World War II: Important Battles Part 1 Western Campaign and battles at sea.

The Blitzkrieg The success of the Blitzkrieg depended on two things: 1) The better use and incorporation of technology then your enemy. 2) Greater and more effective mobility.

Hitler’s Blitzkrieg used shock tactics, its aim was to paralyse the enemy by using the most up to date technonlogy and military tactics. Motorised vehicles, tanks and air power were all coordinated by the use of radio communication. Reinforcements were to follow in order to capture the territory of the intended target. ▫Hitler used this military tactic in all of his European campaign, except for Britain.

‘Phoney War’ This is a term that is used to describe the period of September 1939 to March It is called this because there was hardly any action on the western front. ▫Britian and France had promised to defend Poland, but realized very quickly that it would have been impossible to do so. ▫GB and Fr did not take any action on Germany despite declaring war on them.

BEF in France and Dunkirk Prior to WWII France had built a series of huge fortresses called the Maginot Line. They were located along the Franco-German border. ▫The thought was that no one could penetrate this line. ▫The Germans did not attempt to do so, but in May 1940 they turned on France and instead of going over the Maginot line, they took their tanks through the Ardennes region of Belgium. ▫While it was considered impossible to cross those forests with tanks, the Ger`s proved everyone wrong and within days the Allies were surrounded and facing defeat. ▫BLITZKRIEG PROVED EFFECTIVE IN FRANCE!

Dunkirk -- GB The Allies were forced to withdraw to Dunkirk, this proved to be bad as the troops (BEF) were trapped by advancing Ger army. ▫The Germans sent in Dive bombers to pound the Allied troops and their equipment. ▫Despite tremendous success, Hitler ordered his troops to halt possibly suspecting a trap. Or perhaps because the Ger`s lost many tanks in this battle.

The British saw Dunkirk as a success, as the halt of Germany allowed the evacuation of many Brits. May 26- June 4 : 330,000 and 10,000 troops were evacuated by small boats and the British navy. The RAF outfought the Luftwaffe over Dunkirk. Dunkirk also allowed for all citizens, media and government to come together and create a war effort that lasted until Not much was said of the fact that the BEF had been forced back home from Europe, nor that all heavy equipment had been left behind or destroyed by the Germans. Or that 300,000 troops had been left behind to become prisoners.

French Troops at Dunkirk After the evacuations of the British, French troops were left alone at Dunkirk to fight the German`s alone. The French could not keep up the fight alone against the Ger`s and to make matters worse Italy declared war on France on June 12 th. The government had no choice but to surrender France on June 21 st, Other then the Vichy region, all of France was occupied and run by the German army.

The Battle of Britain Hitler was unsure how to defeat Britain. The Blitzkrieg tactics would not work as he could not cross the channel that easily. He concluded that he needed to conquer them through air and sea battles. Hitler was informed by his military advisors that there would be no way Germany could defeat the RAF and the British navy. ▫Britain had the strongest navy in the world. ▫Hitler did believe that the RAF could be wiped out by German planes. Then he could focus on the British Navy.

The German`s called this invasion Operation Sealion. July 1, 1940: the 1 st German aircraft crossed the channel and the air Battle of Britain had begun. It is important to remember that the Battle of Britain was a series of smalls air battles everyday. They lasted throughout the summer of Waves of German bombers accompanied by fighters were sent over Britain. British fighters were sent to intercept them. The RAF was consistently outshooting the Luftwaffe. After Lord Beaverbrook took over the aircraft production, he focused on only building fighters not bombers. ▫July-September GB was making 563 planes per month. More than Gemany.

September 1940: Luftwaffe changed tactic to the Blitz. ▫They began to bomb the city of London. ▫While this produced terror for the civilians, it did give the RAF a break. ▫It was clear that Hitler gave up his plan of invasion by no longer attacking the RAF, the RAF pilots were praised by many and were the main cause of Hitler`s withdrawal of Operation Sealion.

The Battle of the Atlantic Lasted from Battle for the control of the North Atlantic Ocean. This was not as spectacular as the dog fights of the air, but was equally important. The Atlantic provided vital trade routes to Britain and the rest of Europe. The allies had used this body of water to gather supplies from the US and Canada for the British troops.

In the early stages of the War Germany knew they had to cut these trade routes in order to be effective. ▫German submarines were very effective at this. ▫In 1940: Germans sank 1000 ships (over ¼ of the British Merchant Fleet) ▫1941: Allies lost 1300 ships and another 1661 in ▫Britain was only able to import 1/3 of what it normally did in times of peace. ▫Britain and the allies knew they needed to do something drastic.

Churchill’s main goal was fighting the U-Boat campaign. 1943: Allies sunk 141 U boats and losing only 57 ships themselves. This forced the withdrawal of German fleet in the Atlantic in March The allies won the Battle of the Atlantic.

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