WORLD WAR II

1939-1945

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Lessons/worksheets/ww2.htm

HITLER’S LIGHTNING WAR Germany used “Blitzkrieg” – or lightening

warPlanes bombed airfields, factories, towns, etc.Then tanks and troops roared into the country Motorized high speed “keep enemy off balance

Poland was conquered within a month Soviet forces took control of

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and part of Finland

1939-1945

1939-1945

INVASION OF POLAND• Two days later Britain

& France declared war• So begins the phase of

the war called the “phony war”

• Coalition Forces wait at the “impenetrable defensive barrier” Maginot Line where all was quiet

• Why did the Allied forces not go on the offensive?

http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactiveMaginot Line

EUROPEAN NATIONS CONTINUE TO FALL

April 1940, launched blitzkrieg against:

1) Norway2) Denmark3) Netherlands4) Belgium

Miracle of Dunkirk Germans pushed all

French/British troops to the coastline

British sent an improvised armada to rescue trapped soldiers in France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FddKPGE19wA&feature=relmfu

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_fall_france_campaign.shtml

FRANCE FALLS TO AXIS POWERS

Germany heads toward Paris!Benito Mussolini of Italy put his Pact of Steel

with Hitler into action Italy declared war against France and Britain on

June 10June 22, 1940 – French surrendera new government formed by Marshal Philippe

Petain (France's hero of World War I) requested an armistice

France was divided into two zones, one under German military occupation and the other under Petain's government (south)

Petain’s government was Hitler’s “puppet” Becomes known as Vichy France

FRANCE (CONT.) Charles de Gaulle –

French general, set up a government in exile in London.Committed to re-

conquering France.Organized Free French

military who battled the Nazis until France was liberated in 1944.

WWII TECHNOLOGY

Air power takes prominent roleLuftwaffe- German air forceParachute troops role increases

Tanks were much improved from WWI Deadlier bombs Radar – to detect planes Sonar – to detect submarines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi7mcJCOWp4

OPERATION SEA LION Hitler now turned his attention to Britain, invasion (Operation Sea Lion) German planes

bombed Britain throughout the summer of 1940

including night raids on London and other industrial centers

THE BATTLE OF BRITAINKnown as the “London Blitz”

8/12/1940 – air attacks on southern England Germans bombed London for 57 nights Considered a failure because British did not

quit Continued until May 10,1941 The Royal Air Force (RAF) eventually defeated

the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) Hitler turns his attention out of Britain onto

the Eastern Front

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister who rallied Britain to fight against Nazi aggression

“voice of calm”

Britain began receiving crucial aid from the U.S. under the Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress in early 1941.

Churchill rallies the Britishhttp://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive

What is Churchill’s prediction if they lose to the Nazi army?-End of the free world

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZ

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZ

THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE EASTERN FRONT Hitler’s goal: continue expanding

German property….East of the BalkansMediterranean SeaSOVIET UNION

NORTH AFRICA

Mussolini takes North Africa in September of 1940 while the Battle of Britain was going on.

Attacked British controlled Egypt.Egypt’s Suez Canal near Cairo = key

to reaching oil fields of the Middle East

Britain strikes back in December and by February 1941

Italy needs help…

Hitler lends help to Mussolini Germans come in with the Afrika Korps

German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia

its first commander Erwin Rommel “Desert Fox”

Seize Tobruk (Libya)= loss for the Allieshttp://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=107BDA7D-6E12-4F41-9E4C-7D21F651A6CC

THE NAZI EMPIRE CONTINUES TO GROWS

The Axis power grows..

Bulgaria Hungary Romania

Greece and Yugoslavia had pro-British governments

Resist Hitler Hitler invades them

These nations mostly devote resources and political alliance to the Nazis

• They deport Jews to Poland

• The employ secret police forces

• They become puppet governments

OPERATION BARBAROSSA! 1941 go get the USSR!!! The Soviet Union was their allies…Why invade?

Plentiful Soviet resources! Stalin had the largest army in the world but it

wasn’t prepared!3 million Germans caught Stalin’s 5 million unprepared

Soviets retreatedUsed “torch-earth policy”

1941 Nazis invade the

Soviet Union Jewish population

of 3 million Hitler issues

infamous “Commissar Order”

SS Einsatzgruppen follow advance of German Army

“Liquidate all Communist officials you encounter!

