Battle of Britain Britain stood alone to fight the Germans Winston Churchill (Britain Prime Minister) will not surrender Hitler turns his plans on Great Britain First goal to knock out Royal Air Force (RAF) Second land 250,000 troops on England’s shores

Hitler Acts on the Plan Summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe begins to bomb Great Britain 1 st they went after military sites By September, they began to bomb cities Eventually the RAF was able to hit the Germans Radar & Enigma (code breaking machine)

Battle of Britain Germany gave up on daylight attacks and began to focus on night attacks October 1940-May 1941 Sunset, sirens would come on so Londoners could go to the subway for protection Hitler was not able to make it to Britain (turns attention to Eastern Europe & the Med) Allies realize Hitler can be stop

Axis Attacks North Africa After Hitler took over France, Mussolini knew he had to take action (moves into France) Mussolini moves troops into North Africa in September 1940 Orders to attack British controlled Egypt and control the Suez Canal Controlling the Canal meant holding the key piece to getting to the Middle East and their oil fields

Britain Strikes Back By February 1941, Britain strikes back and captures 130,000 Italian soldiers To help the Italians, Hitler sends his best tank division led by Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox) March 1941, Rommel attacks British forces and forces them to retreat to Libya British were able to hold off the Germans for a little bit Rommel would eventually push the British across North Africa