Germany War II in Europe. In response to Hitler's actions, two days later, on 3 September, after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. In the spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France forcing the French government to sign an armistice after German troops occupied most of the country. The British repelled German air attacks in the Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union. By 1942, Germany and other Axis powers controlled
Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France The "Reichskommissariat" of Belgium and Northern France was a German civil administration ("Zivilverwaltung") which governed German-occupied Belgium during World War II. The "Reichskommissariat" replaced an earlier military government, the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France, established in the same territory in 1940. On 18 July 1944, the first Gauleiter, Josef Grohé, was named the first "Reichskommissar" of the territory, known as the "Reichskommissariat Belgien und Nordfrankreich" or "Reichskommissariat für die besetzten Gebiete von Belgien und Nordfrankreich". The territory was mostly liberated by the Allies in September 1944, in the aftermath of the Normandy