In the summer of 1940, Hitler dominated mainland Europe. The one remaining thorn in his side was Britain. It lay just across the English Channel but eluded his grasp. The newly appointed British prime minister Winston Churchill vowed to "fight them on the beaches". Stalin did not want to challenge Hitler and, although sympathetic, the U.S. public was against entering into the war. Whilst the U.S. Began its first peacetime conscription in its history Britain stood alone