World War II (Part I)

Europe at War (Sept – Dec. 1941)

Sept. 1 German Army invades Poland Sept. 3 Britain and France declare war on Germany Sept. 17 Red Army invades Poland in accordance with Nazi-Soviet Pact Sept. 27 Warsaw falls to the Nazis Nov. 30 Red Army attacks Finland Dec. 14 Soviet Union kicked out of League of Nations TIMELINE:1939

HITLER INVADES POLAND:SEPTEMBER 1, 1939

SEPTEMBER : ENGLAND AND FRANCE DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY. WORLD WAR TWO BEGINS Left: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlian

Tools of the Blitzkrieg BLITZKRIEG: NEW GERMAN ATTACK STRATEGY THAT USED DIVE- BOMBERS, MECHANIZED (RIDING IN TRUCKS OR HALF-TRACKS) INFANTRY AND MOBILE ARTILLERY TO SURROUND AND DESTROY ENEMY FORMATIONS

HITLER CONQUERED DENMARK, NORWAY, NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM, AND LUXEMBOURG HITLER SURPRISED THE ALLIES BY HAVING HIS MAIN INVASION THROUGH LUXEMBOURG AND THE ARDENNES FOREST, AFTER FEINTING AN ATTACK THROUGH BELGIUM WHICH DREW THE ALLIED FORCES NORTH.

Battle of Dunkirk  Germans march west through Belgium to invade France  May 26, 1940 – June 4, 1940

HITLER’S INVASION OF NORTHWESTERN EUROPE ONE TWO THREE THIS MAP ILLUSTRATES HITLER’S PLAN FOR WINNING THE WAR IN NW EUROPE. ARROW ONE: HITLER’S FIRST ATTACK DESIGNED TO DRAW ALLIED FORCES INTO BELGIUM; ARROW TWO ALLIED TROOPS MOVE INTO BELGIUM TO FIGHT HITLER’S TROOPS; ARROW THREE HITLER’S MAIN ATTACK COMES THROUGH THE ARDENNES FOREST, CONSIDERED IMPASSABLE BY THE ALLIES AND DRIVES TO THE COAST THREATENING TO TRAP BRITISH AND FRENCH ARMIES IN BELGIUM.

MAGINOT LINE: a line of concrete fortifications France built along its borders with Germany & Italy after WWI

The Maginot Line  The Maginot Line was built to fulfill several purposes:  To avoid a surprise attack and to give alarm  To cover the mobilization of the French Army (which took between 2 and 3 weeks)  To save manpower (France counted 39,000,000 inhabitants, Germany 70,000,000)  To protect Alsace and Lorraine (returned to France in 1918) and their industrial basin  To be used as a basis for a counter-offensive  To push the enemy to circumvent it while passing by Switzerland or Belgium  To hold the enemy while the main army could be brought up to reinforce the line

CUTAWAY VIEW OF THE MAGINOT LINE SITZKRIEG, GERMAN WORD FOR “PHONY WAR” PERIOD OF WW II FROM THE FALL OF POLAND IN SEPT 1939 TO THE INVASION OF WESTERN EUROPE IN MAY 1940.

JUNE 22, 1940, FRANCE SURRENDERED TO GERMANY. GERMANY WAS MASTER OF ALL EUROPE, ITS FACTORIES AND RESOURCES, WITH EXCEPTION OF THE USSR.

GERMAN TROOPS ENTER PARIS

 VICHY FRANCE:  PART OF FRANCE THAT HITLER LET THE FRENCH RULE UNTIL 1942 (the rest of France was occupied by Germany)

FRANCE UNDER GERMAN CONTROL PETAIN, FRENCH GENERAL WHO BECAME THE LEADER OF VICHY FRANCE AND COLLABORATED WITH THE GERMANS.

FRENCH RESISTANCE FIGHTERS AGAINST GERMAN OCCUPIERS OF FRANCE FREE FRENCH, F. WHO FLED TO ENGLAND AND SET UP RESISTANCE TO GERMANY CHARLES DE GAULLE, LEADER OF THE FREE FRENCH WHO FOUGHT AGAINST GERMANY DURING WW II

Operation Sea Lion  Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom (Britain) during World War II, beginning in 1940  operation was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940

GREAT BRITAIN GETS A NEW PRIME MINISTER: WINSTON CHURCHILL WINSTON CHURCHILL: HE BECAME PRIME MINISTER OF THE UK IN 1940 AND VOWED NEVER TO SURRENDER TO HITLER BUT FIGHT ON TO VICTORY. SOUND IS CHURCHILL’S FAMOUS “FIGHT ON THE BEACHES” SPEECH.

