1. Unit 3 WWII – CHC2P Blitzkrieg and the Battles Ms. Pannell

2. Topic 4 Blitzkrieg:  Blitzkrieg – Lightening War  Relentless Nazi air and ground attack using Stuka dive- bombers, tanks and mobilized infantry  Was quick and took the enemy by surprise

3. Sept 1939, Spring 1940 Sept 1939 - crushed:  Poland > 1 month The Phony War (Winter 1940) when no fighting took place Spring 1940 - Crushed:  Denmark - 1 day  Norway - 2 days  The Netherlands – 5 days  Belgium – 18 days  France – 6 weeks

4. Spring 1940 - Dunkirk  British and French troops pushed back to the English Chanel by advancing German soldiers – town of Dunkirk  Britain could not afford to have any naval ships sunk during an attempted rescue  Fisherman, ferry boats and pleasure sailors rescued trapped British soldiers.  350 000 rescued, equipment left behind

5. “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” Summer 1940  Britain stood alone in Europe  Winston Churchill – Britain’s new P.M. “blood, toil, tears, and sweat”  Halifax – assembling convoys (food, weapons, soldiers) Eiffel Tower – 1889 centennial of French Revolution

6. Battle of Britain  British air force (RAF) and navy controlled the 50km Channel, separating Britain from France 1.Germany needed to control the skies over the Channel before its planned invasion fleet could sail

7. Battle of Britain continued  July 10, 1940 German air force Luftwaffe set out to clear the skies  Targeted radar stations, airfields, ports and factories  Slowly the first RAF planes were wiped out

8. Battle of Britain continued  August – RAF bombed Berlin  commander of the German air force, Herman Goering retaliated with the “blitz” - bombing cities with the intention of terrorizing the civilian population into surrendering London bombed 57 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941, over 43,000 civilians had been killed by bombing, ½ in London

9. Battle of Britain continued  Londoners responded by moving into air-raid shelters, subway stations, reopening their stores every day and just “carrying on”  British resistance grew stronger, not weaker

10. Battle of Britain continued  London raids allowed few remaining spitfires and Hurricanes to regroup: i.new pilots were trained ii.Planes came off assembly lines at about 500/month  Sept 15, 1940: Luftwaffe attacked but the RAF was ready. The Luftwaffe was decidedly beaten!

11. Battle of Britain continued Battle of Britain won by a few hundred pilots:  Canadians  Poles  Britons  South Africans  New Zealanders RAF lost 915 planes, Luftwaffe lost 1,722 planes

12. WW2, a new direction for Hitler If Hitler could not wipe out Britain, he would turn against the Soviet Union