WW II 19391942

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WW II 1939-1942
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MARCHING TOWARDS WAR

• August 1939
• Hitler's guarantees the neutrality of Belgium,
  Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Swiss

• Aug 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland sign a Mutual
  Assistance Treaty. Aug 31, 1939 - British fleet
  mobilizes Civilian evacuations begin from London.

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• AUGUST 31,1939
• German SS troops put on a false attack on a
  German radio station at Gliewitz. Dressed in
  Polish uniforms to convince the world that Poland
  is the aggressor nation and to justify their
  coming invasion of Poland.

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InvasionPoland Sept. 1, 1939

• The German naval training ship 'Schleswig
  Holstein' fires opening shots of World War II and
  shells the Polish naval base at Westerplatte

• "Operation Weiss" German troops invade Poland.
  German tanks thundered across the Polish border
  at precisely 0445 hours, supported by Junkers
  Ju87 Stuka dive-bombers.

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BLITZKRIEG

• LIGHTNING WAR
• FIRST WAVE IS LUFTWAFFE
• FOLLOWED BY THE PANZER DIVISION
• FOLLOWED BY THE INFANTRY
• BY THE TIME IT IS ON YOU IT IS OVER
• WAVE UPON WAVE OF DESTRUCTION

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Poland Falls

• Germany's Blitzkrieg overran Poland from the west
  
• 17 September it was invaded by the Soviet Union
  from the east.
• On 27 September 1939 Warsaw surrendered and, two
  days later, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a
  treaty of friendship which partitioned Poland
  between them.

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HITLERS NEXT CONQUESTS

• NORWAY-APRIL 1940
• PHONY WAR
• DENMARK-APRIL 1940
• KING CHRISTIANS NAVY
• NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM- MAY 1940
• RETREAT AND REFUGEES

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• Depart I say, and let us have done with you.  In
  the name of God, go!
• Parliament to Chamberlain
• Churchill installed
• May 10, 1940

• The Blitzkrieg that had claimed Poland, Denmark
  and Norway was heading for France and the Low
  Countries

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MAGINOT LINE------ CREATED AFTER WW1 AS A
FORTIFIDE PROTECTION FROM GERMAN AGGRESSION
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German invasion of France

• Slashed into France by skirting the Maginot line
• Blitzkrieg Tactics
• Germans sent tanks through the supposedly
  impassible Ardennes.  Infantry held open the
  corridor as Panzers crossed the Meuse River in
  France on May 13. 

• French General Charles de Gaulles 4th Armored
  Division -only Allied counterattack on the Meuse
  bridgehead
• Too little Too late.

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Fall of France

• GENERAL ERWIN ROMMEL
• 7TH PANZER DIVISION
• INTERGRATED TANKS, AIR POWER, ARTILLERY, AND
  MOBILIZED INFANTRY
• A JUGGERNAUGHT OF SPEED

• The Panzers swept towards the Channel ports,
  cutting off Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk.

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Evacuation of Dunkirk

• The British quickly organized Plan Dynamo, the
  evacuation of some 330,000 British and French
  troops to England
• 1st of many mistakes made by the German Military
• The pause allowed irreplaceable men to escape to
  England to fight another day

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Marshall Petain

• A growing force in the French government. 
• The French defeatist attitude.
• Pétain was willing to make a separate peace with
  Germany.
• June 10, at midnight Italy declared war on
  England and France and her armies moved into
  Southern France. 

