Download Ch 5-The War in Europe

The War in Europe
Ch 5
The end of appeasement
1938
– Britain and France agree in Munich to let Germany
have part of Czechoslovakia. Hitler said it would be
his last territorial demand and then in March of 1939
he broke the pact by taking Prague. Policy of
Appeasement ended
1939
– Germany and Italy sign a pact pledging support for
each other in a war
– Germany and Russia sign a 10 year nonaggression
pact in Aug.
– Sept – Germany invades Poland (Blitzkrieg) and
Russia invades for the east. Germany and Russia
sign a treaty dividing Poland between them
Phony War
1939
Phony War on the Western Front
Maginot Line would hold
Confident British Navy could blockade Germany
German launches counter blockade with
submarines, mines and depth bombs, sinking
many allied merchant and passenger ships
Sinking of the Graf Spree and the Royal Oak
Russian-Finish War. Russia invades
Finland in November. Mannerheim line
finally broken in March. Finland gives
Soviet union important ports and industry
The Axis and the “phony war”
• The alliance of Germany, Italy (1939) and Japan
(1940) became known as the Axis.
• Once war was declared, the Allies raced to get
organized and prepared for battle.
• The Allies did not go to the aid of Poland, and
German Nazi armies crushed Poland in less than
a month by using dive bombers and tanks in a
Blitzkrieg
• Allies were quickly stationed along the
France/Germany border waiting for Germany to
make the next move.
• Nothing happened for seven months. This period
was known as the “phony war.”
Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”)
• The blitzkrieg was a powerful and successful
war tactic: surprise attacks with lightning speed,
German tanks would crash through enemy lines,
while war planes would roar through the skies,
bombing the enemy below.
• After Poland and the “phony war” Blitzkrieg
turned into high gear.
• The Germans captured Denmark and Norway
(April 1940), Belgium and the Netherlands (May)
and France (June).
Blitzkrieg
SEE ANIMATION MAP
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/wwtwo_map_fal
l_france/index_embed.shtml
Axis & Allies
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The Axis powers:
Germany
Italy
Japan
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The Allied powers:
Britain
France
Canada
USSR
America
Other Commonwealth
Countries
• World Map with the participants in World War II.
The Allies depicted in green (those in light green
entered after the Attack on Pearl Harbour), the Axis
Powers in orange, and neutral countries in grey.
Evacuation at Dunkirk
• The Germans pushed through Belgium and on to
France, and surrounded the Allied (mostly British)
forces in the French port of Dunkirk.
• Britain was in danger of having to surrender hundreds
of thousands of troops, so the Allies tried an
evacuation by sea, on May 26th, 1940.
• Two days later, the German air force bombed the port
of Dunkirk, making the evacuation even more difficult.
• Miraculously the British government was able to
evacuate over 300,000 people to Britain in only a
week.
• Unfortunately for the Allies, France was easily taken
as a result of the pull out, and on June 22, 1940,
France surrendered.
The Battle of Britain (1940-41)
-Only Britain remained unconquered
- Hitler ordered his air force to attack military targets and
then civilian targets in Britain
-The Royal Air Force, along with many Canadian pilots,
fought back until the German air raids ceased.
-The “Battle of Britain” lasted 8 months and cost the lives of
40 553 men, woman and children.
-Hitler instead turned his army against the U.S.S.R.
-It was the first German defeat of the war.
The Battle of Britain (1940-41)
• By 1940 almost all of Europe was in the hands
of Germany and Italy. Hitler’s next goal was
Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain.
• In an attempt to force the British to surrender,
Hitler begins the Battle of Britain. Hitler’s air
force attacks the island of England, bombing
both civilian and military targets
• German planed bombed London and other
cities, killing civilians and destroying buildings
and streets. These raids became known as “The
Blitz.”
Fighting Back
• The Royal Air Force, along with many
Canadian pilots, fought back until the
German air raids ceased.
