Transcript WW2 Battles

Unit 3 WWII – CHC2P
Blitzkrieg and the Battles
Ms. Pannell
Topic 4 Blitzkrieg:
 Blitzkrieg –
Lightening War
 Relentless Nazi
air and ground
attack using
Stuka divebombers, tanks
and mobilized
infantry
 Was quick and
took the enemy
by surprise
Sept 1939, Spring 1940
Sept 1939 - crushed:
 Poland > 1 month
The Phony War (Winter 1940)
when no fighting took place
Spring 1940 - Crushed:
 Denmark - 1 day
 Norway - 2 days
 The Netherlands – 5 days
 Belgium – 18 days
 France – 6 weeks
Spring 1940 - Dunkirk

British and French troops
pushed back to the English
Chanel by advancing German
soldiers – town of Dunkirk

Britain could not afford to have
any naval ships sunk during an
attempted rescue

Fisherman, ferry boats and
pleasure sailors rescued
trapped British soldiers.

350 000 rescued, equipment
left behind
“blood, toil, tears, and
sweat”
Summer 1940
 Britain stood alone in
Europe
 Winston Churchill –
Britain’s new P.M.
“blood, toil, tears, and
sweat”
 Halifax – assembling
convoys (food,
weapons, soldiers)
Eiffel Tower – 1889 centennial
of French Revolution
Battle of Britain
 British air force
(RAF) and navy
controlled the 50km
Channel, separating
Britain from France
1. Germany needed to
control the skies
over the Channel
before its planned
invasion fleet could
sail
Battle of Britain continued
 July 10, 1940
German air force
Luftwaffe set out
to clear the skies
 Targeted radar
stations,
airfields, ports
and factories
 Slowly the first
RAF planes were
wiped out
Battle of Britain
continued
 August – RAF
bombed Berlin
 commander of the
German air force,
Herman Goering
retaliated with the
“blitz” - bombing
cities with the
intention of
terrorizing the
civilian population
into surrendering
London bombed 57 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941,
over 43,000 civilians had been killed by bombing, ½ in London
Battle of Britain continued
 Londoners responded
by moving into air-raid
shelters, subway
stations, reopening
their stores every day
and just “carrying on”
 British resistance grew
stronger, not weaker
Battle of Britain continued

i.
ii.

London raids allowed
few remaining spitfires
and Hurricanes to
regroup:
new pilots were trained
Planes came off
assembly lines at about
500/month
Sept 15, 1940:
Luftwaffe attacked but
the RAF was ready. The
Luftwaffe was decidedly
beaten!
Battle of Britain continued
Battle of Britain won by a
few hundred pilots:
 Canadians
 Poles
 Britons
 South Africans
 New Zealanders
RAF lost 915 planes,
Luftwaffe lost 1,722
planes
WW2, a new direction for Hitler
If Hitler could not
wipe out Britain, he
would turn against
the Soviet Union