On August 31, 1939, despite threats of British and French intervention, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signed an order to attack Poland, and German forces moved to the frontier. That evening, Nazi SS troops wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion of Germany, damaging several minor installations on the German side of the border. They also left behind a handful of dead German prisoners in Polish uniforms to serve as further evidence of ''Polish aggression.'' At dawn the next morning, fifty-eight German army divisions invaded Poland all across the 1,250-mile frontier. In an effort to promote acceptance of the invasion by Britain and France, Hitler ordered his propagandists and diplomats into action, but neither country would allow the German Fuhrer's new violation of Europe's borders to stand. On September 2, Germany was presented with an ultimatum: Withdraw by September 3 or face war with the Western democracies. At 11:15 a.m. on September 3, a few minutes after the expiration of the British ultimatum, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeared on national radio to solemnly announce that Britain was at war with Germany. Australia and New Zealand immediately followed suit. Later that afternoon, the French ultimatum expired, and at 5:00 p.m., France declared war against Germany. The European phase of World War II had begun.