YANKS IN BRITAIN    "I cannot see how the British Empire can defeat Germany without the help of God or Uncle Sam. Perhaps it will take both." The United States military attaché in London, Colonel Raymond E. Lee, recorded this forthright assessment in his diary on June 3, 1941. In their hearts, most Britons knew that it was true.    Britain and Germany had been at war since September 1939, but the fighting did not begin in earnest for Britain until the following spring, when German forces stormed through the Low Countries. France surrendered, the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk's beaches, and Britain faced Germany alone. Many of the British expected the United States to declare war on Germany and come to their aid. But Americans made it very clear that they had no such intention — a fervently isolationist America wanted no part in a foreign war. close this page