To conquer Great Britain, Hitler would have to cross the English Channel. First he would have to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) and gain control of the air. BATTLE OF BRITAIN: 1940 AIR BATTLE WHERE HITLER'S AIR FORCE (LUFTWAFFE) FAILED TO DEFEAT THE UK’s ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF) WHICH PREVENTED HIM FROM INVADING BRITAIN. VICTORY THAT SAVED THE UK FROM BEING INVADED BY GERMAN SOLDIERS WHEN THEY (UK) WERE WEAK.

RADAR PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN DEFEATING THE GERMAN AIR FORCE AND PREVENTING HITLER FROM INVADING BRITAIN RADAR: USE OF THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY ENABLED THE UK TO DEFEAT GERMANY IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. RADAR GAVE THE BRITISH THE ABILITY TO SEE GERMAN PLANES IN THE SKY LONG BEFORE THEY WERE VISIBLE TO GROUND OBSERVERS.

BLITZ: GERMAN BOMBING RAIDS ON BRITISH CITIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF DESTROYING WAR INDUSTRIES AND BREAKING CIVILIAN MORALE. HITLER BECAME ANGRY WHEN BERLIN WAS BOMBED BY ENGLISH BOMERS AND ORDERED THE LUFTWAFFE TO STOP BOMBING BRITISH MILITARY AIRFIELDS AND START BOMBING LONDON AND OTHER BRITISH CITIES. THIS WORKED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE RAF WHO WERE ABLE TO USE THE RESPITE TO REBUILD AND REFIT THEIR FIGHTER SQUADRONS. THE RAF EMERGED MUCH STRONGER AND WAS ABLE TO FORCE THE LUFTWAFFE FO BOMB AT NIGHT TO AVOID CRIPPLING LOSSES. NIGHT BOMBING WAS MUCH MORE INACCURATE AND ONLY LARGE TARGETS LIKE CITIES COULD BE EFFECTIVELY ATTACKED.

THE LONDON BLITZ: GERMANS TURN THEIR BOMBERS AGAINST LONDON AND OTHER BRITISH CITIES THE LONDON BLITZ: GERMANS TURN THEIR BOMBERS AGAINST LONDON AND OTHER BRITISH CITIES

AIR RAID WARDEN WATCHED FOR GERMAN BOMBERS ATOP LONDON BUILDING

FIREMEN BATTLE RAGING FIRES

LONDONERS SLEEP UNDERGROUND IN SUBWAY STATIONS TO AVOID THE BOMBS

THE MORNING AFTER AN AIR RAID

CHILDREN IN FRONT OF THEIR DESTROYED HOME. WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS?

The Battle of the Atlantic

U BOATS; GERMAN WORD FOR SUBMARINE. THE GERMANS WERE USING THEIR SUBS TO SINK BRITISH SHIPPING AND STARVE THE UK INTO SURRENDERING. THEY WERE SINKING HUNDREDS OF SHIPS AND THE BRITISH NAVY COULD NOT STOP THEM

JULY 1941: FDR MADE THE DECISION FOR US WAR SHIPS TO CONVOY MERCHANT SHIPS TO ICELAND. MEANT RISK OF WAR WITH GERMANY CONVOY: SENDING WARSHIPS TO GUARD MERCHANT SHIPS PROTECTING THEM FROM BEING SUNK BY ENEMY SUBMARINES.

AREA OF GREATEST DANGER FOR ALLIED MERCHANT SHIPS

The Eastern Front (June 1941 – July 1943) IN 1938 HITLER AND STALIN SIGNED A NONAGGRESSION PACT. BOTH MEN HATED EACH OTHER AND KNEW THEY WOULD EVENTUALLY FIGHT. STALIN BELIEVED THERE WOULD BE NO WAR BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE USSR UNTIL THE MID 1940’S. HITLER HAD OTHER PLANS.

