Transcript Hitler’s Lightning War Ch. 32 sec. 2

Hitler’s Lightning War
HSCE 7.2.3Ch. 32 sec. 1
*1930s---Adolf Hitler forcibly grabbed new territory in Western
Europe…….said he wanted no more…but kept taking
--Czechoslovakia, Rhineland, Austria, & Poland---once
belonged to Germany before WWI----Hitler wanted it back
*Britain & France ALWAYS gave in to Hitler = appeasement—
to give into an aggressor’s demands in order to keep peace
*Hitler signed a nonaggression pact w/ Stalin = both countries
would share Poland & not fight against the other.
*September 1, 1939---Hitler engages in a surprise attack
against Poland
*Blitzkrieg---lightning war---military strategy—hit the enemy w/
everything you have all at once
--Germans easily over take Poland
*September 3, 1939----Britain & France declare war on
Germany
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xRp7wyoIHs&feature=relate
d blitzkrieg
*Soviets move more than 1 million troops into Eastern Poland &
takes it over, the Finland
*British & French built up troops along the Maginot Line=
fortifications along the French-German border….
***1940—Germany attacks Norway & Denmark---both
surrender w/in hours!!!!!
*May 1940---Hitler sweeps thru Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg----wants to take over France!
*Dunkirk---French port city near Belgium
--Allies were pushed back & trapped by Germans—their
backs to the sea.
--make-shift armada sailed to Dunkirk from across the
English Channel
--against Germ. Bombers they rescued 338 K
soldiers
*France Falls---June 1940—Germans take over entire northern
France----southern part was left as a puppet govt. called
Vichy govt.
--Charles de Gaulle---French general---set up a govt.-in-exile
in England---encouraged French to resist the Germans
*The Battle of Britain--- England has a new Prime Minister….
-Winston Churchill---said his nation would never give in!
-”We shall never surrender”
*Hitler wanted to invade England badly!!!!
--knock out the RAF --then land 250K soldiers on the
shores of England
--Summer 1940---German Luftwaffe begin bombing Great
Britain----1st = airfields & factories 2nd = bomb the cities
--RAF fought back, but outnumbered---they had 2 things to
help: Radar & Enigma---a German code-making machine
**Battle of Britain went from Summer of 1940—May 1941--Hitler NEVER took England
**Showed that Hitler was not invincible
*Hitler gives up on Britain for the time being
--focuses on North Africa & the Mediterranean
--AH & Mussolini go into N. Africa
--Brits lose Egypt to Italy, but come back strong
--Germ. Has to bail out Italy
--Hitler sends in the Afrika Korps---led by Erwin Rommel
(Desert Fox)---pushes the Brits back to Libya
*Germany invades the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary,
Yugoslavia, Greece)----easy victories!
*June 1941----Hitler invades the Soviet Union
--surprise attack that pushes 500 miles into USSR
--Soviet army not ready
--Soviets retreat & burn everything in their path
*September = Germans put Leningrad under siege
-November = Leningrad totally cut off
--2.5 million people starving = had to eat cattle, cats, dogs, crows,
and rats…..1 million people died, but still Germany did NOT take
Leningrad!
*December 1941---Germans try to take Moscow…….Russian winter sets
in…..Germans are in summer uniforms…..do not take the city & 500K
Germans die.
*U.S. claims neutrality…but Lend-Lease Act allowed Pres. to send supplies
to any nation vital to U.S……Summer 1941—U.S. ships escorted British
ships….Germans torpedoed the ships = unrestricted submarine warfare.
*U.S. = still neutral…..until Japanese aggression….