World War II

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World War II

• The War to End All Wars (Round 2)

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There are 2 main sites where fighting is
happening in WWII

• Europe
• Called the European Theater
• Asia
• Called the Pacific Theater

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There are 2 main sides fighting in the war

• Axis Powers
• Germany, Italy, and Japan
• Allied Powers
• France, Britain, Soviet Union, US

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Vocab

• Blitzkrieg Lightning War tactic used by the
  Germans in WWII (fast and surprise air attacks).
• Luftwaffe German Air force
• Vichy city in Central France where a puppet
  government governed unoccupied France (the area
  not controlled by Germany).
• Puppet Government a government in which a local
  leader is placed in charge, yet directed by an
  outside government.

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Nazis and Soviets at Peace????

• In August of 1939, Hitler and Stalin sign a
  public nonaggression pact promising not to attack
  one another.
• Secretly
• Poland is divided between the two.
• Soviets get
• Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland
• Germany gives USSR plans for naval vessels, subs,
  airplane engines
• USSR will supply Germany with many raw goods

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Poland

• September 1st 1939-
• Germany lead a surprise attack on Poland
• They used Blitzkrieg (lightning war).
• Using concentrated tanks and dive-bombers to
  break a hole in the enemy line and followed
  quickly mobile infantry.
• Hitler used over 1.5 million men
• Luftwaffe (German Air Force) bombed major cities,
  rail lines and communication lines

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• September 3
• France and Great Britain declare war on Germany
• Great Britain drops Confetti
• millions of leaflets of propaganda over Germany
• September 17th
• Stalin orders Soviet troops to occupy the eastern
  half of Poland.
• Poland fell in three weeks

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The Phony War

• Seven months after France and Great Britain had
  declared war on Germany the two sides had not
  fought each other.
• In WWI the defender had the advantage and many
  believed it would be the same in WWII.
• The Allies had mobilized their armies.
• The French waited for Germans behind the Maginot
  Line (a 87-mile long line of forts, concrete
  walls and underground barracks).

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End of the Phony War

• April 1940
• Germany attacks neutral Denmark and Norway
• Denmark falls in hours, Norway will last months

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Why did Hitler invade these areas?

• To gain naval bases/airfields to attack UK in the
  future
• May 1940
• Germans invade Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg

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Surprise, Surprise

• Germans attack through Central France through the
  thick Ardennes Forest.
• Experts believed that it was impossible to drive
  tanks through it.
• British and French Armies are divided.
• British are encircled at port of Dunkirk

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Dunkirk

• Allied soldiers escaped aboard anything that
  could float (yachts, lifeboats, motorboats,
  fishing ships).
• 338,000 were rescued
• All large equipment was left behind
• France is alone against Germany

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France Falls

• On June 10, Mussolini declares war on France
  fearing that Hitler would take the entire nation
  for himself.
• June 14, Paris is captured by Germany
• On June 22, France surrenders
• Germany takes direct control of the northern
  two-thirds of France

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Three Results of the Fall of France

• Hitler creates a puppet gov. in France
• -The Vichy French who controlled southern France.
• -Free French based in Britain.
• Britain is the only nation still fighting
  Germany.
• The Axis powers are masters of the European
  mainland

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The Battle of Britain

• After fall of France, Britain stands alone.
• Germany must control air in order to successfully
  invade England.
• Hitler launched air campaign in July 1940
• Lasts until October
• Despite 3000 to 1200 advantage in aircraft, the
  Luftwaffe is unable to defeat the RAF.

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Why did Germany lose?

• Radar provides early warning/eliminate surprise.
• Allows British to focus their fighter effort
  where the Germans pose the greatest threat.

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Vocab

1. Rosie the Riveter symbol of women who built
   ships, planes, and produced ammunitions (weapons)
   on the home front.
2. Stalingrad turning point in European Theater
   of WWII. USSR defeated the Nazis.

