Allied Forces Act 1940 Allied Forces Act 1940 The Allied Forces Act 1940 (3 & 4 Geo. VI c. 51) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in late 1940, after the fall of France. The Act gave legal authority for the recognised sovereign governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland – all countries then under German occupation – to raise, equip and maintain independent armed forces on British soil. A sixth country, France, was provided for by authorising the activity of the Free French forces under General de Gaulle. The forces would be fully independent,
May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis The May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis was a confrontation between Winston Churchill, newly appointed as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Edward Wood, the Viscount Halifax and Foreign Secretary, which took place between 25 and 28 May. Halifax believed that in view of the imminent Fall of France and the encirclement of British forces at Dunkirk, the U.K. should explore the possibility of a negotiated peace settlement with Adolf Hitler, with the still-neutral Italian leader Benito Mussolini brokering the agreement. Churchill outmaneuvered Halifax by calling a meeting of his 25-member Outer Cabinet two days