• This battle lasted 8 months and cost the
lives of 40 553 men, women and children.
• It failed in its purpose to demoralize the
British people and had the opposite effect
instead the allies became even more
devoted to the concept of “Total War”
Defending Britain
• The British had a sophisticated radar system
that gave them early warnings of German air
raids.
• They used Spitfires and Hurricanes, fighter
planes that were extremely effective defence
planes.
• In May 1941, Hitler gave up his plans to invade
Britain.
• The failure of Germany to dominate this battle is
known as one of the biggest mistakes in the war
which enabled support to arrive and the British
to gain morale.
The Hurricane Fighter Plane
The War Spreads
• Shortly after Germany’s defeat in the
Battle of Britain, Hitler launched
“Operation Barbarossa” (“red beard”), the
invasion of the USSR.
• Even though Germany and the Soviet
Union had agreed (in 1939) not to invade
each other, Hitler needed to conquer the
USSR to fulfill his plans of a German
Empire.
Germany Attacks
• The Soviets were surprised and unprepared for the
attack.
• At first, the Germans were able to push the Soviet army
deeper and deeper into the Soviet Union.
• The German troops were unprepared for the long and
cold Soviet winter, and soon lost their advantage.
• In 1942, the German troops launched another offensive
in the USSR, and they got as far as Stalingrad. They
were once again stopped by the severe winter.
• In early 1943, the German army surrendered, the Soviet
army went on the offensive, and took back much of the
land that they had lost.
Canada Entering the War
• -Statute of Westminster(1931) – gave Canada complete control over
its dealings with foreign nations.
• -One week after Britain declared war, King called Parliament and a
declaration of war was passed.
• -King told the Canadians that Canada would not practice conscription and
would send few soldiers, but would help the war effort in the form of food
and manufactured goods.
-King did not want to divide Canada as in WWI.
• -Only after the defeat of France (1940) did Canada make a full-scale war
effort
• -By then, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and other smaller
countries had fallen to the Nazis.
-Britain stood alone and was in danger of defeat.
• -1941, Japan declared war on Britain and the USA
-Canadian forces in Hong Kong were attacked and the survivors
taken prisoner.
-As a result, Canada declared war on Japan. (see Pg. 157, grey box)
A Canadian tank commander surveys the
terrain below him.
Japanese Canadians
• When Canada and Japan went to war (Dec/1941); British
Columbians feared a Japanese invasion.
-They felt that Japanese Canadians (enemy aliens) might assist in
such an invasion.
• Results: 1) 38 Japanese Canadians were arrested
2) 1200 fishing boats were seized by the government
3) All Canadians of Japanese origin were required to
register with the government
4) All Japanese Canadians were refused when they tried
to join the Canadian army
5) All persons of Japanese ancestry were moved to camps
in the interior of B.C.
6) The government confiscated their property and sold it
7) After the war, approx. 4000 Japanese Canadians were
deported to Japan.
The War in the Pacific
• Japan was an Axis power, but not involved in the
War in Europe.
• By 1941, it was prepared to invade the US and
European colonies in Southeast Asia which were
rich in resources.
• On December 7th, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor (in Hawaii).
• Then they bombed the Philippines.
• These bombings stunned the Americans, and the
next day the US government declared war on
Japan. Japan’s Allies, Germany and Italy, then
declared War on the US.
World War II Chronology
• 1941
– In Conjunction with the German invasion of Russia,
Japan moved against Thailand
• U.S. and Great Britain protested
• Tojo comes to U.S. to trick government
– Dec 7th, Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
– Japan attacks Midway Island, the Philippines, British
Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam and Wake island.
– U.S. declares war on Japan
– Dec 9th – China declares war on Japan, Germany and
Italy.