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• June 14, without any reserves to stream out to
  meet the enemy, Paris surrendered
•   Pétain and Weygand formed a new government,
  seeking to gain an armistice, on June 16.
• VICHY FRANCE WAS CREATED 

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TAKES GERMANY 6 WEEKS TO OCCUPY FRANCE
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• The Battle of France is over.  The Battle of
  Britain is about to begin

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Battle of Britain
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AIRCRAFT OVER BRITAIN

• Submarine Spitfire
• Hawker Hurricane

• JU-87 Stuka
• ME-109
• HEINKEL 111

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Hitlers Plan

• Operation Sea Lion
• Using the Luftwaffe draw the RAF out and
  devastate their capabilities
• Superior numbers Luftwaffe2000--- RAF675
  (OVERSHAWDOWED BY OUTPUT OF BRITISH FACTORIES)

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• The (OKH) planned an invasion of nine divisions
  by sea and two divisions by air.
• The chosen invasion site was along the coast
  from Dover to Portsmouth.
• Once the forces had secured the coastline the
  would push north taking Gloucester and encircling
  London
• Radar, invented by the British test by fire
  THEIR GREATEST ADVANTAGE

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GERMAN CHIEF OF STAFF HALDER

• THE WAR IS WON BY US. A REVERSAL IN THE
  PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS IS IMPOSSIBLE.

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Battle of Britain

• The Luftwaffe commander, Reichmarschall Hermann
  Goering
• Eagle AttackAugust 11, 1940
• July 1940 to May 1941

• Air Chief Marshall, Sir Hugh Dowding--leader of
  RAF Fighter Command.
• HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE
• ENGAGE FROM GET GO

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FIVE PHASES OF BOB

• THE CHANNEL BATTLE
• EAGLE DAY
• ATTACK OF AIRFIELDS
• BATTLE OF LONDON
• MINOR RAIDS

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A REVOLUTIONARY CONFLICT

• FIRST MAJOR AIR CAMPAIGN IN THE HISTORY OF
  WARFARE
• KESSERLING AND SPERRLE HAD THEIR DOUBTS, BUT
  GEORING SAW A ROUSING DEFEAT OF ENGLAND
• IMPROVISED AIRBASES VS. HOMEFEILD ADVANTAGE

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• STALEMATE IN THE AIR
• HITLERS SENSES VICTORY TO SOON
• HITLERS IMPATEINCE WILL COST HIM

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BATTLE OF BRITAIN

• The Luftwaffe switched its attack to massive
  night bombings of London. For 57 consecutive
  nights German bombers pounded London in its great
  blitz, or series of air raids. ?
• Still, the RAF downed more than 2,375 German
  aircraft during the Battle of Britain, blocking
  Hitlers invasion.
• German Luftwaffe held a 10-1 advantage over the
  RAF

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TARGET LONDON

• THE LONDON BLITZ
• NIGHT RAIDS SEPT. 7-15
• BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY1000 GERMAN BOMBERS WITH
  700 ESCORTS HIT LONDON
• ONLY 300 SPITFIRES AND HURRICANES REMAINED
• LOSSES NO AIR CORPS COULD SUSTAIN

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• American Eagle Squadron
• 7 men recognized
• Polish Pilots 201 kills
• Irish Pilots
• Brendan "Paddy" Finucane, an air ace who went on
  to down a total of 32 enemy aircraft

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Witold Urbanowicz
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• The Battle of Britain culminated on September 15,
  1940 with two massive waves of German attacks
  that were decisively repulsed by the RAF
• By the 17th Sealion was postponed and Russia was
  in Hitlers sights
• The Battle of Britain marked the first time that
  the Nazis were stopped and that air superiority
  became clearly seen as the key to the war

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OUTCOME

• Most important, the end of the Battle of Britain
  allowed the UK to rebuild its military forces and
  establish itself as an Allied stronghold.

• RAF lost roughly 1500 aircraft
• Luftwaffe losses stood at 1,887, of which 873
  were fighters
• Polish pilots scored 201 out of that number

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Battle for the Atlantic

• The Battle of the Atlantic was "the only thing
  that ever frightened me." Winston Churchill

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• U-BOATS
• SURFACE (COMMERCE) RAIDERS
• CONVOYS
• DONITZ
• WOLFPACKS
• LIBERATORS
• RADAR
• SONAR
• ASIDIC
• ULTRA, ENIGMA, TRITON

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WOLF PACK TACTICS

• German wolf packs of submarines were to be
  stationed at right angles to known Allied convoy
  lanes in the North Atlantic.

