Transcript World War II Battles

Early Stages of War: Germany on the Offensive
 After taking Poland, Germany turned towards
Northern Europe.
 In April, 1940 Hitler attacked Denmark and
Norway. It took only two months to take these
countries.
 He then turned towards Holland, Luxembourg
and Belgium in May. The Blitzkrieg proved to be
too much for these countries as well.
Battle for France:
The Maginot Line
After WWI France had developed an intricate line of
defense known as the Maginot Line.
This was a heavily armed tunnel system that spanned
the entire border between France and Germany.
It made the French feel safe from any German attack.
On May 12, 1940 Germany
invaded France.
Instead of attacking the Maginot
line, the Germans simply went
around it.
The Maginot line proved to be an
expensive joke that was never
used.
The ‘Miracle’ of Dunkirk
 When France was invaded Britain sent in troops to help defend the
country. Both France and Britain were not prepared for the speed of
the Blitzkrieg.
 The German army forced the allies back to the French city of Dunkirk
where they remained trapped.
 The allies faced certain defeat while Hitler prepared the Luftwaffe for
the final blow.
 In his delay the British sent out a call for help. Nearly 900 ships
(including fishing boats and passenger craft) came across the fogy
English Channel.
 Between May 27 and June 4 over 300,000 soldiers were evacuated
to England from Dunkirk. It was expected that only 10,000 would have
survived.
Thousands of men
stranded on the beaches
of Dunkirk, France
Evacuation of Dunkirk
The French destroyer sinks
off Dunkirk while loaded
with troops
British Prime
Minister, Winston
Churchill: Speaking to the
House of Commons, June 4, 1940
about the Miracle of Dunkirk.
... We shall go on to the end, we shall
fight in France, we shall fight on the
seas and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend
our island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing grounds, we
shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills; we
shall never surrender ...'
Dunkirk
The Fall of France
On June 13, 1940 Paris was occupied by
Germany and two weeks later
France surrendered.
The Battle of Britain
 On July 10, 1940 Hitler ordered an air attack on British
ships in the English Channel signaling the start of the Battle
of Britain.
 Hitler’s plan was to destroy Britain’s fighter planes,
factories and the morale of the people. This would allow
him to mount a ground attack.
 At first the German Luftwaffe was extremely successful
by knocking out airfields and supply factories. The Royal
Air Force (RAF) despite being badly outnumbered held it’s
ground.
 On September 7, 1940 two German planes
bombed London which prompted Churchill to
retaliate with a strike on Berlin.
 An infuriated Hitler ordered an all-out assault on
London which peaked on September 15th. This
allowed the RAF time to recover and turned the
tide of the Battle.
 By the end of the summer Hitler realized that he
could not win control of British air space. The
RAF won the Battle of Britain
Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
 On June 22, 1941 Hitler violated the non-aggression pact
by invading Russia during Operation Barbarossa.
Why did Hitler invade?
Hitler believed that if the Soviet Union could be
defeated quickly, Britain would be more willing to
accept peace terms.
 Up to this point, the Nazis had many quick successes , and
felt as though they could quickly defeat the Soviet Union
 The blitzkrieg was successful at first, reaching within 39 km
of Moscow.
 Russia used a ‘scorched earth’ policy in its retreat, which
involved destroying all resources that could be of use to the
enemy- livestock, crops, and supplies.
 By winter, Hitler’s troops were ill prepared for the
temperatures (-50 degrees Celsius) and they along with their
equipment began to freeze.
 Hitler thought his Nazis could defeat the Soviets within a
few months, and had not prepared for a winter campaign
 Germany suffered a terrible defeat at the Russian city of
Stalingrad in January of 1943, and almost ¼ of Germany
military troops surrendered
Battle for Stalingrad
The Battle of the North Atlantic
 The goal for the Allies in this war was to ship
supplies to England (weapons, food, medical supplies,
etc.)
 Germany used U-boats to sink these ships. Canada
used the convoy system to protect its merchant ships.
 The Canadian-made ‘Corvette’ traveled in the
convoy of 50-60 ships. This battle went on over the
duration of the war. It was vital to the success of the
allies.
