In the Second Great War, the Western Front was opened by a British invasion of the Netherlands and Germany concurrent with a French invasion of Alsace and Lorraine, both launched in 1941. The British thrust was halted in front of Hamburg in 1942, and the following year, German forces expelled their British counterparts from Germany and pushed them back across the Netherlands. (In 1941, the British attempted to turn the Germans' northern flank on this front by launching an invasion of hitherto neutral Norway. This move failed, and had the effect of driving Norway into the Central Powers camp.)