The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop & Molotov

Nazi-Soviet Pact 3.1.1

•Negotiations between Britain, France

and the USSR began in March 1939 in

order to deal with Nazi aggression

throughout.

• Stalin, however, was also getting visits

from Nazi foreign minister Ribbentrop

to discuss a Nazi-Soviet pact

Nazi-Soviet Pact

• On 24 August 1939 Stalin made his decision

and signed a pact with Germany.

• The world was shocked as two arch enemies

promised not to attack each other.

• Privately they also agreed to divide Poland

Why did Stalin sign the pact?

• Stalin was not convinced that Britain

and France would be strong and

reliable allies against Hitler

•He also wanted large parts of eastern

Poland

•He did not believe that Hitler would

keep his word. He wanted time to

build up his forces.

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Blitzkrieg [“Lightening War”]

German Successes Early in WWII

3.2.2

• Poland was pleased to learn that France and

Britain would help defend Poland against a

possible German attack in early 1939. There was

hope that a German invasion could be averted or

possibly halted and the German army defeated.

• Within 4 weeks Poland was crushed at the cost

of just 8000 German dead. The British and

French had hardly fired a shot.

• What had happened?

3.2.1 Blitzkrieg

• The answer is Blitzkrieg . The principle behind

this strategy was that the best way to defeat

an enemy is to throw a massive assault against

the enemy’s weakest point and cut them off

from all supplies, reinforcements

and communication.

Blitzkrieg

• This was achieved by:

• First enemy headquarters and communications were

bombed by artillery and bombers. Parachutists

dropped behind enemy lines to cause panic.

• Second tanks and infantry punch a hole in the

weakest part of the enemy

frontline encircling enemy strong points.

• Third troops following up cut the enemy off from

reinforcements thus forcing

surrender.

Blitzkrieg

German Troops March into Warsaw

The “Phoney War” Ends:Spring, 1940

Phoney War 3.2.1

• ‘Phoney War’ is the name given to the period

of time in World War Two from September

1939 to April 1940 when, after the blitzkrieg

attack on Poland in September 1939,

seemingly nothing happened. Many in Great

Britain expected a major calamity – but the

title ‘Phoney War’ sums up what happened in

Western Europe during this time – nothing of

any importance.

France – False Sense of Security?

The MaginotLine

Maginot Line 3.2.1

• The Maginot Line named after the French

Minister of War Andre Maginot, was a line of

concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapons

installations that France constructed just

before the border with Switzerland and the

borders with Germany and Luxembourg

during the 1930s. The Line did not extend

through to the English Channel because the

French military did not want to compromise

Belgium's neutrality.

Maginot Line

• While the fortification system did prevent a

direct attack, it was strategically ineffective, as

the Germans invaded through Belgium, going

around the Maginot Line. Essentially the

Maginot Line provided France with a false

sense of security and Germany invaded and

defeated France in six weeks.

France – False Sense of Security?

Dunkirk EvacuatedJune 4, 1940

Dunkirk 3.2.4

• The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named

Operation Dynamo, also known as the

Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of

Allied soldiers from the beaches and

harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 27

May and 4 June 1940.

• As a result the core of the British Army

remained intact to fight another day.

France SurrendersJune, 1940

Now Britain Is All Alone!

Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”

July 1940

to

May 1941

Battle of Britain 3.2.4

• Defeat of France was a severe blow

• Continental western Europe was under

Nazi-Germany control

• Only Britain & Empire was left

• Hitler was convinced that Britain would

have no choice but to make peace

• Evacuation at Dunkirk & Prime Minister

Churchill’s leadership only strengthens

Britain’s resolve to fight on

Battle of Britain 3.2.4

• Hitler orders Operation Sea Lion

(invasion of Britain)

• But first German Luftwaffe (air force)

had to gain control of the air in order to

secure safe passage for a sea invasion

across the English channel

• July 10, 1940, the Luftwaffe began air

raids over Britain to prepare for the

invasion along England’s southern coast

Battle of Britain 3.2.4

• German targets were British airfields &

radar stations, British ships in the

English channel, & harbours in the south

of the country

• The air assault continued through the

summer and into the fall of 1940

• German air force outnumbered British

air force 4:1, however, the British shot

down 2 German planes for every 1

British plane shot down

Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”

Reasons why Britain was able to

survive the Battle Britain 3.2.3

• Radar allowed Britain to detect German

bombers as they took off from France &

allowed the Royal Air Force to ‘gang-up’

stop German air attacks

• The resolve of the British people was also a

reason why Germany lost as they refused

to surrender & went about their daily

activities in their destroyed cities

• The Germans began to bomb cities instead

of attacking airfields and radar stations

The Royal Air Force

Battle of Britain

• In Sept 1940, Hermann Goering, head of

Luftwaffe decides to change tactics

following a RAF air raid on Berlin

• Instead of bombing RAF bases, the

Luftwaffe began bombing cities & ports in

the hope of breaking British morale

• Cities like London & Coventry were

heavily bombed night after night with

huge casualties

• This only made the British people more

determined to resist defeat

The London “Tube”:Air Raid Shelters during the Blitz

Battle of Britain

• German losses were so heavy in Oct 1940

that the Luftwaffe changed tactics again,

switching to night bombing

• The scale of civilian destruction was

unprecedented

• Hitler realized that the Battle of Britain

was lost

• He postponed his invasion plans & decided

to attack Russia, a mistake that some

argue would cost him the war

Operation Barbarossa:Hitler’s Biggest Mistake

Operation Barbarossa: June 22, 1941

3,000,000 German soldiers. 3,400 tanks.

