Hitler’s Lightning WarHSCE 7.2.3Ch. 32 sec. 1

*1930s---Adolf Hitler forcibly grabbed new territory in Western Europe…….said he wanted no more…but kept taking

--Czechoslovakia, Rhineland, Austria, & Poland---once belonged to Germany before WWI----Hitler wanted it back

*Britain & France ALWAYS gave in to Hitler = appeasement—to give into an aggressor’s demands in order to keep peace

*Hitler signed a nonaggression pact w/ Stalin = both countries would share Poland & not fight against the other.

*September 1, 1939---Hitler engages in a surprise attack against Poland

*Blitzkrieg---lightning war---military strategy—hit the enemy w/ everything you have all at once

--Germans easily over take Poland

*September 3, 1939----Britain & France declare war on Germany

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xRp7wyoIHs&feature=related

blitzkrieg

*Soviets move more than 1 million troops into Eastern Poland & takes it over, the Finland

*British & French built up troops along the Maginot Line= fortifications along the French-German border….

***1940—Germany attacks Norway & Denmark---both surrender w/in hours!!!!!

*May 1940---Hitler sweeps thru Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg----wants to take over France!

*Dunkirk---French port city near Belgium

--Allies were pushed back & trapped by Germans—their backs to the sea.

--make-shift armada sailed to Dunkirk from across the English Channel

--against Germ. Bombers they rescued 338 K soldiers

*France Falls---June 1940—Germans take over entire northern France----southern part was left as a puppet govt. called Vichy govt.

--Charles de Gaulle---French general---set up a govt.-in-exile in England---encouraged French to resist the Germans

*The Battle of Britain--- England has a new Prime Minister….

-Winston Churchill---said his nation would never give in!

-”We shall never surrender”

*Hitler wanted to invade England badly!!!!

--knock out the RAF --then land 250K soldiers on the shores of England

--Summer 1940---German Luftwaffe begin bombing Great Britain----1st = airfields & factories 2nd = bomb the cities

--RAF fought back, but outnumbered---they had 2 things to help: Radar & Enigma---a German code-making machine

**Battle of Britain went from Summer of 1940—May 1941---Hitler NEVER took England

**Showed that Hitler was not invincible

*Hitler gives up on Britain for the time being

--focuses on North Africa & the Mediterranean

--AH & Mussolini go into N. Africa

--Brits lose Egypt to Italy, but come back strong

--Germ. Has to bail out Italy

--Hitler sends in the Afrika Korps---led by Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)---pushes the Brits back to Libya

*Germany invades the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece)----easy victories!

*June 1941----Hitler invades the Soviet Union

--surprise attack that pushes 500 miles into USSR

--Soviet army not ready

--Soviets retreat & burn everything in their path

*September = Germans put Leningrad under siege

-November = Leningrad totally cut off

--2.5 million people starving = had to eat cattle, cats, dogs, crows, and rats…..1 million people died, but still Germany did NOT take Leningrad!

*December 1941---Germans try to take Moscow…….Russian winter sets in…..Germans are in summer uniforms…..do not take the city & 500K Germans die.

*U.S. claims neutrality…but Lend-Lease Act allowed Pres. to send supplies to any nation vital to U.S……Summer 1941—U.S. ships escorted British ships….Germans torpedoed the ships = unrestricted submarine warfare.

*U.S. = still neutral…..until Japanese aggression….