Battles of World War II
What Happened?
Blitzkrieg- Lightning Fast War
• By April 1940
• Hitler conquered and
occupied: Poland,
Denmark, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and
Netherlands
• Quick War tactics
Battle of Dunkirk
• German troops trapped
Allied soldiers
• Massive evacuation
occurred from May
26- June 3, 1940
• France surrendered
June 22, 1940
Battle of Britain July 1940- Sept.
1940
• German Luftwaffe
attacked British Royal Air
force
• New radar used by British
• Hitler cancels invasion of
country
• Winston Churchill“Never in the field of
human conflict was so
much owed by so many to
so few”
U.S. reaction- neutrality
• Public opinion vs. Hitler
• Solution “cash and carry
system”
• 50 ships for Caribbean
bases
• Lend lease Act of 1941$7 billion to Britain then
Soviet Union
The Battle of the Atlantic
• U.S. aid to Britain
increases, German UBoats concentrate on the
Atlantic and stopping
supplies
• Convoys organized- US
Navy escort
• Atlantic Charter
established- US and
Britain agreed not to
acquire new land as result
of WWII
• Germany attacks US
destroyer- FDR shoot UBoats on sight!
War between the U.S. and
Germany seems certain…
And then BAM!! Attack on Pearl
Harbor