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Further Steps Toward Inevitable War
Lightning Strikes Poland
Germany Moves West
 MEETING
OF GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN,
FRANCE, ITALY
 SIGNED SEPTEMBER 30, 1938
 ADOLF HITLER, NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN,
BENITO MUSSOLINI, EDOUARD DALADIER
 GERMANY GIVEN SUDETENLAND AND
CONTROL OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
 NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN: “PEACE FOR OUR
TIME”
(SEE MUNICH PACT DESK AUCTION STORY)
L TO R: CHAMBERLAIN, DALADIER, HITLER, MUSSOLINI, CIANO
"My good friends, for
the second time in
our history, a British
Prime Minister has
returned from
Germany bringing
peace with honour.
I believe it is peace
for our time...
Go home and get a
nice quiet sleep."
--NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN
Adolf Hitler, in his speech to his generals
on 22 August 1939, a week before the
invasion of Poland:
"The enemy did not expect my great
determination. Our enemies are little
worms, I saw them at Munich...Now
Poland is in the position I wanted...I am
only afraid that some bastard will present
me with a mediation plan at the last
moment."
KRISTALLNACHT –
NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS
 November
9/10 1938
 NIGHT
OF BROKEN
GLASS
 FIRST MAJOR ROUNDUP OF JEWS
 NEARLY 100 JEWS
MURDERED
 JEWISH
HOMES/BUSINESSES
RANSACKED
 267 JEWISH
SYNAGOGUES
BURNED
 IMPLEMENTED BY
HITLER YOUTH,
GESTAPO, SS
 THE BEGINNING OF
THE END FOR MANY
JEWS
 HITLER DEMANDS:
• DANZIG’S RETURN TO GERMANY
• RAILROAD BUILDING THROUGH POLAND
 POLAND
• STANDS FIRM AGAINST GER.
• BRITAIN/FRANCE PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR
POLAND
 PACT
OF STEEL (NAZI/SOVIET NONAGGRESSION PACT) STRENGHENS
HITLER’S PLAN
1
SEPTEMBER 1939
 BLITZKRIEG “LIGHTNING WAR”
AGAINST POLAND
 “FAKED” POLISH AGGRESSION
 HORSEMEN AGAINST TANKS
 SOVIET ATTACK BEGINS 17 SEPT.
 WARSAW FALLS 27 SEPT.
 LAST RESISTANCE EARLY OCTOBER
 10,000 POLES ESCAPE
 WAR
STRATEGY BASED ON SPEED
 CONCEPT CONCEIVED BY TWO BRITISH
THEORISTS: Major General J.F.C. fuller
and Captain Basil Liddell Hart
 IN RESPONSE TO STALEMATE/CARNAGE
OF WWI
 DESTROY ENEMIES’ BRAIN NOT BODY
 SUDDEN, CONCENTRATED ATTACKS ON
HEADQUARTERS/COMMUNICATIONS,
NOT ON MASS OF ARMY
 GENERAL
HEINZ GUDERIAN MAIN
PROPONENT
 4 STEPS: IDENTIFY ENEMY WEAK SPOTS
1. EMPLOY PANZER TANK DIVISIONS BYPASSING
STRONG POINTS (DEEP PENETRATION)
 CUT TROOPS INTO SEPARATE POCKETS
2. AIR POWER PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE
3. DIVE BOMBERS W/ TANKS
4. ARTILLERY AND INFRANTRY (CRUSH POCKETS)
HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL IN EARLY PART OF WAR
 CASUALTIES
–
• 10,000 POLES ESCAPED
• # DEAD UNCERTAIN
• 694,000 TAKEN PRISONER BY GERMANS
• 217,000 TAKEN PRISONER BY RED ARMY
• GERMANS LOST 10,761 MEN
 BRITAIN
AND FRANCE DELCARE WAR
ON GERMANY
Warsaw Uprising,1944: Polish home forces against Nazis
http://www.warsawuprising.com/photos.htm
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Spring 1943 – largest Jewish uprising in war
Wrote to wife: “There is hardly a building
not in some way damaged…The people
must have suffered terribly. For seven
days there has been no water, no power,
no gas, and no food…The mayor estimated
there are 40,000 dead and injured…The
people are probably relieved that we have
come and that their ordeal is over…The
field kitchens are besieged by starving,
exhausted people.”
