World War II – The War Begins

World War II Begins

I. Hitler Makes his Move

A. Anschluss – Illegal unification of Austria and Germany.

1. Hitler claimed the Austrian Germans wished to be united under his leadership.

II. Czechoslovakia

A. Hitler Announces War is Near

1. Munich Pact – Agreement between Hitler and leaders of England and France

a. Gave Hitler control of German speaking lands of western Czech called the Sudentenland

b. Hitler promised that would be the end of his demands and that peace would remain.

c. British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain returned to England as a hero proclaiming that “peace in our time has been preserved.”

d. Hitler lied…told them what they wanted to hear until he

could prepare his armies for attack.

e. March 1938 – Hitler seized the remainder of Czech and

set his eyes on a division of Poland with the Soviet Union.

Munich Pact Video (1:25)

B. Hitler’s Plans for Poland

1. Hitler and Joseph Stalin met and signed a SECRET

nonagression pact.

2. Pact included plans to divide up control of Poland and allowing Russia to expand into eastern Europe.

3. Poland was completely dominated within 3 weeks.

C. Germany Invades Poland – September 1, 1939

1. Germans invades in the west

2. U.S.S.R. invades in the east.

3. England and France declare war on Germany and begin

mobilizing their military for a fight.

Germany Invades Poland (2:49)

Phony War

D. Both sides waited until Spring to make any major

movements towards all out war.

E. “Phony War” – Period of deceptive inactivity between the Germans and France/England.

F. Nothing was really happening and people had no reason to think

this war was going to be exactly like WWI

Ie..digging in, battling in trench lines etc..

G. Both sides were preparing for a war of unheard of proportion

• By 1940 Germany had 1558 Bomber Planes that they would use on the Allied Forces.

• German Junkers Ju 87, Stuka, dive-bomber that was produced in 1935. This was a 2 man ground attack bomber.

• Germany had produced 1290 fighter planes by 1940.

• Messerschmitt Bf109 was one of the first true fighter planes of WWII. This plane was a staple of the German Luftwaffe that was never completely replaced.

E. Germany unleashed their full armored divisions – Blitzkreig attacks

1. April 1940 – Invaded Norway and Denmark (:58)

2. May 1940 – Invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (1:43)

3. Late May 1940 – Germans broke through into northern France and cut off British and French forces.

4. England was forced to undertake and massive emergency evacuation of all British forces from Dunkirk, France as the German Army was closing in. Operation Dynamo .

III. France Surrenders

A. Germans Capture Paris June 14, 1940.

1. After the evacuation of British and French forces at Dunkirk, there was nothing left to stop the Nazi’s from seizing control of Paris.

2. Once Paris is captured the French government, while in disarray, surrenders to the Germans.

3. The Nazi’s set up a puppet government in southern France that was operated by the Nazi’s.

4. French General, Charles DeGaulle, set up a government in exhile in England where they operated throughout the war.

5. From here until D-Day the only fighting against the Nazi’s in France was undertaken by an underground French Resistance of citizens who attacked Nazi troops, supplies, railroads, and any other targets they could to attempt to weaken the German control of their home.

IV. Battle of Britain

A. Luftwaffe – German Air Force

1. Staged daily bombing raids Vs British airfields and cities.

2. The goal was destroy the British morale and will to fight while paving

the way for a ground invasion of German soldiers.

3. Lasted from July to October 1940.

4. Land invasion forces waited on landing barges along the

French coast for the Luftwaffe to win air superiority.

5. The British Royal Air Force, although greatly outnumbered,

drove the Luftwaffe from the daytime skies over England.

6. The British Royal Navy, with growing American support, fought

valiantly to keep the North Atlantic open for trade amidst German

submarine efforts to block the traffic of all goods to the English.

• Battle of Britain (1:39)

• Development of Radar (:58)

7. British tenacity forced Hitler to abandon, at a heavy cost, the Battle of Britain and turn his focus elsewhere.

V. Battle for N. Africa

A. General Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox)

1. Sent by Hitler to N. Africa to save the Italians who were being soundly defeated by the British at nearly every battle.

2. Northern Africa was important to the overall Nazi plan because victory would give them control of the Suez Canal and access to the Mediterranean Sea.

B. Battle of El Alamein

1. Became the decisive “last stand” of both the German and Allied forces in N. Africa. Both sides knew that a victory here could very well lead to overall victory.

2. General Rommel’s famous desert fighting force, the Afrika Corps HAD to win control of the Suez Canal.

3. British General, Bernard “Monty” Montgomery was dispatched by Churchill to win.

4. Rommel’s battle plans were compromised allowing Monty full access to their plans and supply routes which were sabotaged.

