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Hitler demanded Poland’s port city of Danzig but the Poles wouldn’t give in.
Hitler was ready to fight, but concerned about USSR, so…
1. Agreement between Germany & USSR; agreed not to attack one another for 10 years.
2. In a secret provision the two nations divided Poland in half:
3. One week later Germany invaded Poland4. Britain and France had vowed that if
Poland was attacked they would go to war.
WORLD WAR TWO BEGINS
Technology-from the Blitz to A-bomb & in between
Diplomacy-Allies cooperate “Total War”-civilian casualties
Blitzkrieg- “Lightening Warfare”New Technologies =
Success Air attacks combined
with rapid troop movement
Poland fell within one monthGerman air force
targeted railroads
• French anticipated the Germans attacking through the north as they did in World War I so they developed the Dye Plan to counter such an attack
• Built the Maginot Line in the south to protect the border (recalling the trench warfare of WWI)
A line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along her borders with Germany and Italy
The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes Forest which was considered “impassable”
On May 12, 1940 Germany attacked through the weakly held Ardennes region
Penetrated Allied defenses and then began to envelop them
With Hoth’s and Guderian’s successes, the Germans had a 40 mile breakthrough from Dinant to Sedan Pushed through
seven armored divisions toward the English Channel
Sedan
Dinant
Ardennes
Dunkirk was the last evacuation port available to the Allies.
German forces pressed the Allied armies trapped in the north, from south and east, into the English Channel.
Meanwhile, German infantry divisions reinforced the southern flank of the German penetration.
But….
Dunkirk Harbor ablaze from German bombing
Hitler halted the German armor German armor had suffered heavy losses and
would be needed to conquer the rest of France Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job
Luftwaffe unable to destroy the British and French Bases in western Germany were further away
from Dunkirk than British planes were from their bases on the British Isles
340,000 Allied troops were evacuated
On June 10, 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France and four months later invaded Greece
Mussolini will end up being a troublesome ally for Hitler
On June 16, the French asked for an armistice
In July, France was divided into two sections One was ruled directly
by the Germans The other was led by
the Vichy government that collaborated with German plans including the plunder of French resources and the forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French Jews to concentration camps across Europe
German interwar doctrine emphasized: decentralized, mission-oriented orders
(Auftragstaktik) speed and exploitation of enemy weaknesses
maximized by troop commanders taking the initiative (understand commander’s intent)
close integration and cooperation between combat branches (mobile warfare required armor, infantry, and artillery)
leadership from the front
The Germans developed two plans to take Britain Operation Sea Lion, an amphibious landing on the British coast A great air offensive to gain air superiority and destroy the British
industrial base “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that,
if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” (Winston Churchill)
Hitler made an offer of peace
When Britain refused, Hitler planned to subdue Britain. He cannot allow an anti-Nazi Britain…(why not?)
Churchill talks about the incredible advantage of superior sea power- very hard to invade. Enemy might be able to sneak
across, but even then, how can it defend its supply lines?
Necessities of perfect weather for a good invasion… high tide, half moon, clear weather… the problem is that the enemy can calculate these dates as well… can be prepared…
For this reason, he argues that Britain has always been safe… even more so in WWI when steam power took away the ability of the aggressor to wait for favorable winds to help them but drive the defender away.
However, there was a new intangible in WWII … air power.
Construct a Naval corridor cordon off the
shortest straight line between France and Britain
line it with minefields and subs, and ferry the German army across…
Churchill claims that Britain could have torn this minefield up, destroyed the subs, and crushed this invasion
he also says that this was the most heavily fortified section of the British coast…
The Odds Churchill estimated that at the beginning of the Battle of
Britain the Luftwaffe forces outnumbered the RAF 3-1, but there was considerable home field advantage for the British Partly this is because of fuel… Luftwaffe only had about 10
minutes of fighting time over England before having to head back to refuel.
Also, Enigma (bigger story here) and radar Churchill describes the need to defend a long coastline in
Britain meant to set up forces on the perimeter that would stall the enemy and then the largest possible reserve for quick counterattack… (what he accused the French of not doing in the Battle of France… )
Hurricane… first RAF plane with a top speed of over 300 mph…
8 machine guns in the wings… (gets rid of synchronizing gear)
1,715 Hurricanes flew with Fighter Command during the period of the Battle
It is estimated that its pilots were credited with four-fifths of all enemy aircraft destroyed in the period July-October 1940.
“The Spitfire has always attracted more attention than the Hurricane, and is undoubtedly one of the most famous aircraft ever built. Its graceful lines combined with outstanding handling qualities to produce a "dream plane" extremely fast, and in comparison to contemporary types was second to none.”
8 machine guns in wings
Messerchmitt 109 2 machine guns in the nose and two in
the wings The various strengths and shortcomings
of the Messerschmitt, the Hurricane, and the Spitfire largely cancelled out in combat.
Won great success in battles of Poland and France, but in the Battle of Britain proved to be almost helpless without fighter cover
Air battles between the Luftwaffe and the RAF occurred through the late summer and fall (1940)
Operation Sea Lion would have to be launched by late September or it would have to wait through the winter…would the RAF hold out
RAF started to crack because of damage to its fighter command…. I’ve read one historian who claims England came
within one week of permanently losing the air war Churchill, in desperation, bated the Germans by
bombing Berlin Hitler had promised never to bomb London if
German cities were not bombed Goering (head of Luftwaffe) had promised that
German cities would never be bombed
Churchill’s Gamble
The bombing of Berlin caused a change in tactics The Germans altered their focus from an
attack on British air power to an attack on England’s civilian population
tried to bomb the Brits into submission through terror bombing of London ..
