Transcript 32.1 Hitler`s Lightning War

32.1 Hitler’s Lightning
War
Using the sudden, mass attack called the
blitzkrieg, Germany overruns much of
Europe and North Africa
#1 Hitler demanded the Polish corridor to the sea & the port
city of Danzig be returned to Germany.
Germany Sparks a New War in Europe
 Secret Agreement
 #2 Nonaggression
pact—Germans and
Soviets agree not to
fight each other. This
was known as the
“Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact” signed in 1939.
 Agreement includes
secret deal to split
Poland
Ribbentrop and Stalin at
the signing of the Pact
Text of the secret protocol (in German)
Soviet and German
invasions,
annexations, and
spheres of
influence in Central
and eastern Europe
1939-1940
Germany Sparks a New War in Europe
 Germany’s Lightning Attack




#3 September 1, 1939—Hitler launches
invasion of Poland
#4 Britain, France declare war on Germany,
but Poland falls quickly
#5 Blitzkrieg —lightning war—Germany’s
new military strategy
Planes, tanks, infantry used to surprise enemy
and quickly conquer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ha0qKquG2E
Germany’s Lightning Attack
 The Soviets Make Their Move



Soviets capture Lithuania, Latvia, Poland,
resistance met in Finland
Finland is invaded by the Soviet Union in what
is called the “Winter War.” Finland surrenders
in March, 1940
The Finns name the incendiary device the
“Molotov Cocktail” after Soviet foreign minister
Molotov during the Winter War.
Germany’s Lightning Attack
 #6 The Phony War
 French, British
mobilize along French
border, wait for
German attack
 Many months of no
action—the “phony
war”
 In April 1940 Hitler
attacks and quickly
captures Denmark and
Norway
British Ministry of Home
Security poster of a type
that was common during
the Phony War
Denmark quickly surrenders to
the Nazis, and cooperates with
the German occupation.
However, King Christian X
becomes a symbol of Danish
resistance when he stays in
his capital of Copenhagen and
still goes on a daily horseback
ride through the capital. This
picture taken in 1940 is of one
of those rides. He is NOT
accompanied by any armed
guard.
King Haakon of Norway
(brother of Christian X of
Denmark) refused to
surrender to the Nazis,
and was a symbol of
Norwegian resistance.
He escaped to London
and moved the
Norwegian government
in exile there.
German infantry attacking through a
burning Norwegian village.
German Neubaufahrzeug tanks in Oslo.
The Fall of France
 Further Gains


#7 May 1940—Germany
conquers Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg
Soon after, German
army reaches French
coast
The Fall of France
 #8 Rescue at Dunkirk
German forces trap
British, French on
coast of Dunkirk
 British Navy and
civilians take ships
across the English
Channel to rescue
soldiers

British troops evacuating Dunkirk's
beaches. Many stood shoulder deep in
water for hours, waiting to board the
warships.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpreYC2cbRk
Vichy Government
 #9 Puppet government
of Henri Petain in
southern France after the
invasion of Germany
The Fall of France
 France Falls


June 1940—
France surrenders
to Germany
#10 Charles de
Gaulle, French
general, escaped
to London &
organizes French
opposition to
Germany in-exile
The Battle of Britain
 Threat to Britain

Winston
Churchill—
Becomes British
prime minister
and vows no
surrender.
Winston
Churchill
giving his
famous 'V'
sign
#11 Operation Sea Lion
Plan by Hitler to invade Great
Britain
 1st knock out the RAF
 Then land 250,000 soldiers
on England’s shore
 At first, targeted airfields &
aircraft factories –
then began focusing on
cities, especially London
#12 RAF = (Royal Air Force
of Great Britain)
Tower Bridge in London
#13 British Secret Weapons
 Radar – electronic
system to track
airplanes in the sky
 Enigma-German
code making
machine acquired
by the British
The Battle of Britain
#14 Battle of Britain —Air war over Britain that lasted
until May 1941
 Germany plans invasion of Britain; begins with air
attacks in 1940
 British use air force, radar, code-breaking to resist
Germany
 Stunned by British resistance, Hitler calls off attacks
A pair of 264
Squadron Defiants.
(PS-V was shot
down on 28 August
1940 over Kent by
Bf 109s.)
Battle of Britain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbv-x_cQ26I
Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's
Cathedral is in the background. 306-NT-901B-3.
Standing up gloriously out of the flames and smoke of surrounding
buildings, St. Paul's Cathedral is pictured during the great fire raid
of Sunday December 29th." 1940. 306-NT-3173V.
Over 500 firemen and members of the London Auxiliary Fire
Fighting Services, including many women, combined in a war
exercise over the ground covered by Greenwich (London) Fire
Station." Ca. July 1939. 306-NT-901-19.
Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have been made
homeless by the random bombs of the Nazi night raiders, waiting
outside the wreckage of what was their home." September 1940.
306-NT-3163V.
Two bewildered old ladies stand amid the leveled ruins of the
almshouse which was Home; until Jerry dropped his bombs. Total
war knows no bounds. Almshouse bombed Feb. 10, Newbury,
Berks., England." Naccarata, February 11, 1943. 111-SC-178801.
Life in London during
the war. View of a V-1
rocket (flying bomb)
in flight, ca. 1944.
306-NT-3157V.
The British nickname
was a “Doodlebug”
A London
bus is
submerged
in a bomb
crater after
a German
air raid.
The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front
 Axis Forces Attack North Africa



