Transcript World War II – The War Begins

World War II – The War
Begins
World War II Begins
I.
Hitler Makes his Move
A. Anschluss – Illegal unification of
Austria and Germany.
1. Hitler claimed the Austrian Germans
wished to be united under his
leadership.
II.
Czechoslovakia
A.
Hitler Announces War is Near
1.
Munich Pact – Agreement between Hitler and leaders of
England and France
a.
b.
c.
Gave Hitler control of German speaking lands of
western Czech called the Sudentenland
Hitler promised that would be the end of his demands
and that peace would remain.
British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain returned to
England as a hero proclaiming that “peace in our time
has been preserved.”
d. Hitler lied…told them what they wanted to hear until he
could prepare his armies for attack.
e. March 1938 – Hitler seized the remainder of Czech and
set his eyes on a division of Poland with the Soviet Union.
Munich Pact Video (1:25)
B.
Hitler’s Plans for
Poland
1. Hitler and Joseph Stalin met and
signed a SECRET
nonagression pact.
2. Pact included plans to divide up
control of Poland and allowing
Russia to expand into eastern
Europe.
3. Poland was completely
dominated within 3 weeks.
C.
Germany Invades Poland – September 1, 1939
1. Germans invades in the west
2. U.S.S.R. invades in the east.
3. England and France declare war on Germany and begin
mobilizing their military for a fight.
Germany Invades Poland (2:49)
Phony War
D. Both sides waited until Spring to make any major
movements towards all out war.
E. “Phony War” – Period of deceptive inactivity between the
Germans and France/England.
F. Nothing was really happening and people had no reason to think
this war was going to be exactly like WWI
Ie..digging in, battling in trench lines etc..
G. Both sides were preparing for a war of unheard of proportion
• By 1940 Germany
had 1558 Bomber
Planes that they
would use on the
Allied Forces.
•
German Junkers Ju 87, Stuka,
dive-bomber that was produced
in 1935. This was a 2 man
ground attack bomber.
• Germany had produced
1290 fighter planes by
1940.
• Messerschmitt Bf109 was
one of the first true fighter
planes of WWII. This
plane was a staple of the
German Luftwaffe that
was never completely
replaced.
E.
Germany unleashed their full armored divisions – Blitzkreig
attacks
1.
April 1940 – Invaded Norway and Denmark (:58)
2.
May 1940 – Invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
(1:43)
3.
Late May 1940 – Germans broke through into northern France and
cut off British and French forces.
4.
England was forced to undertake and massive emergency evacuation
of all British forces from Dunkirk, France as the German Army was
closing in. Operation Dynamo .
III. France Surrenders
A.
Germans Capture Paris June
14, 1940.
1. After the evacuation of
British and French forces at
Dunkirk, there was nothing left
to stop the Nazi’s from seizing
control of Paris.
2.
Once Paris is captured the French government, while in disarray,
surrenders to the Germans.
3.
The Nazi’s set up a puppet government in southern France that
was operated by the Nazi’s.
4.
French General, Charles DeGaulle, set up a government in
exhile in England where they operated throughout the war.
5.
From here until D-Day the only fighting against the Nazi’s in
France was undertaken by an underground French Resistance of
citizens who attacked Nazi troops, supplies, railroads, and any
other targets they could to attempt to weaken the German control
of their home.
IV. Battle of Britain
A.
Luftwaffe – German Air Force
1. Staged daily bombing raids Vs British airfields and cities.
2. The goal was destroy the British morale and will to fight while paving
the way for a ground invasion of German soldiers.
3. Lasted from July to October 1940.
4. Land invasion forces waited on landing barges along the
French coast for the Luftwaffe to win air superiority.
5. The British Royal Air Force, although greatly outnumbered,
drove the Luftwaffe from the daytime skies over England.
6. The British Royal Navy, with growing American support, fought
valiantly to keep the North Atlantic open for trade amidst German
submarine efforts to block the traffic of all goods to the English.
• Battle of Britain (1:39)
• Development of Radar (:58)
7. British tenacity forced Hitler to abandon, at a heavy cost, the
Battle of Britain and turn his focus elsewhere.
V. Battle for N. Africa
A.
General Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox)
1. Sent by Hitler to N. Africa to save the Italians who were being
soundly defeated by the British at nearly every battle.
2. Northern Africa was important to the overall Nazi plan because
victory would give them control of the Suez Canal and access
to the Mediterranean Sea.
B.
Battle of El Alamein
1. Became the decisive “last stand” of both the German and
Allied forces in N. Africa. Both sides knew that a victory here
could very well lead to overall victory.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
General Rommel’s famous desert fighting force, the Afrika Corps
HAD to win control of the Suez Canal.
British General, Bernard “Monty” Montgomery was dispatched by
Churchill to win.
Rommel’s battle plans were compromised allowing Monty full
access to their plans and supply routes which were sabotaged.
Short on supplies, Rommel rushed in to attack.
Rommel’s Panzer tank divisions walked into a trap and many
were destroyed by land mines the British had set up.
