I. II. III. IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X. XI.

Welcome to World War II history – a topic you will find no shortage of literature on, but one

that can be tough to truly master. Luckily for you, the Decathlete, this guide breaks every fact

you need to know down, point by bullet point. Long-time Acadec competitors will recognize

the usual features of Demidec style here:

Bolded terms flag important words and phrases, whose definitions you should know.

For a quick, alphabetized and themed review of all these terms, head to the power lists

at the end of the guide.

Pull-quotes, or text boxes, may appear that replicate quotes provide in the official

USAD Social Science Resource. While not strictly factual material for testing, you

should still be familiar with any observations made there – they can still be fair game

in the exams! Otherwise, any divergence from the guide will be footnoted – either as

a plain footnote that clarifies areas of vagueness or inaccuracy in the guide, or as an

Enrichment Fact for the curious.

Additional commentary, sarcasm, and humor can be found in footnotes signed with a

name.

More importantly to this year’s guide, I have reorganized some of the material provided in

the Resource to facilitate understanding and clarity. While the guide attempts to break down

the war’s events year-by-year, this guide follows a roughly geographical outline instead. I

have signposted throughout to help you maintain a sense of the chronology at play, but hope

that this organization helps you to get a better idea of the course of the war.

Understanding a war as disparate and universal as World War II is no easy task – this power

guide, and the USAD curriculum, is a taste of the entire field of World War II history. I hope

that you come away from this subject with as many questions as answers.

As might be expected, most of this year’s curriculum focuses on the actual “war” aspect of

World War II – the battles, military strategies, and outcomes of the war on the Eastern and

Western front, in Sections II and III.

Section I focuses on the conditions leading up to and enabling the outbreak of World War II

in 1939, contextualizing it in terms of World War I and its broad, lasting impact on Europe.

Sections IV and V deal with the aftermath of World War II, with section IV a short but heavy

section on the Holocaust. Section V tackles a much wider range of post-war impacts, from

the immediate Nuremberg and Tokyo trials to permanent shifts in geopolitics and national

boundaries. This section, particularly the subsections on decolonization, can best be seen as

a series of case studies on central themes of the world after war.

While a grasp of geography is not required as part of this curriculum, more visual learners

will probably find it helpful to refer to a map throughout their study. Some have been

provided in the USAD resource; others here help you visualize major battles and fronts. Many

more, of course, can be found online in the many digital depositories of military

paraphernalia.

Tests are never predictable, but the time-pressed should concentrate on the key events of

sections II and III, which are presented in a Power Table on battles of World War II. “Easy”

marks on the test will probably come from the first and last sections, which are relatively

straightforward if you have a firm conceptual grasp of the material. Find what works for you,

and good luck!

Section I, 15%

Section II, 30%

Section III, 30%

Section IV, 10%

Section V, 15%

Curriculum breakdown

World War I End of the war

World War I lasted for four years

It pitted the Allied Powers (Entente) against the Central Powers

Entente (Allied Powers) Central Powers

British Empire

France

Russian Empire (until 1917)

Italy

Japan

Serbia

Belgium

United States (from April 1917)

Germany

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Ottoman Empire

Bulgaria

The United States entered the war in April 1917

Its army reinvigorated the war effort

Germany’s final military push failed in the spring of 1918

Its leaders decided to seek peace in September

The Allies threatened to invade Germany

Food shortages and the growing death toll created unrest at home

Massive strikes erupted in November 1918

Kaiser Wilhelm II resigned and left Germany

The new government agreed to an armistice on November 11, 1918

The agreement temporarily halted fighting

This new government contained mainly moderate socialists

It ushered in the start of the Weimar Republic

Many conservatives thought the government betrayed Germany by suing for peace

Their belief became known as the stab-in-the-back myth

Treaty of Versailles

The allied powers crafted separate peace treaties for each defeated power

They negotiated these treaties at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris

The Allies excluded the Central Powers and Russia from the conference

The peace conference lasted around six months

The Big Four

Country Leader Goal:

Great Britain David Lloyd

George

Maintain naval dominance

Restore European balance of power system

France Georges

Clemenceau

Obtain reparations in repayment for wartime losses

Prevent German resurgence

Italy Vittorio Orlando Obtain territory from Austria-Hungary

United States Woodrow Wilson “Peace without victory”1

- Democracy and demilitarization

- Free trade

- Creation of League of Nations to mediate future

conflicts

Creation of nations according to ethnic makeup

All of the Big Four sought to prevent communist revolutions in Europe

The November 1917 Russian Revolution caused them to fear similar uprisings in

the Central Powers

The final treaty reflected Lloyd George, Clemenceau, and Wilson’s positions

It formed a middle ground between France’s desire to punish Germany and Wilson’s

idealism

The reparations eventually amounted to $33 billion under a 1921 agreement2

France did not fully support the League of Nations

Key points: the Treaty of Versailles

- Created the League of Nations (Article 1)

- Took all colonies away from Germany

- Limited the size of Germany’s military

- Relinquished German territory to France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia

- Required Germany to pay reparations

- Forced Germany to take full responsibility for the war (Article 231)

It thought the League needed military forces to back up its powers

The legacy of World War I

German citizens strongly opposed Article 231

They believed that the Entente had played an equal role in causing the war

Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann resigned in June 1919

His successor Gustav Bauer signed the treaty on June 28, 1919

This decision prompted four years of unrest

Many right-wing groups gained support

Germany and Russia remained diplomatically excluded in the following decades

The League of Nations proved ineffective

A general disillusionment with democracy arose in Europe

Totalitarian ideologies used extensive propaganda and terror to rule

They rejected class divisions in society

Soviet Union

Russia underwent a communist revolution in 1917 led by Vladimir Lenin

1

2

Lenin died in 1924, sparking a power struggle

The eventual successor Joseph Stalin set up a totalitarian government

He eliminated other political rivals and created a cult of personality

Soviet citizens venerated Stalin as a perfect leader

This glorification of Stalin contradicted original Communist principles

Stalin sought to create “socialism in one country”

He focused on communism within the Soviet Union rather than globally

This policy entailed bringing farming and industry under collective ownership

Millions of Soviets became displaced, with thousands imprisoned or killed

Economic development constituted the main means to achieving communism

A large state bureaucracy emerged to implement his policies

It also allowed Stalin to control the system tightly from top down

The Soviet Union moved from an agricultural to industrial economy

Stalin introduced Five-Year Plans in 1928 to help this process

The plans instituted production targets across all economic sectors

Smaller peasant-owned farms became merged into large state-run farms

Peasants had to work a minimum number of days to meet production quotas

Many peasants resisted this collectivization, and thousands died in protest

The process of collectivization led to a great famine in 1930 to 1933

Around seven million deaths resulted

Stalin launched a campaign to consolidate power from 1936 to 1938

Farcical show trials of his political rivals eliminated anyone whose loyalty Stalin

suspected

Torture techniques frequently extracted fake confessions3

Soviet radio broadcast these trials across the country

The trials sentenced around 680,000 to death, including many military leaders

Around a million people died in the prison camps, or Gulag4

Finally, Stalin joined in the Spanish Civil War against Franco’s forces

It supplied military equipment to the leftist organizations5

Militarism in Japan

Japan had come out of World War I strengthened rather than punished

It conquered Germany’s Chinese and Pacific colonies

The Allies had promised it these areas

They also agreed that Japan would take part in the peace conference

Japan escaped domestic upheaval and instability in the 1920s

It became more democratic, passing full male suffrage in 1925

The military’s political power waned

However, other problems remained

Attitudes towards the West remained ambivalent

Japan had faced a choice between Western-style modernization and Japanese

tradition since the sixteenth century

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 marked a compromise between the two

The restoration maintained the importance of Japanese identity

3

4

5

The Great Depression hit Japan hard and led to a military revival

Japan’s military believed that Japan needed strong defenses

They proposed that Japan expand its territory to strengthen its economy

Japan’s army targeted Manchuria

Manchuria lay on the border of Japan’s colony in Korea and in China’s northeast

It had much natural resources and a rail network that supplied Japan

Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government had weak control over the region

