Following the invasion of Poland by Germany on 1 September 1939, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany.
Below: The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, raising his hat to the crowd as he left 10 Downing Street on the day that Britain declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939.
THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, SEPTEMBER 1939© IWM (HU 5538)
'I turned over one poor chap on a rocky, bloody crag on Tanngoucha. He was facing the right way, the last round of a clip in the breech and three dead Germans in front of him. His name was Duff. After all is over - and the remainder of the Empire is understandably irritated with Ireland - I hope these countless Duffs, from both the North and the South, and in all three services, will be remembered.
(Brigadier Nelson Russell, Commander 38 (Irish) Brigade, 1942-44)
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