 April, 1939
 Sees
Hitler’s success; awakens his own
ambitions
 100,000 troops into Albania; annexes it
 Romania under threat; Britain and France
promise military aid to Romania
 Britain begins partial conscription under
threat of war
 German
operation headed by Grand
Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander in Chief
of Navy; EARLY APRIL 1940
 One of most daring gambles in history of
naval warfare
 IRON ORE/AIR & NAVAL BASES
 Winston Churchill, Britain’s First Lord of the
Admiralty advised in support of Allied help
 RESISTANCE FAILS, NORWAY AND
DENMARK FALL TO GERMANY BY EARLY
JUNE
“ENGLAND HAS BEEN GIVEN A CHOICE
BETWEEN WAR AND SHAME. SHE HAS
CHOSEN SHAME AND WILL GET WAR”
CHAMBERLAIN OUT, CHURCHILL IN AS
PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN
“WE SHALL FIGHT
ON THE BEACHES,
WE SHALL FIGHT
ON THE LANDING
GROUNDS, WE
SHALL FIGHT IN
THE FIELDS AND IN
THE STREETS, WE
SHALL FIGHT IN
THE HILLS; WE
SHALL NEVER
SURRENDER”
 GERMAN
GOALS
• ATTACK QUICKLY THROUGH NETHERLANDS AND
BELGIUM
• DRIVE BRITISH FROM MAINLAND FRANCE
• SUBJUGATE FRANCE WITHIN 6 WEEKS OF ATTACK
 PROBLEM: BELGIUM’S
FORT OF EBEN EMAEL
German
attack
plan
 Belgium
Fort Eben Emael attacked
 10 May 1940
 Blitzkrieg style: stukas, tanks, infantry
 Gliders landed on top of fort w/
explosives
 In one day fort was captured, in shambles
 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_n
m.php?ModuleId=10005137&MediaId=3
376 : Interactive Map, German Advances
 SIMULTANEOUS
ATTACK 10 MAY
 DUTCH SOLDIERS TRICKED W/ MEN IN
DUTCH UNIFORM ESCORT “CAPTURED
SOLDIERS” TOWARDS THEM
 GAINED CONTROL OF MAAS RIVER
BRIDGE
 ***BRIDGES KEY: SURPRISE ATTACK TO
PREVENT ENEMY FROM BLOWING UP
BRIDGE***
 END OF DAY (MAY 10): GERMANS EN
ROUTE TO CAPITALS OF BELGIUM AND
HOLLAND
 ALLIED
FORCES CONCENTRATED IN
NORTH
 GERMANS ATTACK FROM SOUTH
THROUGH THE ARDENNES FOREST
 MAY 10 ATTACK INITIATED
 2,270 TANKS; AT ONE POINT LINE WAS
100 MILES LONG W/ SUPPORT
AIRCRAFT OVERHEAD
 BELGIUM
AND DUTCH FORCES IN
RETREAT
 BRITISH/FRENCH MOVING TO FACE
GERMANS IN LOW COUNTRIES IN
NORTH (BEL./HOL.)
 GERMAN ARMY FROM SOUTH
 ALLIES WALKING INTO TRAP
 HITLER OVERJOYED
 MAY
13TH HOLLAND FELL
 MAY 14TH GERMANS PUSHING
THROUGH BELGIUM/FRANCE
Churchill met w/ French Premier Paul
Reynaud “We are beaten”; from garden
they met in, Churchill could see clouds of
smoke; French already burning archives
and sensitive documents; evacuation of
Paris being planned
 MAY
23- BRITISH TROOPS RETREATED
TOWARDS SEAPORT OF DUNKIRK;
TRAPPED BY GERMANS
 COMMANDER “ONLY A MIRACLE CAN
SAVE US NOW”
 NOWHERE FOR THEM TO GO
 CHURCHILL ADVISES ALL SEAWORTHY
VESSELS TO ASSEMBLE ON THE
ENGLISH CHANNEL AND ATTEMPT TO
RESCUE ALLIED FORCES
 (MIRACULOUSLY)
HITLER ORDERED
STOP OF GERMAN GROUND FORCE
ADVANCEMENT
• AIR FORCE CALLED TO FINISH THEM
 ARCHBISHOP
OF CANTERBURY LED
PRAYERS “FOR OUR SOLDIERS IN DIRE
PERIL IN FRANCE”
 BRITISH BOATS ARRIVED JUST IN TIME
 IN 9 DAYS (MAY 26-JUNE 4), 338,226
TROOPS EVACUATED (HALF BRITS/HALF
FRENCH) TO ENGLAND
BRITISH TROOPS
WAITING FOR
EVACUATION; MANY
STOOD IN WATER FOR
HOURS WAITING TO
BOARD A SHIP
KING GEORGE VI CALLED FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED WEEK OF PRAYER
 MILITARY
DEFEAT FOR BRITAIN
 GAVE THEM PSYCHOLOGICAL HOPE
 DESIRE TO FIGHT ON
 A MIRACLE TO BUILD ON WHEN
EVERYTHING LOOKED BLEAK
 10TH
JUNE FRENCH GOVT. ABANDONS
PARIS
 14TH JUNE GERMANS ARRIVE IN PARIS
 SWASTIKA FLIES FROM EIFFEL TOWER
 VICHY FRENCH GOVERNMENT
ESTABLISHED W/ FRENCH
• PUPPET GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED BY
GERMANS, “RULED” BY FRENCH (UNDER
PETAIN)
• HITLER FELT HE HAD WON THE WAR
HITLER
GAINED CONTROL OF:
• HALF POLAND
• CZECHOSLOVAKIA
• DENMARK
• NORWAY
• BELGIUM
• HOLLAND
• FRANCE
• AUSTRIA