The local warlord Chang Hsueh-liang controlled Manchuria

Japan sent its own troops to protect its supply trains

It created a provocation to allow the army to invade Manchuria

Officials engineered an explosion that they blamed on Chang

This explosion is known as the Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931

Manchuria fell to Japan by January 1932

Japan set up a puppet state called Manchukuo in September 1932

Its nominal ruler Puyi was the last heir of the Qing Dynasty

The government feared its own military’s power

Lower-ranking officers tried to overthrow the government in 1936

The cabinet started to prepare for war against China

Japan became allied with the Axis powers6

Italy

Italy came away from the Versailles conference dissatisfied

It had hoped to gain more territory

This dissatisfaction paved the way for its totalitarian movement

Italy also faced economic challenges after the war

Labor strikes frequently occurred

Benito Mussolini led the fascist movement

He founded the National Fascist Party in 1921

Fascism comes from the Roman term fasces, a bundle of wooden rods

The party modelled itself after the Roman Empire

It adopted the empire’s salute and eagle insignia

Mussolini had been the editor of a socialist newspaper

He adopted nationalism after World War I

Key principles of Italian fascism

Extreme

nationalism

Emphasized state above the role of the individual

Belief in Social Darwinism – role of natural and human forces in bringing

about a strong nation

Violence Struggle as the only way to reach human fulfilment

Rejection of post-World War I pacifism

Persecution Desire to eliminate opponents and ‘undesirables’

Youth Criticism of society as corrupted by old ways

Propaganda Use of communication media like radio and film

Glorification of Italy’s ancient past

Worker unrest from 1919 to 1921 frightened Italy’s middle class

6

They saw Italy’s liberal government as ineffective and feared communism

Fascism rejected communism’s belief in the role of economic forces

Mussolini formed a militia in response, the Blackshirts7

They launched a March on Rome in October 1922

The Italian government tried to ban the march

King Victor Emmanuel III instead asked Mussolini to form a coalition government

Italy became a fascist dictatorship by 1925

From Italian Republic to Fascist Italy

1923 Acerbo Law Largest political party (with at least 25% of votes)

given 2/3s of parliament seats

1929 Lateran Pact with

Catholic Church

Vatican given independent city-state status

Catholicism designated official state religion

Church paid back for land seizures

1935,

October

Invasion of

Ethiopia

Ethiopia was one of two uncolonized African states

and put up strong resistance

1936,

May

Conquest of

Ethiopia

Italy prevailed with the use of bombing and poison

gas

The League of Nations failed to intervene

1936

Rome-Berlin Axis Alliance with Germany

Spanish Civil War Aid sent to the general Francisco Franco, who led a

coup against the Spanish Republic

1937 Anti-Comintern

Pact

Joined the Japan-Germany alliance of 1936 against

the communist Soviet Union

From Fascism to Nazism The NSDAP

The locksmith Anton Drexler founded Germany’s fascist party in 1919

It had the original name of the German Workers Party

The party formed one of many other right-wing organizations that emerged

Drexler never attracted more than 40 party members89

The Army’s Political Department wanted to ensure it did not threaten the republic

It assigned Adolf Hitler to follow the party

Hitler shared Drexler’s disdain for the Weimar government

He joined the party, becoming its leader by 1920

It renamed itself the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP)

This name became abbreviated as the Nazi Party

Hitler modelled the party after Italy’s

7

8

9

Its Blackshirts equivalent was the S.A., or Brownshirts1011

Key Nazi beliefs

Strong leadership Germany’s leader embodied the nation’s strength

Territorial expansion

German entitlement to Eastern Europe’s land and resources –

“lebensraum”, living space

Opposition to the Versailles Treaty

Elimination of

undesirables

Anti-Semitism - prejudice against Jews, at the bottom of a racial

hierarchy along with Eastern Europeans

Superiority of Caucasian Aryans

Considered homosexuals, Romas, and disabled people subhuman12

Its first attempt at taking power proved less successful

Hitler tried to overthrow the Bavarian regional government in the southeast

He planned to use the state as a base from which to march on Berlin

The state government’s military did not defect to the Nazi Party

The failed coup became known as the Beer Hall Putsch

Hitler was charged for treason

A right-wing judge let him off with only five years in prison

He only served a year in the end

The prison time gave Hitler an opportunity to write Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

It served as autobiography and political manifesto

The world economy collapsed in 1929 with the Great Depression

Many unemployed Germans turned against the ineffectual Weimar government

The Nazi Party promised greater certainty and order

Many middle class and young Germans in particular turned to Nazism

The Nazi road to power

September

1930

Nazis win 107 seats in parliamentary elections

January 1932 Nazis become largest party in government

January 30,

1933

Adolf Hitler becomes German chancellor

Conservative politicians hoping this move will keep him in check by gratifying his

desire for power

February 27,

1933

Nazis blame a fire at the Reichstag (Germany’s parliament house) on Communist

saboteurs

February 1933 Reichstag passes the Enabling Act suspending Germany’s constitution for four

years

March 1933 Hitler founds the first concentration camp in Dachau

10

11

12

October 1933 Germany withdraws from the League of Nations

1933

Hitler further consolidates Nazi power

Bans other political parties

Merges labor unions into a Nazi-controlled association13

Bans labor strikes

Imposes Nazi ideology on school syllabi1415

Forms youth movements Hitler Youth and League of German Girls

1935

Nuremberg Laws are passed

Jews denied German citizenship and required to wear the Star of David

“Jewish” given official definition

Marriage between pureblood Germans and Jews banned

Subsequent moves included ban on business ownership, the civil service, law and

university faculty16

March 1935

German openly violates the Treaty of Versailles

Expands military

Conscripts men into the Wehrmacht, the German military

Re-founds the German air force, the Luftwaffe

1936

Germany occupies the demilitarized Rhineland and sends aid to Franco’s forces

in Spain

Trials its new Stuka dive bomber

Provides military advice

In general uses the conflict as a trial run for World War II

Japan and Germany sign the Anti-Comintern17 Pact against the Soviet Union

1937 Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact

November 9,

1938

Germany enacts Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass

Mass destruction of synagogues and Jewish businesses

Retaliation for a Polish Jew’s assassination of a Nazi official in Paris

Anti-Semitism

Jews had been seen as alien to Europe since at least the Middle Ages

They practiced different religions and cultural traditions

Some states forced them to wear distinct clothing or insignia like the Star of David

In Eastern Europe, states often approved pogroms, mass killings of Jews

13

14

15

16

17

http://www.thebreman.org/exhibitions/online/1000kids/propaganda.html

Belarus and Ukraine in the Russian Empire experienced many pogroms in the

nineteenth century

Social Darwinism added a racial element to religious discrimination against Jews

Charles Darwin had developed the theory of natural selection

Anti-Semitics twisted his ideas to promote Nordic racial dominance

Major Anti-Semitic works

Joseph

Arthur,

Comte de

Gobineau

1853 Essay on the

Inequality of the

Human

Distinguished between white, black, and

yellow races

Thought race was central to determining

which human civilizations thrived

Houston

Stewart

Chamberlain

1899 Foundations

of the 19th Century

(vol 1 – 2)

British son in law of anti-Semitic composer

Richard Wagner

Admired Wagner and other German artists

Argued that Aryans, especially Germans,

made Europe great

Did not consider Jewish people German

Eugenicists argued that only the racially superior should be allowed to reproduce

Other inferior peoples should undergo compulsory sterilization18

The 1894 Dreyfus Affair marked a major development in modern anti-Semitism

A Jewish captain in the French army, Alfred Dreyfus, had been convicted of spying for

the German embassy in Paris

Evidence emerged in 1896 that another officer had been the spy

The army acquitted that official and accused Dreyfus of inventing evidence

The Nazi regime took anti-Semitism to new levels

They singled out Jews not just for religious and cultural differences

To Nazis, Jews had innate biological inferiorities

They sought to force Germany’s Jewish population of 500,000 to leave

First, the Nazis excluded Jews from civil society through various laws

Second, they unofficially persecuted Jews with increasing violence

Time Policies Implications

April 1933 Jews banned from civil service due to suspect

loyalties

- Pressure on university faculty to resign

- Mass burnings of Jewish authors’ books

Expanded to law,

medicine, and military

September

1935

Nuremberg

Laws

Jews no longer considered German citizens

Criminalization of sexual relations or marriage

between Germans and Jews

Codified definition of “Jew” as based on lineage

- Required three or four Jewish grandparents

Expanded to apply to

other Germans

- Disabled

- Blacks (Africans)

