WWII Axis Advances

1
WWII- Axis Advances

• Ch 31.2

2

• (Sept 1939) Hitlers blitzkrieg, or lightning
  war stormed into Poland.
• While Germany attacked from the west, the Soviets
  attacked from the east.
• Poland no longer existed after a month.
• Stalins army seized Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,
  and part of Finland.
• French forces hunkered down behind the Maginot
  Line, which was a defensive wall that was built
  after WWI to prevent another invasion by Germany.
• This quiet time of wait was dubbed the phony
  war.
• Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against Norway,
  Denmark, Netherlands and Belgium, seized them all.

3

• (May 1940) German forced poured into France and
  Allied forces retreated, but were trapped with
  the English Channel at their backs.
• Miracle at Dunkirk- British sent every available
  vessel to pluck troops off the beaches of Dunkirk
  and Ostend.
• 300,000 soldiers were ferried to safety.
• German forces headed south towards Paris.
• Italy sensed victory, declared war, and attacked
  from the south.
• France surrendered and was forced to sign the
  documents in the same railroad car in which
  Germany had signed the armistice of WWI.

4

• Germany occupied N. France. In the south,
  Germans set up a puppet state, with its capital
  at Vichy. Known as Vichy France.
• Charles de Gaulle and some other French
  officers/politicians escaped to Britain and set
  up a government-in-exile. They worked to
  liberate their homeland.

5
The Battle of Britain

• Hitler turned blitzkrieg towards Britain next.
• Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister and
  rallied the British for the challenge
• We shall defend our island, whatever the cost
  may be. 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 on
  the hills, we shall never surrender.
• Due to his defiance, Hitler ordered Operation Sea
  Lionthe invasion of Britain.
• Hitler sent in the Luftwaffe.

6

• The smaller Royal Air Force (RAF) fought
  valiantly for a month, flying missions in their
  spitfire planes one after another with few hours
  sleep.
• Radar and sonar had been invented recently and
  the British were first ones to use it.
• Enemy planes were detected at a distance of 140
  miles. The British were rarely surprised.
• The London Blitz- Hitler switched tactics and
  bombed the island for 57 nights in a row.
• Much of the city was destroyed, but British
  morale was not crushed.
• Meanwhile, Mussolini sent forces from Italys N.
  African colony of Libya into Egypt.
• Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel, the Desert
  Fox, into N. Africa as well.

7

• Rommel forced British troops backwards and he
  dominated the area for 2 years.
• Due to Britains resilience, Hitler abandoned
  Operation Sea Lion and decided to attack the
  Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
• He wanted the rich resources there and to crush
  communism.
• The blitzkrieg of three million troops caught
  Stalin off-guard, his army still suffering from
  the Great Purge.
• The Russians lost 2.5 million soldiers and
  Germans were poised to take Moscow and Leningrad,
  conquering the USSR.
• However, just like Napoleons Grand Army in 1812,
  Hitler wasnt prepared for General Winter (-20
  degrees).

8

• A two and half year Siege of Leningrad began as
  people there starved trying to defend their city.
• Many ate wallpaper and leather.
• Stalin is desperate and urged Churchill to open
  up a second front on the west. Churchill said he
  couldnt.
• Isolationalist policy remained strong in the U.S.
• President FDR created the Lend-Lease Act to get
  around the Neutrality Acts so they could provide
  aid to Britain.
• (Aug 1941) Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly
  on a warship and issued the Atlantic Charter
  which set goals for the final destruction of the
  Nazi tyranny.

9
Pearl Harbor

• Back in 1940, Japan advanced into Indonesia.
• To stop this aggression, the U.S. banned the sale
  of war materials, such as iron, steel, and oil.
• Japan and the U.S. held talks to ease the
  tensions but extreme militarist and
  ultranationalist Premier Tojo Hideki did not want
  peace.
• (Dec. 7, 1941) Japan attacked a U.S. fleet at
  Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• Japanese planes damaged or destroyed 19 ships,
  ground-swatted U.S. planes, and killed 2400
  people.

10

• U.S. declared war on Japan. 3 days later,
  Germany and Italy declared war on U.S.
• European and American possession/colonies in the
  Pacific fell one by one to the Japanese.