OPERATION BARBAROSSA: THE NAME FOR THE GERMAN 1941 ASSAULT ON THE SOVIET UNION. THE LARGEST LAND BATTLES IN HISTORY TOOK PLACE HERE BETWEEN 1941 AND 1945.

Although the USSR had more of everything, most of their equipment was out of date and could not stand up to modern German weapons; however, the new KV1 and T34 Russian tanks in Modern USSR were superior to German tanks. USSR

T34 RUSSIAN MEDIUM TANK SUPERIOR TO ANY GERMAN TANK AT THE TIME, 1941 THE GERMANS WERE SHOCKED WHEN IN JUNE OF 1941 THEY CAME UP AGAINST RUSSIAN T34 TANKS. GERMAN SHELLS BOUNCED OFF AND IT WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO DESTROY A T34. UNFORTUNATELY THE RUSSIANS HAD ONLY A FEW AND BY THE TIME THEY CAME INTO FULL PRODUCTION THE GERMANS HAD TANKS AND WEAPONS CAPEABLE OF DESTROYING THEM.

OPERATION BARBAROSSA Operation Barbarossa was a three pronged invasion of the Soviet Union. The goal was to seize all of the USSR up to the Ural Mountains including the major cities of Odessa, Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

RUSSIAN POSTER ENCOURAGING TROOPS TO DEFEND MOSCOW THE GERMANS WERE PUSHED BACK BUT THEY REGROUPED AND WERE READY TO ATTACK THE NEXT SPRING AFTER BEATING BACK SOVIET COUNTERATTACKS.

RUSSIAN MIXED TANK AND SKI INFANTRY TEAM ADVANCE ON GERMAN POSITIONS.

SOLDIERS KILLED, WOUNDED, CAPTURED OR MISSING FROM JUNE 1941 TO JAN 31, USSR NUMBERS INCLUDE 3.35 MILLION SOLDIERS CAPTURED

THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD: THE GERMANS HAD SEVERE PROBLEMS CAPTURING THE CITY OF STALINGRAD. IT WAS A GRITTY, DEADLY BATTLE WHERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS ON BOTH SIDES WERE KILLED.

FIGHTING IN THE RUINS OF STALINGRAD.

STALINGRAD: A CITY IN RUINS

1 While the Germans were engaged in vicious fighting inside Stalingrad the Russians prepared a counterattack named Operation Uranus, succeeded in surrounding the German 6 th army. Arrow one shows the ultimate goal of the Russian attack: to cut off the German armies fighting in the Caucasus mountains. THE RUSSIANS SPRING A TRAP !

HITLER’S TROOPS ARE STOPPED THE BLUE AREA REPRESENTS THE AREA TAKEN BY THE SOVIET 1942 WINTER OFFENSIVE. THE RUSSIANS CAPTURED OVER 300,000 GERMANS WHEN THEY FINALLY TOOK STALINGRAD BUT IT TOOK SO MUCH TIME THAT THE OTHER GERMAN ARMIES IN THE CAUCASUS HAD TIME TO ESCAPE.

THE GERMANS RETREATED HUNDREDS OF MILES BEFORE THEY HALTED, COUNTERATTACKED AND STOPPED THE SOVIET WINTER OFFENSIVE

The end at Stalingrad: German prisoners, only 5,000 of the 250,000 captured returned after the war

IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1943, HITLER DECIDED ON ANOTHER OFFENSIVE ON THE EASTERN FRONT. THIS WOULD LEAD TO THE GREATEST TANK BATTLE IN HISTORY, THE BATTLE OF KURSK. MAP SHOWS THE SITUATION AFTER THE END OF THE SOVIET 1942 WINTER OFFENSIVE

MAP OF THE KURSK BULGE. THE GERMAN GOAL WAS TO SURROUND AND DESTROY ALL THE RUSSIAN ARMIES AND RESERVES DEFENDING THE AREA INSIDE THE BULGE.

THE GERMANS USED NEW ARMORED VEHICLES FOR THEIR KURSK OFFENSIVE HEAVY TIGER TANK PANTHER TANK, OFTEN CALLED THE BEST TANK OF WW II FERDINAND, HEAVY ASSAULT GUN

THE GERMANS SUFFERED HEAVY LOSSES AT THE HANDS OF THE SOVIETS AND THEY COULD NOT RECOVER NUMBER OF LOST TANKS, ARTILLERY, AND MEN