32.1 Hitler

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32.1 Hitlers Lightning War

• Using the sudden, mass attack called the
  blitzkrieg, Germany overruns much of Europe and
  North Africa

2
Germany Sparks a New War in Europe

• Secret Agreement
• Nonaggression pactGermans and Soviets agree not
  to fight each other. This was known as the
  Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in 1939.
• Agreement includes secret deal to split Poland

Ribbentrop and Stalin at the signing of the Pact
3
Text of the secret protocol (in German)
4
Germany Sparks a New War in Europe

• Germanys Lightning Attack
• September 1, 1939Hitler launches invasion of
  Poland
• Britain, France declare war on Germany, but
  Poland falls quickly
• Blitzkrieglightning warGermanys new military
  strategy
• Planes, tanks, infantry used to surprise enemy
  and quickly conquer

5
Germanys Lightning Attack

• The Soviets Make Their Move
• Soviets capture Lithuania, Latvia, Poland,
  resistance met in Finland
• Finland is invaded by the Soviet Union in what is
  called the Winter War. Finland surrenders in
  March, 1940
• The Finns name the incendiary device the Molotov
  Cocktail after Soviet foreign minister Molotov
  during the Winter War.

6
Germanys Lightning Attack

• The Phony War
• French, British mobilize along French border,
  wait for German attack
• Many months of no actionthe phony war
• In April 1940 Hitler attacks and quickly captures
  Denmark and Norway

British Ministry of Home Security poster of a
type that was common during the Phony War
7
Denmark quickly surrenders to the Nazis, and
cooperates with the German occupation. However,
King Christian X becomes a symbol of Danish
resistance when he stays in his capital of
Copenhagen and still goes on a daily horseback
ride through the capital. This picture taken in
1940 is of one of those rides. He is NOT
accompanied by any armed guard.
8
King Haakon of Norway (brother of Christian X of
Denmark) refused to surrender to the Nazis, and
was a symbol of Norwegian resistance. He escaped
to London and moved the Norwegian government in
exile there.
9
German infantry attacking through a burning
Norwegian village.
10
German Neubaufahrzeug tanks in Oslo.
11
The Fall of France

• Further Gains
• May 1940Germany conquers Netherlands, Belgium,
  Luxembourg
• Soon after, German army reaches French coast

12
The Fall of France

• Rescue at Dunkirk
• German forces trap British, French on coast of
  Dunkirk
• British Navy and civilians take ships across the
  English Channel to rescue soldiers

British troops evacuating Dunkirk's beaches. Many
stood shoulder deep in water for hours, waiting
to board the warships.
13
The Fall of France

• France Falls
• June 1940France surrenders to Germany
• Charles de Gaulle, French general, organizes
  opposition to Germany

14
The Battle of Britain

• Threat to Britain
• Winston ChurchillBecomes British prime minister
  and vows no surrender.

15
Winston Churchill giving his famous 'V' sign
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The Battle of Britain

• Germany plans invasion of Britain begins with
  air attacks in 1940
• British use air force, radar, code-breaking to
  resist Germany
• Battle of BritainAir war over Britain that
  lasted until May 1941
• Stunned by British resistance, Hitler calls off
  attacks

A pair of 264 Squadron Defiants. (PS-V was shot
down on 28 August 1940 over Kent by Bf 109s.)
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Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in
London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the
background. 306-NT-901B-3.
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Standing up gloriously out of the flames and
smoke of surrounding buildings, St. Paul's
Cathedral is pictured during the great fire raid
of Sunday December 29th." 1940. 306-NT-3173V.
19
Over 500 firemen and members of the London
Auxiliary Fire Fighting Services, including many
women, combined in a war exercise over the ground
covered by Greenwich (London) Fire Station." Ca.
July 1939. 306-NT-901-19.
20
Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have
been made homeless by the random bombs of the
Nazi night raiders, waiting outside the wreckage
of what was their home." September 1940.
306-NT-3163V.
21
Two bewildered old ladies stand amid the leveled
ruins of the almshouse which was Home until
Jerry dropped his bombs. Total war knows no
bounds. Almshouse bombed Feb. 10, Newbury,
Berks., England." Naccarata, February 11, 1943.
111-SC-178801.
22
89.Life in London during the war. View of a V-1
rocket (flying bomb) in flight, ca. 1944.
306-NT-3157V. The British nickname was a
Doodlebug
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A London bus is submerged in a bomb crater after
a German air raid.
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The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front

• Axis Forces Attack North Africa
• Mussolini and Italy at first neutral
• Mussolini declares war on France and Britain
  after German victory
• September 1940Mussolini attacks British in North
  Africa

26
On 13 September 1940 Italy launched the Tenth
Army stationed in Libya in a 200,000 troop
invasion into the British protectorate of Egypt
and set up defensive forts at Sidi Barrani. But
Italian Marshal Rodolfo Graziani,
Governor-General of Libya, with little
intelligence on the state of Allied forces there,
chose not to continue further towards Cairo.
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Italian L3/33 in North Africa
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The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front

• Britain Strikes Back
• December 1940British attack and drive Italians
  back
• Erwin Rommel, German general, battles British in
  North Africa
• In 1942, Rommel first retreats then succeeds
  against British

29
Gen. Erwin Rommel with the 15th Panzer Division
between Tobruk and Sidi Omar. Sdf. Zwilling,
Libya, January or November 24, 1941.
242-EAPC-6-M713a.
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General Bernard L. Montgomery watches his tanks
move up." North Africa, November 1942.
208-PU-138LL-3.
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The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front

• The War in the Balkans
• Hitler plans to invade Soviet Union moves to
  take Balkan countries
• Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece in April
  1941 both fall quickly

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An animation depicting the Axis invasion of
Yugoslavia from the Why We Fight series of
propaganda films.
33
The Battle of Greece is generally regarded as a
continuation of the Greco-Italian War, which
began when Italian troops invaded Greece on
October 28, 1940. Within weeks the Italians were
driven out of Greece and Greek forces pushed on
to occupy much of southern Albania. In March
1941, a major Italian counterattack failed, and
Germany was forced to come to the aid of its
ally. Operation Marita began on April 6, 1941,
with German troops invading Greece through
Bulgaria in an effort to secure its southern
flank. The combined Greek and British
Commonwealth forces fought back with great
tenacity, but were vastly outnumbered and
outgunned, and finally collapsed.
34
The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front

• Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
• Germany invades an unprepared Soviet Union in
  June 1941
• Soviet troops burn land as they retreat Germans
  move into Russia
• Germans stopped at Leningrad, forced to undertake
  long siege
• Germans almost capture Moscow, but forced to pull
  back

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Soviet and German invasions, annexations, and
spheres of influence in Central and eastern
Europe 1939-1940
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Russian soldiers prepare to attack German lines
outside Leningrad.
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A column of Red Army POWs captured near Minsk is
marched west.
38
A group of Soviet POWs, taken to undefined Prison
Camp
39
The United States Aids Its Allies

• American Policy
• Most Americans want to avoid war
• Roosevelt fears that if allies fall, U.S. would
  have to fight
• He hopes to strengthen allies so they can resist
  Germany
• Lend-Lease ActU.S. loans weapons to countries
  fighting Germany

40
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the
Lend-Lease bill to give aid to Britain and China
(1941)
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The United States Aids Its Allies

• Roosevelt and Churchill meet, issue statement of
  principles
• Atlantic Chartersupports free trade, right to
  form own government