World War II

3rd Year History 10/01/14

Pearl harbour

Invasion of Poland

SS dressed up 29th of August 1st September GB and France declare war. Blitzkrieg Luftwaffe, then Panzers then motorised infantry. Poland defeated in 5 weeks.

Phoney War >Denmark and Norway

Fighting on sea only until. Spring 1940 Denmark defeated by Germans in a day. Norway invaded to protect neutral Swedens iron ore getting to Germany. Quisling installed as nazi puppet in Norway.

France

Wrong to think the Ardennes would send the Germans through Belgium (Maginot Line). Dunkirk 300,000: British and French troops evacuated in Operation Dynamo France surrendered in the same railway carriage as Germans had. Vichy France and Occupied France. Resistance movement.

Operation Sea Lion and The Battle of Britain

German plan = Sea Lion Churchill We shall never surrender. RAF Spitfire and Hurricanes and Radar Vs Luftwaffe. The Blitz: Civilian cities targeted allows RAF recover.

North Africa

Libyan Oil crucial to war. Italy incompetent. Rommels Afrika corp successful at first. Montgomery and El Alamein a turning point.

Operation Barbarossa

June 1941: 3 pronged attack on Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. Russian retreat. Scorched earth policy. Stalins Great Patriotic War German troops and machines not able for Russian winter. Stalingrad (control of Caucasus oil fields) big turning point.

USA Joins the War

USA had supplied food and weapons to GB. Allied convoys had tried to fend off U-Boat Wolfpacks. Japans Empire. Dec 1941 Pearl Harbour. US navy lucky as only 18 ships sunk. Eventually Alllied ships, weapons (depth charges), sonar, code-breaking and air reconnaissance won.

Allied Bombing & Allied Advance 1942-1945

US Flying Fortresses and GB Lancasters bombed German cities and factories. German retaliation with V1 and V2. GB and US troops up through Italy. Russians push Germans back. Battle of the Kursk (biggest tank battle)

Operation Overlord (D-Day)

D-Day 6 June 1944 Normandy (shallow) Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword. Mulberry Harbours. Gliders and parachutes. Pluto the pipeline. Battle of the Bulge Hitlers suicide and VE day 15th August 1945

Defeat of Japan

US helped by Austalia and GB. Island hopping. Aircraft carriers. Kamakazi. Battles of Midway, Coral Sea and Iwo Jima. Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Why the Allies Won

Bigger armies USA wealth and weapons the arsenal of democracy Oil

Results of WW2

Destruction (Marshall Aid) Nuremberg trials Germany divided Cold War Super powers European Unity