Shape of the Day

• What happened to France after they lost the Battle of France?

• The Battle of Britain

• The Blitz Begins

• Assignment: Life during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz

Fall of France: Video Questions

• Where is this scene taking place?

• What had just happened in Europe?

• How were the French treated by the Nazis? How were the Jews treated by the Nazis?

• Was hiding Jews a crime in Nazi Occupied France?

The Battle of Britain

The Fall of France• On June 14, the capital

of France had fallen to the Nazis

• Four days earlier, the Italians would join the Nazi’s as defeat seemed impossible at this point

• On June 25, the French would surrender

What Happened to France?

• Northern Franceo Northern France was

directly taken over by Germany

• Southern Franceo Southern France was

allowed to remain independent as long as it:o Agreed to hand over all Jews o Ally themselves with the

Nazis

The Evacuation of Dunkirk

• Before the Fall of France the Allies managed to save a large portion of their army

• The Allies gathered every fishing, leisure, and ferry boat available to save troops

• They would manage to saveo 198,000 British Soldierso 140,000 French and Belgium

soldierso Most of Britain’s heavy weapons

and artillery

Europe Before the Battle of Britain

Hitler’s Next Move• Hitler’s next target was

Britain• Aside from Britain,

Germany had no other opponents in Europe to stop them

• Britain refused to sign a treaty as Winston Churchill refused to back down

Video: Churchill’s Response

• What was Churchill's response to War?

• What did he expect of the colonies if Britain were to fall to the Nazis?

• Do you agree with Churchill’s mentality? Do you think empires should fight until their destruction?

A Battle in the Sky

• Most of the German navy was wiped out after the costly fight in Norway

• German would therefore use its air force (the Luftwaffe) to invade and conquer Britain

• This would be the first air battle in history

Britain: Royal Air Force

• At the start of World War Two, the RAF had 1660 planes ready for battle

• On the eve of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had 1200 planes ready including 800 Spitfires and Hurricanes

• Many of the pilots in the RAF were either Canadian or trained by Canadians

Germany: The Luftwaffe

• At the beginning of World War Two, Germany had over 4000 aircraft

• At the beginning of the Battle of the Britain, the Luftwaffe had 2500 serviceable planes

• The Luftwaffe had a sizeable difference in aircraft but could only put up 1600 planes at a time

The Battle Begins• The Battle of Britain began

on July 10, 1940• German airplanes began

bombing British runways and air stations with the hope of beating the RAF on the ground

• At this point, the German plan was working

• Britain was losing planes quickly and their stations were being destroyed quickly

Britain Comes Back

What advantages did Britain have?

Radar

ULTRA Luck

Home Advantage

Home Advantage

• The Luftwaffe was forced to fly over the English Channel to attack Britaino Because of this they

could not refuel or rearm themselves

o This severely limited the actual time they could attack Britain

• British pilots could land, refuel, and rearm quickly

Radar

• Before World War Two, Britain had set up a series of radar towers along the south of England

• These towers warned Britain about oncoming Nazi attacks

• Britain could find out exactly where Nazi planes were and attack them before being attacked

ULTRA• In 1942, British intellects had

cracked the German code “Enigma”

• With the code broken, the British new exactly where most German ships and planes were

• This let the British predict where Germans would attack next and gave them an advantage

Luck• On September 15, 1940,

Germany launched its last major attack on Britain

• After this they changed to bombing British cities rather than airfields in order force Britain to surrender

• Modern historians estimate that if the Nazis had continued their attack on British airfields for only one more day they would be forced to surrender

The Battle Ends… the Blitz Begins

• With this change in strategy the Battle of Britain would end

• The extreme bombing of England known as the London Blitz, however, would begin

• This was to last until May 1941