In early 1940 the German army had pushed the British Expeditionary Force back to Dunkirk for evacuation, advanced into France and by June 1940 forced the French Government into surrender. Hitler issues plans for ‘Operation Sealion’, the planned invasion of 160,000 German troops in the southeast of England. To succeed the operation requires both naval and air supremacy over the English Channel.
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Separated from the German army only by the English Channel, the New Forest was strategically placed approximatley only 50 miles from the French coast and found itself in the front line of the war and would continue to have an active involvement in the war effort for the next 6 years.
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