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With the "Phoney war" already four months old, many people in Britain feel that all the fuss was over nothing - engagements are all overseas and Germany has experienced some early blows, such as the loss of the Tirpitz. British and French troops have engaged the Germans in Norway without being bulldozed, and several successful naval engagements have been recorded. Any sense of complacency that sets in, however, is shattered in spring with the commencement of Hitler's invasion of the low countries and France. Suddenly the Third Reich has driven the British Expeditionary Force out of France and barely two weeks later Paris has fallen. Almost overnight, open war is over for most French people, and on the doorstep of the British. German planes appear in the skies over Southern Britain almost every day, and Britain's new fighters and their pilots are put to the ultimate test - fighting in defence of their country and their way of life. Despite their incredible performance, Goering's constant bombing of airfields and radar stations is wearing that defence away - the pilots become more and more exhausted and fewer come back - new pilots are easier for the experienced Germans to shoot down, and things look very black for Britain and Europe as a whole. A pivotal point is reached when a Dornier Do-17 crew, raiding an oil storgae facilities on the Thames, becomes lost. Eager to return home, they release their bombs and head back to Germany, unaware they have bombed the East End of London. The reprisal raid on Berlin enrages Hitler, and he demands that crushing Britain's will to fight will be more effective than Goering's raids on airfields and radar stations. The Blitz of London begins and Britain's fighter stations have the time they need to rest experienced pilots and train new ones. This switch in policy will become one of the most talked about events after the war, as it effectively delayed Operation Sealion indefinitely and forced Hitler to keep open a front he could not afford to have.