A convoy of
Allied Ships
WAR IN THE
PACIFIC
Prewar
1932
1937
C
A
B
D
“ABCD
Encirclement”
1940
1941
Dec 8/7 1941
December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor Invasion
Pearl Harbor, on the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii, (then a territory
of the United States) was attacked by the Japanese Imperial
Navy, at approximately 8:00 A.M., Sunday morning,
December 7, 1941. The surprise attack had been conceived
by Admiral Yamamoto.
There had been no formal declaration of war.
Day of Infamy Speech
Pearl Harbour
The US declares war Dec.8.1941
"Being saturated and satiated with emotion and
sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the
saved and thankful.”
- Winston Churchill
1941
1942
Canadians at Hong Kong, 1941
 Hong Kong was a vital British Colony
 A small contingent of Canadian and Indian troops
were assigned to its defence
 The British had estimated that there were only
5,000 Japanese troops preparing to invade
 However, there were 50,000 veterans of the
Imperial Japanese Army waiting
 The Japanese soldiers were ordered to make
a series of suicide attacks against Canadian
positions
 The Canadian troops surrendered after 17
days on December 25th, 1941
 290 soldiers were killed, 500 were wounded
 Survivors were sent to Japanese Prisoner of
War Camps and were treated harshly
 Japanese soldiers had contempt for
soldiers who did not fight to the death
 POW’s were used as slave labourers,
often tortured and beaten
 267 Canadians died in Japanese POW
camps
Rape of Nanking
 In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army
marched into China's capital city of Nanking and
proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000
civilians and soldiers in the city.
 After finally defeating the Chinese at Shanghai in
November, 50,000 Japanese soldiers then
marched on toward Nanking.
 After just four days of fighting, Japanese troops
smashed into the city on December 13, 1937,
with orders issued to "kill all captives."
 Their first concern was to eliminate any threat from the
90,000 Chinese soldiers who surrendered. To the Japanese,
surrender was an unthinkable act of cowardice and the
ultimate violation of the rigid code of military honor drilled
into them from childhood onward. Thus they looked upon
Chinese POWs with utter contempt, viewing them as less
than human, unworthy of life.
 The elimination of the Chinese POWs began after they were
transported by trucks to remote locations on the outskirts of
Nanking. Smiling soldiers can be seen conducting bayonet
practice on live prisoners, decapitating them and displaying
severed heads as souvenirs, and proudly standing among
mutilated corpses.
 Some of the Chinese POWs were simply mowed down by
machine-gun fire while others were tied-up, soaked with
gasoline and burned alive.
• After the destruction of the POWs, the soldiers turned their
attention to the women of Nanking and an outright
animalistic hunt ensued. Old women over the age of 70 as
well as little girls under the age of 8 were dragged off to be
sexually abused. More than 20,000 females (with some
estimates as high as 80,000) were gang-raped by Japanese
soldiers, then stabbed to death with bayonets or shot so they
could never bear witness.
• Pregnant women were not spared. In several instances, they
were raped, then had their bellies slit open and the fetuses
torn out. Sometimes, after storming into a house and
encountering a whole family, the Japanese forced Chinese
men to rape their own daughters, sons to rape their
mothers, and brothers their sisters, while the rest of the
family was made to watch.
 Those who were not killed on the spot were taken to the outskirts
of the city and forced to dig their own graves, large rectangular
pits that would be filled with decapitated corpses resulting from
killing contests the Japanese held among themselves. Other times,
the Japanese forced the Chinese to bury each other alive in the
dirt.
 After this period of unprecedented violence, the Japanese eased
off somewhat and settled in for the duration of the war. To pacify
the population during the long occupation, highly addictive
narcotics, including opium and heroin, were distributed by
Japanese soldiers to the people of Nanking, regardless of age. An
estimated 50,000 persons became addicted to heroin while many
others lost themselves in the city's opium dens.
 In addition, the notorious Comfort Women system was introduced
which forced young Chinese women to become slave-prostitutes,
existing solely for the sexual pleasure of Japanese soldiers.
