The Axis Advances

The Blitzkrieg

• “Lightning War”• Luftwaffe bombs factories and airfields • Tanks and troop transports advance rapidly.

Fall of France

• Poland falls in a month.• Hitler invades France, through the Ardennes

Forest in Belgium, in May 1940. – Close to Schlieffen Plan.

• France surrenders in 6 weeks.

Miracle at Dunkirk

• 338,000 trapped British and French troops are evacuated.

Vichy France

• Puppet government set up by Germany after France’s fall

• Continued Nazi’s racial policies.– Sent Jews and other “undesirables” to camps in

Germany.

Battle of Britain

• Britain stands alone.• August 1940 begins a daily bombardment of

England. • Radar gives early warning. • RAF is outnumbered but fights valiantly.

Who do you consider a civilian, a non-combatant in the war?

London Blitz

• September 1940, Hitler targets civilian cities.• London is bombed 57 nights in a row. • People continued about their daily lives.