Transcript WAR - Coweta County Schools

WW II
1939-1942
MARCHING TOWARDS WAR
 August
1939
 Hitler's
guarantees the
neutrality of
Belgium,
Netherlands,
Luxembourg,
Denmark and
Swiss

Aug 25, 1939 Britain and Poland
sign a Mutual
Assistance Treaty.
Aug 31, 1939 British fleet
mobilizes; Civilian
evacuations begin
from London.
AUGUST
German
31,1939:
SS troops put on a
false attack on a German
radio station at Gliewitz.
Dressed in Polish uniforms
to convince the world that
Poland is the aggressor
nation and to justify their
coming invasion of Poland.
Invasion—Poland Sept. 1,
1939

The German
naval training
ship 'Schleswig
Holstein' fires
opening shots of
World War II
and shells the
Polish naval
base at
Westerplatte

"Operation
Weiss": German
troops invade
Poland. German
tanks thundered
across the Polish
border at
precisely 0445
hours, supported
by Junkers Ju87
Stuka divebombers.
BLITZKRIEG
 LIGHTNING WAR
 FIRST WAVE
IS LUFTWAFFE
 FOLLOWED BY THE PANZER DIVISION
 FOLLOWED BY THE INFANTRY
 BY THE TIME IT IS ON YOU IT IS OVER
 WAVE UPON WAVE OF DESTRUCTION
Poland Falls
Germany's Blitzkrieg overran Poland from
the west
 17 September it was invaded by the Soviet
Union from the east.
 On 27 September 1939 Warsaw
surrendered and, two days later,
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a
treaty of friendship which partitioned
Poland between them.

HITLER’S NEXT CONQUESTS
NORWAY-APRIL 1940
“PHONY WAR”
 DENMARK-APRIL 1940



KING CHRISTIAN’S
NAVY
NETHERLANDS AND
BELGIUM- MAY 1940

RETREAT AND
REFUGEES
 “Depart
I say,
and let us have
done with
you. In the
name of God,
go!”
 Parliament
to
Chamberlain
 Churchill
installed
May 10, 1940
The
Blitzkrieg
that had
claimed
Poland,
Denmark and
Norway was
heading for
France and
the Low
Countries
MAGINOT LINE-----CREATED AFTER WW1
AS A FORTIFIDE
PROTECTION FROM
GERMAN AGGRESSION
German invasion of France

Slashed into France  French General
by skirting the
Charles de Gaulle’s
Maginot line
4th Armored


Blitzkrieg Tactics
Germans sent tanks
through the
supposedly
impassible
Ardennes. Infantry
held open the
corridor as Panzers
crossed the Meuse
River in France on
May 13.
Division -only Allied
counterattack on
the Meuse
bridgehead
 Too little Too
late.
Fall of France

GENERAL ERWIN
ROMMEL
 7TH PANZER
DIVISION
 INTERGRATED
TANKS, AIR
POWER,
ARTILLERY, AND
MOBILIZED
INFANTRY
 “A
JUGGERNAUGHT
OF SPEED”
 The
Panzers
swept
towards the
Channel
ports, cutting
off Boulogne,
Calais, and
Dunkirk.
Evacuation of Dunkirk
 The
British quickly organized Plan
Dynamo, the evacuation of some
330,000 British and French troops to
England
 1st of many mistakes made by the
German Military
 The
pause allowed irreplaceable men to
escape to England to fight another day
Marshall Petain
A
growing force in the French
government.
 The French defeatist attitude.
 Pétain was willing to make a
separate peace with Germany.
 June 10, at midnight Italy
declared war on England and
France and her armies moved
into Southern France.
June 14, without any reserves
to stream out to meet the
enemy, Paris surrendered
Pétain and Weygand formed a
new government, seeking to
gain an armistice, on June 16.
VICHY FRANCE WAS CREATED
TAKES
GERMANY 6
WEEKS TO
OCCUPY
FRANCE
“The Battle of
France is
over. The
Battle of
Britain is
about to
begin”
Battle of Britain
AIRCRAFT OVER BRITAIN
Submarine
Spitfire
Hawker
Hurricane
JU-87
Stuka
ME-109
HEINKEL
111
Hitler’s Plan
Operation
Sea Lion
 Using
the Luftwaffe draw the RAF out
and devastate their capabilities
 Superior numbers: Luftwaffe=2000--RAF=675 (OVERSHAWDOWED BY OUTPUT OF
BRITISH FACTORIES)
 The
(OKH) planned an invasion of nine
divisions by sea and two divisions by air.
 The chosen invasion site was along the
coast from Dover to Portsmouth.
 Once the forces had secured the
coastline the would push north taking
Gloucester and encircling London
Radar, invented by the British test by
fire: “THEIR GREATEST ADVANTAGE”
GERMAN CHIEF OF STAFF
HALDER
“THE WAR IS WON BY
US. A REVERSAL IN
THE PROSPECTS OF
SUCCESS IS
IMPOSSIBLE.”
Battle of Britain
 The
Luftwaffe
commander,
Reichmarschall
Hermann
Goering—
 Eagle
Attack—
August 11,
1940
 July 1940 to
May 1941