• CONVOYSUSING MULTIPLE SHIPS AND AIRCRAFT TO
  PROTECT SUPPLIY SHIPS FROM THE DONITZ WOLFPACKS

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CONVOY HEADED OUT OF NOVA SCOTIA BOUND FOR
ENGLAND
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Phase 1September 1939-Fall of France

• Karl Donitz
• The WOLFPACKS
• Submarines
• British Radar pings
• HMS Athenia
• 1st Battleship sunk by u30 sub in war

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Gunther Prien Bulldog of Scapa Flow
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• The first U-boat captain to spot the target was
  to radio headquarters and then mirror the convoy
  until the remaining U-boats could zero in. Once
  assembled, the wolf pack executed a surface
  attack under cover of darkness

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DEADLY WATERS

• Over the winter of 1940-1941, German submarines
  sank roughly 250,000 tonnes of British shipping
  per month.
• ASDIC (Allied Submarine Detection Investigation
  Committee), an early type of sonar

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Phase 2June 1940-Lend Lease

• British increase escorts and convoys
• Convoys forced U-boats to show themselves early
• Early convoys included 3 Ds, a Corvette, and
  roughly 40 freighters and tankers and 3000 miles
  of ocean. Few recon aircraft (range)
• Most attacks were night surface attacks
• SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE

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• OCTOBER 18-19, 1940 WOLF PACKS SINK 36 of 79 IN 2
  CONVOYS
• THIS WAS HAPPY TIME FOR DONITZ
• MARCH 11,1941 ROOSEVELT APPROVES LEND-LEASE ACT
• By now Donitz has 249 subs, he feels 300
  victory in the Atlantic

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A Colossal Slaughter

• 157 ships
• 847,000 tons
• Code Change B-Dienst goes deaf
• the US President is detemined that we shall win
  this war together

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US Lend Lease

• 50 destroyers (REAL OLD)
• Atlantic Charter
• US Navy is used as Convoy Escorts
• Huge Losses
• By 1942 as many as 112 u-boats were patrolling
  the waters off of the coast of the US in the Gulf
  of Mexico
• Others patrolled the Eastern Seaboard

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Phase 3 April 1941-Pearl Harbor

• British Crack sub codes using Bletchley Cipher
  School (ULTRA)
• Helped to reroute convoys
• But Germans improved the codes
• By July 1st US is in an UNDECLARED WAR in the
  Atlantic
• By Aug. Convoys are reaching the Soviet Union
  HUGE SUPPLIES

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ENIGMA CYPHER MACHINE

• SUBSTITUTION CYPHER

Marian Rejewski
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Phase 4January 1942-1943

• 2nd Happy Time
• 216 ships sank of US East Coast, mostly oil
  tankers
• PQ17 to Soviet Union 23 of 36 ships destroyed
• Allied ships needed for convoys were pulled to
  North African Theatre (Torch)
• B-24-Long range sub hunters with depth charges

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• MILCH COWS
• RADAR EQUIP AIRCRAFT
• HUFF DUFF HF/DF
• ASV
• LEIGH LIGHT searchlight automatically aligned
  with the airborne RADAR to illuminate targets
  suddenly in the final stages of an attack run.
• DONITZ HITS 300
• REPLACEMENTS MEETS LOSSES AND EXCEEDS FOR ALLIES
• The Metox Receiver (German)

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• HEDGEHOG AND SQUIDS
• ANTI-SUB DEPTH CHARGES
• LIBERATORSFLYING DEATH

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The End of the Beast

• Sinking of the Bismarck
• May 27, 1941
• 15 SWORDFISH

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END OF THE BATTLE FOR THE ATLANTIC

