Transcript World War II Begins and Battle of Britain

World War II Begins!
World War II Begins
• Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler launches surprise attack on Poland
– Wanted to restore Polish Corridor
– Recall: Non-aggression pact signed Aug. 23rd 1939
• France & England
declare war
• Appeasement ends!
Polish
Corridor
War Strategy: Blitzkrieg
• Blitzkrieg means:
“Lightning War”
• Goal: take the enemy by surprise & defeat them quickly
• 1.5 million German troops used in Poland
• 1st send Airplanes
=> followed by infantry forces
Blitzkrieg:
Phase 1:
Airstrikes
End Result:
• Caught the world off guard
• Tremendous early success
Phase 2:
Ground Troops
USSR Responds
• Stalin seizes eastern half of Poland
• Takes Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
• Finland resisted fiercely
– surrenders in March 1940
The Phony War
• France & Britain mobilize troops along German border
– Called the Maginot Line
– 7 months waiting for German attack
Germany on the Move
• April 9, 1940- Hitler launches surprise invasion of
Denmark & Norway
• May 1940- Hitler sweeps through Belgium, Holland, and
Luxembourg
• June 1940- Mussolini joins Hitler & declares War on
France & Britain
• June 14th, Paris falls to the Germans
– June 22nd, 1940 France surrenders!
– Leader Charles de Gaulle flees to London
France Falls
• France surrenders June 1940
• France is divided
– Germans control north
– Puppet government
formed in southern France (Vichy France)
Henri Petain
Rescue at Dunkirk
• June 1940: England rescues 330,000
soldiers from coast of France
• Send 850 ships to rescue
• Britain is now alone in the war!
Hitler’s Strategy
Battle of Britain
England fights alone!
Battle of Britain
• Critical battle in WW II
– July 1940-May 1941
• Considered 1st turning point of WWII
– Forces Hitler to turn east toward Russia
• Primarily an air battle:
– Strength of air force & technology determined victor
Winston Churchill
Leader of Great Britain
May 1940 – July 1945
PRIMARY SOURCE: Speech from May 1940
Winston Churchill
“We shall never surrender”
Leader of Great Britain
May 1940 – July 1945
Royal Air force (RAF) vs. Luftwaffe
England
2,900 planes
Germany
4,500
LONDON after an air attack by the GERMANS
Civilians became targets in World War II
Technology saves Britain
• Britain had developed Radar technology
– helped track incoming airplanes
• Enigma: a German decoding machine
– English smuggled machine to England
– could read German secret military messages
• Battle of Britain proved Hitler could be stopped!
Battle of Britain
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyY5A
HqiTm4&feature=related
WWII Journal #1
• Argue whether the world could have stopped Hitler after
1933 & before World War II started.
– What would have had to happen? When did it have to occur?
• What flaw do YOU see in Hitler’s military strategy at
the start of World War II?
2 Separate Paragraphs!