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

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

3. 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The Polish had outdated tactics and weaponry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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. "...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