EINSATZGRUPPEN SS “Special Action Groups”

organized in early years of war by Reinhard Heydrich

Heydrich organized 4 large groups (A,B,C,D) in Soviet Union

Competition between group leaders to see who could kill the most Jews

1,300,000 Russian Jews killed by end of war by these “mobile killing units”

EINSATZ AREA OF OPERATIONS

German’s surrounded Leningrad Starved them USSR lost 2.5 million troops

Next moved towards Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union!Germans were halted by Russia’s cold weather

October 1941 Germany fails to take Moscow!

Germans want oil fields in the Caucuses “Liquidate all Communist officials you encounter!

oil

capital

AMERICA GETS INVOLVED End of Neutrality Acts Lend-Lease Act (1941)

Selling or lending of war materials to countries “Vital to US defense”

United States of America supplied Britain, Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations

Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941)FDR and Churchill agree on:

Free trade and the right of people to CHOOSE their government

“Final destruction of Nazi tyranny”

THE DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD

43 min Dunkirk 49 min Pearl Harbor 52 min Afrika Campaign 55 min Battle of Stalingrad 58 min D-day 1 hour France is free 1 hour 4 min The Big Three Meet-

agree invasion of mainland Japan 1 hour 7 min Germany surrenders 1 hour 11 min – May 13 1945

Churchill proclaims war is over 1 hour 13 min- July 16 1945

Robert Oppenheimer tests atomic bomb

1 hour 19 min- dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7FA4128B-D776-4C5E-BC2B-91AE1AE844A3

JAPAN ATTACKS; PEARL HARBOR (DAY OF INFAMY)

America controlled Philippine Islands and Guam

Japan had successfully grabbed Manchuria, China and beyond…plans to take Southeast Asia

http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive Japan invades

America sends aid to China 1940 FDR bans the sale of iron, steel and

airplanes to Japan

Tripartite Pact : Japan joins Axis on September 27, 1940

Japan felt that the US was interfering in their plans to expandNaval strategist Isoroku Yamamoto plans

12/7/1941 – Japan surprise attacks American fleet @ Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) 2,400 deaths

US declares war on Japan (12/8/1941) Germany, Italy declare war on US four days later!

Pearl Harbor

TOTAL WAR! Factories stopped making cars

& refrigerators & made planes & tanks

Shoes and sugar were rationed

Use of propaganda War ended unemployment of

the depression Japanese people in US and

Canada Lost their jobs and propertyForced into internment camps

Seen as a security risk

US PROPAGANDA ANTI - GERMAN

US PROPAGANDA – ANTI - JAPANESE

US PROPAGANDA ANTI - JAPANESE

WAR BOND ADVERTISEMENTS

“DO YOUR PART” CAMPAIGN

NO ROOM FOR DEBATE

Nazi anti-British & American propaganda

British anti-Nazi propaganda

British anti-Nazi propaganda

JAPAN AGGRAVATES OTHER NATIONS Strikes towards the British and Dutch

Seize Hong Kong Invades MalaysiaSingapore surrendersDutch East Indies (now Indonesia)-- [rich in

resources]Burma

Other Strikes towards the United StatesSeize Guam and the Wake Island in western

PacificAttack on the Philippines to march into

capital Manila

BATTLE OF MIDWAY June 1942 Midway Islands= West of Hawaii

Home to a key American airfield Japanese secret plan to capture

The U.S. would make sure the Japanese Navy would reach no further

Over 150 Japanese ships head towards American ships Japan strikes first Marked the beginning of “Island Hopping”

The recapture some islands while bypassing others Yamamoto himself on the largest ship

U.S. Pacific Fleet took down 332 planes, all 4 aircraft carriers Yamamoto withdraws! retreats

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=CE0D53F2-C9EC-4DAF-A728-0BDFA9355B9D

ISLAND HOPPING

Bypass heavily fortified

Concentrate on striking important weaker points

“Leapfrogging”

BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL Japanese attempt to seize Guadalcanal in

the Solomon Islands to build large air base Access to Australia Aug 1942 Allied troops with Australia on

their side, attack!General MacArthur

US Marines captured a huge Japanese Air Force base

Japanese lost 24,000 troops

Japans goal: Establish a new order in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

THE SITUATION IN NAZI EUROPE

Puppet governments in Western Europe run by “Aryans”