Air Chief Marshall, Sir
Hugh Dowding-leader of RAF Fighter
Command.
 HOMEFIELD
ADVANTAGE
 ENGAGE FROM
GET GO
FIVE PHASES OF “BOB”
THE CHANNEL
BATTLE
 EAGLE DAY
 ATTACK OF
AIRFIELDS
 BATTLE OF
LONDON
 MINOR RAIDS

“A REVOLUTIONARY CONFLICT”
 FIRST
MAJOR AIR CAMPAIGN IN THE
HISTORY OF WARFARE
 KESSERLING AND SPERRLE HAD
THEIR DOUBTS, BUT GEORING SAW
A ROUSING DEFEAT OF ENGLAND
 **IMPROVISED AIRBASES VS.
HOMEFEILD ADVANTAGE**
STALEMATE
IN THE AIR
HITLERS SENSES
VICTORY TO SOON
HITLER’S IMPATEINCE
WILL COST HIM
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
 The
Luftwaffe switched its attack to
massive night bombings of London.
For 57 consecutive nights German
bombers pounded London in its
great blitz, or series of air raids. 
 Still,
the RAF downed more than
2,375 German aircraft during the
Battle of Britain, blocking Hitler’s
invasion.

German Luftwaffe held a 10-1
advantage over the RAF
TARGET LONDON
THE LONDON BLITZ
 NIGHT RAIDS SEPT. 7-15
 BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY—1000
GERMAN BOMBERS WITH 700
ESCORTS HIT LONDON
 ONLY 300 SPITFIRES AND
HURRICANES REMAINED
 “LOSSES NO AIR CORPS COULD
SUSTAIN”

American
7
Eagle Squadron
men recognized
Polish
Irish
Pilots 201 kills
Pilots
 Brendan
"Paddy" Finucane, an air ace
who went on to down a total of 32
enemy aircraft
Witold Urbanowicz
 The
Battle of Britain culminated on
September 15, 1940 with two
massive waves of German attacks
that were decisively repulsed by the
RAF
 By the 17th Sealion was postponed
and Russia was in Hitler’s sights

The Battle of Britain marked the first
time that the Nazis were stopped and
that air superiority became clearly
seen as the key to the war
 Most
OUTCOME
RAF lost roughly
1500 aircraft
 Luftwaffe losses
stood at 1,887, of
which 873 were
fighters
 Polish pilots
scored 201 out of
that number

important, the
end of the
Battle of
Britain allowed
the UK to
rebuild its
military forces
and establish
itself as an
Allied
stronghold.
Battle for the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic
was "the only thing that
ever frightened me."
Winston Churchill
U-BOATS
 SURFACE (COMMERCE) RAIDERS
 CONVOYS
 DONITZ
 WOLFPACKS
 LIBERATORS
 RADAR
 SONAR
 ASIDIC
 ULTRA, ENIGMA, TRITON

WOLF PACK TACTICS

German wolf
packs of
submarines were
to be stationed
at right angles to
known Allied
convoy lanes in
the North
Atlantic.

