WWII: A Summary

Student Objectives Understand the main events of WW 11.

Recap…. WWII started in 1939 after Germany invaded Poland.

Allies and Axis The Allies Britain France Poland Belgium, Netherlands & other European countries Commonwealth countries e.g. Australia, New Zealand & Canada Countries in the British Empire e.g. India. Joined by the USSR and the USA in The Axis Germany Italy Japan

Slow Start After Germany’s initial attack on Poland, little happened in the next few months – ‘phoney war’. Countries began to have a false sense of security and anticlimax. However, it didn’t last long as fighting began again in early 1940 and brought a series of brilliant German victories.

The War Heats Up… April 9 th 1940, Nazi troops invaded Norway and Denmark. The Norwegians resisted the invaders until June 9 th, however the Danes surrendered within hours. May 10 th German troops invaded Western Europe and troops flooded into Netherlands and Belgium (both surrendered).

Blitzkrieg Massive offensive that the German’s launched on France’s Belgian border. They reached the English Channel within a week. Soon after, the French Capital, Paris, fell to the Germans on June 14 th. Hitler was ecstatic and had only lost 27,000 German lives in the process (better than the million lost in WWI ).

The Battle for Britain By late summer 1940, most of Europe was under German control. A plan was then hatched to sweep away Hitler’s final enemy, Britain. Codename – Operation Sea Lion, the German Airforce, the Luftwaffe would try to gain control of the of the skies over the English Channel.

The Blitz Just as the Luftwaffe was looking like it was winning control of the Channel, the RAF bombed Berlin. Hitler, enraged, immediately ordered the bombing of London. On Sept 7 th, a thousand German bombers and fighters attacked the British capital, killing around 500 people. London was bombed nightly.

Eastern Europe With Western Europe defeated and Britain bloodied, Hitler began to plan the invasion of Russia. However, Germany’s own ally, Italy did not commit to Hitler’s war in Europe until they were sure Germany would win.

North Africa Italy launched an attack on Egypt in September 1940 with the British counterattacking in December Hitler formed the ‘Afrika Korps’ led by General Rommel who was known as ‘Desert Fox’. Turning point was the Battle of El Alamein in late Axis troops driven from Egypt back to Tunisia. Axis surrendered in May 1943.

Rats of Tobruk Name given by Germans to Australian soldiers who held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps, during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II.

Operation Barbarossa June 22 nd 1941, the greatest invasion in the history of the world began. It was codenamed Operation Barbarossa. 3 million German troops and thousands of tanks and planes poured into the Soviet Border. They wanted to conquer the world’s largest country by the end of summer and they very nearly did………

Barbarossa German’s targeted Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad and Caucasus oilfields. Russians carried out ‘scorched earth’ policy. Battle for Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest and most important of the war. Germans surrendered in Hitler thought that the Soviet Union would “fall like a leaf”. It was his greatest mistake and eventual undoing.

Pearl Harbour December 7 th 1941, Japanese planes made a dramatic attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour. As a result of the Japanese attacks, 18 warships were sunk or damaged, 180 aircraft were destroyed and 2,400 Americans were killed. This changed the war dramatically, became global! America declared war on Japan and Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy. declared war on America.

The Tide Turns As Germany began to lose in Russia and across Europe, and Hitler’s world began to collapse around him, by Feb 1945, Hitler complained that Italy had been “more of a service to our enemy than to ourselves”. Italy made peace with the allies after the country rose up against their leader Mussolini (not wanting to be involved in war).

D-Day From 1941 until June 1944, most of the fighting took place in the Soviet Union and the Pacific. D-Day was when Allies took action and invaded Normandy to conquer Germany.

Invasion of Germany The Soviets began to fight back against Germany and with the help of other Allied countries, Germany looked like they would finally be defeated….. Germany was in chaos! Hitler was directing what was left of his army from a bunker in Berlin! Hitler gave orders to destroy everything in the allies paths – bridges, hospitals, power stations etc.

The Final Act Hitler married his girlfriend Eva Braun and on April the 30 th 1945 as Germany was growing ever closer to defeat, a devastated Hitler took cyanide and shot himself. A week later, without its leader, Germany had lost the war and war in Europe was declared over (May 8 th 1945).

The War in Japan Throughout the summer of 1945, Japanese forces resisted their inevitable defeat with ferocity. Allies decided that atomic and plutonium bombs provided the opportunity to destroy their fierce enemy in a single flash. Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan was stunned to respond. Finally on August 15 th, fighting stopped and a surrender was signed on September 2 nd 1945 – six years and a day after the war had begun.