Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain

The Failure of AppeasementWhen Germany

invaded Poland on September 1 1939, Britain and France realized appeasement was a failure

They declared war September 3rd

Canada voted to declare war on Germany on September 10th

Blitzkrieg in PolandThe Germans invaded

Poland with a new tactic called Blitzkrieg (lightning warfare)

The Polish had outdated tactics and weaponry

On August 17th, the Soviets, in accordance with the secret Nazi-Soviet Pact invaded Poland from the east

Poland was completely conquered and divided by October

Phoney War and the Fall of FranceOver the winter of 1940

the Allies and Germany did nothing (phoney war)

Unexpectedly, Denmark and Norway invaded April 1940

Then the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France are invaded 0n May 10th 1940Germany used a

strategy called the Manstein Plan to invade France through the Ardennes Forest

The French effort overall proved pitifulBelgium and the Netherlands fell in a weekThe British had to evacuate France at Dunkirk

on June 4th France collapsed due to the superior might,

strategy and tactics of GermanyOn June 22nd 1940, France officially surrenderedGermany occupied northern France and set up a

puppet government called Vichy France in the south

In embarrassment over their defeat in Europe, British P.M. Neville Chamberlain resigns and is replaced by Winston Churchill

The Battle of BritainA war for air superiority

over BritainGermany could not invade

Britain without control of the skies

Germany first bombed harbors, then air fields and radar stationsThen they switched to

bombing civiliansThe British and

commonwealth (Canadian) pilots out killed the Germans 5:1

By late September 1940, the Allies had won the battle

"...if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.’”- Winston Churchill

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” – Winston Churchill