- Gypsies (Roma)

18

- Even non-practicing or culturally assimilated

Jews considered Jews

1937-8 Ban on Jewish-owned businesses

All Jewish property formally registered

Marking of identity cards with a red J

“Judaification” of non-Jewish names via addition of

middle names

- Israel for men, Sara for women

German acquisitions of

Jewish businesses at

fire-sale prices

1938 Issue of new passports for Jews with a “J” marking

Expulsion of Polish Jewish citizens into Poland

Re-conquest of this

population in 1939

On November 8, 1938, a Jewish refugee assassinated a Nazi official in Paris

The Nazi party ordered its members to provoke supposedly “spontaneous” riots

The resultant night of November 9th to 10th became known as Kristallnacht, the Night

of Broken Glass

Crowds looted Jewish-owned businesses and burned synagogues and houses

They also attacked Jews found on the street, with 91 deaths resulting

The state took advantage of the unrest to arrest 30,000 Jews

They were imprisoned in camps like Dachau and Buchenwald

A meeting on the issue of Jewish refugees took place in July 1938

It became known as the Evian Conference19 after its French site

32 countries attended, including the United States

All declared that they could not receive further German Jews

German Jews continued to flee, with 300,000 leaving the country

However, many of them fell under German rule again during the war

Western governments reacted in shock to Kristallnacht

However, the violence did not convince them to ease immigration restrictions

The road to war: 1938 to 1939

Germany first implemented its expansionist plans in 1938

The Treaty of Versailles forbade the merger of Austria and Germany, called Anschluss

However, Hitler demanded that Austria appoint fascist ministers in February 1938

He ordered an invasion in response to the government’s refusal

Chancellor Schuschnigg resigned

The Nazi collaborator Arthur Seys-Inquart replaced him

He soon turned Austria over to German troops

Neither Great Britain nor France dared resist and risk provoking full-scale warfare

An emboldened Hitler decided to claim Czechoslovak land

The border region of Sudetenland had a majority German population

He believed that all Germans should live within German borders

Germany accused Czechoslovakia of discriminating against Sudeten Germans

It threatened war if Czechoslovakia did not cede the region

Czechoslovakia wanted to refuse as the region formed a main line of defense

The Western powers convened the Munich conference in September 1938

19

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Edouard

Daladier negotiated a resolution

Czechoslovakia surrendered the Sudetenland

Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement received much criticism

However, he gained time for Great Britain to re-arm, particularly its air force

Hitler nevertheless craved full-scale war with the western powers

However, the Soviet Union to the east remained a military threat

Germany had lost World War I due to having to fight on two fronts

Hitler thus negotiated an alliance with the Soviet Union

The two countries signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939

Stalin agreed to this alliance to protect Soviet security

He felt that appeasement failed to halt fascist expansion

The two powers agreed on their plans for Eastern Europe

They secretly divided Polish territory between the two countries

The Polish Corridor became his next target

This 20-mile wide strip of land connected Poland to the Baltic Sea

It also cut Germany off from the region of East Prussia

Many Germans also lived in this corridor

In August 1939, he issued an ultimatum to Poland to relinquish the port of Danzig

Germans in the Polish Corridor also had to vote on becoming part of Germany

The army had started preparing for an invasion on September 1

Poland resisted Hitler’s demands

Great Britain and France had promised their military’s support

Germany accordingly went ahead with its attack

Outbreak of War Poland

Germany divided its assault force in Poland into two groups

Army Group South pushed northeast to the capital Warsaw

Army Group North took the Polish Corridor and then circled behind Warsaw to prevent

Polish troops from fleeing east

Poland fell within days

September 6 Germany forces advance halfway to Warsaw

September 7 Polish military command falls apart

September 17 Soviet invasion on the pretext of defending Russians in eastern

Poland

End September Poland’s government flees to London

This swift campaign became known outside Germany as Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war"

It required large numbers of tanks and aerial support to surprise and punch quickly

through enemy lines

Infantry troops would then take care of the dispersed enemy forces

Later German offensives had even more closely coordinated land and aerial attacks

Balance of forces

Military size Killed Wounded Captured

Germany 54 divisions - nearly 1.5 million men

~ 2,000 aircraft

11,000 30,000 3,400

(missing)

Poland 30 divisions - ~ 1 million men

313 aircraft

Inferior resources, especially armor and

mechanized divisions

70,000 30,000 700,000

Soviet troops treated its conquered region brutally

Stalin and the Politburo ordered the Katyn Forest massacre

Secret police members killed 22,000 Poles from April to May 1940

Most had been military officers or intellectuals

Germany found their mass graves in 1943

The London exile government asked the Red Cross to investigate

Stalin responded by severing ties with the London Poles

Germany’s swift victory caused Great Britain and France to realize their underestimation of

Hitler’s forces

They had hoped a simple economic blockade would defeat Germany

The victory ignited debate in the United States over whether to join the war

The Phoney War

Hitler planned to invade France in mid-November 1939

His October 9 missive set a date for the invasion

However, the invasion had to be postponed due to bad weather

The conditions would hamper the Luftwaffe

A late invasion would give the army too little time

The eventual date was set at May 1940

France and Great Britain also remained inactive throughout this period

The quiet on both fronts led to the terms “Phoney War” and “Sitzkrieg”

The main action took place between the navies

Germany stationed two battleships and 16 submarines (U-boats) in the Atlantic

It sank Britain’s Royal Oak battleship on October 14, 1939, at the Scapa Flow base

in Scotland

Many commercial liners also fell to the German navy

In exchange, the Allies sank the Graf Spee near Argentina and Uruguay’s post

The Allies made a major intelligence breakthrough in the Ultra program

Poland had started decoding Germany’s naval radio codes

Germany used the Enigma cipher for these codes

The Allies built on Poland’s work to eventually decipher the Enigma messages

The Winter War

The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939 to expand its border regions

Finland refused to cede land from which the Soviet Union could defend Leningrad

The Soviet military had much greater numbers and equipment

However, many of their top leaders had died in Stalin’s purges

They also lacked experience in Finnish winter conditions

Finland held out until March 1940, signing the Moscow Peace Treaty

In addition to Stalin’s original demands, it confiscated more land and economic

resources

The war drained the Soviet Union’s resources

Its difficulties shook Western estimations of its military

The Allies also perceived the Soviet Union as an aggressor in the war

Finland’s surrender meant that the Allies did not send troops to northern Scandinavia

