Transcript Battle of El Alamein

World War II
1939-1945
Appeasement
 Policy begun by Britain and France
 Instituted to prevent war and possibly right the wrongs done
by the Treaty of Versailles
 Included no reaction to rearmament, conscription (1935) reoccupation of the Rhineland (1936), anschluss with Austria
(1938), taking of the Sudetenland (1938), and taking of
Czechoslovakia
 Many believed that Hitler could stop the progress of
Communism and act as a defense against it’s influence
Hitler’s Germany
 Hitler’s Goals
• Lebensraum
• Uniting all Germans
• Abolish the Treaty of Versailles
 Rearmament
• 1933 – begins training of “road crew”
• 1935
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Introduced conscription
Increased spending on arms
Huge rearmament rally.
Naval agreement with Britain allowed German navy of 35% of British navy.
Increased airforce to 8,250 by 1939.
 Steps to War
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Rhineland
Anschluss
Sudetenland
Czechoslovakia
Poland
Europe 1939 -1940
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Nazi-Soviet Pact, August 23, 1939
Hitler invades Poland September 1, 1939
Blitzkrieg
September 3, 1939 Britain, France, Australia, and
New Zealand declare war on Germany
The Phoney War
April 9, 1940 Germany invades Denmark and
Norway
Churchill becomes Prime Minister
May 10, 1940 Germany invades France, Belgium,
Netherlands, and Luxembourg
Germans attack France through the Ardennes
Europe 1940
 May 26, 1940 Allied troops evacuate from
Dunkirk
 June 12, 1940 Italy declares war on France
 June 14, 1940 Germans take Paris
 June 22, 1940 France signs armistice with
Hitler (Petain becomes the new premier of
Vichy France)
 France divided into occupied and un-occupied
territory – Vichy France is un-occupied
territory but under control of Hitler
North Africa and the Mediterranean 1940 - 1943
 Mediterranean
• Important for trade, military, and oil supplies
• British wanted it for trade and to protect the Suez Canal
• Mussolini wanted it “Italian Lake”
• Hitler wanted it to get control of Britain’s oil supplies in Iraq and
Persia (Iran)
• Balkans - Germans and Italians occupy Greece, Yugoslavia
 North Africa
• Italians invade Egypt, Sept. 1940
• British begin offensive against Italians in North Africa, Dec.
1940
• Battle of Tobruk, January 1941 Italians defeated by
O’Connor – also Sidi Barrani, Bardia, Benghazi, and El
Alghelia
• Hitler sends Rommel (“Desert Fox”) and the Afrika Korps
fight back – takes Libya back
• British on the defensive, pushed back to El Alamein
North Africa and the Mediterranean 1940 – 1943 (Con’t)
• Battle of El Alamein
• Montgomery defeats Rommel, pushes him back to Libya
• Beginning in late 1942 Montgomery begins
defeating Rommel, then Patton lands in Morocco
• Operation Torch
• American and British led by Patton land in Morocco and
Algeria
• German troops land in Tunisia to help Rommel
Europe 1941
 Operation Sealion – Invasion of Britain
after the defeat of the RAF
 The Battle of Britain– Luftwaffe v. RAF (JulySept. 1941)
 The Blitz – September 7, 1941 – May 1942
 The Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1944)
• Battle for control of the North Atlantic Ocean
The War becomes a World War
 Attack on Russia, begins Eastern Front –
June 1941
 Attack on America, begins war in the Pacific
- December 7, 1941
Eastern Front 1941-1943
 Operation Barbarossa – June 1941
• Blitzkrieg – very successful against Russia
• Scorched Earth Policy and guerilla units used by Russia
• 3 groups of Germans invade – 1 to Leningrad (North),
1 to Moscow (Center), 1 to the Ukraine (South)
• January 1942 Russians pushing them out from Moscow
• Hitler orders Paulus to take Stalingrad “whatever the cost”
 Battle of Stalingrad – Sept. 1942-January 1943
• Germans surrounded in Stalingrad
• Cut off from supplies by Soviet planes
• Paulus surrenders Jan. 31 +300,000 soldiers
 Battle of Leningrad – Sept. 8, 1941- January 18, 1944
• 670,000 Russians estimated (up to 1.2 million) died from starvation
• Operation Spark ends the seige
War in the Pacific 1941-1942
 Pearl Harbor attacked Dec. 7, 1941
 United Nations declaration signed, January 1, 1942
 Japanese take over Manila (Americans in the
Bataan Peninsula) Nimitz in charge of Pacific
• Then Take KL, Borneo, Mali, Sumatra, Timor, Singapore,
Burma, Java, Corregidor – Battle of Java Sea, Battle of
Coral Sea
 Bataan Death March – 75,000 down to 54,000 (April)
 Doolittle Raid – April
 Battle of Midway – 4 Japanese carriers lost! – Turning
Point for the Allies (enigma machine captured)
 Guadalcanal, another limited victory
War in Europe (with American soldiers) 1942
January – UN Declaration signed
January - Germans meet , decide Final Solution
March - first Jews arrive at Auschwitz
July – Treblinka extermination camp opens
December – a British diplomat informs the House of
Commons of mass executions of Jews by the Nazis
 December - Battle of Barents Sea
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• Between British and Germans
• All 14 British merchant ships reached their destination
• Hitler ends battleship program and concentrates on subs
Turning Points 1943
 Battle of Kursk
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Operation Citadel
“Lucy” spy network helped Russians
Huge tank battle
Abandoned after huge losses and
the defeat of Rommel in Tunisia
• Broke the back of the Germans
 Battle of El Alamein
• The last stand for the Allies
• Allies first cut off Rommel’s supplies
• Forces the retreat of Rommel’s
forces
War in Europe and Africa 1943
 January - Casablanca Conference
• Churchill and Roosevelt
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January - Montgomery takes Tripoli
February - German’s surrender at Stalingrad
February - Soviets take back Kursk
March – Germans retreat from Tunisia
March - Battle of Atlantic at its height
• 27 Merchant ships sunk by U-boats
 April – Warsaw ghetto uprising
 June – Himmler orders elimination of all Jewish
ghettos in Poland
 July – Allies land in Sicily
 July – Mussolini arrested, Italians surrender, Germans
rescue him in Sept.
