Warinfo
The 2nd World War, in all its briefness.
War by country: Great Britain
The story of why Britain entered the 2nd World War
On the 3rd of September 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, The Great British Empire, on behalf of the Allies declared war on the Third Reich thus pulling her into World War 2. World War 2 had started for the Great Britain, and she would play a pivotal role in the action in Europe and the war as a general.
​
Great Britain would play decisive roles in almost every theatre of the war, Egypt in North Africa, herself in Europe, protecting convoys in the Atlantic, pushes against Italy in East Africa and Malaya and India in the Pacific. 2.9 million men had served in the British army from mainland Britain, India, Africa, Australia and many more parts of the commonwealth.
​
Overall, the number of deaths that had come from Britain were around 384,000 soldiers and around 67,000 civilians mainly due to German bombing raids over British cities.
​
Despite pivotal military action, British code breakers such as Alan Turing, Joan Clarke and Hugh Alexander also helped decipher German Enigma codes used for communications and historians estimate that this code breaking of U-Boat positions and attack plans had reduced the war by 2 whole years.
​
As did the rest of the countries, after the war, Britain had their share of Germany as well.
British key figures. More coming soon !
For more global key figures of the war visit Major Figures.
Alan Turing
Alan Turing, born Alan Mathison Turing on the 23rd of June 1912 in Maida Vale, West London was a British mathematician who helped in the deciphering of the Naval Code, Enigma, during the Second World War. Born on the 23rd of June 1912, Turing became a prodigy in the fields of maths and had a certain love for the subject of Cryptography, the study of code - breaking. Turing studied at the Sherborne School for Boys and later went on to be a prodigy in the department of mathematics at the King's College Cambridge as well as spending some time in the US at Princeton University. When war first broke out, Turing applied for a job at the Bletchley Radio Station in Milton Keynes, also known as Bletchley Park.