Eastern Europeans “inferior”, shoved aside for more living space

Nazis stripped conquered nations of art, factories and resources

Used Eastern Europeans as slave laborers; shot and tortured prisoners

TURNING POINTS 1942 - 1943

Battle of El Alamein, Egypt Operation Torch British takes down Rommel

Rommel’s army retreats

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=2C522DC6-BF0F-4430-B520-22282FFFEF25

Allies had regained possession of TobrukAllies finally brought German

Panzers to a halt 107,000 Allied troops invade

land in Algeria and Morocco Mussolini orders Italians to invade

Egypt Battle of El Alamein

October 1942 Egypt – The battle halted the

second (and final) advance by the Axis forces going into Egypt

ended Axis hopes of occupying Egypt, taking control of the Suez Canal, and gaining access to the Middle Eastern oil fields.

TURNING POINTS 1942 THE NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN

Operation Torch 8 November 1942; ended on 11 November. American

and British Commonwealth landed in French North Africa under the assumption that there would be little to no

resistance British led by Gen. Bernard Montgomery US led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur

invasion of northwestern Africa — Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia,

African territory was in the hands of Petain’s Vichy French “Nazi puppet” government

Successful completion of these operations was to be followed by an advance eastwards into Tunisia.

Allies advance into Tunisia Rommel is outflanked, outmanned and outgunned.

• Rommel gets the infamous "victory or death" stand-fast order from Hitler

• demanded the impossible• virtually ensured the destruction of Panzer Army Africa, • Rommel could not bring himself to disobey a direct order

from his Führer Allies trap Rommel’s army and force surrender in May

of 1943 led to all Italian colonies in Africa being captured.

• Rommel named a “disgrace”• Hitler says face court of people that will scorn your legacy

or commit suicide quietly• Rommel takes cyanide pill and dies 1944

THE RED ARMY RESISTS Turning Point: Battle of Stalingrad

Street by street and house by house battles

Nightly bomb raids by the Germans Nov 1942 Germans controlled 90

% of the city ANOTHER RUSSIAN WINTER SETS IN

February 1943 Germans surrender ! 300,000 killed or injured Over one million Soviet soldiers

died City was 99% destroyed

Soviets then drive Germans back westward

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=29091B7E-0A46-4353-AA49-960E4229AFA1

Stalingrad is now called Volgograd

MISSION TO TAKE BACK FRANCE Turning Point in Europe

9 month campaign for the Allies to regain France

D-Day June 6th 1944 Allied paratroopers and ferried troops (176,000) Fought against heavy gunfire and snipers

To invade the beaches of NormandyLargest Land and Sea attack in history

Battle of NormandyAugust Allies made their way to Paris By September France was freeAND had liberated Belgium, Luxembourg,

and much of the Netherlands France named 4th republic and on the

road to peace Now Allies push towards Germany!!

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=B94DB811-9CEE-48A9-A18B-942CF10F1C6F

ALLIES ADVANCE INTO GERMANY

ALLIES ADVANCE INTO ITALY

July 1943 British and American forces land in Sicily and defeat the Italians in 1 month

King Victor Emmanuel III fired Mussolini Allied forced landed in Sicily in 1943

Controlled Sicily in one month Italy surrendered within two months Sept 1943 Italy surrenders Hitler uses his control over the North to put

Mussolini back in charge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_italy_campaign.shtml

Allies enter Rome in June, pushing Nazis up Although Italy had surrendered, Germany

continued to battle the allies in Italy until the end of the warMussolini is found disguised as a German

general in April 1945He was shot and hung in Milan town

square

BATTLE OF THE BULGE TIME TO ATTACK GERMANY! Germany was facing a war on three fronts

US to the west (coming from France)Soviet Union to the eastUS and UK to the south (coming from Italy)

Germany on the offensive for the last time85-mile front in the Ardennes ForestGermans able to push into Allied linesUltimately unsuccessful push because the Allies

pushed back and won!

THE END OF WAR IN EUROPE Soviets have control of the capital:

Berlin, GermanyHitler had an underground headquarters

there Hitler commits suicide (4/30/1945), in

his underground bunker w/ wife Eva Braun

May 7th Germany surrenders May 8th surrender was officially signed

in Berlin V-E Day or Victory in Europe Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSxnvwxsAm8

Hitler’s Bunker

Surrender in USSR

Surrender in France