Europe and Africa 1943
 October – Italy declares war on Germany
 November - Russians recapture Kiev
 November – Cairo Conference
• Roosevelt , Churchill, Chiang-Kai Shek
 November – Tehran Conference
• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
Europe 1944
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January – Allies land at Anzio
January – Battle of Leningrad ends
March – Soviets begin pushing Germans back
June – Allies enter Rome
June 6 – D-Day (Operation Overlord)
• British, Canadian, and U.S. troops (planned by
Eisenhower) – invasion of Fortress Europe
• Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword
• Allies misled Germans – calling up Patton to head up
the invasion with a phantom army opposite Calais
• 1st Airborne troops dropped, capture key bridges
• 2nd followed up with landings at all 5 beaches, Omaha
worst hit of all – 2,000 casualties
Europe 1944
June – 1st German V-1 Rocket used
July – Soviets capture Minsk
July 20 – Assassination attempt on Hitler fails
August – Allies take Paris, Soviets take Bucharest
September - Allies take back most of Belgium, most
of France
 October – Allies take Athens, Erwin Rommel commits
suicide
 October – last use of gas chambers in Auschwitz
 December (- January) – Battle of the Bulge
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• Over 1 million fought – casualties – 100,000 German - 80,000
American – 1400 Brits
• Hitler thought he could take Antwerp and create
disagreements amongst the Allies
• Hitler is unstable, making questionable decisions
 December – Soviets take Budapest
Europe 1945
 January – Soviets take Warsaw, liberate Auschwitz
 February – Yalta Conference
• Stalin, Churchill, FDR
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February – Dresden destroyed
March - Allies take Danzig
April – Buchenwald liberated, FDR dies
April – Soviets reach Berlin, Americans in Nuremberg
April – Mussolini is hanged
April – Americans liberate Dachau
April 30 – Hitler commits suicide
May 7 – Unconditional surrender of German troops
May 8 – V-E Day
May 23 – Himmler commits suicide
Europe and Pacific 1945
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June 5 – Allies divide Germany and Berlin
June 26 – UN Charter is signed
July – Potsdam Conference
July – Atlee becomes Prime Minister
August 6 – Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
August 8 – Soviets declare war on Japan
August 9 – Bomb dropped on Nagasaki
August 14 – Japanese surrender
August 15 – V-J (V-P) Day
October 24 – UN officially begins
November 20 – Nuremberg Trials begin
Main War Conferences
 Casablanca (Jan 14-24, 1943)
• Churchill, Roosevelt
• Plans to invade Sicily and Italy
• Decision to invade France in
1944
• “unconditional surrender”
 Cairo (Nov. 23-26, 1943)
 Bretton Woods (July 1-15, 1944)
• Established the IMF
 Yalta (Feb 4-11, 1945)
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Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
Stalin in a strong position
Division of Germany decided
The beginning of the Cold War?
Gave USSR much of Eastern
Europe
• Churchill, Roosevelt, Chiang KaiShek
 United Nations Conference (April
• Return Manchuria to China, free
25 – June 26, 1945)
Korea –
• Reps from 50 countries
• strip Japan of all overseas
• October 24 is UN Day
territory
 Tehran (Nov. 28 – Dec 1, 1943)
• Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
• Plans for two-front war + postwar
cooperation
• Russia to enter war vs. Japan
 Potsdam (July 17 – Aug 2, 1945)
• Truman, Stalin, Churchill (Atlee)
• Demand Japanese surrender
• Agree on postwar Germany
issues – 4 power Allied Control
Council
• To Japan - Unconditional
surrender or total destruction
Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin at Yalta