BLITZKRIEG AND THE NAZI WAR MACHINE

BLITZKRIEG

Blitzkrieg = “ lightning war”

1. New war fighting tactic developed by Nazis

2. Combined use of armored infantry/tanks/Panzers + air power

3. Focus on speed and smashing force

THE EARLY WAR 1939-1940

THE PHONY WAR = period of no fighting in fall/winter of 1939-1940

THE MAGINOT LINE = concrete and steel fortifications the French built along border with Germany

APRIL 1940 - Hitler attacks and conquers Denmark and Norway

June 1940 – Hitler attacks France

MAGINOT LINE = FAILURE

THE NAZI CONQUEST OF FRANCE

June 1940 – Hitler attacks France1. German forces outflank Maginot Line2. DUNKIRK = 330,000 British soldiers are

evacuated across the Channel on all boats3. France surrenders4. Nazis occupy northern 3/5’s of country5. VICHY FRANCE = southern France est. a

collaborationist puppet state led by MARSHAL HENRI PETAIN

6. THE FREE FRENCH = French government in exile is led by Charles de Gaulle

DUNKIRK -> the British evacuation of the continent

THE FUHRER VISITS CONQUERED PARIS

WINSTON CHURCHILL

1. May 1940 replaces Chamberlain as PM

2. Against appeasement in the 1930’s

3. Advocated standing up to Hitler in 1930’s

4. Inspiring leader/great speaker

5. Refused to make any kind of deal with Hitler ever

CHURCHILL INSPIRES THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

“... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Winston Churchill 1940

THE BATTLE OF BRITAINAutumn 1940

1. Hitler’s air war against Britain

2. LUFTWAFFE = German air force

3. RAF = British air force4. Ultra and radar5. “the blitz” – terror

bombing of English cities

6. Battle of Britain fails for the Nazis

NORTH AFRICA

1. German forces invade N. Africa

2. Erwin Rommel = leader of the German “Afrika Korps”

3. Bernard Montgomery = leader of the British forces – “the desert rats”

OPERATION BARBAROSSA

June 1941 Hitler invades the Soviet Union

By Nov. 1941 the Germans are right outside Moscow and Leningrad

Then comes the Russian winter!

THE WAR IN ASIA

Imperial Japan Japanese invasion of Manchuria December 7, 1941 – attack on Pearl

Harbor Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere =

the Japanese empire in the Pacific Naval war

THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR

1942 1943

1. German forces advancing in N. Africa

2. Battle of the Atlantic = nazi subs attacking allied ships

3. Nazi advance into southern Russia

1. Germans stopped in N. Africa at Battle of El Alamein

2. American invade N. Africa3. Stalingrad – nazi forces

stopped in Russia 4. Battle of Coral Sea –

Japanese forces stopped5. Battle of Midway –

Americans destroy Japanese fleet

THE GRAND ALLIANCE

THE ALLIES UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

Britain – Winston Churchill

Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin

United States – Franklin D. Roosevelt

The leaders of the Allied powers agree to demand the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan no special deals or agreements

THE NORMANDY INVASION = D-DAY

1. The Allied invasion of France2. Organized by Eisenhower3. Attack across the English Channel land

forces on the Normandy coast of France

OPERATION OVERLORD -> D-DAY

THE ALLIED INVASION OF FRANCE

THE LAST YEARS OF THE WAR

June 1944 – Normandy invasion

Aug. 1944 – Paris is liberated

Winter 1944/45 – the Battle of the Bulge

Jan. 1945 – Soviets occupy Warsaw

Mar. 1945 – Anglo-American armies cross Rhine

April 1945 – Soviets enter Berlin

April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits suicide

May 7, 1945 – Germany surrender/V-E Day

THE END OF THE PACIFIC WAR

1. The Pacific theater 1943-1945 island hopping

2. Aug. 1945 – America drops the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki