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,
Diplomatic history of World War II hands free for an attack in the west, it launched its Blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway, easily pushing the British out. Then it invaded the Low Countries and tricked Britain and France into sending its best combat units deep into the Netherlands, where they became trapped in the Battle of France in May 1940. The Royal Navy rescued over 300,000 British and French soldiers from Dunkirk, but left behind all the equipment. Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June 1940, and the government surrendered in the Armistice of 22 June 1940 with new new leader Marshal Philippe Pétain (1856-1961).