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Events in Europe gather pace during 1939, with Czechoslovakia being taken and Hitler signing treaties with Italy and Russia to strengthen Germany's position. Everything finally comes to a head over Poland, which Britain and France have guaranteed independence to, and in September war finally breaks out. Despite some small skirmishes with the British, mainly involving naval forces, everything seems to continue as normal for the British people, and people dub the event "the phoney war". Certainly there is a sense of foreboding, but very little indication is evident of the appalling toll of death and destruction that will come over the next few years. Soviet Russia enters the conflict independently with its "Winter War" against Finland, who although grossly outnumbered, defend their homeland with incredible courage and success.
