World War II

Section 1 –

Hitler’s Lightning War

Setting the Stage…

• Hitler used the turmoil of

German life after World

War I to come to power.

• Nonaggression Pact

signed between Stalin

(Russia) and Hitler

(Germany)

• Stalin and Hitler had

agreed which countries

each could take over.

Germany Sparks a New War In Europe

• Germany’s Lightning Attack

September 1, 1939 – Blitzkrieg attack on Poland by

Germany

September 3, 1939 – France declares war on

Germany.

• The Soviets Make Their Move

September 17th, Stalin sent Soviet troops to occupy

eastern Poland.

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia fall without struggle.

Finland Resists.

1 million Soviet troops were sent to Finland.

March 1940 Finland is forced to Surrender.

• The Phony War (sitzkrieg)

French and British troops are stationed at the

Maginot line.

German troops are stationed at the Siegfried Line.

Nothing happens

• April 9, 1940 – Hitler launches a surprise

invasion of Norway and Denmark.

• Germans begin to build bases there to strike at

Great Britain.

The Fall of

France • May 1940 – Germany

takes the Netherlands,

Belgium, and

Luxemburg.

• Hitler sends troops and

tanks through the

Ardennes to squeeze

past the Maginot Line.

• Germany reaches

France’s west coast in

ten days.

• Rescue at Dunkirk

End of May 1940 – Allied troops forced to

Dunkirk

Britain sends 850 amateur ships to rescue the

soldiers.

• France Falls

June 14, 1940 – Paris falls to Germany

June 22, 1940 – France fully surrenders

Southern

France left to

a puppet

government

headed by

Marshal

Philippe

Petain.

Vichy, France

was the new

capital.

• General Charles de Gaulle

set up a government in exile

in London.

The Battle of Britain

• Winston Churchill was England's

new Prime Minister.

• Summer of 1940 – the Luftwaffe

attacked Britain’s airfields and planes.

• September 7, 1940 – the Luftwaffe

began focusing on cities such as

London

• The R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) had two

technological devices that helped turn

the tide.

1. Radar

2. A

captured

German

Enigma

machine

• October 1940 – Germans gave up daylight

raids in favor of night raids.

• The Battle for Britain stopped May 10, 1941.

• Hitler turned his attention to the Mediterranean

and Eastern Europe.

The Mediterranean and the

Eastern Front

• Axis Forces Attack North Africa

Germans first objective was North Africa

September 1940 – Mussolini ordered his troops to

attack British held Egypt.

The Suez Canal was key to reaching the oil fields of

the Middle East.

• Britain Strikes Back

February 1941 – British swept 500 miles and took

130,000 Italian prisoners.

Hitler had to support Mussolini.

Germany dispatched the Afrika Korps, under

command of General Erwin Rommel.

British caught off guard and forced to retreat.

• January 1942, British pushed Rommel back to

where he had started.

• June 1942, Rommel pushes British out of

Egypt.

• Earns the nickname “Desert Fox”

• The War in the Balkans

Hitler continued to plan on invading the U.S.S.R.

He began building bases in Southeast Europe for

just such an attack.

After a threat of force Romania, Bulgaria, and

Hungary joined the Axis.

Yugoslavia and Greece resisted.

Yugoslavia

fell in 11

days.

Greece fell

in 17.

Hitler Invades the Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941)

Germany drove 500 miles into the U.S.S.R.

When Russians retreated they once again

practiced their Scorched Earth Strategy.

September 8th, Germany took Leningrad

By November the city was cut off.

Hitler was ready to starve out the 2.5 million

residents

Nearly 1 million died in the winter of 1941-1942.

The city did not fall.

October 2nd

1941, Hitler

begins to

move to

Moscow.

December

1941,

Germany

reaches the

outskirts of

Moscow.

The Russian

General

Georgi Zhukov

counterattacks

.

Germany, in summer uniforms, retreat.

Hitler issues an order “NO RETREAT”

The Germans dug in 125 miles outside of Russia

and held out till 1943.

They gained nothing, but lost 500,000 lives.

The United States Aids Its Allies

• Few Americans wanted to get involved.

• 1935-1937 – Congress passed a series of

Neutrality Acts

• Lend-Lease Act (1941)

• German subs ordered to attack ANY cargo

ship.

• Atlantic Charter- Roosevelt and Churchill

• September 4th, 1941 – In response to a U-Boat

attack President Roosevelt issues a command

that all U.S. Navy ships are to sink Nazi

Submarines.

Section 2 – Japan’s Pacific

Campaign

• Setting the Stage…

The Japanese sought to build their own empire.

• Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor

Japan began conquering Southeast Asia.

Roosevelt responded by arming Chinese resistance

groups and cutting off oil shipments to Japan.

Japan seized American outposts

Admiral

Isoroku

Yamamoto

assembles a

large fleet to

take out the

American

Naval Station

at Pearl

Harbor.

• Day of Infamy

December 7, 1941- Surprise attack at Pearl Harbor

19 ships destroyed or sunk

8 battleships

2,300 Americans died

1,100 wounded

Roosevelt asks for and gets a declaration of war.

At the

same time

Japan

attacked

Hong

Kong,

Guam,

Thailand

and Wake

Island.

Japanese

Victories

• Japan took the Philippines, Singapore, Malay,

Dutch East Indies, Burma

• Japanese cruel masters

• Bataan Death March – 50 mile hike, 70,000

began and 54,000 finished.

Bataan Death March

The Allies Strike Back • April 1942 – Doolittle’s Raid, 16 B-25s bombed

Tokyo

• The Allies Turn the Tide

Battle of the Coral Sea

Allies had stopped Japans southward advance

• The Battle of Midway

June 4th to June 7th 1942

Turned the tide of war in the Pacific.

An Allied Offensive

• General Douglas

MacArthur –

Island Hoping

• Battle of Guadalcanal (Part 1)

• Battle of Guadalcanal (Part II)

The Holocaust Begins • Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)