Transcript 32.1 Hitler`s Lightning War

Germany Sparks a New War in Europe
 Germany’s Lightning Attack




September 1, 1939—Hitler launches invasion
of Poland
Britain, France declare war on Germany, but
Poland falls quickly
Blitzkrieg—lightning war—Germany’s new
military strategy
Planes, tanks, infantry used to surprise enemy
and quickly conquer
Denmark quickly surrenders to
the Nazis, and cooperates with
the German occupation.
However, King Christian X
becomes a symbol of Danish
resistance when he stays in
his capital of Copenhagen and
still goes on a daily horseback
ride through the capital. This
picture taken in 1940 is of one
of those rides. He is not
accompanied by any armed
guard.
King Haakon of Norway
(brother of Christian X of
Denmark) refused to
surrender to the Nazis,
and was a symbol of
Norwegian resistance.
He escaped to London
and moved the
Norwegian government
in exile there.
German infantry attacking through a
burning Norwegian village.
German Neubaufahrzeug tanks in Oslo.
The Battle of Britain




Germany plans invasion of Britain; begins with air
attacks in 1940
British use air force, radar, code-breaking to resist
Germany
Battle of Britain—Air war over Britain that lasted until
May 1941
Stunned by British resistance, Hitler calls off attacks
A pair of 264
Squadron Defiants.
(PS-V was shot
down on 28 August
1940 over Kent by
Bf 109s.)
Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's
Cathedral is in the background. 306-NT-901B-3.
Standing up gloriously out of the flames and smoke of surrounding
buildings, St. Paul's Cathedral is pictured during the great fire raid
of Sunday December 29th." 1940. 306-NT-3173V.
Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have been made
homeless by the random bombs of the Nazi night raiders, waiting
outside the wreckage of what was their home." September 1940.
306-NT-3163V.
89.Life in London
during the war. View
of a V-1 rocket (flying
bomb) in flight, ca.
1944. 306-NT-3157V.
The British nickname
was a “Doodlebug”
A London
bus is
submerged
in a bomb
crater after
a German
air raid.
Soviet and German
invasions,
annexations, and
spheres of
influence in Central
and eastern Europe
1939-1940
The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front
 The War in the Balkans


Hitler plans to invade Soviet Union; moves to
take Balkan countries
Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece in April
1941; both fall quickly
The Eastern Front
 Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
Germany invades an unprepared Soviet Union
in June 1941
 Soviet troops burn land as they retreat;
Germans move into Russia(Scorched Earth)
 Coldest winter in decades
 Germans stopped at Leningrad(Stalingrad),
forced to undertake long siege(200,000
Germans, 1 million Russian)
Germans almost capture Moscow, but forced
to pull back

Russian soldiers prepare to attack German lines outside Leningrad.
A column of Red Army POWs captured near Minsk is marched west.
A group of Soviet POWs, taken to undefined Prison Camp
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signs the
Lend-Lease bill to give
aid to Britain and
China (1941)
Allies on the Western Front
 Roosevelt and Churchill decided on a
“Europe First” strategy.



Didn’t want to fight an offensive war on two
fronts-Europe and the Pacific- at the same
time
Russia wanted invasion of France so
Germany would shift forces away from them
Britain wanted invasion of N. Africa since they
were already fighting there
N. Africa and Italy
 Allied forces made landing in Morocco and
Algeria, and made their way East
 After several defeats, British forces stopped
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika
Korps(tank-based division) and forced them
out of Egypt
 U.S. forces(U.S. II Corps) helped the
combined Allied armies launch a final
offensive in May 1943

General George S. Patton/General Omar
Bradley
Gen. Erwin Rommel with the 15th Panzer Division
between Tobruk and Sidi Omar. Sdf. Zwilling, Libya,
January or November 24, 1941. 242-EAPC-6-M713a.
N. Africa and Italy
 Using N. Africa as a staging area, the Allies
launched an invasion of Sicily followed by S.
Italy.
 Successful at first, the Germans dug in 60
miles south of Rome
 Mussolini resigned under pressure from his
Fascist Grand Council, and Italy soon
surrendered to the Allies
General Bernard L. Montgomery watches his
tanks move up." North Africa, November 1942.
208-PU-138LL-3.
Western Front
 Precision Bombing: Daytime bombing
favored by the Americans
High altitude missions dropping bombs on oil
refineries, rail yards, factories, and U-boat
bases
Saturation Bombing: Nighttime raids favored
by the British
Rapid release of a large number of bombs
over a wide area
Purpose was to destroy civilian morale and
force a surrender, maybe get some payback!

Western Front
 As the Americans carried out the invasion of
France, Russia was chasing the Germans
back through Poland towards Germany
 Battle of the Bulge



Last German offensive on the western front
8 German armored divisions crashed through
the lines, catching Americans by surprise
Allied air support and quick action by Patton’s
3rd Army forced Germans to withdrawal from
their offensive back to Germany
War in the Pacific Theater
 After Pearl Harbor, the strategy of “Europe
First” put Allied commanders at a
disadvantage in the Pacific
 Philippines


Americans and Filipinos under General
Douglas MacArthur put up a good fight, but
eventually had to withdraw and re-group
Bataan Death March


Japanese sent 70,000 American/Filipino
prisoners on a march up the Bataan Peninsula
More than 7,000 died from exhaustion and routine
executions by the Japanese soldiers
Pacific Theater
 Americans chose a strategy of liberating
Japanese territory far away and then using
them as stepping-stones to move
closer(island hopping)
 Navajo code talkers
Secret code that helped the U.S. transmit vital
information that was never broken by the
Japanese
Americans intercepted a message detailing
plans of a major offensive towards Midway
islands.(US base)

Pacific Theater
 Japanese hoped to destroy the U.S. Pacific
Fleet
 Americans sat in wait for the Japanese
 U.S. obtained a crucial victory that stopped
the Japanese offensive, forcing them to focus
on defense
 Japan never recovered from the loss

All 4 Japanese carriers, a cruiser, so many
experienced pilots, and 300 aircraft
Final Push
 In October 1944 General MacArthur returned
to the Philippines
 U.S. forces retook the Mariana Islands
Gave Allied forces bases from which to launch
long range B-29s on Japan
 Japan moved their best army units to Iwo Jima
and Okinawa, which were key islands
Iwo Jima
- Defenders dug caves, tunnels, and bunkers
- Among the bloodiest battles of the war
- 6,800 U.S. dead, 20,000 Japanese dead

Final Push
 Battle of Okinawa


Army-Marine force of 182,000 men
Japanese commander’s orders to fight to the
death


More than 100,000 Japanese dead
12,000 U.S. dead
Manhattan Project
 Top secret program to develop an atomic
weapon capable of devastating a large area
 Harnessing the power resulting from the
splitting of uranium or plutonium nuclei
 Japan rejected Truman’s call for an
unconditional surrender, was willing to fight to
the last man, woman, and child
 On August 6, 1945, B-29 Enola Gay dropped
an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
 3 days later, U.S. drops another on Nagasaki

250,000 died(directly, radiation, or cancer)
Outcome
 55 million dead(30 million were civilians)
 Soviet Union: 24 million dead
 U.S. 418,000 dead
 Germany: 8 million dead
 Japan: 3 million dead
 China: 20 million