300 U.S. Sherman tanks arrived in time to support Monty’s battle.
Germany
110,000 Men
500 Panzer 4 Tanks
Allies
200,000 Men
1000 Tanks
British Sherman Vs German
Panzer 4
• In battle the Sherman did well against the
Panzer 4. The Sherman was faster then
the Panzer 4 and could out maneuver
it. The early versions of the Panzer 4 with
its low velocity gun was cut to pieces by
Sherman in North Africa. By The time of
the Normandy invasion the up gunned
Panzer 4 was a close match to the
Sherman.
8.
9.
10.
11.
The fighting was intense and on more than 1 occasion Rommel
was saved by sandstorms that either hid his tanks or caused the
British to become disorganized
Allies were eventually victorious mainly due to a tremendous
advantage in numbers of men and tanks.
By November 1942, Rommel knew that victory was lost
Hitler ordered a fight to the last man, but Rommel retreated to
save his men.
Casualties: German & Italian – 25,000
Allied – 13,000 (British,
Australian &, New Zealanders)
• Battle of Alamein (1:51)
VI. U.S. Enters the War
A. Pearl Harbor
1. December 7, 1941
2. Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Hawaii
3. Attacked was designed to teach the Americans a lesson for
getting involved in their affairs in the S. Pacific.
4. The goal was to cripple the U.S. Pacific fleet so that they could
not interfere with Japanese expansion.
5. Admiral Yamamoto was in charge of the planning of the attack.
* Was familiar with the U.S. culture and life due to his
education there.
* Was afraid that the Pearl Harbor attack would “awaken a sleeping
giant”.
* Was eventually killed by Harrison HS grad Buddy Hein in a
air attack.
6.
Much of the U.S. Pacific fleet was destroyed or crippled. The U.S.
had no defense of their own west coast.
7.
President Roosevelt had no choice but to ask Congress for a
declaration of war.
Pearl Harbor (4:26)
www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/pearlharborattack1.htm
B. Pacific Losses
1.
2.
3.
4.
U.S. positions in the S. Pacific were easily overrun by advancing
Japanese forces.
U.S. military went through a complete organizational change to
facilitate success in the war.
The U.S. Army had to completely re-tool their military divisions,
command, & weaponry to compete with the advanced military of
the Japanese.
There was great pressure placed on the U.S. industry to provide
the military tools that were ordered.
C. American Industry
1. Had to support all of the Allies if victory
was to be achieved.
2. England needed larger amounts of
ammunition and equipment.
3. Tens of thousands of vehicles and other
equipment must be provided.
4. Eventually the U.S. played a significant
role in mechanizing the Soviet Army.
D. Americans Join the Allied Attack
1. July 4, 1942 – U.S. Air Force joins the
R.A.F. in attacks against German
positions.
E. Priority of the European Theatre
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Winning the war in Europe was the 1st priority
Stalin pressured the Allied leaders to open an invasion in northern
France to take pressure off of his armies in eastern Europe.
England wanted to invade the Axis powers from the southern
portion of Europe ------ N. Africa and Italy…and the Mediterranean
Sea area.
Churchill hoped to pressure the U.S. and France to help support
English victories in N. Africa.
The U.S. favored an invasion of N. France.
The U.S. finally gave in to Churchill and began staging
amphibious landings (:35) in N. Africa by the end of 1942.
U.S. troops would be working..almost as if under British
Command.
F. Dwight D. Eisenhower
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Sent by Roosevelt to lead U.S.
forces in N. Africa.
U.S. forces landed in Morocco
Helped to move to Tunisia to
trap Rommel after the El
Alamein battle
Fighting in Tunisia lasted
through the winter and into April
275,000 German P.O.W.
captured.
U.S. learned tremendous
lessons about their inadequate
training and artillery power.
G. Italian Campaign
1.
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6.
7.
8.
Sicily, a large Italian island, would be the next target of the Allies.
July 9, 1943
Bernard Montgomery led the British forces
George S. Patton led the Allied attack. Patton’s primary jobs were to
secure airfields under German control and provide cover for the British
attacks.
Allied attacks were stalled initially when German armor attacked the
Americans on the beaches.
British also stalled while trying to attack the Sicilian capital of Messina.
Patton organized a series of amphibious attacks to outflank German
positions outside of Messina.
Aug 17th, the Germans abandoned Sicily as the Allies arrived in the
Sicilian capital.
Sicilian Invasion (1:21)
H. Italian Surrender
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Late July 1943
Italian High Command with the support of King Emmanuel held secret
meetings with Allied Command to negotiate a surrender of Italy.
Hitler guessed that he had lost control of the Italian military sent massive
amounts of forces into Northern Italy to reassert control.
Germany disarmed the Italian Army and took control of their defensive
positions.
The Allies fought into the mountains of Italy into October 1943.
The Germans had the advantage of fighting from heavily fortified
mountain positions.
Every Allied attack was driven back by the Germans from the mountains.
In May of 1944 the Germans began to wilt under the pressure of Allied
bomber attacks.
2 days before D-Day, the Allies marched into Rome.