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BATTLE%20OF%20BRITAIN

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BATTLE OF BRITAIN July 10, 1940 Oct. 31, 1940 BACKGROUND World War II officially began on Sept. 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. On Sept. 7, 1939 Canada ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: BATTLE%20OF%20BRITAIN


1
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
  • July 10, 1940 Oct. 31, 1940

2
BACKGROUND
  • World War II officially began on Sept. 1, 1939
    when Germany invaded Poland.
  • On Sept. 7, 1939 Canada officially declared war
    on Germany.
  • After the invasion of Poland, all sides began to
    negotiate. It was apparent that no one was
    really ready for war.
  • This period of relative inactivity from Oct. 1939
    April, 1940 became known as the Phoney War.

3
BACKGROUND
  • In April, 1940 the war became very real as
    Germany seized Denmark and attacked Norway.
  • Upon capturing these countries and Sweden,
    Germany was now free to use the Scandinavian
    bases as a launch point to send submarines
    against the allied navy.
  • In May, 1940 both The Netherlands and Belgium
    fell to the Germans.

4
FALL OF DUNKIRK
  • All allied forces still on the continent fell
    back to the French sea coast, fortifying the town
    of Dunkirk.
  • In the face of the German Blitzkrieg, the 350,000
    troops were forced to evacuate the town across
    the English Channel.
  • The loss of Dunkirk meant the loss of the allies
    last toe-hold on the European continent.
  • France surrendered on June 22, 1940.

5
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
  • Britain now stood as the only European power
    intact to fight against the Nazi army.
  • Canada at this point was one of her greatest
    allies. Not only were we an intact force, but we
    already had troops training in England.
  • Hitler now set his sites on capturing Britain.

6
THE PLAN
  • Hitlers plan to invade England was called
    Operation Sea Lion and was set for mid
    September.
  • British forces were not at all ready to meet such
    a formidable enemy.
  • Hitler became convinced that no amphibious
    landing on the beaches would be possible until
    all of Englands air support was destroyed.

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8
THE DEFENSE?
  • Prime Minister Winston Churchill made several
    rousing speeches which helped to unify the
    country and stiffen their resolve to resist the
    invasion.
  • Quietly, groups of homeland security forces
    were making preparations. While many jokes are
    made about Dads Army, the older men served as
    guards, observers and as a source of intelligence
    when looking for spies.

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10
THE DEFENSE?
  • Meanwhile in a more clandestine operation,
    civilian operatives were preparing for the
    expected invasion.
  • These groups established communications networks,
    propaganda campaigns, and trained for the most
    serious resistance force how to kill the enemy.
  • The plan was to make the Germans as
    uncomfortable as possible by assassinating
    officers, killing collaborators, blowing up
    German strongholds on the island, and so on.

11
THE DEFENSE?
  • Months earlier Churchill had become aware of
    Hitlers interest in an air war and had been
    pressuring parliament to put more money into
    developing and building more airplanes.
  • One story goes that parliament was so reluctant
    to provide the money that Churchill and some of
    his wealthiest supporters put up their own money
    to develop and test the Spitfire.
  • Once its usefulness was proven, parliament agreed
    to produce more.

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14
THE DEFENSE
  • On August 12 the Luftwaffe (German Air Force)
    flew across the English Channel and began
    attacking British radar installations and
    airfields.
  • The English radar projects were much farther
    along than the Germans, so Hitler wanted these
    destroyed.
  • The Luftwaffe was also ordered to engage the RAF
    in dogfights in an attempt to gain air
    superiority.

15
ATTACK ON LONDON
  • Miraculously, before the British radar
    installations or the air force itself could be
    utterly destroyed, the Germans switched tactics.
  • They began bombing London in vicious raids.
  • For weeks the people of London were subjected to
    daily and nightly attacks. The sound of air
    raid sirens became commonplace. Children learned
    to get to the bomb shelters from memory as
    blackout rules were in effect.
  • London was nearly destroyed.

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18
SPITFIRES TO THE RESCUE
  • The saviour of the people of London were the
    pilots of the little Spitfire fighter planes.
  • Day after day these weary soldiers climbed into
    the cockpits and did battle with the Luftwaffe,
    inflicting massive casualties on them.
  • Unable to gain air superiority, Hitler postponed
    Operation Sea Lion indefinitely.

19
THE BLITZ
  • The Luftwaffe now switched to nightly bombing of
    English cities. These raids had no military
    justification Hitler meant only to terrorize
    the British people into submission.
  • Instead, the effect on the British people was to
    make them angry, and more determined than ever to
    resist the Germans.

20
COVERING THE WAR
  • American journalists covering the war sent back
    stories and did live radio shows that showed the
    American people the suffering that was being
    inflicted.
  • These reports went a long way toward convincing
    the American people that they needed to enter the
    war and help.

21
THE END
  • As more planes came into the battle, including
    Canadas No. 1 Fighter Squadron, the German air
    force was eventually beaten back.
  • England had survived The Blitz.
  • In a speech, Churchill gave credit to the fighter
    pilots of the RAF with these words
  • Never in the history of human kind has so much
    been owed by so many to so few
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