World War II

The Invasion of Poland September 1, 1939

German forces invaded from the west, while Soviets invaded from the east

The attack forced Britain and France to honor their alliance with Poland and declare war on Germany

By the end of September, however, Poland had been conquered

The Soviets also moved against Finland and the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia)

Blitzkrieg During the invasion of

Poland, the Germans debuted a new military tactic

Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning War,” German tactic of striking with tremendous speed and force, with the intention of knocking out your enemy before they can react to your attack

Germany’s Next Moves To secure their northern

border, Germany invaded both Norway and Denmark, winning easy victories in the spring of 1940

By late spring, Hitler turned his attention west and invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in preparation for attacking France

Destroyers for Bases Deal

Spring 1940: US agreed to trade 50 surplus destroyers (small warships) to Britain, who needed them to protect shipping, in exchange for allowing the US to build naval bases in British-controlled territories

The Miracle at Dunkirk Allied forces had moved into

Belgium to meet the German advance, but quickly found themselves cut-off and surrounded

Allied forces raced to reach the port of Dunkirk on the English Channel, their only means of escaping defeat & capture

The British were able to safely evacuate over 300,000 men to England by using every available ship in Great Britain, but were forced to abandon all of their heavy equipment

The Fall of France The evacuation of

Allied troops across the English Channel left France undefended

Germans took Paris on June 13th and the French government formally surrendered on June 22nd, 1940

Winston Churchill 1874 – 1965 (life)

1940-45 & 1951-55 (British Prime Minister)

Although Britain now stood alone against Germany, they remained defiant, with Churchill vowing “… 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”

The Battle of Britain To be able to invade Britain,

Germany would first need to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) and soften beachhead defenses through aerial bombing

From June to October of 1940, an air battle was waged between the RAF and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force)

Despite being outnumbered, the British managed to win the air battle, forcing Hitler to abandon his plans to invade Britain

“Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few.” - Churchill

“The Blitz” Sept. 1940 – May 1941

Sustained bombing campaign by Germany against major British cities, targeting British civilians

London was bombed 57 nights in a row

43,000 civilians killed

German objective was to instill fear in the British people in hopes that they would sue for peace; instead the British grew more determined to win the war

British retaliated with fire-bombing raids on German cities

Lend-Lease Act March 1941

US declared that it would lend or lease (since it couldn’t sell due to the Neutrality Acts) weapons to nations considered “vital to the defense of the US”

US went on to send $40 billion in weapons to Allies over the course of WWII

Hemispheric Defense Zone

To help protect British shipping, FDR declared the entire Western Atlantic to be part of the Western Hemisphere and thereby under the protection of the US per the Monroe Doctrine

FDR then ordered the US Navy to patrol this part of the Atlantic, leading to several deadly encounters between US destroyers and German U-boats

The Atlantic Charter August 1941

FDR met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lay out a post-war plan for economic prosperity

Many question whether or not this is where FDR promised Churchill that he would find a way to get the American people to support the US entering the war

The Axis in the Mediterranean

In The Balkans: Italian and German forces seized control of most of the Balkan peninsula by late 1941, but still had to deal with partisan uprisings, especially in Greece & Yugoslavia, throughout the war

In North Africa: Axis forces fought mostly British troops in back-and-forth battles throughout most of 1940, 1941, & 1942; Germany’s inability to decisively win on the “Southern Front” of the war would prove costly

Operation Barbarossa In June 1941, Germany broke the

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and attacked the Soviet Union

Stalin was not prepared for the German attack and the Wehrmacht (German Army) had made deep advances into Soviet territory by December

Soviet forces resorted to a “scorched earth” campaign, burning everything of use to the Germans as they retreated across the Ukraine

Finally, the harsh Russian winter stalled the Germans, buying the Soviets time to regroup and stop the German advances

Siege of Leningrad Sept. 1941 – Jan. 1944

Hitler was obsessed with capturing the Soviet city of Leningrad due both to its symbolical importance as the “City of Lenin” (Lenin had led the Bolshevik Revolution) and its military importance as a naval port on the North Sea

1.5 million Soviets died during the siege, mostly from starvation and disease; the population resorted to eating sawdust, boiled leather, rats, pets, horses, and, eventually, each other!

Battle of Stalingrad July 1942 – February 1943

Bloodiest battle in history

1.5 million killed

Vicious urban warfare as the Germans and Soviets fought street by street, building by building for control of the city

Soviets eventually encircled the German army, which was forced to surrender en masse

500,000 Germans captured, but few of them survived being imprisoned in the brutal Soviet gulags (prison camps)

The Wannsee Conference

Jan. 20, 1942

Nazi leaders met to determine the “final solution of the Jewish question”

Formalized the process for rounding up and exterminating the Jewish population of Europe through the use of concentration camps

The Holocaust By the time the war was

over, more than 12 million people had died in the concentration camps, about half of them Jews

The other half were a mix of other groups the Nazi’s considered “undesirable”: Gypsies, Poles, Russians, uncooperative Catholic priests, homosexuals, the mentally ill, & the physically or mentally handicapped

Japan Takes Advantage

1940 - 41: As war raged in Europe, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia) and positioned itself to threaten British colonies and the US-controlled Philippines

US Embargo of Japan In response, US cut off

Japan’s access to critical war materials such as steel and oil (both of which Japan bought almost entirely from America) to put pressure on Japan to make peace with China and Britain

Japan considered this an act of war and began to plan an attack on US military facilities in Hawaii and the Philippines

Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

Japan launched a surprise attack against US naval base in Hawaii

4 battleships destroyed, 4 more seriously damaged, but Japan failed to destroy US aircraft carriers

Support vessels and facilities suffered massive damage

2403 Americans killed, 1178 wounded

Japanese lost only 29 aircraft and 65 men

US Declares War Dec. 8, 1941: US and

Britain declared war against Japan

Dec. 11, 1941: Germany and Italy declared war against the US, believing that by helping Japan against the US, Japan would help them against the Soviets

Japan Keeps Rolling Japan immediately

launched successful attacks against US colonies at Guam and the Philippines and British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as the independent nation of Thailand

Japan in the Philippines

US forces in the Philippines were forced to surrender by May 1942

US Gen. Douglas MacArthur was ordered to evacuate to Australia, but vowed “I shall return”

Japanese forced prisoners to march 65 miles in tropical heat without food, water, or medical care, and while enduring physical abuse, to a prison camp – about 18,000 of the 78,000 prisoners died on this “Bataan Death March”

Doolittle Raid April 18, 1942

American bombers, under the command of Col. James Doolittle, mounted a daring mission to launch from aircraft carrier to bomb Tokyo in retaliation for Pearl Harbor

Mainly a public relations move to improve morale; bombings did no major damage

Battle of Coral Sea May 4 – 8, 1942

US Navy had broken Japanese codes and learned of Japan’s intention to seize New Guinea as a step towards attacking Australia

US sent 2 aircraft carriers to intercept the Japanese in the Coral Sea

First naval battle in history fought entirely with aircraft

U.S. lost an aircraft carrier, but prevented the Japanese invasion

Battle of Midway June 4 – 7, 1942

Japanese attack on U.S. island of Midway was intercepted and turned back

4 Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk, a loss from which Japan would never recover

Japan would not be able to mount any offensive attacks for the remainder of the war – they would have to try to defend what they held from US invasion