Hitler’s Lightning War Chapter 16-1 Spinrad/World History

Blitzkrieg After signing the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, Hitler surprised Poland September 1, 1939 with an attack using artillery, infantry in trucks, planes and tanks Warsaw was bombed by the Luftwaffe Notice the dynamism, movement of these new military tactics. The static defensive lines of WWI no longer work

Blitzkrieg

The Jews in Poland Most of the Jews of Europe lived in Poland, 300,000 in Warsaw alone The Jews could not leave as the world (including the US) closed their borders They were doomed

Soviet Response The Soviets took advantage of their peace treaty with Germany to mount an aggressive campaign of their own At the same time as the Nazi invasion, the Soviets sent troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland Stalin then took over Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia Stalin encountered resistance from Finland

Soviets Attack Finland The Soviets fought poorly against the Finns. Hitler noticed this. However, one million Soviet troops forced, through force of numbers, a Finn surrender

Fall of France The British and French mobilized their armies and waited Suddenly, in April, 1940, the calm ended. Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway. Bases from there could be used to launch an attack of Great Britain In May 1940, Hitler swept through the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and attacked France, squeezing between the French defenses

Maginot Line The Germans went through the Ardennes forest, around the French defensive position, the Maginot line

Fall of France Outnumbered, outgunned, and pounded from the air, the Allies (French and British troops) retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk The Allies were trapped with their backs to the sea 338,000 of these troops were rescued by the British navy and civilian boats France surrendered in June, 1940

Dunkirk Rescue

Battle of Britain Great Britain now stood alone against Germany, and Hitler now planned an invasion of Great Britain His plan was to destroy Britain's air force, the RAF Two technological achievements helped turn the tide in the RAF’s favor: development of radar and cracking the German code

Battle of Britain The attacks continued until May, 1941 Germany was not able to destroy the RAF Without the cover of air power, Hitler’s planned invasion could not work Hitler called off his planned invasion of Britain

North Africa and Barbarossa Nazis’ Afrika Korps under Rommel takes Tobruk, Libya from the British in 1942 The German goal was conquering Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and middle eastern oil fields Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece and then attacks the Soviet Union in June 1941 By December 1941 the Germans had advanced to the outskirts of Moscow

Barbarossa The Germans were freezing, still in their summer uniforms in an early Russian winter The Soviets counterattacked, stopping the German advance

Atlantic Charter Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly in August, 1941 and issued a joint declaration Upheld free trade and the right of peoples to choose their own government