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reading it at alm t the me time as the German general In 1 9 British secret agents had smuggled out of Poland one of Germany's new c e ma­ chines, which the Germans called Eni a and the British Ultr Ultra was highly sophisticated, and Ultra c es would have en alm t im ible to decipher. But with one of the machines in their ion, the British In­ telligence rvice was able to unravel the German c e Throughout the war the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the top comman­ ders of the Allied forces against Germany were able to read German ­ cret me ges and to know where, when and how the Germans were going to attack. Knowledge of Ultra was limited to the highest level Lower of­ ficers, ordinary soldiers and civilians had no more knowledge than did the Germans that the c es had en broken Ultra was the st kept cret of the war. In fact, the Ultra secret was not revealed until 1974.
But knowledge of the German plans did not mean that the British tr ps were out of danger. The British government called u n civilians to supply ats to evacuate the tr ps from the rt of Dunkirk on the Bel­ gian coast British civilians came acro the English Channel manning every kind of at-from regular navy craft to small il a In four day they evacuated 194,620 men. This heroic res n by the British ople ved their army.
On June 5 the Germans launched a ma ive at ck on France. After World War I France had built a series of fortifications called the Maginot Line, which was sup sedly unbreakable. But Hitler's new mechani d army ran around the line as if it weren't there. German tr ps cupied Paris on June 14 and hoisted the Swastika on the Eiffel Tower. On June 10 Italy attacked France, though the country was already ho le ly ten, in order to get a share of the s il On June 21 Hitler met with Marshal Petain, the new premier of France, to sign the surrender treaty. Hitler in­ sisted that the signing take place in the me railway car on the exact s t where Germany had en forced to surrender ter World War l Hitler was determined to en y revenge to the fullest Pe in was allowed to gov­ ern the uth and utheast part of France in return for allying with Ger­
many. Petain went along with this in order to avoid the further shedding of bl Frenchmen who re cted this licy formed the French Resis­ t e Moveme , which carried on guerrilla warfare against the Nazi cu­ pation government and Petain. Similar under ound resis nce movemen were formed in other Nazi cupied countrie
The Axis wers now dominated the continent of Euro , except r a few neutral countrie As at the time of Na leon, Great B tain st