London was bombed after this for 57 consecutive nights…
Problem of underground shelters during incendiary bombings? Solution? – To the roof!
Thus, the Battle of Britain had two phases The attack on the RAF
And The attack on London, known as the London
Blitz
“London can take it.” RAF is being reconstituted By October, Hitler gave up on the
bombing of Britain Too late to launch Sea Lion
Instead, Hitler decided to deal with England via the War in the Atlantic (Wolf Packs) Starve the British out
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbour in Hawaii 183 planes bomb . Causes widespread
damage. Japan continues Pacific Advances. Very
few forces in southeast Asia able to resist. Mao Zedong is fighting against Japan in China.
Hitler had strategic and ideological reasons for invading Russia Strategically he knew that the Soviet Union
and the US were critical to Britain’s willingness to keep fighting
He also felt he needed the agricultural and raw material resources of Eastern Russia
Ideologically he viewed the Soviet Union as an amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the Jews and the Slavs
Hitler based his plan on the assumption he could destroy the Soviet Union within one year
Critical to his success would be to catch and destroy the Soviet Army at the border areas
If that did not occur, the Russians could use their vast territory to trade space for time and cause the Germans huge logistical problems
On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa
The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever
Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France
With the Germans’ successes in the north and south, Hitler assumed that Stalin’s regime was on the verge of collapse
He authorized an advance on Moscow before the onset of winter
Already however the Germans were suffering from serious supply shortages By September the supply system was only
meeting current tactical consumption needs No supply stores for the winter season were
being built
The Germans caught the Russians unprepared and made great advances
The Soviet Army seemed on the verge of collapse
At this point the weather broke and autumn rains turned the roads to mud
The German advance stalled, allowing the Russians to hurry reinforcements from the interior
Despite dropping temperatures and critical supply shortages, the German high command pressed on with the attack
The German soldiers were still in summer uniforms and suffered terribly
German soldier during the battle of Moscow
Stalin responded to the crisis by rushing his best commander, Georgi Zhukov, to defend Moscow
Zhukov waged a delaying defense in front of Moscow; the first time the Soviets took advantage of their ability to trade space for time
In the meantime he pulled reinforcements from as far away as Siberia to defend Moscow
Zhukov’s plan was to allow the Germans to exhaust themselves and then go on the offensive
By Dec 4 the Germans had clawed their way to Moscow’s outskirts, but they could not continue That night
temperatures were -25 degrees Fahrenheit
One infantry regiment suffered 300 frostbite casualties
On Dec 6 the Soviets counterattacked
On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor
In spite of his troubles in Russia, Hitler decided to support Japan and also declare war on the US
Now the US would join with Britain to adopt a “Europe First” strategy that would destroy Hitler
As the Russians pushed forward, Hitler refused to allow a retreat and relieved or court-martialed generals who did so
Hitler named himself commander-in-chief of the army Each military service began to operate
increasingly independently and Germany suffered from a lack of an overall strategy
On the Eastern Front the Germans’ stiff resistance and control of crucial roads and supply centers slowly took the punch out of the Russian counterattack
The German Army survived but it suffered losses from which it never recovered
Both sides licked their wounds and prepared for renewed operations in the spring
As spring 1942 approached, German commanders recommended remaining on the defensive but Hitler believed the Germans must destroy Soviet military potential before the American industrial power could come into play
Hitler developed a plan to capture Soviet oil At first Hitler considered Stalingrad of little
importance other than the fact that its capture might block the movement of petroleum up the Volga River
On June 28 the Germans launched their summer offensive
The Germans made good headway with one advance moving east toward Stalingrad and the Volga River and another moving south into the Caucasus
In August Hitler’s erratic attention swung from the Caucasus to Stalingrad
On Aug 24 the Germans attacked Stalingrad’s suburbs and began fighting their way into the city
Hitler began shifting forces from the Caucasus to Stalingrad
The nature of the urban fighting favored the defenders and the Soviets mounted a stubborn defense
Stalingrad began to drain the German army but Hitler would not back off
On Nov 19 the Soviets launched a massive counterattack north of Stalingrad
Hitler’s overly centralized and completely out-of-touch command system broke down in the face of the Soviet onslaught
The Soviets encircled Stalingrad and Hitler ordered his commanders to stand fast anyway
By this point in the war, no one was willing to confront Hitler
All attempts to breakout or break through failed and on Feb 2 the Germans surrendered Out of 250,000 soldiers
trapped in the Stalingrad pocket, approximately 90,000 became prisoners
Barely 5,000 survived the war
German POWs
Ultimately enormous logistical shortcomings made Barbarossa a failure Germany proved capable of fighting battles
very well, but was less capable of fighting a war of prolonged duration
In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were killed in battle
20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes planned) starvation.
Invasion of continental Europe from England
Involved the United States, Britain, Canada, and allies
Canada got its own beach, Juno Beach
Re-ordering of the map of Europe
To put an end to German militarism and Nazism
To punish war criminals and to exact reparations
To divide Germany into occupation zones
Confirmed Soviet possession of Eastern Poland compensating Poland with German territory
To assist countries under Allied occupation in forming democratically elected interim governments.
Announced a “conference of United Nations” to be held in San Francisco in April 1945
United States had won decisive battles in the Pacific.
Did not want to enter in conventional war with Japan, would have resulted in too many deaths
Decided to use their recently developed atomic bomb. Bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered effectively ending world war two.
Immediate death of 120 000 people