World War II: Blitzkrieg, North Africa, and the Eastern Front Theme: Hitler’s Initial Success Lesson 19

Allied Political Leaders Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin

Axis Political Leaders Hirohito Mussolini and Hitler

Rise of Hitler (Where we left off in Lesson 11) Treaty of Versailles was very punitive to Germany Unemployment and other issues created conditions conducive for Hitler to rise to power Dec 21, 1931

Rebirth of Germany Hitler reinstituted conscription (after France doubled the length of its conscripts’ service) and in March 1936 was strong enough to reoccupy the Rhineland In June 1934, Hitler purged many of his paramilitary and the SS rose up to replace them

Germany’s Increasingly Militaristic Approach In Nov 1937, Italy joined Germany in an alliance against the Soviet Union In Mar 1938, Hitler forced Anschluss (union) with Austria On Sept 29-30, the British and French foreign ministers attempted to appease Hitler by acquiescing to his demand for the Sudentenland under the understanding Hitler would make no more territorial demands –In March 1939 Hitler seized the western part of Czechoslovakia Neville Chamberlain

Continued Aggression Britain and France now knew appeasement wouldn’t stop Hitler and they pledged to defend Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Poland against German aggression On Aug 22, 1939, Russia and Germany signed a non- aggression pact –In the event of a German- Polish war, Russia could annex eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania On Sept 1, Hitler invaded Poland

Russia and Finland On Nov 30, Russia attacked Finland and on Mar 12, 1940, the Finns finally surrendered –Russia’s army did not perform particularly well which made Hitler think the Russians would not be much of a challenge if Germany invaded Finnish infantry passing a destroyed Russian tank

French and German Plans for the Battle of France 1940 French anticipated the Germans attacking through the north as they did in World War I so they developed the Dye Plan to counter such an attack Built the Maginot Line in the south to protect the border

Maginot Line A line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along her borders with Germany and Italy The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes Forest which was considered “impassable”

Surprise in the Ardennes On May 12, 1940 Germany attacked through the weakly held Ardennes region Penetrated Allied defenses at Sedan and Dinant and then began to envelop them

Guderian Breaks Through at Sedan Battle of France: May 14, 1940

Hoth Breaks Through at Dinant Battle of France: May 14-15, 1940

Penetration With Hoth’s and Guderian’s successes, the Germans had a 40 mile breakthrough from Dinant to Sedan –Pushed through seven armored divisions toward the English Channel

Sedan Dinant Ardennes

The Panzer's Race To The Channel Battle of France: May 14-24, 1940

Dunkirk was the last evacuation port available to the Allies.

Dunkirk

Moving in for the Kill German forces pressed the Allied armies trapped in the north, from south and east, into the English Channel. Meanwhile, German infantry divisions reinforced the southern flank of the German penetration. But…. Dunkirk Harbor ablaze from German bombing

Halt Order Hitler halted the German armor –German armor had suffered heavy losses and would be needed to conquer the rest of France –Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job Luftwaffe proved unable to destroy the British and French –Bases in western Germany were further away from Dunkirk than British planes were from their bases on the British Isles 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated

The Weygand Line Collapses Battle of France: June 4-14, 1940

Consolidation On June 16 the French asked for an armistice. Battle of Britain began. –“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” (Winston Churchill)

Italy Joins the Axis On June 10, 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France and four months later invaded Greece In many ways Mussolini will hinder rather than help Hitler

Greatest Extent of Axis Control

Auftragstaktik German interwar doctrine emphasized: –decentralized, mission-oriented orders (Auftragstaktik) –speed and exploitation of enemy weaknesses maximized by troop commanders taking the initiative (understand commander’s intent) –close integration and cooperation between combat branches (mobile warfare required armor, infantry, and artillery) –leadership from the front

North Africa

Italian Presence in North Africa Since before World War II, Italy had been occupying Libya and had over a million soldiers based there In neighboring Egypt, the British Army had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields On Sept 13, 1940, the Italians advanced into Egypt but halted in front of the main British defenses at Mersa Matruh On Dec 9, the British counterattacked and pushed the Italians back more than 500 miles, inflicting heavy casualties British troops then moved along the coast and on Jan 22, 1941, they captured the port of Tobruk in Libya