CONVOYS:USING
MULTIPLE SHIPS
AND AIRCRAFT
TO PROTECT
SUPPLIY SHIPS
FROM THE
DONITZ
WOLFPACKS
CONVOY HEADED OUT OF
NOVA SCOTIA BOUND
FOR ENGLAND
Phase 1
September 1939-Fall of France
Karl
Donitz
 The
“WOLFPACKS”
 Submarines
 British Radar
pings
 HMS Athenia
 1st
Battleship
sunk by u30 sub
in war
Gunther Prien: Bulldog of Scapa Flow
The first U-boat captain to spot
the target was to radio
headquarters and then mirror
the convoy until the
remaining U-boats could zero
in. Once assembled, the wolf
pack executed a surface
attack under cover of
darkness
DEADLY WATERS
 Over
the winter of 1940-1941,
German submarines sank roughly
250,000 tonnes of British shipping
per month.
 ASDIC (Allied Submarine
Detection Investigation
Committee), an early type of
sonar
Phase 2
June 1940-Lend Lease
 British
increase escorts and convoys
 Convoys forced U-boats to show
themselves early
 Early
convoys included: 3 D’s, a
Corvette, and roughly 40 freighters and
tankers and 3000 miles of ocean. Few
recon aircraft (range)
 Most attacks were night surface attacks
***SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE***

OCTOBER 18-19, 1940 WOLF PACKS SINK
36 of 79 IN 2 CONVOYS
 THIS
WAS “HAPPY TIME” FOR DONITZ

MARCH 11,1941: ROOSEVELT APPROVES
LEND-LEASE ACT

By now Donitz has 249 subs, he feels 300
= victory in the Atlantic
A Colossal Slaughter

157 ships

847,000 tons

Code Change B-Dienst goes deaf

“the US President is detemined that we
shall win this war together”
US Lend Lease
50 destroyers (REAL OLD)
 Atlantic Charter

 US
Navy is used as Convoy Escorts
 Huge Losses
By 1942 as many as 112 u-boats were
patrolling the waters off of the coast of
the US in the Gulf of Mexico
 Others patrolled the Eastern Seaboard

Phase 3
April 1941-Pearl Harbor

British Crack sub codes using
Bletchley Cipher School (ULTRA)
 Helped
to reroute convoys
 But Germans improved the codes

By July 1st US is in an UNDECLARED
WAR in the Atlantic

By Aug. Convoys are reaching the
Soviet Union HUGE SUPPLIES
ENIGMA CYPHER MACHINE

SUBSTITUTION CYPHER
Marian Rejewski
 2nd
Phase 4
January 1942-1943
“Happy Time”
 216 ships sank of
US East Coast, mostly oil
tankers
 PQ17 to Soviet Union 23 of 36 ships destroyed
 Allied ships needed for convoys were pulled to
North African Theatre (Torch)
 B-24-Long range sub hunters with depth
charges
 “MILCH COWS”
 RADAR EQUIP AIRCRAFT
 HUFF
 ASV
DUFF HF/DF
 LEIGH
LIGHT: searchlight automatically
aligned with the airborne RADAR to illuminate
targets suddenly in the final stages of an attack
run.
 DONITZ
HITS 300
 REPLACEMENTS MEETS LOSSES
AND EXCEEDS FOR ALLIES

The Metox Receiver (German)
HEDGEHOG AND
SQUIDS
 ANTI-SUB DEPTH
CHARGES
 LIBERATORS=FLYING
DEATH

