Transcript Lightning War - rivard

Question 1
0 Sept 1939: Hitler launched a
surprise attack on Poland.
0 Using fast moving
airplanes & tanks and
massive infantry, Hitler
attempted to crush the
opposition with
overwhelming force.
0 This strategy is known as
blitzkrieg, or lightning
war.
Question 2
0Shortly after the start of Hitler’s invasion,
Britain & France declared war on
Germany.
0However, Poland fell before either country
was able to muster a military response.
0France & Britain prepared for a war,
mobilizing their troops and set up at
the Maginot Line (a system of defenses
along the French/German border.)
Maginot
Line
Question 3
0On April 9, 1940,
Hitler invaded
Denmark and
Norway, ending the
“phony war.”
0Denmark fell four
hours after the attack
began. Norway
surrendered two
months later.
German infantry
attacking through a
burning Norwegian
village, April 1940.
Question 4
0In May of 1940, Hitler swept through
Holland, Belgium, & Luxembourg.
0Hitler then traveled through the
Ardennes forest, bypassing the Maginot
Line.
0The Germans quickly reached France’s
northern coast, then continued north,
meeting up with German troops in
Belgium.
0The British and French troops were
surrounded. They fled to Dunkirk.
Question 5
0The British spearheaded a
massive rescue mission.
0British civilians and navy
personnel crossed the English
channel under heavy German fire
to help those stranded at Dunkirk.
0 338, 000 men were rescued,
including 123,000 French soldiers.
Question 6
0Italy joined the
war in June of
1940 (after
Dunkirk).
0They joined at
this time because
they believed
victory would be
quick.
Question 7
0France fell in June of
1940, shortly after
Dunkirk.
0The Germans took
control of the North
and left Marshall Henri
Philippe Petain to rule
the South.
0Petain’s headquarters
were in in Vichy.
Question 8
0Charles de Gaulle is a
French general who
fled to London where he
set up a government in
exile.
0He organized the Free
French military forces
that battled the Nazis
until France was
liberated in 1944.
Combatants