Doing so would have placed Sweden’s iron ore under threat

Germany would have invaded Norway in response, rather than later in 1940

Domestic response forced Edouard Daladier to resign in March 1940

The Laval government succeeded him20

American attitudes towards the war

Many Americans held isolationist viewpoints

They thought Wilson’s idealistic view of peace after World War I had failed

Some held pacifist or religious anti-war views

20

Others believed war acted simply as an excuse for corporate profit

The 1935 Nye Committee had made such a suggestion

This committee had the full name of the Senate Special Committee

Investigating the Munitions Industry

Still more people distrusted the European great powers

Congress passed four Neutrality Acts from 1935 to 1939

United States’ Neutrality Acts

1935

Banned exporting arms to countries in a state of war

Limited such countries’ submarine access to American ports

Permitted the president to consider Americans on such countries’ ships

as travelling at their own risk

Was placed temporarily in effect for six-month

1936 Renewed act until May 1, 1937

Added additional amendment forbidding loans to countries at war

1937

Banned Americans sailing on the ships of countries at war

Banned arming American commercial ships

Conceded Roosevelt the cash-and-carry policy to Roosevelt

Sale of war resources allowed, apart from lethal weapons

Purchaser countries had to pay in cash and handle transport

1939 Extended cash-and-carry policy to weaponry

Prohibited American ships from war zones

By 1939, many Americans had changed their position

They opposed Germany but did not want to be directly involved

President Roosevelt believed the United States would have to aid the Allies

Prelude to Case Yellow

Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940

It wanted to preempt an Allied attack on northern Germany

Denmark surrendered rapidly, offering Germany three advantages

(1) Germany could control the Baltic Sea

(2) It could access Sweden’s iron ore

(3) Denmark provided a base for the Luftwaffe to invade Norway

The Norway campaign proved more difficult but also more successful

German U-boats could enter the Baltic, circumventing Great Britain’s blockade

However, its occupation of Norway diverted resources from other fronts

Germany overestimated the importance of Norway’s submarine bases

The invasion consumed most of its surface fleet

Public reactions to Norway’s fall forced Neville Chamberlain to resign

Winston Churchill succeeded him as Prime Minister

The Allies thought that Germany would invade via Belgium, as in World War I

France’s Maginot Line of fortifications deterred potential attack

However, these forts had not been designed for counterattacking

They proved redundant once German forces had circumvented them

Germany planned to do so by punching through a gap in the Maginot Line

This gap lay in the Ardennes Forest along the 250-mile border with Belgium

France had run out of funds to fortify this region

It also did not want to give Belgium the impression that France intended to fall

back on the forts and abandon Belgium

France assumed that the difficult terrain would deter German troops

The fall of France

Germany gave its invasion of France the code name Case Yellow

The invasion started on May 10, 1940

Germany simultaneously attacked Belgium and the Netherlands

The Dutch government fled to Great Britain on May 13

Belgium’s military tried to hold out independent of French and British aid

They rightly suspected the latter planned to support Belgium only to buy time

to prepare their own defenses

Germany planned to draw French and British troops north to Belgium

Its armored units would push through the Ardennes and circle the Allies’ rear

Fighting occurred along the Meuse River in the Ardennes from May 13 to 15

However, the Allies mistook the Meuse front for a feint

Erwin Rommel’s troops broke through French lines by May 15

Allied defenses in Belgium faltered

Germany’s success caused French troops to panic

The German army reached the French coast by May 21

It surrounded the French army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

Great Britain had planned for this eventuality and ordered a retreat to Dunkirk

France opposed the planned evacuation

However, the British evacuation helped preserve its forces for later battles

Germany did not close off the channel to England until June

Total evacuations

May 29 70,000 evacuated

May 31 194,000

June 2-3 350,000, including French troops

After the BEF withdrew, Germany outnumbered the Allies 3:1

On 10 June, Italy joined in the war and attacked from the south

Henri Phillipe Petain assumed French leadership on June 16

He signed a surrender on June 22

Germany occupied the north of France and its Atlantic coast

France had to make major reparation payments

Germany did not press for French overseas colonies or its naval forces

The French navy could easily seek British refuge

It did not have the resources to invade France’s colonies

Petain became the head of Vichy France, a nominally free state in the south

Vichy refers to the name of its capital city

Charles de Gaulle and other generals continued the war from Africa

Their Free France movement fought Vichy France’s troops

Petain assumed dictatorial powers and followed Nazi anti-Semitic policies

Norway, Ukraine, and Lithuania also had collaborator governments

Churchill ordered a naval and aerial attack on the port of Mers-el-Kebir

The port lay in French Algeria

He wanted to ensure Germany did not use French naval resources

Great Britain sank one French battleship, damaged five, and killed almost 1,200 soldiers

In response, Petain cut diplomatic ties with Great Britain

He also ordered attacks on British Gibraltar

Battle of Britain

Germany codenamed its invasion of Great Britain Operation Sea Lion

It required German control of the English Channel’s airspace

Hitler issued specific orders to the Luftwaffe to this effect on July 16, 1940

This plan failed for several reasons

The Luftwaffe lacked a clear strategy for attacking the Royal Air Force (RAF)

It gave the RAF chances to regroup at important points

The RAF could save fuel and men when fighting on its own soil

Pilots who evacuated found themselves on friendly territory

Luftwaffe pilots would be captured by the British

Great Britain’s eastern coast contained 50 radar stations

They could find out the direction, altitude, and size of Luftwaffe attacks

Radar had been developed at Great Britain’s National Physical Laboratory

The RAF consequently enjoyed cutting-edge radar technology

British plane production also outpaced Germany’s

It thus had 600 fighters in action, the same number as the Luftwaffe

The fight for air superiority became known as the Battle of Britain

Phases of the Battle of Britain

early July – early August fight for the English Channel

August 13 – 18 dogfights over southeastern Britain

August – early September bombing of RAF bases

September 7 – 30 London bombings

October various skirmishes

The battle remained closely fought throughout

Hitler’s intervention in September relieved the RAF of constant bombing

Hitler wanted more immediate results and ordered that London be targeted

He hoped that the bombings would damage morale

In fact, they strengthened British will to resist

The RAF used this period to repair their air bases

Germany postponed Operation Sea Lion on September 17

The Luftwaffe switched to night raids to reduce losses

Eventually, Hitler called off the invasion altogether

Germany lost around 600 bombers and 668 fighters

The RAF lost 832 fighters

America on the sidelines

By the end of 1941, American opinion had swung away from pacifism

The country had deep historical ties with Europe

After France fell, Great Britain’s survival appeared vital to American security

President Roosevelt effectively brought the country into the war for the Allies

From neutrality to war

September 1940

Destroyers for

Bases agreement

Provided UK with 50 World War I era destroyers to counter U-

Boats

In return, gave United States leases to British holdings in the

Americas21

Lend-Lease

Proposed after Roosevelt won a third term

Allowed the president to provide war resources to any country

whose survival he declared necessary to that of the United

States

Enabled the United States to become the Allies’ main

suppliers

March 1941 ABC-1

Conference

Brought American and British officials together for agreement

on the Europe First strategy

Resulted in U.S. agreement to focus on defeating Germany

before it addressed Pacific front against Japan

August 1941

Roosevelt-Churchill

meeting

Inaugurated a close relationship between the leaders

Resulted in the Atlantic Charter articulating the countries’ aims

Committed both countries to self-determination, free trade,

and global collaboration

Roosevelt dispatched ships to escort British convoys in the North Atlantic

The authorization to fire on German U-boats effectively declared war

Germany retaliated by sinking destroyer USS Reuben James on October 31, 1941

115 Americans died

The Battle of the Atlantic

The Allies fought to keep their Atlantic lines open against German submarines

U-boats operated in ‘wolfpacks’, groups that worked together to attack convoys

Period Focus of U-boat attacks

September 1939 – June 1940 British shore

June 1940 – April 1941 Eastern Atlantic, to cut off British supplies to west

and south Africa

April 1941 – December 1941 Extension into central-western Atlantic

December 1941 onwards Off the American coast

1942 was a turning point in the battle

U-boats inflicted major losses on Great Britain, with 300 deployed

They hindered Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union from 1941 to spring 1943

The Allies lost 509,000 tons of shipping in November, their largest since May 1941

By 1943, the Allies could produce enough ships to replace all losses

New Liberty ships could be completed in three months

They also sank an average of 15 submarines a month, as many as Germany constructed

21

Germany failed to eliminate Great Britain as a base from which the Allies could invade

Europe

Allied strategy Result

Improved naval codebreaking Germany concedes defeat

in May 1943 and

withdraws its navy from

the Atlantic.

