Transcript The War Begins for Europe

The War Begins for Europe
Europe falls, North Africa, Russian Front, and
the Pacific
• 1 September 1939
• Traditional start to the war
• Hitler invades Poland saying he
only wants Danzig
• Does this through Blitzkrieg
All Hell Breaks Loose
Blitzkrieg
• Combined air and ground
assault
• Planes bomb target while
tanks and infantry advance
• Highly mobile way of
fighting
• 3 September 1939 Allies declare war
on Germany
• Poland falls in a
few weeks
• USSR invades on
17 Sept
• SITZKRIEG –
“phony war”, no
fighting
WAR!!
• Everyone mobilizes
but no fighting
The Lights Go Out in
Poland
• Poland divided
btw Germany
and USSR
• USSR takes
advantage, goes
after Finland
• Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia) surrender to USSR 1939
• Finland resists until 1940
• Called the “Winter War”
• Finns use Ski Troops
• Finns surrender to USSR March 1940
• Reason for attack : Protect St. Petersburg
USSR in Scandinavia
• UK mines Norwegian
harbors to stop Germans
• Germany says Allied
invasion coming, forces
Norwegians and Danes to
accept “protection”
• Norway refuses
• Hitler attacks and wins
outlet to Atlantic
The Sitzkrieg ends
New UK Resolve
• Norway and Denmark lost,
Chamberlain attacked
politically
• King George VI asks Winston
Churchill to be Prime Minister
The Domino Effect
• Germany attacks BeNeLux
• Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg
• Paratroops used for first time
• Maginot Line – protects the French
• Gap at Ardennes Forest
Oh France…
• F & B support Belgium
• So, Germans attack France
through Ardennes
• Miracle at Dunkirk
• 338,000 soldiers
evacuated across English
Channel by private
vessels
14 June
1940…France
is lost
• Germany ran the
North
• S. France is puppet
state under General
Marshall Henri Petain
• Called “Vichy
France”
Charles de Gaulle & the Free French
• De Gaulle, French
tank commander,
warned of weakness
of Maginot Line
• Fled to UK &
organized French
Resistance
• Formed new
government
Operation Sea Lion
• Hitler planned occupation
of Britain
• Bombardment of RAF
fields and factories
• Britain wearing down
Morale Raid
A mistake by Hitler?
• British bomb Germany
• Hitler changes his plan,
orders Luftwaffe to bomb
London
• The Battle of Britain
• Attacks on the cities/civilians
of Britain (“The Blitz”)
Hitler’s Change in Tactics
• Failed Battle of
Britain, Hitler moves
to Mediterranean
• Prepping for Soviet
Invasion
Mussolini Invades UK’s
Egypt
• Italy invades Egypt for Suez Canal
• UK pushes Italians back
• Hitler sends Erwin Rommel and
Afrika Korp (tanks) to help
• Begins see-saw battle for N.
Africa
Prepping for the USSR
• Bulgaria, Romania and
Hungary join Nazis
• Yugoslavia & Greece
resist
• Both fall in 2 weeks
• Hitler distrusts Communists
• Operation Barbarossa
• Surprise attack
• Point was to avoid winter
and take Moscow
• Hitler keeps delaying
• Attack in the summer
instead of spring
Going after the Bear
• Stalin appeals to the West
• Russians use SCORCHED
EARTH POLICY destroying anything that is
useful to the enemy while
retreating
• Trade land for time
The Soviet Defense
• Battle of Lenigrad
• Germans lays siege to
starve people to surrender
• Hold out 3 years
• People are starving
• Hitler gets impatient
• Switches sight to Moscow
Leningrad – September 1941
• Early November 1941
• Germans 21 miles from
Moscow
• Winter hits
• Equipment freezes
• German soldiers
wearing summer
uniforms
The Advance Freezes (literally)
• Soviets counter-attack at Moscow under
General Georgi Zhukov
• Encircle the Germans
• Forces the Germans to retreat from
Moscow
Russians Finally
Fight Back
1942 – New Plan for Germany
• Germany switches AGAIN
• Looking for oil from
Caucuses
• Stalingrad is gateway city to
Caucuses
• Goal: Loss of lives and Oil
would defeat USSR
The Soviets Hold Stalingrad
• Stalin uses everything
• Stalin and Hitler demand city held
• German General Paulus begs
Hitler to call retreat – refuses
• 2 Feb 1943 – Germans surrender
• City destroyed, but Hitler denied
Soviet oil
• All German soldiers sent to Siberia
• Turning point of the war against
Hitler