Name Date

RETEACHING ACTIVITY Hitler's Lightning WarSection 1

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Reading Comprehension Find the name or term in the second column that bestmatches the description in the first column. Then write the letter of your iin the blank.

• answer! s)

1. Agreement between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and AdolfHitler in which the two plotted to divide Poland betweenthem

2. Germany's military strategy of "lightning war"

3. A system of fortifications along France's border withGermany

4. French port city near the Belgian border from which afleet of British ships and civilian craft evacuated trappedsoldiers in 1940

5. French general who organized the Free French militaryforces to fight the Nazis

6. British prime minister during World War II

7. Name for Germany's air force

8. 1941 battle that demonstrated that Hitler's attacks couldbe blocked

9. Commander of Hitler's crack German tank force, theAfrika Korps

10. Joint declaration issued by Roosevelt and Churchill thatupheld free trade among nations and the people's right tochoose their own government

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J-

K.

Winston Churchill

Maginot Line

Atlantic Charter

Charles de Gaulle

Erwin Rommel

Dunkirk

Battle of Midway

blitzkrieg

Battle of Britain

nonaggression pact

Luftwaffe

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88 UNIT 4, CHAPTER 16

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Name

The Battle of Britain

Three weeks after the evacuation atDunkerque, France surrendered to theGermans. Great Britain stood alone againstHitler. With its army beaten and supplies andammunition dangerously low, the island nationbraced for an expected invasion.

Throughout the summer of 1940, theGermans assembled landing barges along the The Battle of Britain was the firstFrench coast. They intended to use these to battle fou9ht to contro1 the air-ferry their troops across the English Channel into Great Britain. Beginning in August,the Luftwaffe, the German air force, began bombing airfields in Great Britain, hoping todestroy the Royal Air Force. They failed. England's radar stations warned the R.A.F.of approaching German planes, and British pilots inflicted such heavy losses on theLuftwaffe that the invasion of Great Britain was called off.

With their invasion plans ruined, the Nazis changed tactics. Hitler ordered theLuftwaffe to concentrate its efforts on bombing Great Britain's principal cities. These airraids were known as the "Blitz." Hitler believed that continuous attacks on the civilianpopulation would force England to withdraw from the war. From September 7 throughthe end of October, 1940, the Germans bombed London and other cities relentlessly.Though occasional bombing still occurred until May of 1941, the Battle of Britain wasconsidered over in October.

Estimates place the total number of civilians killed during the Battle of Britain atmore than 30,000. But the British people never wavered in their determination toremain free. In spite of their suffering and hardships, they refused to give in to Hitler'sdemands. In the end, Royal Air Force pilots shot down so many German bombers thatHitler gave up on Great Britain and turned his attention to the Balkans.

Put the following events in chronological order by writing the numbers 1 to 6 in theblanks to the left.

1. The Germans switch to bombing British cities.

2._ _The British win the Battle of Britain.

3. Hitler cancels his plan to invade Great Britain in the summer of 1940.

4._ France surrenders.

5. The Germans assemble landing barges for their scheduled invasion of GreatBritain.

6. Thousands of Allied soldiers are rescued at Dunkerque.

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