More escort groups to support convoys

More effective radar, sonar, and depth charges

Use of long-range aircraft, such as the B-24 Liberator bomber

The Eastern Front Prelude to invasion

Mussolini had great ambitions for Italy

He wanted to invade on many fronts simultaneously: Yugoslavia and Greece, French

Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean

The military lacked a strategy and remained underequipped for war

Mussolini decided to attack British Egypt and push towards the Suez Canal

The canal connected Great Britain to its Indian and Pacific colonies

He ignored the warnings of his generals in Libya

The invasion started in September 1940 along the coast to Egypt

Great Britain withdrew to reduce losses

Italy ground to a halt along the coast at Sidi Barrani by mid-September

Their advance strung out their supply and communication lines

It also exposed their armies to attack from the south

At the same time, Great Britain sent more tanks to Egypt

Great Britain counterattacked in December

It had additional troops from India and the Commonwealth

Italy crumbled unexpectedly quickly and retreated to Libya

Their withdrawal placed Great Britain on the offensive in North Africa

Mussolini feared that Germany would dominate Eastern Europe

He ordered an attack on Greece on October 28, 1940

Greece repelled Italy by mid-December

Worse, it took a quarter of Italian Albania

Germany came to Italy’s aid

Great Britain had transferred troops to Greece in early February from North Africa

Greek defenses nevertheless crumbled

Great Britain evacuated its troops by sea

Germany’s Luftwaffe then led an attack on British-held Crete

After two weeks, the island fell in late May

Operation Barbarossa

Germany then amassed its invasion force in Bulgaria in January 1941

It planned to launch the attack in the summer of 1941

However, it had to quell Yugoslavia first

Yugoslavia’s neutral government had been overthrown by pro-British leaders

Germany invaded the country in April, while also starting an offensive in Greece

They took the capital Belgrade on April 12

The government signed an armistice on April 17

Yugoslav resistance plagued Germany for the rest of the war

Serbian Chetniks withdrew to the hills

Josef Tito led a Communist partisan movement

German military planners hoped for a rapid surrender by the Soviet government

They would otherwise have to chase Soviet forces deep into the interior

The invasion accordingly had a short timeline

Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941

The Soviet military showed no signs of collapse by late July

Germany had to plan for additional troops to reinforce its front

It could not attack on all three prongs again but instead divided its forces into two

A northern attack on Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) ended in prolonged siege

The southern attack on Kiev captured 600,000 Soviet troops

However, the Soviet army counterattacked successfully

Hitler then changed the offensive’s focus to Moscow

This offensive proved similarly unsuccessful

1941 ended in stalemate, with the tide turning in the Soviets’ favor

Factors helping

the Soviets

recover

Successful evacuation of factories eastward to keep up war production

Spies’ information that Japan would not attack Siberia, letting the Soviets

reinforce the Western front instead

Support from the United States’ Lend-Lease aid, including tanks, artillery, but

most importantly trucks and jeeps to move troops

The tide turns

Germany had resources only to concentrate on one sector along the Soviet front

They decided to make a push in the south

It had better weather and hence a longer operating window

The south also contained important resources like the Caucasus oil fields

The offensive started in May at the Crimean Peninsula

They then struck southeast in the three-phase Operation Blau from June 28

The plan had a major flaw in that it lacked troops to protect the army’s flanks

Germany used troops from Hungary, Romania, and Italy to fill these gaps

The offensive advanced quickly on Voronezh

The Soviet military retreated quickly to avoid capture

German supply lines stretched thin due to its speed

Hitler directed the military to target Stalingrad, now Volgograd, instead on July 19

He ordered this change not for strategic reasons but for the symbolic value of

capturing “Stalin’s” city

The Sixth Army marched on the city in late July

3 million troops, plus 500,000

allied troops, plus 2,700 planes

Three prongs of

attack: north, central,

south

Central prong captured

600,000 Soviet troops by

mid-July

Soviet troops withdrew

more quickly in the north

and south

Civilians fortified the city rapidly, aided with troops pulled from the front

The Luftwaffe destroyed many buildings on September 3

The resultant rubble provided useful defensive positions

September to November saw intensive and costly street battles

The command structure fell apart, with troops essentially fighting for their survival

Hitler proclaimed victory on November 8, but Germany’s position remained weak

It had thrown its best troops into Stalingrad

Poorly trained Romanian troops guarded the rear

The Soviet Union launched Operation Uranus on November 19 and 20

It had maintained minimal troops in Stalingrad and built up forces around the city

The military cut through Romanian defenses to the north and south of the city

They encircled Stalingrad on November 24, cutting the Sixth Army’s supply lines

Hitler refused to let the army withdraw and cut its losses

The Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering falsely claimed that airdrops alone could

sustain the army

The German relief effort in early December failed

Soviet troops assaulted the city in January 1943

Germany held out for five days despite lacking supplies and reinforcements

Their defenses faltered by January 15

Southern Stalingrad surrendered on January 31, and the remainder on February 222

The cost of Stalingrad

Germans and Romanians Soviets

147,000 dead

91,000 prisoners

Approximately 800,000 wounded

Up to 500,000 dead

Another 600,000 wounded or missing

The Soviets had won the advantage permanently

In late January and February, the Soviets launched three further offensives

They caused heavy damage but failed to dislodge the Germans

The attacks lacked the focus of Stalingrad’s

They often took territory the Germans did not consider important to defend.

The Soviet military outdistanced its supply lines

Germans amassed forces for a major counter-offensive launched on February 20

It encircled the Soviet army and captured many, forcing a Soviet retreat

From March 1 to 5, they averaged a ten-mil e advance daily

Germany halted the attack on March 21 due to the spring rains

It marked the last successful German offensive in the east

The final lines basically replicated those of 1942

However, the Soviet lines at Kursk had a ‘bulge’, or salient

Germany decided to attack this weak point in the summer

The Soviets anticipated this offensive and reinforced Kursk with many troops

The German offensive became one of the largest battles of the war

22

OPERATION CITADEL

German forces Soviet forces

435,000 troops

9,960 artillery guns

3,155 tanks

1 million troops

13,013 artillery

3,275 tanks

Reserves of 500,000 troops and 1,500 tanks

July 5 German attacks to north and south of salient

Northern force took a while to break through and met with a

secondary Soviet defensive line a few miles further in

Southern prong also eventually halted

July 11 Germany surrounds and eliminates a sizable Soviet force

July 12 Soviet reserves counter-attack

Largest tank battle ever, with 1,200 tanks involved

400 Soviet tanks destroyed and 320 German tanks lost

Neither side won, but Soviets prevent a German breakthrough

Hitler halts the offensive due to the Allied invasion of Italy

By this point, the Soviet Union had mobilized 5.7 million troops, 7,800 tanks, extensive

artillery, and sufficient trucks to move its forces

They reattacked in the central and south of Russia

In October 1943, the Soviets advanced into Ukraine, forcing Germany to retreat

They launched Operation Bagration in June 1944 in Belarus

New Lend-Lease vehicles enabled them to push further

However, by the start of August they had stretched their supply lines

In the north and central sectors, the army had to go on the defensive after it

occupied the Baltics and part of Poland

In August 1944, the Red Army approached Warsaw

The Polish Home Army resistance movement saw an opportunity to revolt against the

45,000 German troops stationed there

The Warsaw Uprising started on August 1

The Home Army lacked equipment and ammunition

They managed to achieve a rough stalemate with Germany by late August

Soviet inaction doomed the anti-Communist Home Army

By mid-September, only 1,200 Polish Soviet troops had come to Warsaw’s aid

The Soviet air force also did not aid the Home Army

The uprising’s defeat helped Stalin establish his preferred government in power

The Soviets moved into the Balkans in late August, defeating Romania, Bulgaria, and

Yugoslavia

Hungary surrendered in October

The Mediterranean and Southern Europe Afrika Korps

Hitler had offered to reinforce Italy in North Africa in September 1940

Mussolini initially rejected this aid but reversed his position by February 1941

Germany appointed Erwin Rommel to lead the Afrika Korps

His orders were to defend Libya from Great Britain

Instead, he went on the attack and pushed into British-held Egypt

His success offered the possibility of taking the Suez Canal

Germany hoped to move its troops into the Middle East and punch up into

southern Russia

However, it did not have reinforcements to aid Rommel’s offensive

In June 1941, Great Britain launched Operation Battleaxe on the Libya-Egypt border

Their haphazard attacks allowed Rommel to encircle the British army instead

The army escaped only by withdrawing from the front

The British regrouped and attacked again in November’s Operation Crusader

They had four times the number of Rommel’s tanks but did not use them efficiently

The Korps easily fended off their attacks and damaged British numbers

Germany resupplied Rommel in early 1942, providing him with transport planes at the

expense of the Russian front

Rommel re-attacked British troops in January, pushing them to the Gazala Line

The campaign paused for four months during the winter rain

Great Britain remained in a vulnerable position in Africa

Their positions were not connected to each other

They expected Rommel to attack their central positions and left their flank exposed

as a result

Rommel took advantage of this weakness, dispersing Indian and British troops on May