– Germany and Italy declares war on U.S. on Dec 11th
and the USA declares war on them in return
World War II Chronology
• 1942
– Wake, Guam and Hong Kong (Christmas of
1941) fall to the Japanese
– Bataan and Corregidor in the Philippines falls
to Japan
– Singapore, the Netherlands Indies, Burma
and parts of New Britain and New Guinea fall
to Japan.
– Darwin (Australia) is heavily bombed
The Dieppe Raid
• By 1942, the Allies were making plans to
retake Europe
• To accomplish this, the Allies launched a
series of raids across the English Channel
• One of these raids was against the French
town of Dieppe which was in enemy hands
• Canadian troops were given the job of
capturing the town at night under the cover
of Air bombings and tank landings.
Dieppe: The Problems
• On the morning of August 19th, 1942, one of
the ships carrying Canadian soldiers to
Dieppe unexpectedly met a small German
convoy.
• They engaged in a brief sea battle, and the
noise alerted German troops on shore.
• Delays caused the ships to land on the
beach during daylight, and Canadian
soldiers were easily machine-gunned by the
waiting German soldiers.
Dieppe: The Problems
• Commanders in the boats could not see what
was happening, and communication was poor,
so they continued to send reinforcements onto
the beach, who were unable to retreat.
• Of 4,963 Canadians who landed, 2,853 were
killed or captured
• More Canadian soldiers died in those few hours
at Dieppe than in any other day of the war
Canadians at Sea
• By 1941, the Battle of the Atlantic was in full
force.
• Britain was almost completely dependent on
Canada and the US’s food and military supplies,
but the Allied ships bound for England were
being sunk by German U-boats patrolling the
Atlantic.
• To protect these ships, Allies sailed in convoys,
warships escorted and protected vessels
carrying supplies.
Conscription Crisis
• -Prime Minister King had promised that there would be no
conscription, But as the fighting grew heavier, there were
demands to send more soldiers overseas.
• -In 1942, King held a referendum.
Referendum - submitting an issue to the direct vote of the
people.
• -80% of Québec said no, 80% of the rest of Canada voted yes.
• -King then decided not to send conscripts unless he was
forced to.
• -By 1944, Losses were so high, King reluctantly sent the
conscripts overseas to fight
• -The issue of conscription divided the country as it did in WWI,
however, the situation was not as severe as it had been in 1917.
Battle of the Atlantic
• Initially, things weren’t looking good for the
Allies in the Battle of the Atlantic, German
submarines were sinking Allied convoys at a
rapid pace.
• But, by May 1942, the British had cracked the
German naval code, and the Allies could now
track German submarines.
• In December, the British cracked a second code,
and the Allies were now creating ships faster
than they were getting destroyed.
Canadians in the Air
The Royal Canadian Air Force grew quickly
after the war began, and played many
important roles.
Canadian Air crews participated in bombing
raids in Britain, North Africa, Italy,
Northwest Europe, Southeast Asia and
did night bombings over Germany.
The Tide Turns
• In 1942, the Allies gained strength with the
US declaring war on Japan.
• They began to win the Battle of the
Atlantic and made important advances in
the Pacific.
• The Allies had cleared the Axis forces out
of North Africa and now wanted to focus
on Europe.
The Invasion of Italy
• British PM Winston
Churchill felt that the
best way to attack
Europe was through
Italy and Sicily.
• In 1943, the Allies
invaded Sicily, and
were successful after
two weeks of fierce
fighting.
Battle Of Ortona
1943
• BBC - History Animated Map: The
Italian Campaign
• (see Pg. 116)
July 11,1943: General Bernard
Montgomery standing on a
"duck" speaking to Canadian
troops, Pachino peninsula,
Sicily.
The Invasion of Italy
The advances were slow, fighting was
often house by house and it could take
weeks to take a city.
 Perhaps the most important CanadianAxis conflict was Ortona, where
Canadians fought for a month, and lost
1372 soldiers before the Germans
withdrew.
The Invasion of Italy
• The Allies advance through Italy was
difficult, but eventually they took Rome on
June 4th, 1944.
