1. The Invasion of Poland

2. Soviet Invasion of Finland

3. The ‘Winter’ War, Finland

4. The ‘Winter War’, Finland

5. Invasion of Scandinavia, 1940

6. The Maginot Line

7. Underground plan of Maginot Line

8. Invasion of Low Countries, France

9. The Bombing of Rotterdam, 1940

10. The encirclement at Dunkirk

11. Encirclement at Dunkirk

12. Troops awaiting evacuation, Dunkirk

13. Evacuation at Dunkirk, 1940

14. The Defeat of France, May – June 1940
French inferior air force, lack tank mobility (all panzers have radio communication) despite build-up since 1936.
Yet German strength overstated – surprised by own success
French general Maurice Gamelin ignores Belgian and Swiss warnings of attack between Meuse and Moselle.
French DO fight (85,000 killed in 6 weeks; 1.5 million captured) Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigns on June 18
Field Marshal Philippe Pétain signs armistice 4 days later
Gen. De Gaulle flees to London; organises Free French
New government established in Vichy ‘free zone’ in south
Northern France under direct Nazi occupation
About 600,000 French will die in WWII, (about half WWI losses)
A third of Luftwaffe’s planes destroyed or damaged in campaign

15. Hitler in Paris

16. The Battle of Britain, 8 – 11/1940
Royal Air Force has 2500 pilots and 2,000 planes
1900 Brits, 1100 Commonwealth pilots, 7 US
220 Poles and Czechs; 40 Belgians and Free French
1000 casualties ( dead)
Germany has 2500 planes but suffer greater losses
More critically, British able to outproduce them
Radar gives warnings of coming German attacks
Hitler switches targets from airfields to London
Ends German threat of invasion of Britain

17. Battle of Britain map

18. Always good for a quote, Churchill

19. Air raid shelter, The ‘Blitz’