Download German victory in Europe by 1941

WW2
World War II: the events
German victory in Europe by 1941
Blitzkrieg against Poland
Germany
attacked
Poland
on
1st
September 1939 from
the wat, and on 17th
September
Russia
invaded from the east,
as agreed in Nazi-Soviet
Pact.
Since Britain and France
could not help, Poland was swiftly defeated when Germany
attacked with overwhelming force and speed - "Blitzkrieg".
Poland surrendered on 3rd October.
There was now a pause, "the Phoney War" during the winter of 1939-1940, while each side
prepared and waited for the other to move first. Germany turns west
Germany turns west
The invasion of Denmark and Norway by Germany was so quick in
April 1940 that British expedition to Norway was unable to establish
itself. Norwegian forces had not been mobilised, while the German
invasion was helped by Norwegian Nazis, led by Viktor Quisling,
Defeat there led to the replacement of British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain by Winston Churchill in May 1940.
Holland, Belgium and France were attacked on 10th May. The decisive
German advance through the Ardennes and rounds the north of
Maginot Line cut off British and French forces, forcing the retreat of
340.000 soldiers to Dunkirk.
There, by a miracle, 300.000 troops were evacuated to Britain by the
Royal Navy, with the help pf about 700 small merchant ships and
pleasure craft ("the little ships") of Dunkirk. The
rescue was organised by Vice Admiral Bertram
Ramsay in Operation Dynamo. Dunkirk was a defeat
because the British Expeditionary Force was
prevented from helping the French army against the
German advance, but Winston Churchill created a
propaganda victory, rallying Britain to show the
"Dunkirk Spirit".
France surrendered in June 1940, leaving Britain
isolated in Western Europe (Spain remained
neutral).
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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WW2
The success of Bliztkrieg
"Blitzkrieg" was a development of British tactics at the end of the First World War in which armour
and troops advanced together, with air cover. German generals refined the method, both by taking
infantry forward in troop carriers and by using para-troops to take the objectives from the air. The
result was such as a fast advance that resistance could not be successfully organised.
The significance of British survival
The battle of Britain, July-September 1941
In order to invade Britain, Hitler needed to send a fleet of barges across the
Channel (Operation Sea-lion). First he had to win air power.
The battle of Britain was fought for air dominance, as the Luftwaffe changed
its focus from attacking convoys in the Channel to attacking airfields and then
factories. Although German losses were heavier than British, Hitler did not
realise the seriousness of the damage inflicted on airfields in South-East
England and the shortage of planes and pilots. He switched tactics to
bombing London and other large cities, allowing the RAF to recover its
effectiveness. By the time the German plans of invasion were abandoned,
Germany had lost 1.389 planes; Britain had lost 792.
Reasons for British victory:
•
•
•
•
Spitfires and Hurricanes were more manoeuvrable than German Messerschmitts. German fighters
only had fuel for a few minutes over Britain, whereas Britain fighters could spend as long as they
needed in the air.
Britain used radar to concentrate defenders onto attacking German planes. The German failed to
target the vital radar stations.
Hitler and Goering failed to push home the attack on the RAF. If they had not changed their focus,
they would have succeeded.
British factories produced more planes while British pilots showed tremendous bravery in aerial
combat.
The battle of the Atlantic
Just as in the First World War, Britain depended on food, raw
materials and oil from the USA. The creation of the "special
relationship", in 1940 by Churchill and Roosevelt was of
historic significance. Germany, therefore, focused her efforts
on using U-boats to sink 150 British merchant ships every
month of a year, which they thought was sufficient to defeat
Britain. In 1942 losses of British merchant ships were very
heavy, averaging about 140 each month, but later the success of the U-boats declined and Germany
lost the battle of Atlantic.
Reasons for British victory:
•
•
•
Merchant ships were convoyed by warships
The Allies built merchant ships faster that the German could sink them
British warships and aircraft began to use radar while German Enigma codes were broken, letting
British code breakers at Bletchey Park track the German "wolfpacks". Over 750 U-boats had been
sunk by the end of the war
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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WW2
Victory in Africa: a turning point in the War?
Yugoslavia and Greece 1940
Hitler attacked Yugoslavia in 1940 and, when an Italian attack on
Greece was repulsed, he sent in German troops. British and Allied
troops were overrun, making a last stand in Crete, which was
captured by German parachutists in June 1940.
The significance of campaign was that it delayed the German
invasion of Russia, which would now take place in the winter.
North Africa 1940-1943
Mussolini invaded Egypt from Libya in 1940 but was repulsed by
British and Empire troops. Hitler then sent General Erwin
Rommel, whose panzer army pushed the British army deep into
Egypt, threatening the Suez Canal and the Gulf oilfields.
Under a new commander, General Montgomery, and with new
equipment from the USA, the 8th Army turned the tide at the
battle of El Alamein, pushing the Germans deep into Libya. An
Allied landing in Algeria then led to a complete victory in Africa.
In 1943 the British and US forces invaded Italy from North
Africa: El Alamein had been an important turning point.