26 and 27

However, he made a tactical error in moving north to the coast

Rommel hoped to cut off the British retreat into Egypt, but instead came up against

British tanks

He withdrew from battle, allowing the British to resupply

Nevertheless, the Korps went on the offensive again from June 5 to 12

The British lost their tank advantage

Rommel sought permission to invade Egypt

He failed to take into account the lack of resources to do so

Great Britain had fortified El Alamein, 70 miles out from Alexandria

Their defensive line could not be attacked from north or south

It terminated in the Mediterranean to the north

Its southern end, the Qattara Depression, was a large salt sea

Tanks could not enter the depression

Rommel attacked in early July to no avail in the first Battle of El Alamein

The battle nevertheless prompted Great Britain to appoint a new commander, Bernard

Law Montgomery 23

He saw that Great Britain had to meet Rommel on more favorable grounds

It needed to make use of its greater weaponry and numbers

He hence reinforced El Alamein’s defenses and supplies, holding off Rommel’s attack

in late August but advancing no further

British : German numbers by

late October

4:1 troops

3:1 tanks

23

4:1 aircraft

Montgomery ordered an attack on October 23

Rommel only returned from his treatment for jaundice in Germany on October 25

The British took great losses but won by attrition of German forces

The Korps retreated from November 3 to 4

Operation Torch

On November 8, a British–American force launched Operation Torch

It involved amphibious landings in Morocco and Algeria

The offensive had been planned at a July conference in London

American views British views

Continental

invasion

Invade France from the

Channel in 1942

Attacking Germany directly

would end the war more

quickly

American troops had not been

fully mobilized

British military could not afford to

bear the brunt of the invasion

North

African

invasion

Opposed by George C

Marshall, Chief of Staff

Did not want to delay

European invasion until 1944

Taking North Africa would ease its

position in Egypt and let the Allies

strike up through southern Europe

Roosevelt resolved the dispute by stating that the military had to see action

The American public needed proof that the Europe First strategy bore fruit

The Operation Torch landings occurred in Vichy French-held territory

The Allies had made contact with anti-Vichy General Henri Giraud in Algeria

However, Giraud could not win over the Vichy forces entirely

Many Vichy forces in Algeria resisted the landings

However, their commander Admiral François Darlan had just arrived in Algiers

He agreed to declare an armistice

The Allies enjoyed good leaders in George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower

The latter oversaw all Allied landings

He had the rare ability to mediate between the American and the British24

The Torch forces prepared to move inland

Hitler retaliated with demand that German troops be given full run of Tunisia

By November 16, the military moved into Tunisia

The military also occupied southern France

The Tunisian forces had to retain the eastern Atlas Mountains

The stage was set for a 1943 reckoning

German brought nearly 250,000 men into Tunisia in late 1942

The Korps withdrew from Libya into Tunisia

They defended the eastern Atlas mountains from the British Eighth Army

Jurgen von Arnim’s forces held the west against the American forces

24

Battle for North Africa: 1943

January Several sorties against the French and Americans leave them in disarray

Mid-

February

Attack on American II Corps expels them from Faïd Pass

Offensive against the western Atlas mountains

Major battle at Kasserine Pass against untested American troops pushes

Allies back 50 miles

Further losses are averted through backup from British armor and

American 9th Division artillery

George Patton is appointed new commander

March Ultra reports show that Germany has severe troops and resource

shortages

Rommel returns to Germany for more medical treatment

Successful Allied attack carried out on Libya-Tunisia border

Allied aerial and sea attacks prevent German convoys or airlifts from

resupplying the Korps

Late April German troops are hemmed in to a small pocket in Tunisia

May 8 Luftwaffe abandons North African front

May 13 Germany surrenders

Casablanca Conference

The Allies planned an invasion of Europe in 1943

They met in Casablanca, Morocco from January 14 to 24

Participants • French generals Henri Giraud, Charles de Gaulle

• American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Stalin did not attend

However, he indicated that he wanted plans for an invasion of France to move ahead

George Marshall, among others, agreed

However, the invasion remained impractical given the ongoing Tunisian battles

Great Britain maintained that the Mediterranean front would allow them to force

Italy into surrender

Results of the Casablanca conference

United

States

agreed to:

carry out Operation Husky, an invasion of Sicily

limit attacks on Germany to aerial bombing

build up forces for French invasion

Britain

agreed to

let more forces join the Pacific front

Both agree

to

prioritize German submarine threat

hold to a policy of unconditional surrender and not reach a separate peace agreement

Reassured Stalin

Appeased public indignant over cooperation with Darlan

Announced by Roosevelt on January 24

The May 1943 Trident Conference in Washington finalized plans for the invasion

The United States agreed it would continue to fight in the Mediterranean after taking

Sicily

Great Britain agreed to set a date for the invasion of France on May 1, 1944

The landings started on July 10, 1943

Montgomery’s Eighth Army landed in southeast Sicily

They pushed north towards Messina, in the northeast

This route would prevent Axis troops from retreating

Germany had redeployed troops here, slowing Montgomery’s advance

The American Seventh Army under Patton shielded the Eighth Army from the west

Patton did not want to be outdone by the Eighth Army

He captured Palermo in the north

The army then advanced towards Messina

Both armies met with fierce German resistance

They had to use amphibious landings to

break the German defense

The invasion caused Mussolini’s fall

The king25 asked him to resign on July 25 and

had Mussolini arrested

Marshal Pietro Badoglio became Prime

Minister

He declared allegiance to Germany but

opened secret negotiations with the Allies

From Operation Husky to stalemate in Italy

August 11 German troops withdraw across Strait of Messina into Italy

August 17 Allied forces enter Messina

September 5 Eighth Army (Montgomery) lands on the “toe” of Italy

September 926:

Operation

Avalanche

Fifth Army (Mark Clark) lands near Salerno, southern Italy

German troops resist and are quelled by artillery

American airborne division and British armor reinforcements arrive

Mid-late

September

Germans carry out plans for strategic withdrawal

Seize major areas of central and northern Italy

Create defensive line in south

Retreat northward while dynamiting bridges to slow the Allies

25

26

October 1 Allies take Naples and the Foggia airfields, putting their bombers in

range of southern Germany

January Allied forces reach the Gustav Line, the German defensive position

centered on the Monte Cassino monastery

Subsequent battles in Italy moved slowly, resembling World War I’s trench fighting

The Allies relied mainly on massive artillery attacks

They could not attack the Gustav Line directly

Instead, they planned an amphibious landing to encircle the Germans’ rear

This landing took place on January 22 at the port of Anzio

The port lies 40 miles southwest of Rome

They hoped to block supply lines to the southern Gustav Line

Germany would then have to pull back its troops

The Allies took the Germans by surprise

However, they gave Germany time to regroup after landing

Clark and the landing commander John Lucas halted the advance to establish a

defense perimeter

By the end of January, they faced eight German divisions

The Anzio forces remained encircled until the May offensive

The Allies then resorted to aerial attacks against Germany

They bombed the historic Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino

Intelligence suggested Germany used the monastery for artillery observation

Destroying this cultural landmark provided no advantage

Instead, the German troops used its rubble as defensive fortifications

The next major push on May 11 involved a reinforced American Fifth Army and British

