HITLER’SLIGHTNING

WAR

Aug. 1939Hitler & Stalin sign a non-aggression pact

1. What did each leader gain from the secret pact?

• Hitler: Removal of threat from the east

• Stalin: Take over of Baltics / no German threat

Sep. 1939Hitler invades Poland

• Blitzkrieg “Lightning War”

- Using fast moving mechanized weapons & overwhelming force.

USSR

Germany

2. What strategy did Hitler use to conquer Poland?

April 1940Hitler invades Denmark &

Norway

• Distract the Allies & create a path to France through Holland, Belgium & Luxembourg

3. What was Hitler’s plan for conquering France?

June 1940France Surrenders

• British civilians rescued Allied soldiers trapped there.

4. What happened at Dunkirk?

Sept. 1940German Luftwaffe begins

bombing British cities

• R.A.F. fighters & British resistance forced Germany to end the attack and focus East.

5. What was the outcome of the Battle of Britain?

Sept. 1940Italy moves to seize Egypt &

the Suez Canal

Feb. 1941Hitler sends Rommel to help

Italian troops seize Egypt and the Suez Canal

6. What was the outcome of the fighting at Tobruk?

• In the beginning of ’42, the Brits pushed Rommel out of Tobruk.

• By the middle of ’42, Rommel regained Tobruk

June 22, 1941Hitler invades the Soviet Union

• Terrible winters• “Scorched-Earth” policy by Soviets

7. How did Hitler’s invasion compare with Napoleon’s invasion of Russia?

The turning point in the USSR

• The USSR was ill prepared for the German invasion.• Germany pushed nearly 500 miles into the USSR as

Soviet troops retreated and destroyed everything of value to Germany.

• On September 8, 1942 the Germans began a seize of Leningrad where nearly 1,000,000 people died, despite this the USSR never surrendered.

• An impatient Hitler tried to force an attack of Moscow but German troops were stalled and then the winter set in.

• German troops moved within 125 miles of Moscow before heavy winter set in and trapped German troops.

The Atlantic Charter

• The Lend-Lease Act was passed in 1941 allowing the US to lend weapons to any nation deemed vital to the US.

• Churchill and Roosevelt secretly met and signed a pledge called The Atlantic Charter.

• This upheld the principals of free trade and the right of people to self govern, it set up the beginning of an alliance between the USA and Great Britain.