The European Theatre Battles of WWII

• In your notebook discuss the origin, value, purpose and limitation of the picture.

1940 Germany

• Invasion of Poland

• The Fall of France• North Africa

Battles• Stalingrad• Battle of the

Bulge• D-Day

• Hitler demanded the Baltic Sea port which was in Polish control

• Alleged allies such as Britain & France were going to back Poland’s refusal for the sea port Danzig

• Germany turned to the USSR for support in invasion of Poland

• Germany attacked from the west and the USSR from the east as agreed in the Nazi-Soviet Pact

• The warfare became known as blitzkrieg – “lightening war” using tanks & aircraft(Luftwaffe)

• Poland Fell to German forces on October 5th 1939

• The Maginot line were bunkers built in protection against Germany

• Hitler simply went around the Maginot line and invaded through the Netherlands,Belgium & Luxembourg

• France was caught by surprise leaving the French & British forces trapped in Belgium

• A miracle occurred at a port called Dunkirk when German forces halted giving time for evacuation & saved the country from complete defeat by Hitler

• France surrendered in June 1940

The Battle of Britain • Hitler expected Britain to make

peace, however, Britain, led by a new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, refused to surrender.

• Hitler proceeded with invasion plans. The Luftwaffe began massive attacks on Britain to destroy its air defenses.

• Britain held firm during the Blitz despite devastating destruction to English cities.

• The British resistance convinced Hitler to postpone the invasion but he continued the bombing attacks.

The Eastern Front

• Hitler had strategic and ideological reasons for invading Russia– Strategically he knew that the Soviet Union

and the US were critical to Britain’s willingness to keep fighting

– He also felt he needed the agricultural and raw material resources of Eastern Russia

– Ideologically he viewed the Soviet Union as an amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the Jews and the Slavs

Operation Barbarossa

• Hitler based his plan on the assumption he could destroy the Soviet Union within one year

• Critical to his success would be to catch and destroy the Soviet Army at the border areas

• If that did not occur, the Russians could use their vast territory to trade space for time and cause the Germans huge logistical problems

Operation Barbarossa

• On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa

• The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever

• Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France

Operation Barbarossa Battle of Moscow

• With the Germans’ successes in the north and south, Hitler assumed that Stalin’s regime was on the verge of collapse

• He authorized an advance on Moscow before the onset of winter

• Already however the Germans were suffering from serious supply shortages

• Because of the cold tempratures they had to retreat..

Operation Barbarossa : Battle of Moscow

• As the Russians pushed forward, Hitler refused to allow a retreat and relieved or court-martialed generals who did so

• Hitler named himself commander-in-chief of the army– Each military service began to operate

increasingly independently and Germany suffered from a lack of an overall strategy

Why Soviet Defeated Germans

• Germans not prepared for long campaign- supplies and inadequate equipment

• Hitler took control of army

• Germans were brutal to civilians which inflamed Russian resistance

• Heavy German losses

Strategic Situation

• On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor

• In spite of his troubles in Russia, Hitler decided to support Japan and also declare war on the US

• Now the US would join with Britain to adopt a “Europe First” strategy that would destroy Hitler

• US president Roosevelt invaded Morocco & Algeria to aid Britain in the fight against Germany in Egypt.

• During The Battle of El Alamein General Erwin Rommel who lead the German forces planned to trap US and British forces in between Tunisia and Libya

• US forces did not fare well up against German force causing 7,000 casualties and losing 200 tanks

• Luckily Both American and British Forces forced Germany to surrender in North Africa

• One last desperate attempt by Hitler involved blocking supplies coming through Belgium

• Germany caught Americans surrounding them

• General Patton and troops saved the Americans by attacking German forces

• Germany lost the battle with 100,000 casualties

• President Roosevelt and Churchill planned the invasion of France which was lead by General Eisenhower

• The US forces were going to surprise Germany using rubber tanks,and dummy landing craft. This completely fooled Germany while they attacked through Normandy

• 100,000 soldiers by boat• 23,000 paratroopers

• Soviet troops began a massive attack on German Troops sending German forces back to Poland

• The Soviets had Germany by the Eastern border and America had attacked German forces by the Western border

• This crushed the German forces causing the suicide of Hitler

• The Surrender of Germany was on May 8th 1945

Key Battles

• In what ways, and with what results for twentieth century wars, did tactics change?