Operation Barbarossa 3.2.4

• By summer 1941, Hitler was supreme in

Europe. Now he turned his attention to

the USSR, a country he had long wanted

to control for Lebensraum & resources

(such as the wheat lands of Ukraine

region & oil fields in the Caucacus region)

• On June 22,1941, Operation Barbarossa,

the invasion of the Soviet Union began.

The battlefront stretched 1800 miles,

from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea

Operation Barbarossa

• The Nazis swept through the buffer zone that Stalin had established in Poland & pushed onward into the USSR. The Soviets resisted but were forced toretreat.

• As they fell back, the Soviets carried out Stalin's scorched earth policy, burning farm equipment, crops, everything that might be of use to the advancing German Army & also evacuating entire industrial factories (e.g. tank) deep into Russia

Operation Barbarossa

• The Germans continued their steady advance. After 4 months of fighting they had overrun the Ukraine & were approaching Moscow

• The Soviet Union seemed to be on the verge of collapse. In Oct, 1941, with German power at its greatest extent. Hitler boasted that victory was his before the winter

• At the end of 1941, the German advance came to a halt. Nov saw the onset of a bitter Russian winter

Operation Barbarossa

• The Nazis had not prepared for winter

conditions. German tanks were

immobilized by lack of anti-freeze, winter

oils & thousands of poorly dressed soldiers

(they had summer uniforms) died from

exposure

• The Soviets on the other hand, showed no

signs of surrendering. Accustomed to cold

weather, they slowly prepared to

counterattack. Before spring arrived in

1942, the Soviets had made gains against

the invaders

Battle of Stalingrad:August 1942- February 1943

German Army Russian Army

1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men

10,290 artillery guns 13,541 artillery guns

675 tanks 894 tanks

1,216 planes 1,115 planes

Battle of Stalingrad 3.2.4

• For Hitler, taking Stalingrad would serve

the purpose of crushing Russian morale

(symbol of communism), controlling a

major industrial centre & cutting off oil

transportation to the Soviet economy

• For Stalin, it was the last attempt to stop

the German blitzkrieg & save the USSR

• In attempting to take the city, the

Germans destroyed buildings & other

infrastructure which became obstacles for

its mechanized/blitzkrieg army

Battle of Stalingrad

• The Germans were forced to get out of

vehicles & fight ‘hand to hand’ combat,

this exposed the weaknesses of the

German army

• Russia would not surrender until the last

man, woman & child was unable to fight

• In the meantime, Soviet armies were

built-up near the city for a counter-attack

• In Nov 1942, Soviet armies in a a surprise

attack, surrounded the German army at

Stalingrad, cutting off all land supply lines

Battle of Stalingrad

• With the approaching winter & lack of supplies, General Paulus pleaded with Hitler to allow him to surrender. Hitler refused this request, but the German army did surrender in Feb 1943

• This was a major turning point in the war, & the first major defeat of the German army in Russia (it lost 750,000 casualities,91,000 captured, 900 aircraft destroyed, 4000 tanks destroyed)It boosted the morale of the Allies, from here on there would be no turning back & the Russians continued to drive the Germans back from the east for the rest of the war

The North Africa Campaign: The Battle of El Alamein

October 1942General Rommel,The “Desert Fox”

General Montgomery(“Monty”)

Battle of El Alamein 3.2.4

• Before 1942, the Axis suffered only 3

major defeats: Commonwealth forces had

liberated Abyssinia from Italy (1940), won

the Battle of Britain (1940) & defeated

Mussolini's troops in Libya

• In 1942 Hitler sent General Rommel to

Libya with a small German army to help

Italian armies fighting the British army

• Rommel's job was to act as the southern

jaw of a pincer movement focused on

capturing Suez Canal & the Middle East

oil fields

Battle of El Alamein

• The British forces in Africa had been driven back into Egypt by Rommel, however, before the Germans were able to capture the strategic Suez Canal the British began defeated them at El Alamein in Egypt in Oct 1942

• The German/Italian armies retreated to Tunisia, but were surrounded in Nov. 1942 when an Anglo-American force landed in Morocco & Algeria. In May 1943, these Axis armies surrendered allowing for an invasion of Italy.

