Modern World History
Assign. #3-2
Chapter 16, Section 1
Hitler’s Lightning War
Non-Aggression Pact (#1)
• Nonaggression pact—Germans
and Soviets agree not to fight
each other. This was known as
the “Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact” signed in 1939
• Stalin upset he was left out of
the Munich Conference
• Agreement includes secret deal
to split Poland, and allows the
USSR to take Finland and the
Baltic States
Ribbentrop and Stalin at
the signing of the Pact
Blitzkrieg on Poland (#2)
• Germany’s Lightning Attack
– September 1, 1939—Hitler
launches invasion of Poland
– Britain, France declare war
on Germany, but Poland
falls quickly
– Blitzkrieg—lightning war—
Germany’s new military
strategy (play video to 5:25)
– Planes and artillery bomb
ahead of tanks, infantry
trucks
– used to surprise enemy and
quickly conquer
– How different than WWI?
Territories Taken by Stalin (#3)
“Winter War”
• “Winter War” – Sept.
1939 to March 1940
• Finnish Resistance
Heavy
• 1 Million Soviet
soldiers Invaded
• Despite heavy losses,
Soviets eventually
force Finns to
surrender after 6
months of fighting
• “Molotov Cocktail” –
invented by Finns
and named after the
Soviet Minister of
Foreign Affairs
“Sitzkrieg”
• The Phony War
– French, British mobilize
along French border, wait
for German attack
– Many months of no
action along western
front—the “phony war”
– The period of in action
ends in April 1940 when
Hitler unexpectedly
attacks and quickly
captures Denmark and
Norway
Denmark
• Germany invades Denmark on
April 9, 1940
• 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.
Norway
• 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.
German infantry attacking through a
burning Norwegian village.
German Neubaufahrzeug tanks in Oslo.
Western Front
(#4)
• Further Gains by Germans
– May 1940—Germany conquers
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
– Meanwhile, another German force
swings through the Ardennes Forest
into France
– Soon after, German army reaches
French coast (10 minutes)
– The German force was extended in
a long thin line, with the Panzer
tanks ahead, and the infantry trying
to catch up
– The Germans decided to wait for
the infantry to catch up before
turning toward the north to cut off
British and French forces at Dunkirk
Dunkirk Evacuation (#5)
• Rescue at Dunkirk (5 min.)
– 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.
The Fall of France
• France Falls
– After the evacuation of
Allied forces at Dunkirk, the
Germans could turn south
toward Paris without
resistance
– Paris was taken by June 14,
1940
– France surrenders to
Germany on June 22, 1940
– France was defeated in less
than 2 months (#6)
France After Fall to Germany
• After the surrender, the Germans took direct
control of the northern portion of France
• Vichy France – A puppet government was set
up in the southern portion of France with
the government located in the city of Vichy,
France
• Charles de Gaulle – a French general who set
up a government-in-exile in London (known
as the Free French government) that
organized opposition to Germany, including
a new French army that eventually returned
to fight the Germans when France was
liberated (#7)
• Résistance – an underground group that
fought against German occupation of France
The Battle of Britain (#8)
– Germany plans invasion of Britain; begins with air attacks in
1940 to knock out Royal Air Force (RAF)
– Then Germany planned to invade with 250,000 soldiers
– British use air force, radar, and code-breaking (with
smuggled Enigma code machine) to resist Germany
– Battle of Britain—Air war over Britain that lasted almost a
year until May 1941
– Stunned by British resistance, Hitler calls off attacks
A pair of British 264
Squadron Defiants
Aircraft spotter on the roof
of a building in London.
St. Paul's Cathedral is in
the background.
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 29, 1940.
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.
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.
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, England“ in February 11, 1943.
A London
bus is
submerged
in a bomb
crater after
a German
air raid.
Later attempt to bomb
Britain:
View of a V-1 rocket
(flying bomb) in flight,
ca. 1944. The British
nickname was a
“Doodlebug”
Winston Churchill’s Leadership (#9)
• Winston Churchill—
becomes British prime
minister and vows no
surrender
• His broadcasted
speeches rallied the
people behind the effort
to defeat Germany (2 min.)
Winston Churchill giving his
famous 'V' for victory sign
After
Battle of
Britain
(#10)
• With a victory over Britain
denied him Hitler weighs his
options
• What if he had stopped there?
• Instead, he invades the
following:
– North Africa
– The Balkans (Bulgaria,
Romania, Hungary were
persuaded to join the Axis
Powers to avoid invasion,
while Yugoslavia and
Greece did not and were
attacked)
– Soviet Union
Axis Forces
Attack North
Africa
• Mussolini and Italy at first
neutral
• Mussolini declares war
on France and Britain
after German victory
• September 1940—
Mussolini attacks British
in North Africa moving
from their colony of Libya
to Egypt
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.
Italian L3/33 in North Africa
British Fight in North Africa (#11)
• Britain Strikes Back
– December 1940—British attack and drive Italians back
– Erwin Rommel, German general, battles British in
North Africa
– In 1942, Rommel first retreats then succeeds against
British at Tobruk, Libya
– Germans begin push back into Egypt in June 1941
German General Erwin Rommel (“The Desert Fox”) with
the 15th Panzer Division between Tobruk and Sidi Omar,
Libya, January or November 24, 1941.
British General Bernard L. Montgomery watches
his tanks move up." North Africa, November 1942.
War in the Balkans
• Hitler plans to invade Soviet Union;
moves to take Balkan countries first
• Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece
in April 1941; both fall quickly
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.
Germany Invades
Soviet Union
• Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
– Germany invades an unprepared
Soviet Union in June 1941
– Hitler decides to split his forces
into three groups
• Germans stopped at Leningrad,
forced to undertake long siege
• Germans almost capture
Moscow, but forced to pull
back
• A third army pushes into the
southern region rich in oil
Russian soldiers prepare to attack German lines outside Leningrad.
A column of Red Army POWs captured near Minsk is marched west.
A group of Soviet POWs, taken to undefined Prison Camp
Russian
Advantages (#12)
• Though they are poorly
equipped, the Soviet Union has
the largest army in the world
• scorched earth strategy – as
Germans move into Russia,
Soviet troops burn land as they
retreat (taking advantage of the
vast land)
• As German invasion drags on
and are bogged down outside of
Leningrad and Moscow, it turns
to winter