1. Hitler’s Lightning War
Chapter 16: Section 1

2. Setting the Stage Hitler played on the hopes & fears of the West
Grabbed land and then made new demands
List numerous violations
Finally demanded Polish Corridor
Brit & Fr said NO

3. Nonaggression Pact 1939 What did Germany gain?
What did the Soviets gain?

4. Blitzkrieg Germany military strategy Means “lightning war”
Involves air power and tanks followed by massive infantry forces to take enemy defenders by surprise & quickly overwhelm them

5. The Phony War or Sitzkrieg
Brit & Fr mobilized troops along Maginot Line
Stared eastward toward the Siegfried Line
Jokingly referred to as the Sitzkrieg or Bore War or Phony War
Suddenly calm ended on Apr 9, 1940 with invasion of Denmark & Norway
Began bldg bases ag Brit

6. Rescue at Dunkirk Britain sent fleet of 850 ships
Civilian craft – yachts, lifeboats, motorboats, paddle steamers, fishing boats, etc.
338,000 weary soldiers were rescued.

7. France Falls Following Dunkirk resistance began to crumble
French surrender Jun 22, 1940
Germans took control of Northern Fr
Southern part of France became puppet gov headed by Marshal Philippe Petain.
Headquarters was at Vichy
Became known as the Vichy gov

8. Battle of Britain Winston Churchill Hitler plans invasion of Britain
1st plan was to destroy RAF & to land 250,000 soldiers in England
By summer ‘40 Luftwaffe began bombing Britain (first airfields then cities)
2 technological devices help turn the tide
Radar
Enigma
Showed that the Germans could be stopped

9. Mussolini Attacks Egypt
Wanted to capture Suez Canal
Pushed into Egypt
Brits pushed back & captured 130,000
Hitler had to step in to save Mussolini
Hitler sent the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel known as the Desert Fox
Brits & Germans went back and forth until Operation Torch which resulted in Afrika Korps trapped

10. War in the Balkans
Hitler wanted to build bases in SE Europe for his invasion of the USSR
By early 1941 through threat of force he persuaded Bulgaria, Romania & Hungary to join the Axis Powers
Yugoslavia & Greece refused & were invaded by the Nazis

11. Operation Barbarosa USSR was unprepared for the attack
Officer corps was purged during Great Purges
Pushed 500 miles into Russia
Soviets practiced scorched earth policy which they also used against Napoleon
Leningrad
Moscow

12. US Policy Neutrality Acts Cash and carry Lend Lease
Undeclared naval war with Germany