The invasion of the Soviet Union: the decisive turning point in
Europe
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler had always intended to invade the Soviet Union in
order to gain "Living Space" for the German people, to
destroy communism and to take resources such as
wheat, coal and oil.
Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941,
taking Russian forces by surprise and striking deep into
Soviet territory. But when the winter of 1941-1942
struck, German troops were ill-equipped for sub-zero.
They only had summer clothing and were without the
fuel additives to keep tanks and lorries moving.
Their advance ground to a halt at Leningrad and Moscow.
In 1943 they failed to take Stalingrad, where they had to
endure another winter. The 100.000 men of von Paulus's
army at Stalingrad surrendered to Soviet forces in January 1943. This decisive victory was the real
turning point of the war in Europe.
Soviet forces then began their long advance, beating the German Panzer Army at the battle of Kursk
in July 1943, and diving German forces out of Russia by June 1944 (at the cost of over 20 million
deaths)
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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WW2
Reasons for German defeat
•
•
•
•
The fatal delay in launching Operation Barbarossa occurred because of the resistance to the invasion
of Greece. The harsh winters halted German advances
allowing Soviet resistance to regroup.
The Soviet "scorched earth" policy, destroying everything in
the part of the advancing Germans, put huge strain on
German supplies, which had to be transported over immense
distances.
Soviet armies and the Soviet people showed heroic
resistance, especially at the sieges of Leningrad and
Stalingrad.
Concentration of Soviet Union by Germany was a fatal error.
Three quarters of German forces were used there, which gave the chance for the Allies to regroup for
invasion of Europe in the West
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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WW2
The USA and the war with Japan
Japanese rivalry with the USA
Japan started her invasion to China in 1931 and had taken the coastline by 1940. In 1941 she invaded
Indo-China seeking coal, oil, tin and other supplies. At home the Japanese army was virtually in
control, and Japan had allied with Germany in 1936.
The USA had important links with China and in 1941 demanded that Japan should withdraw from
China and Indo-China. She also imposed sanctions on Japan, the most damaging of which was a ban
on oil exports, on which Japan depended.
Pearl Harbor
Japan was not prepared to agree to USA demands and instead
planned a pre-emptive strike on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This
attack, on 7th December 1941, sank most of the US Pacific Fleet,
destroyed 120 aircraft and killed 2.400 Americans. The US
aircraft carries, however, had put to sea and were saved.
The result were decisive, because the US was forced into war
with Japan; furthermore, Germany and Italy declared war on the
USA the following day, connecting the wars in Europe and in the
Pacific.
Turning point in the Pacific
At first, Japan continued to make advances in 1941, taking Philippines, Malaya, Singapore and parts
of Burma. In 1942 the tide turned when, at the battle of Midway Island, the US fleet sank four
Japanese aircraft carriers, leaving the Japanese position in the Pacific seriously weakened.
US victory over Japan
During 1943, US forces captured one Pacific island after
another, despite heavy casualties. In June 1944, British and
Indian troops defeated Japan in Burma. From 1944-1945, US
forces retook Philippines.
The next objective was Japan itself, but it was obvious that a
land invasion would be very costly since Japanese resistance
was expected to be particularly fierce. Instead Harry Truman,
the new American president, decided to use the Atom Bomb.
In early August, bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. The bomb on Hiroshima caused about 70.000 deaths within minutes of the blast and on
14th August 1945, Japan surrendered.
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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WW2
The defeat of Germany
D-Day 6th June 1944
Germany was fully committed to the war in the Soviet Union
and so had provided the chance for British, French and
American forces to regroup in Britain. From July 1943 British
and American troops were advancing north in Italy where
German troops had taken over the defence: in April 1945
Italy would fall.
The Allies concentrated overwhelming force in Southern
Britain ready to invade France, with over 3 million British,
Canadian and American troops and 5.000 ships. They were
equipped with "mulberry" harbours and the Pluto fuel pipeline to ensure supply across the Channel.
Meanwhile control of the skies had been assured to protect the invasion. The landings were on five
beaches on a 60-miles stretch of the Normandy coast. German resistance was strong and casualties
high.
The advance on Germany
After long and bloody fights on 25th August 1944 Paris felt
to Allies; then Belgium and France were freed on next
September. In winter 1944, the battle of the Bulge, a German
counter-attack, momentarily turned the tide at the cost of
240.000 German casualties and 600 tanks. However, the
Allies invaded German in spring 1945: while the Allies were
entering in Germany, the Soviet troops attacked Berlin; on
30th April 1945 Hitler shot himself.
The VE-Day (Victory in Europe Day) was celebrated on 7th
May 1945.
Reasons for victory over Germany:
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•
•
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The continued resistance of Britain opened Germany to war on two fronts and allowed the
USA to enter the war in Europe
By attacking the Soviet Union, Hitler made a serious
mistake. Most historians see the failure in Russia as the
decisive turning point in Europe.
Italian failure in Southern Europe and Africa further overstretched Germany resources in Greece, Africa and Italy.
The entry of the USA into the war in Europe changed the
balance of the war.
The war continued too long exhausting German and Italian resources, while the Allies
gained support from US resources.
Adapted from Alan Scadding, GCSE Success – History, Letts, pgg.58 - 64
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