5. Short on supplies, Rommel rushed in to attack.6. Rommel’s Panzer tank divisions walked into a trap and many

were destroyed by land mines the British had set up.7. 300 U.S. Sherman tanks arrived in time to support Monty’s battle. Germany Allies110,000 Men 200,000 Men500 Panzer 4 Tanks 1000 Tanks

British Sherman Vs German Panzer 4

• In battle the Sherman did well against the Panzer 4.  The Sherman was faster then the Panzer 4 and could out maneuver it.  The early versions of the Panzer 4 with its low velocity gun was cut to pieces by Sherman in North Africa.  By The time of the Normandy invasion the up gunned Panzer 4 was a close match to the Sherman.

8. The fighting was intense and on more than 1 occasion Rommel was saved by sandstorms that either hid his tanks or caused the British to become disorganized

9. Allies were eventually victorious mainly due to a tremendous advantage in numbers of men and tanks.

10. By November 1942, Rommel knew that victory was lost

11. Hitler ordered a fight to the last man, but Rommel retreated to save his men.

Casualties: German & Italian – 25,000 Allied – 13,000 (British, Australian &, New Zealanders)

• Battle of Alamein (1:51)

VI. U.S. Enters the WarA. Pearl Harbor

1. December 7, 1941

2. Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Hawaii

3. Attacked was designed to teach the Americans a lesson for getting involved in their affairs in the S. Pacific.

4. The goal was to cripple the U.S. Pacific fleet so that they could not interfere with Japanese expansion.

5. Admiral Yamamoto was in charge of the planning of the attack.* Was familiar with the U.S. culture and life due to his

education there.* Was afraid that the Pearl Harbor attack would “awaken a sleeping

giant”.* Was eventually killed by Harrison HS grad Buddy Hein in a

air attack.

6. Much of the U.S. Pacific fleet was destroyed or crippled. The U.S. had no defense of their own west coast.

7. President Roosevelt had no choice but to ask Congress for a declaration of war.

Pearl Harbor (4:26)

www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/pearlharborattack1.htm

B. Pacific Losses

1. U.S. positions in the S. Pacific were easily overrun by advancing Japanese forces.

2. U.S. military went through a complete organizational change to facilitate success in the war.

3. The U.S. Army had to completely re-tool their military divisions, command, & weaponry to compete with the advanced military of the Japanese.

4. There was great pressure placed on the U.S. industry to provide the military tools that were ordered.

C. American Industry

1. Had to support all of the Allies if victory was to be achieved.

2. England needed larger amounts of ammunition and equipment.

3. Tens of thousands of vehicles and other equipment must be provided.

4. Eventually the U.S. played a significant role in mechanizing the Soviet Army.

D. Americans Join the Allied Attack

1. July 4, 1942 – U.S. Air Force joins the R.A.F. in attacks against German positions.

E. Priority of the European Theatre

1. Winning the war in Europe was the 1st priority

2. Stalin pressured the Allied leaders to open an invasion in northern France to take pressure off of his armies in eastern Europe.

3. England wanted to invade the Axis powers from the southern portion of Europe ------ N. Africa and Italy…and the Mediterranean Sea area.

4. Churchill hoped to pressure the U.S. and France to help support English victories in N. Africa.

5. The U.S. favored an invasion of N. France.

6. The U.S. finally gave in to Churchill and began staging amphibious landings (:35) in N. Africa by the end of 1942.

7. U.S. troops would be working..almost as if under British Command.

F. Dwight D. Eisenhower

1. Sent by Roosevelt to lead U.S. forces in N. Africa.

2. U.S. forces landed in Morocco

3. Helped to move to Tunisia to trap Rommel after the El Alamein battle

4. Fighting in Tunisia lasted through the winter and into April

5. 275,000 German P.O.W. captured.

6. U.S. learned tremendous lessons about their inadequate training and artillery power.

G. Italian Campaign1. Sicily, a large Italian island, would be the next target of the Allies.2. July 9, 19433. Bernard Montgomery led the British forces 4. George S. Patton led the Allied attack. Patton’s primary jobs were to

secure airfields under German control and provide cover for the British attacks.

5. Allied attacks were stalled initially when German armor attacked the Americans on the beaches.

6. British also stalled while trying to attack the Sicilian capital of Messina.7. Patton organized a series of amphibious attacks to outflank German

positions outside of Messina.8. Aug 17th, the Germans abandoned Sicily as the Allies arrived in the

Sicilian capital.

Sicilian Invasion (1:21)

H. Italian Surrender

1. Late July 1943

2. Italian High Command with the support of King Emmanuel held secret meetings with Allied Command to negotiate a surrender of Italy.

3. Hitler guessed that he had lost control of the Italian military sent massive amounts of forces into Northern Italy to reassert control.

4. Germany disarmed the Italian Army and took control of their defensive positions.

5. The Allies fought into the mountains of Italy into October 1943.

6. The Germans had the advantage of fighting from heavily fortified mountain positions.

7. Every Allied attack was driven back by the Germans from the mountains.

8. In May of 1944 the Germans began to wilt under the pressure of Allied bomber attacks.

9. 2 days before D-Day, the Allies marched into Rome.