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