Course of WW II

European Theater

• Hitler invaded Poland Sept. 1, 1939 and took control in just 4 short weeks.– Blitzkrieg- lighting war

• New style of warfare• Used planes & tanks• Would have taken Poland sooner but spent time trying to

annihilate as many Poles & Jews

Hitler invades West Poland

Stalin into East Poland

• GB & FR gave Hitler 2 days to withdraw from PO, he ignored them– Sept 3rd “confetti war” anti-Nazi propaganda

dropped over GER by Allies

*crew drops leaflets into a chute

• Sept. 28th GER & SOV divided up Poland

• May 10th GER attacked the Netherlands, Belgium & FR

• The British & French had dug obsolete WWI-style trenches.– Very ineffective against blitzkrieg– GER went around Maginot Line

• FR & BR trapped on beaches of Dunkirk– Operation Dynamo

• Used every available ship & fishing boat to evacuate +300,000 troops

• June 22 – FR sign armistice– GER occupied 3/5 of FR

• Vichy France – FR authoritarian regime under GER control– Led by FR WWI hero – Marshall Henri Petain

• BR still undefeated– Ask U.S. for help

• FDR- denounces attacks BUT follows isolationist policy

– Neutrality acts– Cash & carry - loophole

Battle of Britain • Aug 1940- Luftwaffe launched

• Major Offensive- bombed BR: – Air & Naval bases– Harbors– Communications Centers– War industries

• BR fought back - Used radar that provided early warning

- But RAF suffered big losses

Battle of Britain cont.• Sept – Hitler ordered strategy shift &

bombed cities– Hilter wanted to break BR morale (war of

attrition) – BR took advantage of situation to rebuild air

strength

• End of Sept – Hitler postponed BR invasion indefinitely

Children of WWII

Operation Barbarossa Hitler’s Invasion of Soviet Russia

• Why USSR?

1. Easier to take BR with USSR not able to help

2. Hitler believed USSR had pitiful army that would be easy to defeat (Stalin had purged most of his military leaders)

`Stalin’s Great Purge

• Mussolini failed to defeat Greece (1940)– So GER had to go

help – seized Greece & Yugoslavia

• Invasion of USSR– June 22, 1941 –

Hitler invaded USSR

– 1800 mile front – GER advanced

quickly captured 2 million RU soldiers

Operation Barbarossa cont.

• By Nov. – 1st GER army group swept Ukraine- 2nd army besieged Leningrad- 3rd 25 miles outside of Moscow

Stopped because GER halted by early winter & fierce Soviet resistance

- GER had no winter uniforms- 1st time GER armies stopped

• Dec 1941 – Soviets counter attacked & pushed GER back