Eighth Army

It made little headway despite a large advantage in weaponry

However, Free French forces broke through in difficult, mountainous terrain

They circled the German rear and stopped them from retreating

The Anzio troops broke out towards the major crossroads at Valmontone

They gained the upper hand from May 23 to 25

However, Clark diverted his troops to take Rome on June 4

He wanted a symbolic and public victory

Leaving Valmontone in German hands allowed them to retreat

They set up a new perimeter, the Gothic Line, to Florence’s north

The Allies lost the opportunity to reach Austria before 1945

They had also lost reserves to the planned invasion of France

Clark tried to push through the Po River Valley in August

Another September attack at Bologna further depleted his force

No further headway occurred until April 1945

Liberation of Europe Preparation

The Allies carried out strategic bombing from Great Britain and then Italy

It sought to disrupt war production and damage civilian morale

These tactics had originated from 1920s planning

The fall of France of 1940 meant that bombing formed the only war Great Britain could

attack Germany

From 1941, RAF bombed oil refineries and similar locations

They preferred night raids to reduce casualties from German fighters and anti-aircraft

fire

The timing compromised their accuracy

The RAF saw strategic bombing as a strike on morale, rather than as a means of

destroying specific war targets

The American Army Air Corps also took part in the campaign

However, they favored precision bombing of strategic economic targets in the day

In 1943, large-scale American raids of German factories took enormous losses

One attack on the ball bearing factory at Schweinfurt cost 60 aircraft

This figure equaled over 10% of American aircraft and 17% of bomber crews

Their campaign started to seriously damage German transport and industry

The Luftwaffe declined from late 1943 onwards

New long-range fighters could escort bombers through the entire attack

The British and Americans could carry out attacks around the clock

The bombing campaign did not fulfil its role as a crucial decider of the war

It did help prevent Germany from resisting the Allied advances in 1944 and 1945

The campaign raised serious ethical concerns as it targeted civilians

Dresden came under four Allied raids from February 13 to 15, 1945

The ensuing fire storm killed up to 25,000

Germany described the attacks as terrorism

The Allies disagreed, claiming that Dresden constituted a legitimate military target

Operation Overlord

Initial plans for invading France had a targeted date of May 1, 1944

They would be postponed to June 4 to 6

British planners first proposed using three divisions and one airborne division

Eisenhower and other Mediterranean commanders significantly altered the idea

Operation Overlord involved five land divisions and three airborne divisions

The landings needed to take place on open beaches, not a port city

The Allies would have room to maneuver and build up forces

Two main options presented themselves for the landing site

Pas de Calais had better terrain and offered the quickest route into Germany

The Normandy peninsula lay further from Germany but was less easy to attack from

the south

The German Army had been depleted by the Russian front by early 1944

However, Hitler turned to the Allied invasion in earnest

Most German commanders thought the invasion would occur at the Pas de Calais

Divided views about the coastal defense

Commander Erwin Rommel Gerd von Rundstedt

Responsibility In charge of defending the

French coast

Overall commander of the Western

front

View immediately counterattack on

the beaches

Hold reserves back, counterattack

once Allies came inland

Hitler vacillated between strategies

Instead, he brought the reserves under his immediate leadership

This decision would slow any response to the Allied landings

Allied air forces destroyed much of northern France’s railways and roads from April to

September 1944

They wanted to slow German movement to the landing sites

The Allies would take longer to build up their forces

The weather suddenly deteriorated on June 4, forcing a postponement

However, tidal circumstances required landing to go ahead by June 6

Improved conditions allowed Eisenhower to launch the attack on that day

Three airborne divisions, two American and one British, set off in the evening of June 5

and landed by midnight

The British airborne division landed on target and secured its beach

Americans faced heavy cloud cover and German anti-aircraft fire, forcing them to land

in a dispersed area

Germany also could not pinpoint the landing sites as a result

Omaha’s landings nearly failed despite naval support fire

Germany responded slowly, expecting a Pas de Calais landing

Allied bombings had ravaged its transport system

Landings slowed as the beaches became more crowded

The Normandy peninsula and the Cherbourg port had fallen to the Allies by July

German sabotage prevented the port from functioning until late September

The Allies also faced difficult terrain and ground to a halt by the month’s end

Normandy’s rural bocage contained easily defensible stone walls, thick hedgerows,

and small open fields

Additional complicating factors intervened

A group of military leaders tried to carry out Operation Valkyrie, a succession plan

They adapted the plan into an assassination of Hitler

They would then open negotiations with the Allies

The attempt failed

On June 12, Germany launched its first V-1 guided missile against Great Britain

The first V-2 rocket, a guided ballistic missile, landed on September 8

Scientists Werner von Braun and Walter Dornberger developed the missiles

The rockets, based in northern France and the Netherlands, seemed a major threat

However, they came too late to make much difference

Operation Overlord: Quick Hits

Largest amphibious operation

ever

Over 150,000

men on the

first day

7,000 ships

and 12,000

aircraft

Involved five

beachheads

Utah, Omaha,

Gold, Juno,

and Sword

Most difficult and crucial: Omaha

Overlooked by

cliffs of over

200 feet

Connected the

Allied zones

Both weapons exemplify the war’s leaps in technological understanding

Another notable example was the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher

On July 25, American forces under Omar Bradley started Operation Cobra

This targeted attack hoped to break out of the Normandy front

Intense Allied bombing cut German defenses at several points, threatening its collapse

However, the Allies failed to destroy the German defense by advancing westward

Moving east instead would have let them capture northern France

In early August, the Americans nearly captured the Falaise pocket

However, Bradley failed to ensure that Patton’s troops completed the encirclement

Almost 50,000 Germans escaped via Falaise

They reconstituted their units to the west

On August 15, the Allies carried out a second invasion in southern France

Operation Dragoon aimed to connect the American and British fronts

It took the port of Marseille, easing supply issues in late 1944

Commanders disagreed over how to proceed from that point

Montgomery argued for a single targeted attack under his command in the north

Eisenhower wanted to advance along the whole front

He thought a consolidated force would create political disputes

He also worried about supply issues, especially of fuel

Eisenhower pushed for Montgomery to capture Antwerp’s port in September

Montgomery instead attempted to carry out an offensive that would drive into northern

Germany

He took Antwerp by September 5 but could not use it until he also had control of the

Scheldt River

Many German forces retreated along this river and set up a defensive line along the

Dutch–Belgian border

Operation Market Garden would try to break through and across the Rhine River

Three Allied airborne divisions dropped behind German lines to take bridges

They faced veteran German units who were there to resupply and recover

There were also armored units in reserve

The operation launched on September 17 and immediately ran into trouble

The seasoned American troops had easier landing areas

Meanwhile, the British 1st Airborne Division had to secure the bridges at Arnhem

They landed nearly six miles from the bridges and received only one supply drop

per day

Infantry reinforcements arrived only slowly from the south

Germany savaged the division in the meantime, causing 8,000 casualties

In contrast, the American airborne divisions together suffered only 1,500

In October, the Allies had practically halted due to fuel shortages

Germany planned a counterattack on a salient, known as the Battle of the Bulge

It struck through the Ardennes at Antwerp

They outnumbered their enemy three to one by mid-December

The Allied forces at that front were also newly deployed or fresh from areas of

heavy fighting

Bad weather also prevented Allied airpower from intervening

Battle of the Bulge

December 16,

1944

Massive artillery attacks take place along Ardennes

German advance forces American retreat

No major breakthroughs, but salient stretches precariously thin

Bastogne road junction becomes key point of battle

101st Airborne Division reinforces town

December 19 Americans secure Bastogne

December 23

Germans cut off Bastogne

Weather clears; Allied bombers cut off German lines

Allies move supplies into salient

December 26 Patton’s Third Army breaks through to Bastogne

The salient disappeared by February 1945

An American-Canadian attack forced Germany across the Rhine in February

However, they failed to pursue German troops

The Wehrmacht blew up bridges across the river

Montgomery insisted that British troops cross the Rhine simultaneously

Americans captured Cologne by early March and advanced to Bonn on the Rhine

They attacked Remagen to the south on March 7

It had a railroad bridge across the river that Germany failed to blow up

American troops on the ground took advantage and secured the bridge ahead of

commanding orders

The Third Army continued to advance southward on the west bank of the Rhine

Hitler insisted that the Wehrmacht not retreat at any point

Consequently, Patton’s forces took more than 100,000 prisoners

Allied forces reached central Germany by April

They took 317,000 prisoners in the Ruhr area but stopped short of Berlin

Some historians argue that taking Berlin would have lessened the Cold War

However, Eisenhower did not want to sacrifice his troops for a city the Soviet Union

would occupy after the war

Mid-January saw the final Soviet push on Germany

It had four million troops, 9,800 tanks, and more than 40,000 artillery guns

It first targeted the industrial region of Silesia, Poland

Armored divisions advanced 20 to 30 miles per day

The Red Army entered Germany in February

Many troops took revenge for German brutality in 1941

Mass rape, murder, looting, and other destructive rampages occurred

Hitler retreated to a bunker near the Reich Chancellery as the Soviets approached