The End of the Beast
Sinking of the
Bismarck
 May 27, 1941
 15 SWORDFISH

END OF THE BATTLE FOR THE
ATLANTIC

BY MAY 43’ U-BOATS
ARE BEING
DEVESTATED


DONITZ ADMITS
DEFEAT AND
WITHDRAWS FROM
ATLANTIC
U-BOATS ROUGHLY
UNEFFECIVE UNTIL 44
WITH SNORKEL
INVENTION





2452
MERCHANTSHIPS
LOST
13 MILLION TONS
175 WARSHIPS
696 OUT OF 830 UBOATS LOST
OVER 25,000
GERMAN DEATHS

63% FATALITY RATE
 THE
END OF THE U-BOAT THREAT
MEANT OPEN LANES FOR US
CONVOYS TO EUROPE AND THE
SOVIET UNION
 SUPPLIES THAT WILL
ECONOMICALLY CRUSH THE
THIRD REICH
 EX:
3 MILLION TONS OF GAS, 51,
000 JEEPS, 375,000 TRUCKS, 15
MILLION PAIRS OF BOOTS, 11,000
RAIL CARS, 7,000 AIRCRAFT (ALL
TO USSR)
THE DESERT WAR
Churchill’s primary
war strategy would
focus on North
Africa
**Convince FDR**
It was his best bet at
a back door to
Fortress Europe

The North African
Campaign of the
Second World War
was extremely
important because it
was the only land
based fight that the
Allies could take to
the Axis powers
from September
1940 until the
invasion of Sicily in
July 1943
The Battle in the desert

Erwin Rommel “The Desert Fox”
 1915
in WW 1 won Iron Cross
 7th Panzer Division
 Rommel's troops moved faster and
farther than any other army in military
history during the invasion of France.
 Commanded the new Afrika Korps &
drove the British 8th Army out of Libya
 Will be defeated at El Alamein
General Bernard
Montgomery
 Commanded
British Eighth Army
 Beaten repeatedly by Rommel and
the Afrika Corps
 Victory at Battle of El Alamein, a
brutal meat grinder right out of the
First World War.
 “Viscount of Alamein” – British Hero??
 Will become really importance in Italy
and Normandy
OPERATION TORCH

The objectives of Operation
Torch were to secure French
North Africa and then strike
Eastwards and take Rommel's
German Italian Panzer Army in
the rear. With 65,000 Allied
troops and around 650 Warships
under the overall command of
Commander In Chief Eisenhower it
was to strike in French Morocco
and Algeria and later link up
with Montgomery’s Eighth Army.
GERMAN PANZER III TANK
SHERMAN TANKS
SUPERIOR TO THE OLDER
PANZERS OF ROMMEL’S 7TH
ARMOURED
REINFORCEMENTS

US INVOLVEMENT IN NORTH AFRICA
 GENERAL
GEORGE S. PATTON
 By
November 8, 1942, commanded
Western Task Force-- only allAmerican force landing for
Operation Torch
 Commander of the 7th Army
(eventually 3rd Armored)
 Brilliant Strategist, not a GI’S
Friend
 “OLD
BLOOD AND GUTS”

OPERATION TORCH
 1ST
**Patton's Western Task
Force was by far the
largest
**Rommel rebounds in
early 42’—300 Sherman's
**Supercharger**
**Final confrontation EL
ALAMEIN
**Rommel was receiving
medical treatment and had to
rush back, but was too late**
**By Jan 43’ Allies take Tunis
and the battle for Africa is over
offensive US
undertook against
Germany
 TORCH was
composed of three
simultaneous
landings against the
North African French
colonies:
 Casablanca,
Morocco
 Oran, Algeria
 Algiers, Algeria
Results of Torch
Gave the allies a launching point
into Italy
 Greatly weakened the bond of
the Italians and Germans
 Help to pull some troops off of
the Russian Front
 Disaster for the Axis




Allies created basis for the coming assault on
the Balkans and the Med. Sea was open to
Allied Shipping supplies
US troops gained experience
Eisenhower “North Africa is the beginning of
the end for Germany and the Third Reich.”
BY EARLY 1943
AFRICA IS SECURE
AND THE ALLIES
HAVE THE
BALKANS & ITALY
DIRECTLY IN THEIR
SIGHTS