial in absentia.

On June 21, Italian troops entered French territory. More than a week earlier, Mussolini's son-in-law, Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Chiano, had informed the British and French ambassadors of Italy's decision to enter the war. When asked why he wanted to go to war, he replied: "Mussolini was only carrying out the plan that he and Hitler had already worked out".

On June 22, in a section of the train car in the Compiègne Forest, the government of Pétain of France and Germany formally signed a surrender agreement. Germany would occupy three-fifths of French territory, and the French government would pay a large honorarium for the "hard work" of the Germans. Pétain's government was allowed to keep a small force to maintain order, and all naval warships were to be recalled to France and placed under German or Italian administration.

De Gaulle had called on the governors of the French colonies to continue fighting, but most of them refused to join the ranks of the "traitors". Most of them, like Weygang, thought that "within a week Britain will be like a chicken with Hitler's neck broken." ”

This month is not the only one in Europe that has completely changed.

In Africa, Sudanese, Somalis, and Kenyans are fighting the Italians in Ethiopia as a key test of loyalty to the British Empire. In retaliation for Italy's entry into the war, bomber units from South Africa attacked Italian ground airfields, gasoline depots and arsenals in Libya and East Africa. The nationalists in Egypt, on the other hand, saw Britain's difficulties as a rare opportunity and maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards the war in Europe.

In North America, the Canadians launched a program to train 20,000 aircrews for the Royal Air Force. In Australia, reinforcements from Australia and New Zealand began to leave for Europe.

In Asia, Japan used France's defeat to warn the French Indochina administration that it must immediately stop helping the Chinese government in Chongqing. Japan's foreign minister warned the French governors in Indochina that they would face serious consequences if they did not stop sending war materials across the border to China.

Reports of a Japanese build-up on Hainan Island deepened fears of a Japanese invasion of the British and French colonies in Southeast Asia. French and British ships have been told not to dock in Indochina ports.

In Thailand, local forces, supported by the Japanese, launched several attacks against the British colonists, seizing de facto control of two provinces. In order to avoid direct Japanese entry into the war, the British government announced that it would temporarily close the Burma Highway for three months.

In China, the Battle of Zaoyang, which lasted for more than a month, ended with the Japanese army capturing Yichang, a southwestern gateway city less than 620 kilometers from Chongqing, at the cost of 45,000 casualties. In order to achieve this goal, the Japanese had to transfer the Kwantung Army into the south again to make up for the lack of combat power.

Even in the United States, where people live in a "stable and peaceful" area, people's lives have been completely changed. More and more Americans have begun to sympathize with Britain and France. Especially after the Italian team declared war on France, the isolationist forces of the United States suffered a serious blow.

Musonili's immoral act of stabbing him in the back has aroused widespread resentment among the American public and the media. The New York Times review portrayed Mussolini as a cruel and greedy jackal and stated: "It is not the decision of the Italian people, but the decision of one man, who has brought Italy into the dark night and made it the enemy of everyone who loves democracy".

The Baltimore Sun, for its part, defined Italy's actions as a "long and dangerous gamble" and asserted that "it was inevitable that it would fail." When all the influential American media joined in the chorus of spitting on Mussolini, interventionists such as Roosevelt seized the opportunity and dealt the isolationists a fatal blow.

In a public address to Congress, Roosevelt said: "Some still hold the glaring illusion that America can be an island in a world ruled by violent philosophies...... Such an island would bring the vast majority of Americans a helpless nightmare of being a man without any friends. ”

This time, the popular response was the polar opposite of what he had done in 1937 after his "Plague Isolation" speech. He was greeted no longer by anti-war marches, but by thunderous applause and countless telegrams of support.

For the first time in many years, interventionists have an overwhelming upper hand in the war of public opinion against isolationists. Even such a "legendary hero" as Brinnberg could not effectively justify the shameless actions of the Italians.

The idea of helping countries that have been violently violated and turning the United States into an arsenal of the "free world" is increasingly accepted. Soon, the Americans showed their attitude to the war in Europe with the votes in their hands.

On June 17, Roosevelt was elected presidential candidate by the Democratic convention without showing up. On June 25, Wilkie, who is positive about his involvement in European affairs, miraculously won the Republican presidential nomination.

Stimson, William, and John were all happy about the shift in the winds in American politics. John had heard the news that President Roosevelt was preparing to request another $4.8 billion defense budget from Congress to ensure that the United States could respond to the threat of war from both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

According to this plan, by 1947, the U.S. Army would be expanded to 1.2 million personnel and the Army Air Corps would increase to 15,000 combat aircraft. The number of ships in the Navy will increase from the current 369 to 701, including 20 newly built battleships.

Many of John's Army colleagues were optimistic that once the plan was approved by Congress, he would not be far off from being promoted.