World War 2 Intro to World European Theatre Invasion of Poland Hitler invaded Poland from the west on September 1, 1939. Thought that France and Britain would not respond. Soviet Union attacked from east, as part of Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression pact. Soviet Union would receive half of Poland. Hitler used Blitzkrieg tactics to quickly take control of Poland. Blitzkrieg= Quick rush into enemy territory with most advanced machines. Britain and France declare war with Germany on September 3, 1939.
Started World War 2 Did not help Poland, instead prepared their countries for an attack. Fall of France May 10, 1940: Hitler uses Blitzkrieg tactics to attack Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Hitler in a position to attack Paris, the capital of France. Hitler and German Army avoid French by attacking through Alsace and Lorraine. Enter May 12, 1940 with 130 infantry divisions, and ten tank divisions aimed at Paris. One month later, Italy invades France from the south.
Twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into two zones. Northern France was under German Control. Vichy France in the south is a puppet government from Hitler. Charles DeGualle: Establishes the Free French government in London, starts to develop plans to take back France. Hitler now had control of almost all of Western Europe. Battle of Britain A battle fought through the air featuring The Luftwaffe (Germanys Air Force) and the Royal
Air Force (Great Britain's Air Force). German bomber planes continually bombed London, Great Britain. Causing a major amount of damage. Winston Churchill: Prime Minister of Great Britain. Vows not to surrender and overcome Hitler's aerial attacks. Great Britain outlast the attacks and eventually wins the battle. This was Hitlers first defeat in the war. Operation Barbarossa
Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression pact by attacking the Soviet Union in 1941. The Soviet Union then joins the allied forces. Hitler attacked the Soviet Union for the following reasons. Create lebensraum living space for the German people. Put an end to communism. At first, Hitler is able to gain a lot of ground and control of the Soviet Union, but will never accomplish what he completely set out to do. Soviet Union burned crops and killed livestock so Hitlers army could not advance. This along with the harsh winter, weakened Hitlers army, and stopped them from going any further.
Battle of Stalingrad Germany was able to take control of 90% of Stalingrad, the Soviet Unions most industrialized city, in 1942. The Soviet Union quickly surrounded and trapped the German 6th Army inside Stalingrad. Germanys army was weak, starving, and was continually attacked. They were extremely weak and knew that winning the battle was not likely. Hitler refuses to surrender, and eventually the sixth army is to weak to fight.
This battle is a major turning point in the war, the weak German army made victory on the Eastern Front impossible. Operation Overlord (D-Day) Operation Overlord was the plan made by the Allies to take back control of France. On June 6, 1944; The United States, Great Britain, and Canada sent troops across the English channel to five beaches in Normandy, France. This is known as D-DAY, 4,400 people died on this day alone. They were able to take control of the coast this day.
Once the beaches were taken control of, the Allies sent in millions of troops and around 500,000 tanks and vehicles. This is a significant point in the war because the Allies were able to close in on Germany and start pushing them out of France. Battle of The Bulge After D-Day, the Allies turned their attention to invading Germany. This was the last German offensive, which took place in the Ardennes forest in southeastern
Belgium, created a bulge in the Allied lines; the battle thus quickly became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Over a million soldiers fought in this battle, making it the largest land battle of the war. The fighting lasted over a month and in the end, the Germans were forced to retreat back into Germany. They had lost control of France. Battle of Berlin Allied forces pushed into Germany until they met up with the Soviet Union in April of 1945. Soviets had pushed the Germans back after the
Battle of Stalingrad. The Battle of Berlin was the final major battle of the European Theatre of World War II. Soviet forces encircled Berlin and began their attack. In 1945, Hitler moved into a Bunker underneath Berlin from where he directed the final stages of the war. He committed suicide on April 30, 2 days after Mussolini had been killed. On May 9, 1945, Germany officially surrenders, marking V-E Day. Victory in Europe Day Pacific Theater
Pearl Harbor Japan and the United States both wanted to take control of Southeast Asia. Japan developed plan to attack European Colonies and U.S. Naval bases in Southeast Asia. United States cut off Oil shipments to Japan after hearing about this plan. Isoruku Yamamoto responds with plan to attack Hawaii. December 7, 1941: Japan launched an air strike on Pearl Harbor, which destroyed eight American battleships.
After the Pearl Harbor attacks, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan officially bringing the U.S. into war. Japans Early Success Japanese captured a large number of British Colonies. Invaded Burma; next to Britains most valuable colony, India. The Dutch East Indies which had a lot of minerals and raw materials. Take control of the Philippines, which had U.S. influence. Battle of Singapore
Allied forces in Singapore attempted to resist the Japanese 130,000 Indian, British, Australian and Dutch personnel became prisoners of war. Captured prisoners of war are treated brutally by Japanese. Japan was able to control Asias Pacific Rim. Invasion of Tokyo and Battle of Coral Sea Japan had control of a large area of land, but it did not have supplies to maintain and control it. Makes Japan easy to attack.
U.S. bombers attack Tokyo, other Japanese cities in April 1942. Known as the Doolittle Raid Raid does little damage, but shows that Japan is vulnerable Battle of the Coral SeaAmericans stop Japanese advance, May 1942 New kind of naval warfareships launch planes to fight each other. Battle of the aircraft carriers Battle of Midway The Japanese plan was to trick the United States into an attack.
American codebreakers were able to get the date and location of the attack, giving the U.S. Navy a chance to attack them before. The United States Navy defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy attack against the Island of Midway. The heavy losses weakened the Japanese Navy. After Midway, Japan was unable to keep pace with American shipbuilding and pilot training programs in providing replacements.
MacArthur and Island Hopping Douglas MacArthur was the American commander of the Pacific Theatre, and developed the strategic plan of Island Hopping. Would leap frog to islands that make it easier to move on to other islands. Battle of Guadalcanal 16,000 Allied soldiers made an
amphibious landing, to capture a Japanese airfield that was under Construction. Battle raged for 6 months the Japanese lost 31,000 troops and the Americans lost 7,000 troops. The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic victory by Allied forces and put them on the offensive rather than the defensive. Battle of Leyte Gulf Largest naval battle in history.
Leyte Gulf featured the largest battleships ever built. Was the last time in history that battleships attacked each other. Kamikaze aircraft was used for the first time. Kamikaze Pilots: Suicide pilots that would crash planes into U.S. ships. The Japanese Navy suffered heavy losses, and never sailed into battle again. Most of the Ships that survived, did not have fuel to leave the ports.
Okinawa and Iwo Jima Battles on the Japanese home islands of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, were very deadly. Of the 117,000 Japanese troops defending Okinawa, about 100,000 died. Japan used a lot of Kamikaze pilots because they did not have supplies. The United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. Resulted in some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The Americans had a lot more people and
weapons. The Japanese will continue to fight, but victory is impossible after these Islands fall. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
