1. the outbreak of war -...
TRANSCRIPT
1. The Outbreak of War
September 1939
Germany and the USSR sign the Nazi-Soviet
Nonaggression Pact on August 24, 1939 making
way for war
Invasion of Poland
Polish Corridor
Italy
Germany
USSR
Germany Ger.
USSR
Italy
France
England
To Ethiopia
POLAND!
Germany
attacks from
the west. Two
weeks later
the USSR
attacks
Poland from
the east.
Blitzkrieg--“Lightning War”
A new type of warfare involving infantry (or, in German, wehrmacht). . .
. . . Tanks (or, in German, Panzers)
Supported by Air Power (in German, Luftwaffe)
Polish cavalry charging tanks
didn’t stand a chance.
Poland fell in 29 days to the Germans and the USSR
2. The Fall of France May-June 1940
The Maginot Line was a series of French
forts meant to deter a German invasion.
As they did in WW I, the Germans invaded
France through Belgium. This time, the
Belgians did not put up resistance. France
fell in 6 weeks.
Maginot Line Fort
What an
amazing waste
of money!
Parisians watch the victorious German army march down their streets
Hitler and his
buddies stop in
for a brief visit
German soldiers surround Allied forces in Belgium, but Hitler
allows them to rest before the final assault.
Ships are used to move Allied troops across the English Channel
Retreating Allied soldiers escape the Nazi trap at
Dunkirk and live to fight another day
The Dunkirk Evacuation
Vichy
Directly controlled by Germany
Allied with Germany (Vichy)
Paris
England
Germany
Italy
Spain
Bel.
Vichy France
Gen. Charles de Gaulle to
Lead the Free French forces Vichy
By June of 1940, Hitler controls all of
Europe—or is allied with other nations—
except for England.
3. Battle of Britain
July 1940-May 1941
Winston Churchill, Prime
Minister of England
The Air Campaign
• Hitler faced the same challenge as
Napoleon did over 100 years earlier—the
English Channel.
• His planned invasion of the British Isles—
Operation Sea Lion—required that he use
his air force to weaken England so he could
land his forces across the English Channel.
The RAF, Royal Air Force, defended
the British Isles from the air assault of
the Germans.
St. Paul’s Cathedral during the German
bombing offensive, known as “the Blitz”
Londoners taking shelter in the tube station at night
It was the development of radar that allowed the
British to win the Battle of Britain by knowing in
advance from where the Germans were coming
and how many planes the Luftwaffe was sending.
After Hitler failed to defeat Britain, he made
his biggest blunder, and, as Napoleon did after
failing to defeat England, he attacked Russia.
4. Invasion of the Soviet Union
June 1941-1944
Joseph Stalin, Dictator of the USSR
The Scorched-Earth Policy.
As Russians retreated, they
destroyed their homes and
crops to deny the invading
German troops supplies.
The onset of winter left
the German forces
vulnerable to the
elements as well as the
Soviet Siberian forces,
trained to fight in
freezing conditions.
The German advance
was stopped.
The Siberian forces
counter-attacked. In
1941, the Germans
had no winter
clothes, and many
froze to death.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• The sight of the first major German military
defeat.
• In February, 1943, the entire 6th Army of Germany
was forced to surrender.
• At Stalingrad, there were 1.1 million Russians
casualties and 850,000 Axis casualties.
• After that, the Germans were slowly pushed out of
Russia in tough fighting that cost millions of lives.
5. The Attack of Pearl Harbor
December 1941
US Naval Base
The powerful US Naval Fleet had bases in the Philippines and Hawaii.
After Japan refused to cease its attacks in Asia, the US passed an oil embargo,
which limited Japan from buying oil. Japan wanted oil from the Dutch East Indies,
but the American Pacific Fleet was a threat. The US thought Japanese Admiral
Yamamoto would attack us in the Philippines, but he had a better plan. . .
There’s oil here.
Our Pacific Fleet is devastated, but not our
aircraft carriers.
“. . . December 7,
1941, a day which
will live in
infamy. . .” –
President Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
And now the US
has joined the
Allies in the fight.
England, USSR,
and the USA are
the Big Three.
6. North Africa
October 1942-May 1943
The North African Campaign was mostly
a series of tank battles in the desert.
The War in the Desert
US soldiers saw their first combat in the American-led operation.
German General Erwin Rommel—the “Desert Fox”
British General “Monty” Montgomery outfoxed the Desert Fox
The British stopped the German advance to Egypt at El Alamein and protected the Suez Canal.