1. the outbreak of war -...

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.