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Early US Involvement in Europe

• The US is supposed to be neutral
• Lend-Lease Act The US Lends UK (and eventually
  the Soviet Union) ships, planes, and other war
  material for Leasing British bases in the
  Caribbean.

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Lend-Lease

• Why is this a good deal for the UK?
• Why is this a good deal for the US?

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Side Effects of the Lend-Lease Act

• Hitler orders his U-Boats to target US ships
• By Sept. 4th Roosevelt orders US Navy to shoot
  German submarines on sight
• US is now in an undeclared war with Germany

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Germany and the Soviet Union

• Hitler signs Non-Aggression Pact
• violates it when he launches Operation
  Barbarossa in June 22nd 1941.

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If Russia is so much bigger, why is Germany a
threat?

• Germany had a strong army
• Stalin had killed many military leaders in the
  Great Purge

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Soviets Advance
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Soviet Union in secured

• What about North Africa?
• While Germany and the Soviets are at war, North
  Africa and Italy are at war
• Mussolini is still trying to re-create the old
  Roman Empire

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For the Glory of Rome!

• Italys Goal to cut off Britains life line to
  India (Suez Canal) and take the oil rich Middle
  East.
• Plan Italian Army will strike east from Italian
  Libya and capture Egypt.

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For the Glory of Rome North Africa
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British Offensive

• First Italy wins but the British counter-attack
  and push the Italians back.
• December 1940-February 1941
• British victories
• Italians retreat
• 130, 000 Italians captured
• Germany is worried about British invasion from
  the south.

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Vocab

1. General Erwin Rommel Desert Fox German
   commander who conquered most of North Africa.
2. Dwight Eisenhower commander of British and
   American forces in North Africa who defeated
   General Erwin Rommel

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Operation Torch in North Africa
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The score

• North Africa once again controlled by the Allies
• USSR once again controlled by the Allies
• Italy once again controlled by the Allies
• Britain STILL controlled by the Allies
• Lets keep going!

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Vocab

• D-Day June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of France
  at Normandy
• V-E Day May 8, 1945, Germany surrenders

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D-Day
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NormandyD-Day Invasion

• May 1944 the long awaited invasion of France was
  ready
• Led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower (supreme
  commander of the all Allied Forces in Europe)

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NormandyD-Day Invasion

• Thousands of planes, ships, tanks and landing
  crafts
• 3.5 million troops
• June 6th 1944
• five beaches
• 150,000 US, Canadian and UK troops.
• 23,000 parachuted

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NormandyD-Day Invasion

• LossesAllies 12,000. Germans 9,000.
• By late summer 1944, Paris is liberated.
• All the Allies move towards Germany.

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Battle of the Bulge

• Begins on December 16, 1944 in the Ardennes
  Forest (N. France/Belgium)
• Germany attacks with the hopes of dividing the
  Allies to force a peace treaty favorable to the
  Axis
• Remember the Germans used this strategy once
  before
• Germany concentrated its fighting in the center
  of the Allied line due to its apparent
  weaknesscausing a bulge effect which gave the
  battle its name

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Battle of the Bulge

• The first three days saw the most causalities for
  the US
• Eventually the attack fails due to lack of troops
  and supplies.
• January 1945, Hitler removes his troops from the
  Ardennes

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Hitlers Downfall

• Allies move to Berlin
• Hitler refuses to surrender
• Hitler relocates to the bunker under the
  Chancellery in Berlin on winter of 1945.
• As the Soviets enter Berlin in April 1945
• Hitler marries Eva Braun
• two days later commits suicide
• his body is burned afterwards
• The German army surrenders May 7th, 1945. War in
  Europe is over!

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Vocab

• Concentration Camps detention centers, prisons,
  for civilians considered enemies of the state.
• Holocaust Nazi massacre of approx. 6 million
  Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Homosexuals, and political
  dissenters.
• Genocide the murder of a group of people based
  on their race.
• Nuremburg Trials European trials for Nazis who
  committed crimes against humanity