HITLER’SLIGHTNING
WAR
Aug. 1939Hitler & Stalin sign a non-aggression pact
1. What did each leader gain from the secret pact?
• Hitler: Removal of threat from the east
• Stalin: Take over of Baltics / no German threat
Sep. 1939Hitler invades Poland
• Blitzkrieg “Lightning War”
- Using fast moving mechanized weapons & overwhelming force.
USSR
Germany
2. What strategy did Hitler use to conquer Poland?
April 1940Hitler invades Denmark &
Norway
• Distract the Allies & create a path to France through Holland, Belgium & Luxembourg
3. What was Hitler’s plan for conquering France?
June 1940France Surrenders
• British civilians rescued Allied soldiers trapped there.
4. What happened at Dunkirk?
Sept. 1940German Luftwaffe begins
bombing British cities
• R.A.F. fighters & British resistance forced Germany to end the attack and focus East.
5. What was the outcome of the Battle of Britain?
Sept. 1940Italy moves to seize Egypt &
the Suez Canal
Feb. 1941Hitler sends Rommel to help
Italian troops seize Egypt and the Suez Canal
6. What was the outcome of the fighting at Tobruk?
• In the beginning of ’42, the Brits pushed Rommel out of Tobruk.
• By the middle of ’42, Rommel regained Tobruk
June 22, 1941Hitler invades the Soviet Union
• Terrible winters• “Scorched-Earth” policy by Soviets
7. How did Hitler’s invasion compare with Napoleon’s invasion of Russia?
The turning point in the USSR
• The USSR was ill prepared for the German invasion.• Germany pushed nearly 500 miles into the USSR as
Soviet troops retreated and destroyed everything of value to Germany.
• On September 8, 1942 the Germans began a seize of Leningrad where nearly 1,000,000 people died, despite this the USSR never surrendered.
• An impatient Hitler tried to force an attack of Moscow but German troops were stalled and then the winter set in.
• German troops moved within 125 miles of Moscow before heavy winter set in and trapped German troops.
The Atlantic Charter
• The Lend-Lease Act was passed in 1941 allowing the US to lend weapons to any nation deemed vital to the US.
• Churchill and Roosevelt secretly met and signed a pledge called The Atlantic Charter.
• This upheld the principals of free trade and the right of people to self govern, it set up the beginning of an alliance between the USA and Great Britain.
