World War II

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World War II The War Begins
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World War II Begins

• 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.

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• Czechoslovakia
• Hitler Announces War is Near
• Munich Pact Agreement between Hitler and
  leaders of England and France
• Gave Hitler control of German speaking lands of
  western Czech called the Sudentenland
• Hitler promised that would be the end of his
  demands and that peace would remain.
• British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain
  returned to England as a hero proclaiming that
  peace in our time has been preserved.

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• d. Hitler liedtold 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 (125)

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• Hitlers 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.

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• 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 (249)

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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

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Germany unleashed their full armored divisions
  Blitzkreig attacks
• April 1940 Invaded Norway and Denmark (58)
• May 1940 Invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and
  Luxembourg (143)
• Late May 1940 Germans broke through into
  northern France and cut off British and French
  forces.
• 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 .

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III. France Surrenders

• Germans Capture Paris June 14, 1940.
• 1. After the evacuation of British and French
  forces at Dunkirk, there was nothing left to stop
  the Nazis from seizing control of Paris.

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1. Once Paris is captured the French government,
   while in disarray, surrenders to the Germans.
2. The Nazis set up a puppet government in southern
   France that was operated by the Nazis.
3. French General, Charles DeGaulle, set up a
   government in exhile in England where they
   operated throughout the war.
4. From here until D-Day the only fighting against
   the Nazis 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.

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IV. Battle of Britain

• 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.

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• Battle of Britain (139)
• Development of Radar (58)
• 7. British tenacity forced Hitler to abandon, at
  a heavy cost, the Battle of Britain and turn his
  focus elsewhere.

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V. Battle for N. Africa

• 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.
• 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.

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• General Rommels famous desert fighting force,
  the Afrika Corps HAD to win control of the Suez
  Canal.
• British General, Bernard Monty Montgomery was
  dispatched by Churchill to win.
• Rommels battle plans were compromised allowing
  Monty full access to their plans and supply
  routes which were sabotaged.
• Short on supplies, Rommel rushed in to attack.
• Rommels Panzer tank divisions walked into a trap
  and many were destroyed by land mines the British
  had set up.
• 300 U.S. Sherman tanks arrived in time to support
  Montys battle.
• Germany Allies
• 110,000 Men 200,000 Men
• 500 Panzer 4 Tanks 1000 Tanks

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British Sherman Vs German Panzer 4
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• 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.

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• 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
• Allies were eventually victorious mainly due to a
  tremendous advantage in numbers of men and tanks.
• By November 1942, Rommel knew that victory was
  lost
• 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)

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• Battle of Alamein (151)

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VI. U.S. Enters the War

• A. 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.

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• Much of the U.S. Pacific fleet was destroyed or
  crippled. The U.S. had no defense of their own
  west coast.
• President Roosevelt had no choice but to ask
  Congress for a declaration of war.
• Pearl Harbor (426)
• www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/pearlharbora
  ttack1.htm

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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.

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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.

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D. Americans Join the Allied Attack

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

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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
   Italyand 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.

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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.

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G. Italian Campaign

• Sicily, a large Italian island, would be the next
  target of the Allies.
• July 9, 1943
• Bernard Montgomery led the British forces
• George S. Patton led the Allied attack. Pattons
  primary jobs were to secure airfields under
  German control and provide cover for the British
  attacks.
• Allied attacks were stalled initially when German
  armor attacked the Americans on the beaches.
• British also stalled while trying to attack the
  Sicilian capital of Messina.
• Patton organized a series of amphibious attacks
  to outflank German positions outside of Messina.
• Aug 17th, the Germans abandoned Sicily as the
  Allies arrived in the Sicilian capital.
• Sicilian Invasion (121)

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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.