Battle of El Alamein

• This battle was significant because now the

Russians were driving the Germans from

the east & the UK/US/CAN, etc. armies

were driving the Germans back towards

Germany from the south. The tide of war

was turning on two fronts

• In Sept. 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian

mainland & Mussolini was removed from

power & Italy changed sides

Battle of El Alamein

• But these victories brought little gain to

the Allies

• Hitler rushed troops into Italy & it

became a bitter, slow-moving conflict,

made difficult by the mountainous

terrain & fast-flowing rivers of the Italian

peninsula

• German armies would only surrender in

Northern Italy in May 1945 after Hitler’s

death

Battle of the Atlantic

(1939-1943) 3.2.4

• A fight for the survival of Britain. Winston Churchill claims that it was the only thing in the war that frightened him

• The Atlantic lifeline was very important to Britain. Ships from North America brought food, raw materials, troops, & equipment for the war effort. If these resources had not gotten through, Britain would have been starved into submission

Battle of the Atlantic

• The ability to move around the North Atlantic was important to get troops to the Mediterranean theatre of war & to France for the Normandy invasion Germany had come close to destroying Britain with its navy with the policy of un-restricted submarine warfare in 1917. By the start of WWII, Germany only had 46 U-boats. On Sept. 3, 1939 when Britain declared war on Germany, a German U-Boat sunk the British Liner Athenia. The Battle of the Atlantic was on

Battle of the Atlantic

• German

Submarine

WWII• http://www.flickr.com/photos/rip

perdoc/193910988/

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Germans were able to increase their range in the Atlantic because of bases in Norway & France after they had taken over these countries

• As well, the German air force was used for reconnaissance of British ships in the Atlantic

• As a result, the British had to divert shipping away from vulnerable UK ports, & put in place a convoy system to protect merchant ships coming across the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic

• U-Boats, supplemented by mines, aircraft & surface ships succeeded in sinking 3 million tones of Allied shipping between the fall of France in June 1940 & the end of the year.

• This was successful in large part due to the German “wolfpack” concept which had groups of U-boats attacking cargo ships at night to avoid the very effective British Radar

Battle of the Atlantic

• The British were able to survive this period for a number of factors, including improved tactics (convoys), corvettes (small ships), & Allied occupation of Iceland, which provided a valuable Atlantic base

• Another factor was the growing Canadian Navy, which carried out a substantial amount of fighting in the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic

• WWII Corvette• http://jproc.ca/rrp/corvette.html

Battle of the Atlantic

• Apart from ships, airplane played an important role. To fill in the “mid-Atlantic gap” Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ships were designed to take off from merchant planes to seek & destroy submarines

• The Allies were also effective in bombing U-boat pens & production factories on land with long-range bombers

Black Pit = No Allied Air Cover

Black Pit

Battle of the Atlantic

• Catapult

Aircraft

Merchant Ship

• steeljawscribe.

com

Battle of the Atlantic

• Intelligence was another major factor that helped win the Battle of the Atlantic. The ability to break the German Enigma codes was very important. Armed with information as to where German U-Boats were patrolling was important

• By 1943, Germany had 200 U-boats & British supplies of oil were running out & the British could not produce enough ships to cover the amount being sunk by U-boats

Battle of the Atlantic

• Aggressive anti-submarine tactics, new

technology, better weapons saved the

situation, the long range Liberator

bomber being equipped with radar &

more ‘intelligence’

• By April 1943, Germany realized he was

fighting a losing battle & called off the

battle during that same month

Battle of the Atlantic

• B24 Liberator

Bomber

• www.ngb.army.mil

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest battles of WWII. Between 75,000 & 85,000 Allied sailors were killed

• 3,500 Allied merchant ships sunk!

• About 28,000 out of 41,000 U-boat crew were killed (783 U-boats sunk). If the Allies had not prevailed in this battle, we would never have won WWII. Supplies crossing the Atlantic were of utmost importance to the winning of this war, the battle of the Atlantic was a fight to keep this lifeline intact

Gen. Eisenhower Gives the Orders for D-Day [“Operation Overlord”]

Normandy Invasion

D Day (June 6, 1944) 3.2.4

• On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Operation Overlord began when British, American & Canadian invasion forces landed on the Normandy beaches in France where the Germans least expected it

• It didn't take the Allies long to establish a beachhead in France, due to the slow reaction of German forces (who believed Normandy was a diversion to cover up the real landing location), the work of the French Resistance workers who disrupted German communications behind the lines, & Allied command of the skies

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

D Day/Normandy Invasion

• This degree of air power coupled with the determination of Allied troops & the quality & quantity of their armour (bridge-carrying tanks, flame-thrower tanks flail tanks to destroy mine fields) enabled the Allies to be successful at Normandy

• Once the Allies had broken German resistance in France at the Battle of the Falaise Gap in August 1944, the Allies were able to rapidly advance through Western Europe

Normandy Landing (June 6, 1944)

Higgins Landing Crafts

German Prisoners

Normandy Invasion

• The last pocket of German

resistance in the West came with

the Battle of the Bulge, a short-

lived German advance that the

Allies withstood

• By 24 March 1945, the Allies had

crossed the Rhine and a month

later linked up with Soviet forces

advancing from the east

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River: April 25, 1945

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)

General Keitel

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)