Battle for Berlin

February

Soviet army halts 50 miles from Berlin to

Resupply troops

Wait for Yalta Conference to conclude

Ensure flanks were not vulnerable to German attack

April 16 Soviet offensive marches against outnumbered and under-armed German

forces in Berlin

April 21 Soviet tanks enter northern Berlin

House-to-house fighting occurs, similar to that of Stalingrad

April 25 Berlin is fully encircled

April 26 Massive Allied artillery barrage takes place

Soviet attack on central Berlin involves 464,000 troops and 1,500 tanks

April 27 German territory is reduced to a thin strip of land

April 29

Soviet forces a quarter mile from Hitler’s bunker

Hitler dictates his political testament, appointing Admiral Karl Dönitz his

successor

April 30 Hitler commits suicide

May 2 Berlin defenders surrender

German army in Italy surrenders

May 3 German army in northern Germany, Netherlands, and Denmark surrenders

May 7 Dönitz approves general surrender

May 10 Allies accept German surrender in Berlin

The Soviets suffered almost 305,000 casualties in their assault on Berlin

This figure represented 10% of their troops

War’s Openings Sino-Japanese conflict

The exact start of World War II in the east remains disputed

1937 marks Japan’s first planned military action

China had then been embroiled in a civil war

Its nationalist government fought Mao Zedong’s communists

The two temporarily united against the Japanese threat

Japan had slowly expanded around Manchukuo after 1931

However, these annexations remained smaller-scale and less public

Marco Polo Bridge Incident

July 7, 1937

Skirmish at Marco

Polo Bridge, near

Peking (Beijing)

Chinese troops fired on Japanese carrying out night maneuvers

Japanese fired back

Both sides agreed it had been a mistake and called a truce

Just then, more Chinese troops attacked

Japan counterattacked and then withdrew in the morning

Impact Japan initially wanted to let its troops negotiate on the ground

Some army officers fought to send more troops into China

Avoid showing weakness

Deter China from trying to attack Manchukuo and then

Japan-held Korea or Japan proper

July 25 Japan occupies Nanking

Many Japanese officers thought they could defeat China within three months

The army gave especially optimistic estimates

They quickly seized much of northern China

Japan took Nanking, now Nanjing, in 1937

The city lies in central-eastern China

Two months of looting, rape, mass murder, and pillage ensued

It became known as the rape of Nanking, the first major war crime of the conflict

Chinese and western observers alike attested to the troops’ brutality

By January 1938, 200 to 300 thousand civilians had been killed

A third of Nanking burnt down

The Western allies condemned the invasion but did little else

Franklin Roosevelt delivered the Quarantine Speech on October 5, 1937

He condemned Axis aggression and urged for a quarantine

American isolationists remained unconvinced

Japan saw the speech as a declaration of hostility

On December 12, 1937, the American gunboat Panay sank on the Yangtze

The attack by Japan appeared deliberate

However, Japan apologized and promised full reparations

Its response appeased the United States

Japan realized by the end of the year that it would not conquer China

War in the west

Japan had remained neutral over the war in Europe until 1940

The army had engaged with Soviet troops in 1939

They fought over the Manchuria-Mongolia border

The Soviets had decisively defeated Japan there

Japan did not want to fight Stalin’s troops directly

Stalin’s spies in Tokyo had informed of this fact

The Soviet Union hence withdrew its troops to meet the German invasion

They only became convinced after Germany’s conquest of France

Tripartite Pact, September 1940

Details Replaced 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact

Germany, Italy, and Japan

Agreement Division of spheres in the east and west

Implications for

Japan

Protection against American intervention in China, or Soviet

incursions in Manchuria

Article 3 - commitment to assist the other parties if attacked by a

nation not currently involved in either theater of war

French surrender also enabled Japan to occupy Indochina

Indochina refers to present-day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos

It would provide Japan with rubber, tin, tungsten, coal, and rice

Japan could attack southern China from its airfields and cut off Allied aid

The United States had blocked exports of any war-related good to Japan

It now added scrap metal to that category

The 1940 Two-Ocean Naval Expansion Act added to this belief

It responded to fears that Germany would conquer Great Britain from France

The act planned for a naval fleet in both the Atlantic and Pacific

It increased the fleet size by 70%, adding many naval aircraft

The navy would have a total of 18 aircraft carriers

Tensions rose as Japan expanded in Asia and moved closer to Nazi Germany

Both navies had seen each other as rivals in the Pacific since 1900

The Joint Army and Navy Board had developed a series of war scenarios in 1903

In 1924, the military adopted Plan Orange

Strategy Problems

• Army to hold Manila Bay, Philippines

• Navy to control western Pacific

• Navy based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

• Unfeasibility of defending the Philippines

• Army preferred to withdraw to western Pacific

• Both ideas shot down by Navy

Disputes over the plan presaged American difficulties in World War II

By 1939, the Joint Planning Board’s Rainbow Plans involved five scenarios

They addressed different combinations of enemies and allies

The European front distracted the United States from Japan’s navy threat

British and American planners met in Washington in January 1941

Disagreement over strategy Final agreement: Plan Dog

• Great Britain saw defending

Singapore as top priority

• United States favored attacking in

central Pacific

• British strategy prevailed

• Division of fleets between Atlantic

and Pacific

• Transfer American ships to Atlantic

• British navy could move vessels to

Singapore

In 1941, some Japanese officials hoped to avoid war with the United States

Others supported a preemptive strike while Japan held the upper hand

They sought to take oil resources in the Dutch East Indies and Malaya

This strike would enable them to circumvent the American embargo

They also believed war would inevitably result with the United States

Japan could not afford a protracted battle against such a large, well-resourced

power

Its naval strength would peak in December 1941, the best time for attack

The moderates had a representative in Admiral Nomura Kichisaburo

He became ambassador to the United States in February 1941

The admiral had little practical influence

He opened talks with Secretary of State Cordell Hull

Neither could suggest any new means of reaching consensus

Given the Pacific’s weather and tides, Japan needed to attack by the end of 1941

Initial proposals targeted Malaya, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies

The attack would lure the American navy to the Philippines

Japan could ambush the fleet in the Central Pacific

Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku developed an alternative strategy

He had studied in the United States and used this knowledge in his planning

Yamamoto realized that complicated attacks would drain Japan’s navy

He adopted a 1936 plan for attacking Pearl Harbor

He hoped to eliminate the American navy in a single strike

Yamamoto commissioned a report on the attack’s feasibility

Yamamoto’s findings

Problem Need for a torpedo effective

in shallow harbor

Need to evade American detection up to 200

miles out from Hawaii

Solution September 1941: successful

construction of torpedo

October 1941: ocean liner test ran the route

without seeing any ships

Yamamoto gained approval to proceed with planning in October

He gained further support from Minister of War Hideki Tojo

Tojo became Prime Minister on October 16

He convened a Japanese Imperial Conference on November 5

It decided that war would be declared unless negotiations succeeded

Japanese

demanded

either

territory it had traditionally claimed in the Far East

or

an end to the embargo and supplying of China in exchange

for Japanese withdrawal from Dutch East Indies and rest of

Southeast Asia

Americans

responded

by

rejecting both proposals

counter-demanding that Japan withdraw from China,

Indochina, and Manchukuo

The government resolved on December 4 to attack on the 7th

It stationed six of its eight naval carriers off northern Oahu

Two waves of aerial attacks would occur an hour apart

Pearl Harbor attack

First wave

Plan Outcome

183 planes to bomb airfields

Army Air Corps: Hickam, Wheeler,

Bellows, and Mokuleia

Marine Corps airfields: Ewa and

Kaneohe Bay

Naval Air Station: Ford Island

around 400 American craft were

attacked

188 destroyed and 159 damaged

Second

wave 170 planes to attack an hour later

Targeted naval ships at anchor

In particular eight battleships

Japanese planes hindered by

smoke and anti-aircraft fire

Sank two battleships and damaged

six

Eight cruisers and destroyers

damaged

30 cruisers and destroy