Back To Europe
August 19, 1942 The Dieppe Raid
 At Dieppe Canada hoped to quickly attack the Germans
who had taken over France.
 The raid was a failure because they did not arrive under the
cover of darkness as planned. As a result the Germans were
ready for the attack and easily mowed down soldiers as they
landed on the beaches.
 More Canadians died at Dieppe than on any other day of
the war. Of 5000 troops 1400 were killed/wounded
 2000 Canadians were taken prisoner
"The second the boat scraped the beach, I jumped out and
started to follow the sappers through the barbed wire. My
immediate objective was a concrete pillbox on top of a 12foot parapet about 100 yards up the beach. I think I had
taken three steps when the first one hit me. You say a
bullet or a piece of shrapnel hits you but the word isn't
right. They slam you the way a sledgehammer slams you.
There's no sharp pain at first. It jars you so much you're not
sure exactly where you've been hit-or what with."
- Lt-Col Dollard Ménard, Fusiliers Mont-Royal
The Italian Campaign
 Canadian soldiers took an active and important part
in the campaign in Italy
 They landed July 10, 1943 and despite the heavy
cost, they proved themselves in battle
 Italy surrendered unconditionally in September 1943
and Mussolini was taken out of power
 However, the Germans immediately took control of
the country
 The Campaign of Italy was designed to take the
pressure off their Russian Allies and pull German troops
out of north-western Europe readying the area for
Operation “Overlord”
 September 9th, 1943 the attack began on Italy
 The Canadians were forced to fight for every metre of
the mountainous terrain as the Germans refused to give
it up
 Italian Campaign Animated Map
Battle for Ortona
 Ortona is an ancient city that
consists of narrow streets and
connected houses
 Much of Ortona was reduced to
rubble, making it difficult for the
Canadians to use tanks
 The Germans barricaded
themselves in houses and mined
the streets
 The fighting was house-to-houseliterally – the Canadians blasted
their way through walls to get from
building to building.
 The battle continued over
Christmas Day, 1943 but three
days later the Germans withdrew.
The Liberation of Rome
 Following the fall of Ortona the
Allies ground to a halt due to
blizzards and drifting snow at
the end of December
 The Allied focus then turned to
the western front where it was
considered to have the best
chance of a breakthrough
towards Rome.
 It took four major offensives
between January and May 1944
before the Allies including
British, US, French, Polish, and
Canadian Corps broke through
 Rome was declared an open city
by the German army and the
Allies took possession on
June 4th.
The Move on to France
• Having the Germans
occupied in Italy
allowed the allies to
move forward with
their plan to open up
the long awaited
western front in
Europe
The Plan
 Winston Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt
agreed it was time to
open up a new front in
the West through the
beaches of France
 The obvious choice for a
landing area was the Pas
de Calais so the Allies
decided to attack in
Normandy instead but
believed they had to
deceive the Germans
they intended to attack
elsewhere
Normandy It Is!
 Normandy
is a
peninsula
on the
French
Coast
 It was
chosen
because
the
Germans
expected
the attack
to be on
the Pas
de Calais
The Criteria
1. The enemy must remain
ignorant of the proposed
landing site
2. The enemy must be
prevented from bringing
up reinforcements
quickly once the allies
landed
3. Complete Allied air and
naval superiority in the
English Channel
4. Local defenses must
largely be destroyed by
air and sea
bombardment
Operation “Overlord”
There would be five
sectors that would
be attacked:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Utah – American
Omaha – American
Gold – British
Juno – Canadian
Sword - British
The Attack – June
th
6 ,
• Operation Overlord Simulation
1944
The Atlantic Wall
 The Atlantic Wall was an
extensive system of
coastal fortifications built
by the Germans between
1942 and 1944
 Built along the western
coast of Europe to defend
against an anticipated
Anglo-American led Allied
invasion of the continent
from Great Britain.
 A string of reinforced concrete
pillboxes were built along the
beaches to house machine guns,
antitank guns, and light artillery
 Minefields and antitank obstacles
were planted on the beaches and
underwater obstacles and mines
were planted in the waters just off
shore to destroy incoming craft
 By the time of the invasion, the
Germans had laid almost 6
million mines in northern France
The Atlantic Wall!
