The War Spreads

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign The Blitz on Britain was called off in May 1941. Hitler had a far more prized target Hitler needed to conquer the USSR in order to fulfill his long-term plan for a German Empire Hitler was suspicious of Stalin’s motives and decided to invade This decision turned out to be a miscalculation on his part…

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign 22 June 1941 Operation Barbarossa was launched – the attack on Russia. The German invasion caught the Soviet military and civilian leadership largely by surprise.

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign The huge military force needed for this attack included many bombers and two-thirds of the German military was to be tied up on the Eastern Front for the duration of the war.

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by: Unprecedented ferocity Massive destruction Mass deportations Immense loss of life variously due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres.

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign Of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to WWII, over 30 million, many of them civilians, died on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome of World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for Germany's defeat

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign German troops were able to push the Soviet army deep into the Soviet Union By autumn, they reached the outskirts of Moscow and Leningrad. But German troops were ill equipped for the long and cold Soviet winters and soon lost their advantage In 1942, German troops got as far as Stalingrad…but again, were stopped by the bitterly cold winter

Invasion of The USSR—The Eastern Campaign The situation grew worse for the German army and after suffering more than 300,000 losses, they surrendered in 1943. The Soviets took advantage of this, and went on the offense—retaking much of their territory and by 1944 they were advancing toward Germany

The War Spreads: War in the Pacific With the Battle of Britain, Canada was forced into a more prominent role in the war than it ever had intended When war spread to the Pacific, Canada became even more involved After the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Canada and its allies were now at war with Japan

The War Spreads: War in the Pacific The war had now become truly global—Canadian troops saw their first action at Hong Kong shortly afterwards. The battle was a disaster for Canadian troops.

The War Spreads: War in the Pacific Hours after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbour—the troops began their surprise invasion of Hong Kong. By Christmas day, 1941 Hong Kong had fallen Months earlier, Canada had sent troops to Hong Kong During the battle, the losses were heavy: 290 killed in action and hundreds wounded. The survivors were all taken prisoner. Suffering from malnutrition, disease, overwork, and brutality, nearly 300 more Canadians died in captivity.

The War Spreads: War in the Pacific December 8, 1941 the U.S. joined the Allies and declared war on Japan. Japans Allies- Germany and Italy- then declared war on the United States. The whole world was now at war