World War II Prior to
Britain's declaration of war in September 1939 vast amounts of gold were being shipped across the Atlantic to the
United States via
Montreal, Quebec, Canada to pay for weapons. After France was invaded by Nazi Germany, fear of Britain also suffering the same fate led to most of the country's gold being relocated under a secret operation known as
Operation Fish. In May 1940, under the order of the UK Government; 280 tonnes of the nation's gold was transported from the
Bank of England in London to
Martins Bank in
Liverpool ready to be shipped to
Canada. By the end of the war in 1945, Britain was estimated to have reserves in excess of 1772.94 tonnes, however, with incomplete records; the figure may have been higher. The first series of sales amounting to 125 tonnes took place in the year 2000 across five auctions with each selling 25 tonnes. By the end of 2002, UK gold reserves dropped to 355.25 tonnes while at the same time the value of gold increased dramatically leading to an estimated loss of £2,000,000,000 from the gold sold. ==Gold reserves==