The Time Has Come
• On the evening of
June 5th
paratroopers
dropped in to secure
bridges for the allied
advance
• Heavy bombers
dropped their
payloads on what
was supposed to be
the beach defences
• In the early morning
the largest armada
of ships left Britain
for the French coast
The Canadians on D-Day
 Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who
landed or parachuted into the invasion area,
14,000 were Canadians
 The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110
ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the
landings while the R.C.A.F. had helped
prepare the invasion by bombing targets
inland
 Canadians suffered 1074 casualties, including
359 killed.
The Battle for Normandy
 For the first month following the
D-Day landings, a stalemate
developed during which the
Allies built up their forces
 By August 21, the Germans had
either retreated or been
destroyed between the
Canadian-British and American
efforts.
Liberation of Holland
 March 1945 Canadian Corps arrived from
Italy to replace British Corps in Holland
 Canadian Corps pushed north to the
isolating German forces in west
Netherlands and then east into Germany
 When hostilities ceased on May 5 1945, it
fell to the Canadians to liberate Holland
 The Dutch there had suffered through an
extremely harsh winter, short of food and
fuel
 The Canadians were welcomed
enthusiastically and the joyous "Canadian
summer" that ensued forged deep and
long-lasting bonds of friendship between
the Dutch and Canadian peoples.
The Final Days
 In April 1945, the battle
was coming to a close.
 On the 30th April, Hitler
commits suicide together
with his mistress Eva
Braun hours after they
were married.
 Hitler gave strict orders
for his body to be burned,
so that his enemies
wouldn't do what they
had done to Mussolini,
who was publicly
displayed hanging upside
down.
The Soviets Arrive – Berlin Falls
• By May 2, the Reichstag,
the old German parliament
falls and Berlin surrenders
to Marshall Zukhov, who
receives the honour of
being the conqueror of
Berlin.
• The battle for Berlin cost the
Soviets over 70,000 dead.
Many of them died because
of the haste with which the
campaign was conducted.
VE-Day
 The major Allied ground
offensive from the west
against German territory
began on 8 February 1945
 In April, Canadian troops
liberated most of the
Netherlands
 The Germans formally
surrendered on 8 May 1945,
known as Victory-in-Europe,
or ‘V-E’ Day
The Pacific Theatre
of World War II
The Final Year
 The US retakes the Philippines in a long and costly campaign.
 Borneo, Iwo Jima and the Okinawa fall, with heavy losses on
both sides.
 The military leadership of Japan refuses to give up, in spite of
the loss of the bulk of their forces.
 An edict is issued, ordering civilians on the main Japanese
islands to construct bamboo spears and meet the invaders on
the beaches.
 US Bombers produce a firestorm in Tokyo, killing 100,000
people in two days.
 The US, Britain and China issue the Potsdam Declaration,
demanding Japan’s surrender.
Manhattan Project & Atomic Age
The United States, led by physicist Robert Oppenheimer,
developed an atomic bomb under the secretive Manhattan
Project.
By mid-1945 there was a belief by the Americans that the
Japanese were too proud to surrender.
This led American President Harry S. Truman to order the
dropping of the atomic bomb.
On August 6, 1945 the U.S. bombed Hiroshima. More than
70,000 people were killed and 61,000 were injured instantly.
Many people were vaporized, and radiation burns scorched
others.
The Japanese refused surrender and on Aug. 9 the U.S.
dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. Aug. 10, 1945 Japan
surrenders ending WWII.
This signaled the beginning of the nuclear arms race and
the Cold War.
The patterns of clothing
were permanently burned
into the skin because of the
intense flash of light.
Hair loss due to radiation exposure
Japan Surrenders
Representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Army and Navy appear to sign the
surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
The Cost
2,000,000 Japanese Soldiers dead
300,000 Allied Soldiers dead
600,000 - 1,000,000 Japanese civilians dead
11,000 American civilians dead
60,000 Korean civilians dead
Mass devastation of Japanese infrastructure
Indigenous people of north and western Pacific islands
devastated by disease, cultural contamination,
collateral damage, and atrocities.
• The list continues…
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