The Second World War began with Adolf Hitler's surprise attack on Poland, a massive German army spearheaded by armoured divisions and backed up by the Lutwyche, the German Air Force reached Warsaw in six days. This was the first dramatic display of the Blitzkrieg or lightning warfare. Joseph Stalin, acting under a secret clause of the Nazi Soviet non-aggression pact, ordered Russian troops into eastern Poland. Poland collapsed and was dismembered and the first of millions of Polish Jews were murdered in November, Soviet forces invaded Finland following a six-month lull. The Third Reich attacked Norway and Denmark, then overran the low countries and France, Germany style of brilliant. Highly mobile mechanised warfare stunned the West. The rescue of 338,000 allied soldiers at Dunkirk was one bright spot in an otherwise disastrous period for the Allies. Days after Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini declared war on the Allies. The Germans marched into Paris, France capitulated, and was divided into two zones. The German occupied north and Vici, the Pro German puppet, stayed in the South. Meanwhile, Stalin annexed the Baltic States and Moldavia. Winston Churchill, self-confident and pugnacious. Pledged that Britain would fight, if necessary, for years, if necessary, alone. The Luftwaffe pummelled England cities but failed to knock out the Royal Air Force. Hitler ordered the invasion of Britain indefinitely postponed. In North Africa, Italy's defeat brought the Third Reich into the field and the elite Africa Corps under General Erwin Rommel began a drive on the Suez Canal in an impressive campaign. The desert fox pushed the British into Egypt.