Main events of World War 2 1939-1945

Blitzkrieg Sept 1939 Germans invaded Poland “Lightning war” tactic: by air, then tanks and soldiers Germany succeeded, Stalin and Hitler divided country between them

Phoney War (blitzkrieg) French troops sent to western border of Germany to fight Germans No fighting occured as they used winter months to build strengths In April 1940 this ended. Germans used blitzkrieg against Norway and Denmark and defeated them

Hitler then invades the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. He quickly defeats them

Operation Dynamo French and British troops caught unawares at France’s western border with Germany British retreat towards English channel. They became trapped at Dunkirk A rescue attempt called Operation Dynamo was called. All British ships, yachts and small boats came to the rescue! From the English channel Over 338,000 men rescued in 6 days

Operation Sealion (invasion of Britain) 13 August 1940 Germany’s plan to invade Britain Germans planned to gain control of the skies British determined to fight The struggle between the two became known as the Battle of Britain Fought by RAF (Royal Air Force) and LUFTWAFFE British had advantage of RADAR

7 Sept 1940 Germans started to bomb London cities This gave RAF time to recover Hitler forced to call off Operation Sealion

The Blitz Bombing of London and other British cities Sept 1940 – May 1941 40,000 civilians killed Nine out of ten houses in London destroyed

Operation Barbarossa(RUSSIA) 22 June 1941-Hitler invades Russia “We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down” 3 million German soldiers and 10,000 tanks invaded Red Army outnumbered them but was poorly run

Three army groups 1) Army Group North – Leningrad 2) Army Group Centre – Moscow 3) Army Group South – Russian oilfields near Black Sea Stalingrad stood in the way