Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain World War Two Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain

The Failure of Appeasement When Germany invaded Poland on September 1 1939, Britain and France realized appeasement was a failure They declared war September 3rd Canada voted to declare war on Germany on September 10th

Blitzkrieg in Poland The Germans invaded Poland with a new tactic called Blitzkrieg (lightning warfare) The Polish had outdated tactics and weaponry On August 17th, the Soviets, in accordance with the secret Nazi-Soviet Pact invaded Poland from the east Poland was completely conquered and divided by October

Phoney War and the Fall of France Over the winter of 1940 the Allies and Germany did nothing (phoney war) Unexpectedly, Denmark and Norway invaded April 1940 Then the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France are invaded 0n May 10th 1940 Germany used a strategy called the Manstein Plan to invade France through the Ardennes Forest

The French effort overall proved pitiful Belgium and the Netherlands fell in a week The British had to evacuate France at Dunkirk on June 4th France collapsed due to the superior might, strategy and tactics of Germany On June 22nd 1940, France officially surrendered Germany occupied northern France and set up a puppet government called Vichy France in the south In embarrassment over their defeat in Europe, British P.M. Neville Chamberlain resigns and is replaced by Winston Churchill

The Battle of Britain A war for air superiority over Britain Germany could not invade Britain without control of the skies Germany first bombed harbors, then air fields and radar stations Then they switched to bombing civilians The British and commonwealth (Canadian) pilots out killed the Germans 5:1 By late September 1940, the Allies had won the battle

"...if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.’”- Winston Churchill "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” – Winston Churchill