The Battles

1
World War II

• The Battles

2
The Phony War

• Once Germany invaded Poland under the fabricated
  reason that Poland had attacked a German border
  post, Britain along with Australia and New
  Zealand declared war on Germany.
• France, Canada, South Africa and Nepal would
  quickly follow and also declare war on the Nazis.
• Allied troops gathered on the border of France
  and Germany but did not attack for seven months.
  
• Leaders on both sides still hoped for peace.
• This seven month period of was known as the
  Phony War.

3
Blitzkrieg

• Germanys new war tactic was called the
  Blitzkrieg or lightning attack.
• It was a fast-moving way of fighting.
• Columns of tanks and armoured vehicles would
  smash through key defensive points while
  dive-bombers supported the attacks.
• The idea was to hit the enemy hard and fast
  before they could mount an effective defense.
• Germany used this lighting warfare when they
  attacked Poland.

4
War breaks out

• On May 10, 1940, the Germans ended the Phony
  War.
• Hitler invaded Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands
  and France.
• The Blitzkrieg was employed to smash through
  French and British defenses.
• Within weeks, the Germans had overrun the
  Netherlands, Belgium and France.

5
Evacuation at Dunkirk

• The British army had been force back to the sea
  at the French port of Dunkirk.
• The ships on a rescue mission for the British
  were bombarded and machine gunned by Hitlers
  troops
• 300 000 British troops were safely ferried across
  the English Channel Britain.
• The evacuation saved the British army.
• France, however, could not be saved.

6
France Surrenders

• On June 17 1940, the French government
  surrendered to the Germans.
• The German army moved in directly controlling 3/5
  of France.
• The rest of France was controlled by a
  collaborationist government (Vichy France)
• The Germans now occupied most of France.

7
British Fight On

• Hitler expected Britain to sign a peace treaty
  after France surrendered.
• The new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill
  would not submit to the Nazis.
• He said Britain would fight on.

8
Churchill
9
Operation Lion the Battle of Britain

• The German plan to invade Britain was called
  Operation Lion.
• Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack Britain.
• This air battle known as the Battle of Britain.
• Hitler wanted to make invading Britain easier by
  first destroying Britains Royal Air Force (RAF).
• On August 13, 1940, the Luftwaffe began attacking
  RAF airfields in southern England.
• 1000 German bombers were attacking Britain each
  day by the end of August.
• The RAF could not replace the pilots and planes
  being lost fast enough

10
Luftwaffe
11
RAF
12
Battle of Britain the Blitz

• The tide turned in favor of the British when the
  RAF bombed Berlin.
• Furious Hitler began bombing London instead of
  the RAF airfields.
• The German attacks on London and other British
  cities would be known as the Blitz.
• The Blitz would drag on from September 7, 1940
  until May 10, 1941.
• 43 000 died in London and a million homes were
  destroyed.

13
Blitz continued

• Although the damage to British cities was
  devastating, the Blitz saved the RAF.
• Now that airfields were not being attacked, the
  RAF had time to repair and replace damaged
  aircraft and train new pilots.
• RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes were shooting down
  more and more German aircraft everyday
• By the end of September 1941, Hitler realized his
  plan had failed. He had lost the Battle of
  Britain.
• Operation Lion and the invasion of Britain had to
  be abandoned.

14
(No Transcript)
15
Hitler invades the Balkans

• Once France had been captured, Hitler turned his
  attention to the Balkans.
• Greece fell by April 27, 1941.
• Hitler now controlled the Balkans and could turn
  to the USSR.

16
Operation Barbarossa

• On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded the USSR.
• Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact once he had
  secured Poland and France.
• Hitler attacked the USSR for two reasons
• 1)Hatred of communism
• 2)Living space or lebensraum
• The code name for this attack was Operation
  Barbarossa
• The Soviets were caught by surprise.
• Millions of soldiers and were killed or captured.
• By the end of the year the German armies were
  only 30 km from the capital of Moscow.

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
Operation Barbarossa continued

• The Germans were stopped in their tracks by the
  bitter Russian winter.
• Heavy rains turned the ground to mud preventing
  the tanks and large artillery from being easily
  transported.
• Snow and ice followed, freezing the German
  soldiers who were not properly equipped for the
  conditions. Their clothes could not keep them
  warm and their guns froze.
• Russian armies bolstered by fresh troops began a
  counter-attack and by the end of 1941 the German
  advance had been stopped.

