Bell Ringer What factors do you think a country’s leaders consider when deciding whether to surrender or fight?

9.1 Hitler’s Lightning War

A Pact of Non-Aggression Stalin isn’t eager to join the West after not being invited to Munich Conference Germany and Soviet Union will split territories they conquer

The Phony War French and British troops sat behind the Maginot Line waiting for Germany Germany sat behind their Siegfried Line waiting for the Allies “Sitting war” or “Phony War”

Winston Churchill New Prime Minister of Britain “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets…we shall never surrender.”

The Desert Fox Axis attack Africa British defeat the Italians Hitler sends in the Afrika Corps and General Erwin Rommel Defeat the British

Operation Barbarossa Plan to invade Soviet Union Soviets were unprepared Soviet troops=largest army in the world but not trained or well equipped

General Frost Strikes Again Used scorched-earth tactic and waited out the Germans Winter came Hitler: “No retreat!” Germany gained nothing and lost 500,000 German lives

America Responds to the Battle of Britain The Lend-Lease Act: The US could provide arms to any country considered “vital to the defense of the US” as long as they promised to return or rent the weapons after the war Atlantic Charter: Agreement between FDR and Churchill laying out the democratic goals of the war