Mussolini and Italy at first neutral
Mussolini declares war on France and Britain
after German victory
September 1940—Mussolini attacks British in
North Africa
On 13 September 1940
Italy launched the Tenth
Army stationed in Libya
in a 200,000 troop
invasion into the British
protectorate of Egypt
and set up defensive
forts at Sidi Barrani. But
Italian Marshal Rodolfo
Graziani, GovernorGeneral of Libya, with
little intelligence on the
state of Allied forces
there, chose not to
continue further towards
Cairo.
Italian L3/33 in North Africa
The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front
 Britain Strikes Back



December 1940—British attack and drive
Italians back
Erwin Rommel, German general, battles
British in North Africa
In 1942, Rommel first retreats then succeeds
against British
Gen. Erwin Rommel with the 15th Panzer Division
between Tobruk and Sidi Omar. Sdf. Zwilling, Libya,
January or November 24, 1941. 242-EAPC-6-M713a.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHmsY1kjrQo
General Bernard L. Montgomery watches his
tanks move up." North Africa, November 1942.
208-PU-138LL-3.
The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front
 The War in the Balkans


Hitler plans to invade Soviet Union; moves to
take Balkan countries
Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece in April
1941; both fall quickly
An animation depicting the Axis invasion of
Yugoslavia from the Why We Fight series of
propaganda films.
The Battle of Greece is generally
regarded as a continuation of the
Greco-Italian War, which began
when Italian troops invaded
Greece on October 28, 1940.
Within weeks the Italians were
driven out of Greece and Greek
forces pushed on to occupy much
of southern Albania. In March
1941, a major Italian counterattack
failed, and Germany was forced to
come to the aid of its ally.
Operation Marita began on April 6,
1941, with German troops
invading Greece through Bulgaria
in an effort to secure its southern
flank. The combined Greek and
British Commonwealth forces
fought back with great tenacity, but
were vastly outnumbered and
outgunned, and finally collapsed.
#15 Operation Barbarossa
 Hitler Invades the Soviet Union




Germany invades an unprepared Soviet Union
in June 1941
Soviet troops burn land as they retreat;
Germans move into Russia
Germans stopped at Leningrad, forced to
undertake long siege
Germans almost capture Moscow, but forced
to pull back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5s2ce6q8iM
Russian soldiers prepare to attack German lines outside Leningrad.
A column of Red Army POWs captured near Minsk is marched west.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWtUkuh_cRw
A group of Soviet POWs, taken to undefined Prison Camp
The United States Aids Its Allies
 American Policy
 Most Americans want to avoid war
 Roosevelt fears that if allies fall, U.S. would have to
fight
 He hopes to strengthen allies so they can resist
Germany
 #16 Neutrality Acts – U.S. laws passed between 1935
& 1937 that stated it was illegal to sell weapons or lend
money to nations at war
 #17 Lend-Lease Act —U.S. passes a law in 1941 that
makes it legal to loan weapons to countries fighting
Germany. By summer of 1941, U.S. ships escorting
British ships with U.S. weapons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiU78oNwIxA
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signs the
Lend-Lease bill to give
aid to Britain and
China (1941)
The United States Aids Its Allies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9tb8wQSjU

#18
Roosevelt
and
Churchill
meet,
secretly
Aug.
1941,issue
statement of
agreement
Atlantic
Charter —
supports
free trade,
right to form
own
government
#19 Undeclared Naval War”
 German U-Boats
fired on a U.S.
destroyer in the
Atlantic.
 Roosevelt ordered
Navy commanders
to respond – “Shoot
any German
submarines on
sight.”