• The fighting continued in Italy until the
spring of 1945.
• Over 75,000 Canadians were active in
Italy during the campaign.
D-Day
• D-Day was June 6th, 1944.
• “Operation Overlord” was launched on D-Day,
and was the biggest Allied invasion of the war,
an attack on Europe across the English Channel.
• The Allies had learnt from their mistakes made
at Dieppe, and this invasion involved almost one
million soldiers.
• British, American, and Canadian troops stormed
ashore along the entire coast of the French
province of Normandy.
Operation Overlord
• There were five landing points along an 80
km stretch of beach: Sword, Juno, Gold,
Omaha, and Utah.
• Juno Beach was the Canadian Objective
Juno Beach and Beyond
• Although the Germans had anticipated an attack, they
did not expect the Allies to attempt in such bad weather.
• Canadian troops struck at first light, pouring out of their
landing craft and advancing across the sand up into the
town of Caen
• The Allies had taken back part of the French soil, D-day
marked the beginning of the end for Germany
• Canadians continued to fight for months in order to also
take back all the French ports along the English Channel
• The Battle of the Sheldt was a key event in this period.
• Allied soldiers fought right into Germany through the
Rhineland
Liberating the Netherlands
• One of the most important moments in the history of
World War II for Canadian Soldiers.
• Canadian troops had been fighting in France, Italy,
Belgium, and in Germany since the D-Day landing.
• These troops were moved to the Netherlands to push the
German troops occupying the northeast back to the sea
and to drive German troops in the west back into
Germany.
• As a result of their efforts, the German invasion of the
Netherlands was reversed and the Dutch people were
freed.
• Canadian troops and pilots gave food to the people of
Holland, the people of Holland send thanks to this day
for the help they received in World War II
Germany Surrenders
In March of 1945, Allied forces attacked Germany.
• The Allies were attacking Germany from the
West, and the Soviet Union was attacking
Germany from the East.
• Germany surrendered on May 7th, 1945.
• Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed
suicide in a bunker in Berlin.
• As the Allies pressed closer to Germany, they
began to discover the extent of the Holocaust.
The Red Army in Berlin
By May 2,the Reichstag, the old
German parliament, had fallen and
Berlin surrendered to General
Zukhov, who received the honour of
being the conqueror of Berlin.
• The battle for Berlin had cost the
Soviets over 70,000 dead. Many of
them had died because of the haste
with which the campaign was
conducted.
The US and Japan
The key tactic for the Americans was to “Island hop”
between South East Asian countries
• They also fortified around larger Japanese held territory
• In June 1942 the Japanese tried to take Midway Island
and failed. The casualties were significant.
• This was a key turning point, because the US now had
more naval vessels.
• The Americans also cracked the Japanese code allowing
them to know Japanese naval positioning and predict
attacks
The Atomic Bomb
• The atomic effort, codenamed “The Manhattan
Project,” was done jointly by Americans, Brits,
Canadians and ironically, a German.
• US Air force dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima
August 6th 1945. Three days later they dropped
Fat Man on Nagasaki.
• 140,000 and 70,000 people died respectively.
• Japan surrendered 6 days after the second
bomb was dropped ending the war.
Is the Use of Weapons of Mass
Destruction Ever Justified?
Read the counterpoints section on pages
120-121 in your textbook.
Answer questions 1-4: “Analyzing the issue”
What the War Meant to
Canada
• In Canada, the economy boomed as it produced
war goods (aluminum, paper, petroleum
products)
– Agriculture was overtaken by manufacturing
– GDP (Gross Domestic Product) increases
– Many new jobs are created
• Canada’s economy transformed from rural to a
modern industrial nation
What the War Meant to
Canada
• Society also changed as women were
employed in greater numbers
• After the war, Canada’s role on the global
stage grew. It was now a “major player” in
the world.
- had world’s 3rd largest navy, and 4th
largest air force