Transcript europe battles

 Invasion of Poland
 The Fall of France
 Stalingrad
 D-Day
 Battle of the Bulge
 Hitler demanded the
Baltic Sea port
(Danzig) which was
under Polish control.
 Poland would not
give Hitler the
territory, so Germany
attacked.

Germany turned to the USSR for support in
invasion of Poland.

The Nazi’s and the Soviets signed the NaziSoviet Pact, agreeing to non-aggression with
each other.

Germany attacked from the west and the
USSR from the east.

The warfare became known as blitzkrieg –
“lightening war” using tanks, artillery &
aircraft.
 This is the first use of Combined Arms warfare.

Poland Fell to German forces on October 5th
1939

The Maginot line was a series of bunkers built in
along the Germany – France border to stop
Germany attacking France ever again.
 Hitler simply
went around
the Maginot
line and
invaded
through the
Netherlands,
Belgium &
Luxembourg

France was caught by surprise - the French & British
forces were trapped in Belgium

At Dunkirk the German forces halted, giving time for
evacuation & saved the men of the armies of France
and England from capture by Nazi forces.

France surrendered in June 1940.

Nazis invade the
Soviet Union in 1941.

They have early
success, as the Soviet
Army was untrained
and short on
weapons.

With confidence in his army, Hitler wanted to cut
off supplies to Stalingrad which would cause a
Soviet surrender.

Joseph Stalin ordered all troops to hold at ALL
COSTS, forcing the German forces to fight to the
death….no surrender.
The Forces Involved:
1,040,000 men:
10,250 artillery
pieces
500 tanks
732 aircraft
2,500,000 men
13,451 artillery
pieces
4,000 tanks
1,115 aircraft
The Red Army would
never lose to Germany
Germany is on the
retreat for now on!
Battle ended February 1943 with massive
losses on both sides
850,000 killed, missing or
wounded
including 107,000 captured (only
6000 survived the captivity and
returned home to 1955)
900 aircraft
1,500 tanks
6,000 artillery pieces
1,150,000 killed, missing or
wounded
650,878 wounded and sick
40,000 civilians dead
4,341 tanks
15,728 artillery pieces
2,769 combat aircraft
President Roosevelt and Churchill planned the
invasion of France which was lead by General
Eisenhower
 The Allies wanted to open the second front to get
rid of the Nazis

Casualties and losses
Estimated between
At least ~12,000 overall
4,000 and 9,000
casualties.
casualties.
Hitler wanted to
make one last
attack in hope of
getting the Allies to
sue for peace.
He wanted to take
Antwerp, the allied
supply port.

One last desperate attempt by Hitler involved
blocking supplies coming through Belgium.

There was no air power due to a snow storm, so
the allies had no idea the Nazis were coming.

Germany caught Americans and British by
surprise, overrunning them at first.

General Patton’s Third Army saved the Americans by
attacking German forces in the flank, surprising the
Germans!.

Germany lost the battle with over 100,000 casualties .

Soviet troops began a massive attack on Nazi Armies,
fighting the Nazis all the way back to Berlin.

The Soviets had the Nazis in the East, and Allied Armies
attacked Nazi forces in the West.
Hitler realized all was lost, and killed himself in Berlin
bunker on April 30th, 1945.
The Surrender of Germany was on May 8th 1945

