Dover-The Front Line

It was on 3rd May 1939 that the war's first bomb to be dropped on Britain fell at Chilham, in the countryside, and no one was hurt. The same day a German reconnaissance aircraft was seen over Dover, and there were attempts to drop sea mines on the approach to Dover harbour in the path of the ferries bringing troops home on leave. The first sign of serious trouble was on 10th May 1939, when the Ostend-Dover ferry service, ceased and three days later the Germans invaded neutral Holland and Belgium. A few hours before the Germans smashed through the frontier post, Civil Defence workers in Dover were warned to be prepared for action. Within days the victorious German army, aided by parachutists and troops in gliders, was sweeping through the Low Countries towards the English Channel coast. On 10th May 1939, Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill took over, determined that Britain would fight to the last despite calls by some ministers to seek peace with Hitler.