• BY MAY 43 U-BOATS ARE BEING DEVESTATED
• DONITZ ADMITS DEFEAT AND WITHDRAWS FROM ATLANTIC
• U-BOATS ROUGHLY UNEFFECIVE UNTIL 44 WITH SNORKEL
  INVENTION

• 2452 MERCHANTSHIPS LOST
• 13 MILLION TONS
• 175 WARSHIPS
• 696 OUT OF 830 U-BOATS LOST
• OVER 25,000 GERMAN DEATHS
• 63 FATALITY RATE

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• THE END OF THE U-BOAT THREAT MEANT OPEN LANES FOR
  US CONVOYS TO EUROPE AND THE SOVIET UNION
• SUPPLIES THAT WILL ECONOMICALLY CRUSH THE THIRD
  REICH
• EX 3 MILLION TONS OF GAS, 51, 000 JEEPS,
  375,000 TRUCKS, 15 MILLION PAIRS OF BOOTS, 11,000
  RAIL CARS, 7,000 AIRCRAFT (ALL TO USSR)

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THE DESERT WAR

• The North African Campaign of the Second World
  War was extremely important because it was the
  only land based fight that the Allies could take
  to the Axis powers from September 1940 until the
  invasion of Sicily in July 1943

• Churchills primary war strategy would focus on
  North Africa
• Convince FDR
• It was his best bet at a back door to Fortress
  Europe

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The Battle in the desert

• Erwin Rommel The Desert Fox
• 1915 in WW 1 won Iron Cross
• 7th Panzer Division
• Rommel's troops moved faster and farther than any
  other army in military history during the
  invasion of France.
• Commanded the new Afrika Korps drove the
  British 8th Army out of Libya
• Will be defeated at El Alamein

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General Bernard Montgomery

• Commanded British Eighth Army
• Beaten repeatedly by Rommel and the Afrika Corps
• Victory at Battle of El Alamein, a brutal meat
  grinder right out of the First World War.
• Viscount of Alamein British Hero??
• Will become really importance in Italy and
  Normandy

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OPERATION TORCH

• The objectives of Operation Torch were to secure
  French North Africa and then strike Eastwards and
  take Rommel's German Italian Panzer Army in the
  rear. With 65,000 Allied troops and around 650
  Warships under the overall command of Commander
  In Chief Eisenhower it was to strike in French
  Morocco and Algeria and later link up with
  Montgomerys Eighth Army.

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GERMAN PANZER III TANK
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SHERMAN TANKS SUPERIOR TO THE OLDER PANZERS OF
ROMMELS 7TH ARMOURED
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REINFORCEMENTS

• US INVOLVEMENT IN NORTH AFRICA
• GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON
• By November 8, 1942, commanded Western Task
  Force-- only all-American force landing for
  Operation Torch
• Commander of the 7th Army (eventually 3rd
  Armored)
• Brilliant Strategist, not a GIS Friend
• OLD BLOOD AND GUTS

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• OPERATION TORCH
• 1ST offensive US undertook against Germany
• TORCH was composed of three simultaneous landings
  against the North African French colonies
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Oran, Algeria
• Algiers, Algeria

Patton's Western Task Force was by far the
largest Rommel rebounds in early 42300
Sherman's Supercharger Final confrontation
EL ALAMEIN Rommel was receiving medical
treatment and had to rush back, but was too
late By Jan 43 Allies take Tunis and the
battle for Africa is over
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Results of Torch

• Gave the allies a launching point into Italy
• Greatly weakened the bond of the Italians and
  Germans
• Help to pull some troops off of the Russian Front
• Disaster for the Axis
• Allies created basis for the coming assault on
  the Balkans and the Med. Sea was open to Allied
  Shipping supplies
• US troops gained experience
• Eisenhower North Africa is the beginning of the
  end for Germany and the Third Reich.

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• BY EARLY 1943 AFRICA IS SECURE AND THE ALLIES
  HAVE THE BALKANS ITALY DIRECTLY IN THEIR SIGHTS