Transcript File - Ms. Thresher

World War Two
The Years of Axis Triumph
Nazi Europe, 1939-1940:
Poland and the Fall of France
Blitzkrieg
• Germans discover how to use new technologies
of tanks and planes effectively.
• Means: ‘Lightning war’
• Luftwaffe bomb rear, trains stop the mobilization
of enemy.
• Panzer columns punch through defense & don’t
stop for anything, infantry mops up.
The Invasion Of Poland
• Germany invades Poland Sept 1, 1939 with forces over
1 million.
• USSR invades Poland from east Sept. 17, retakes
territory lost in 1920.
• Both countries execute Polish leaders & elites.
• Nazi goal is to destroy the Polish people.
• Beginning of atrocities –evict farmers, gather Jews to
ghettos, encourage murder
The Fall of France
• May 10, 1940 Germany strikes west.
• France unprepared for Blitzkrieg.
• France falls by June 22, world shocked.
• British evacuate at Dunkirk.
• Northern France occupied, puppet government “Vichy France”
in South.
• Nazis force millions of Europeans into war industry as slaves
The Battle of Britain
July 1940 - May 1941
The Battle of Britain
• Hitler tried to win control of the air before attempting fullscale invasion.
• Begins an air assault in the summer of 1940.
• Incorrect belief held by both sides that bombing cities will
break morale.
•
• Atrocities committed on civilians by Germany and later
by Britain & U.S.
• 43,000 die in “Blitz”, 1 million homes gone.
The Battle of Britain
• RAF fights off bombers with more success.
• Radar new; detects enemy approach.
• Hitler abandons invasion in winter 1940-41.
• Britain gradually gains control of skies and
begins bombing Germany.
• U.S. “great arsenal of democracy” supports with
food, weapons, raw materials, convoys.
Nazi Invasion of Russia:
The Russian Front, 1941-1942
The Russian Front
• Hitler wants conquest of eastern Europe
– slaves for industrial Germany
– Ukraine wheat, Caucasus oil
– most violent, bloody, racist-driven battles here
• Allies warn Stalin of German invasion.
• Stalin preoccupied with own plan of conquest and Soviet
expansion.
• Germany invades with 3 million troops along 2000 mile
front on June 22, 1941.
The Russian Front
• By autumn within 25 miles of Moscow.
• Russians practice ‘scorched-earth’ policy:
– Destroy own agriculture & industry in retreat
• Vastness of USSR works in its favour:
– Shift industrial production to Siberia & Urals
– Soviet economy & government still functioning
• USSR launches counter-offensive in winter.
• Germany unprepared for war in bitter winter.
The Russian Front
• Siege of Leningrad (pop. 3.5 million): 1
million die of starvation, coldness, drought.
• 20 million Soviet troops mobilized.
• In Russia, WWII is called the ‘Great
Patriotic War’.
Dieppe: August 19, 1942
• USSR desperate, begs Allies for 2nd front.
• Americans eager to attack Germany.
• British insist Allies not ready.
• Prepare invasion of French coast, Dieppe.
• Invasion force mostly Canadians.
• Invasion a disaster: 4384 casualties out of 6086.
Dieppe's pebble beach and cliff immediately
following the raid on August 19, 1942. A scout
car has been abandoned.
Stalingrad: Soviet Victory
• Hitler shifts main attack to southern Russia.
• Strategic & symbolic city.
• Germans take most of city, then:
– Soviets attack flanks & surround Germans
– Hitler refuses to allow surrender to Slavs
– Loses entire 6th army, 1st great disaster
• Turning point of European war & perhaps WWII.
• Germans in retreat from this point on.
• Soviets lose more troops at Stalingrad than U.S. does in
entire war.