Germany to the Rescue In the meantime, Germany sent forces across the Mediterranean to Tripoli –The Afrika Corps commanded by Erwin Rommel Italy’s disasters in North Africa and elsewhere (i.e., Greece) threatened to undermine the Axis position in the Balkans and the Mediterranean

Rommel Characteristically Rommel attacked and drove the British Commonwealth forces out of Libya except for Tobruk With the situation in North Africa stabilized, Hitler turned his attention to shoring up Italy, leaving Rommel to deal with North Africa One of Rommel’s biggest challenges would be his long, tenuous supply line –Between Oct and Nov the Allies sank nearly 80% of Axis supply ships crossing the Mediterranean

Rommel Rommel pushed the British deep into Egypt but Montgomery stopped Rommel at El Alamein in July 1942

Operation Torch While this was going on in Egypt and Libya, Americans acquiesced to British pressure and began planning Operation Torch– landings to occupy Algeria and Morocco and co-opt the Vichy French –The “Vichy French” had reached an agreement with the Germans allowing a French government headed by Marshall Henri Pétain to govern the French colonies and those parts of France not occupied by the Germans –The “Free French” established their own government in exile led by Charles de Gaulle

Operation Torch The Anglo-American forces landed at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers and then advanced by land and sea to Tunisia

Operation Torch At first the Vichy French resisted, but eventually surrendered Hitler began rushing troops to Tunis before the Allies could get there Hitler was successful in winning “the race to Tunis” and therefore denying the Mediterranean to Allied shipping but he did so at a great price, committing Italian and German troops to an ultimately hopeless fight when they could have been better used elsewhere

Kasserine Pass By January, Rommel had escaped from Libya and arrived in Tunisia He developed a plan to sweep up from southern Tunisia and destroy the Allied supply dumps in eastern Algiers Rommel attacked on February 14 and punched his way through the Kasserine Pass It was a tactical victory, but Rommel was unable to continue with his larger plan and began withdrawing on Feb 22

Germans Defeated Rommel then turned south against the British who were arriving from Egypt British General Bernard Montgomery dealt Rommel a stunning defeat and Rommel personally left Africa The Axis position in North Africa steadily deteriorated and in early May the Allies controlled Tunisia American soldiers enter Kasserine Pass

First Battle The Americans did not perform very well in their first combat experience and senior leadership was horrible –General Eisenhower was forced to relieve Lloyd Fredendall of command and replace him with George Patton Lloyd Fredendall, commander of the American II Corps

Results of North Africa The Germans had wasted valuable resources in an indecisive theater Mussolini was severely weakened domestically The Americans learned from their poor performance and made the necessary changes The British and American coalition weathered a potentially threatening storm

The Eastern Front On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France However, by the time the Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow in December, the Russian winter had set in –Remember what we talked about in Lesson 10 about Napoleon’s invasion of Russia

Operation Barbarossa

The Eastern Front In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were killed in battle 20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes planned) starvation.

Stalingrad (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)

Stalingrad

Casablanca Conference After the Axis surrender in Tunisia, the Allies began planning the next phase of the war Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco in January 1943 –Stalin had been invited, but declined to attend because of Stalingrad

Strategic Differences US argued for a cross channel invasion to directly attack Germany Churchill preferred an indirect approach, attacking through the “soft underbelly of Europe” –Reflected the preference for peripheral operations he had shown in World War I

British Approach

American Approach

Casablanca Conference Jan 1943 Britain –“the control of the Mediterranean meant… control of the Western world.” –Had imperial fortunes in Egypt, the Middle East, and India –Felt it was the Axis’ vulnerable point Americans –“periphery pecking” would delay the cross- channel invasion that would strike the German jugular

What They Agreed On Forces from Operation Torch could continue on to Sicily once the North African Campaign was terminated –Churchill knew this would preclude a cross-channel invasion in 1943 At the end of the conference, Roosevelt announced that “peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese military power... (which) means unconditional surrender.”

Next World War II (continued) –Italy –Normandy