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War in EuropeThe German Invasion of Poland
September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany Invades Poland
Blitzkrieg Warfare
� “Lightning Warfare”
� Series of quick wars against diplomatically isolated states before they could get mobilized.
� Hitler’s reasoning� Lessons of WWI
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Why Blitzkrieg?� Military
� Fear of a drawn out conflict
� Political � Public Opinion
� Economic� Never transfer into a full
wartime economyHeinz Guderian
creator of Blitzkrieg
What is Blitzkrieg?� Offensive style of warfare
� Comes from the lessons of World War I
� Emphasis is on movement, speed, and flexibility� Tanks smash border defenses and encircle enemy troops� Motorized infantry follows� Tanks move on to next area� Mass of traditional infantry follows motorized infantry,
motorized infantry moves on � All along, there is air support by Nazi Luftwaffe
The Campaign in Poland
� Known as “Case White”� Germans use 52 division (1 million men)� Statistics
� Germans use 1,500 tanks and 1,200 aircraft
� Poland has 300 tanks and 400 aircraft
� Two Groups: North and South� Warsaw reached by September 8
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Bombing of Warsaw� Germans
respond to resistance with civilian bombing.
� This is a new kind of war.
The Collapse of Poland� September 17 �
Stalin sends Red Army into Eastern Poland.
� End of September �Poland Defeated
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Important Outcomes� 90,000 Poles create exile
army in Britain� Largest exile army of war
� Enigma Machine� Poles had been working on
breaking German code� British would later use it to their
advantage
� Hitler begins his “Ethnic Cleansing”
VIDEO!