20
Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943

• In 1942, Germany launched another attack the
  Russians were ready.
• Hitler wanted to gain the area of the Caucasus.
  This area was rich in oil in the south of the
  USSR.
• The German Sixth Army would need to pass through
  the city of Stalingrad to reach their target.
• The Battle lasted 5 straight months. The
  Russians fought for every house and every street.
• In Nov 1942, two Russian armies closed around
  Stalingrad in a pincer maneuver.
• 250 000 German soldiers were trapped in the city.
  Thousands died as Hitler refused to allow them
  to escape.
• On February 2, 1943 the last German soldiers
  surrendered.

21
(No Transcript)
22
Enemy at the Gates

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vfCUIfbAGp6c

23
United States Enters the War

• Following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan,
  the United States joined the war ending its
  policy of neutrality.
• US President Roosevelt and British PM Churchill
  met at the Arcadia Conference.
• Both decided that Germany and the Nazis were the
  immediate threat.
• In order to relieve pressure on the Soviet Union
  who was under attack by the Germans, the Allies
  agreed to attack Axis forces in North Africa.

24
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vSv1niwxQgoYfeature
related
25
http//historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5166/
26
The Battle of El Alamein, 1942

• Churchill and Roosevelt were not prepared for a
  major assault on Hitlers Fortress Europe.
  They decided to focus first on North Africa and
  Italy.
• Germany led by Rommel had been fighting the
  British under General Montgomery in the deserts
  of North Africa.
• Rommel was forced to retreat at the battle of El
  Alamein in November 1942 in Egypt.
• American troops under General Eisenhower came to
  aid the British and finished off the Germans.
• In May 1943, the Germans surrendered and the
  desert war was over.

27
(No Transcript)
28
Invasion of Italy 1943

• The British and American armies moved on to Italy
  in July 1943.
• The Italian people turned on their dictator
  Mussolini and overthrew him.
• In September 1943, the new Italian government
  made peace with the Allies.
• Hitler had lost his Italian ally.
• Hitler tried to plug the Italian gap as quickly
  as possible.
• By spring of 1944 Hitler was defending Germany
  from the USSR in the east and the Allies in Italy
  to the south.
• He knew another attack would soon becoming from
  the west

29
(No Transcript)
30
Operation Overlord and D-Day

• The invasion of Normandy in German occupied
  France would be known as Operation Overlord.
• The invasion would begin in the early morning of
  June 6, 1944. This day was known as D-Day.
• It had originally been scheduled for June 5 but
  had been postponed due to bad weather.
• Hundreds of landing-craft nosed onto the Normandy
  Beaches (Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah Beaches
  and Pointe du Hoc)
• German soldiers fought hard to repel the Allied
  invasion but they failed. By the end of July
  1944 Allied soldiers had crossed the beaches of
  Normandy and were pushing their way across Europe.

31
D-DAY
32
(No Transcript)
33
Canadians at Juno Beach
34
Americans at Utah
35
Saving Private Ryan

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmFQIuF590B4
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vuMq7iiIoiSwfeature
  related

36
The Battle of the Bulge(Ardennes Offensive)

• Fought over the winter 1944-45, it was the last
  major German offensive in Europe.
• The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to
  split the Allies in two in their drive towards
  Germany and destroy their ability to supply
  themselves.
• The massive attack was primarily against the
  Americans.
• However, the success of the Germans lasted just
  two days. Despite punching a bulge into the
  Allies front line, the Germans could not
  capitalise on this.
• The Germans had based their attack on a massive
  armoured onslaught. However, such an attack
  required fuel to maintain it and the Germans
  simply did not possess such quantities of fuel.

37
Battle of the Bulge continued

• The Germans had advanced 60 miles in two days but
  from December 18th on, they were in a position of
  stalemate
• By mid-January 1945, the effect of lack of fuel
  was becoming evident as the Germans had to simply
  abandon their vehicles
• The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle
  fought by the Americans in World War II. 600,000
  American troops were involved in the battle. The
  Americans lost 81,000 men while the Germans lost
  100,000 killed, wounded and captured.