Hitler's Lightning War PDF

1 Hitler’s Lightning War MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES EMPIRE BUILDING Using the Hitler’s actions set off World War nonaggression Battle of sudden mass attack called the II. The re...

1 Hitler’s Lightning War MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES EMPIRE BUILDING Using the Hitler’s actions set off World War nonaggression Battle of sudden mass attack called the II. The results of the war still pact Britain blitzkrieg, Germany overran affect the politics and blitzkrieg Erwin Rommel much of Europe and North economics of today’s world. Charles de Gaulle Atlantic Africa. Winston Churchill Charter SETTING THE STAGE During the 1930s, Hitler played on the hopes and fears of the Western democracies. Each time the Nazi dictator grabbed new territory, he would declare an end to his demands. Peace seemed guaranteed—until Hitler moved again. After his moves into the Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, Hitler turned his eyes to Poland. After World War I, the Allies had cut out the Polish Corridor from German territory to give Poland access to the sea. In 1939, Hitler demanded that the Polish Corridor be returned to Germany. TAKING NOTES Germany Sparks a New War in Europe Recognizing Effects At this point, as you recall from Chapter 31, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin signed a Use a chart to identify ten-year nonaggression pact with Hitler. After being excluded from the Munich the effects of some of Conference, Stalin was not eager to join with the West. Also, Hitler had promised the early events of World War II. him territory. In a secret part of the pact, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Poland between them. They also agreed that the USSR could take over Cause Effect Finland and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. First Germany’s Lightning Attack After signing this nonaggression pact, Hitler blitzkrieg quickly moved ahead with plans to conquer Poland. His surprise attack took Allies place at dawn on September 1, 1939. German tanks and troop trucks rumbled stranded at Dunkirk across the Polish border. At the same time, German aircraft and artillery began a Lend-Lease merciless bombing of Poland’s capital, Warsaw. Act France and Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3. But Poland fell some time before those nations could make any military response. After his victory, Hitler annexed the western half of Poland. That region had a large German population. The German invasion of Poland was the first test of Germany’s newest mili- tary strategy—the blitzkrieg (BLIHTS kreeg), or “lightning war.” It involved using fast-moving airplanes and tanks, followed by massive infantry forces, to take enemy defenders by surprise and quickly overwhelm them. In the case of Poland, the strategy worked. The Soviets Make Their Move On September 17, Stalin sent Soviet troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland. Stalin then moved to annex countries to the north of Poland. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia fell without a struggle, but Finland resisted. In November, Stalin sent nearly one million Soviet troops into World War II 925  Finland. The Soviets expected to win a quick victory, so they were not prepared for winter fighting. This was a crucial mistake. The Finns were outnumbered and outgunned, but they fiercely defended their country. In the freezing winter weather, soldiers on skis swiftly attacked Soviet posi- tions. In contrast, the Soviets struggled to make progress through the deep snow. The Soviets suffered heavy losses, but they finally won through sheer force of numbers. Analyzing Motives By March 1940, Stalin had forced the Finns to accept his surrender terms. What were Stalin’s goals in The Phony War After they declared war on Germany, the French and British had Europe at the mobilized their armies. They stationed their troops along the Maginot beginning of World (MAZH uh NOH) Line, a system of fortifications along France’s border with War II? Germany. There they waited for the Germans to attack—but nothing happened. With little to do, the bored Allied soldiers stared eastward toward the enemy. Equally bored, German soldiers stared back from their Siegfried Line a few miles away. Germans jokingly called it the sitzkrieg, or “sitting war.” Some newspapers referred to it simply as “the phony war.” Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, the calm ended. Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway. In just four hours after the attack, Denmark fell. Two months later, Norway surrendered as well. The Germans then began to build bases along the Norwegian and Danish coasts from which they could launch strikes on Great Britain. The Fall of France In May of 1940, Hitler began a dramatic sweep through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This was part of a strategy to strike at France. Keeping the Allies’ attention on those countries, Hitler then sent an even larger force of tanks World War II: German Advances, 1939–1941 40° E 0° FINLAND Leningrad NORWAY SWEDEN ESTONIA 41 194 19 0 LATVIA Moscow DENMARK Baltic 1 GREAT Sea LITHUANIA 194 BRITAIN North SOVIET Sea EAST PRUSSIA UNION IRELAND Berlin 1939 NETH. London 1941 Dunkirk 1940 GERMANY 1939 Warsaw BE POLAND LG 1941 sh. CZECH Engli nel OSLOV Stalingrad Chan Paris 1940 AKIA FRANCE RIA HUNGARY AUST 1941 SKILLBUILDER: SWITZ. 1941 19 1940 ROMANIA Interpreting Maps 41 VICHY ITALY YU 1. Region Which countries FRANCE GO (Unoccupied SL BULGARIA Black Sea AV did Germany invade? zone) Rome IA 1941 PORTUGAL NIA SPAIN 2. Location In what way ALBA was Germany’s TURKEY geographic location an GREECE advantage when it was on ALGERIA TUNISIA Crete the offensive in the war? (Fr.) (Fr.) SYRIA Mediterranean Sea LEBANON MOROCCO IRAQ Axis (Fr.)nations, 1938 PALESTINE Axis-controlled, 1941 TRANS- LIBYA JORDAN Allies (It.) Neutral nations EGYPT 0 500 Miles German advances SAUDI ARABIA 0 1,000 Kilometers 926 Chapter 32 and troops to slice through the Ardennes (ahr DEHN). This was a heavily wooded area in northern France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Moving through the forest, the Germans “squeezed between” the Maginot Line. From there, they moved across France and reached the country’s northern coast in ten days. Rescue at Dunkirk After reaching the French coast, the German forces swung north again and joined with German troops in Belgium. By the end of May 1940, the Germans had trapped the Allied forces around the northern French city of Lille (leel). Outnumbered, outgunned, and pounded from the air, the Allies retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk, a French port city near the Belgian border. They were trapped with their backs to the sea. In one of the most heroic acts of the war, Great Britain set out to rescue the army. It sent a fleet of about 850 ships across the English Channel to Dunkirk. Along with Royal Navy ships, civilian craft—yachts, lifeboats, motorboats, paddle steamers, and fishing boats—joined the rescue effort. From May 26 to June 4, this amateur armada, under heavy fire from German bombers, sailed back and forth from Britain to Dunkirk. The boats carried some 338,000 battle-weary soldiers to safety. France Falls Following Dunkirk, resistance in France began to crumble. By June 14, the Germans had taken Paris. Accepting the inevitable, French leaders surrendered on June 22, 1940. The Germans took control of the northern part of the country. They left the southern part to a puppet government headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain (pay TAN), a French hero from World War I. The headquarters of this government was in the city of Vichy (VEESH ee). After France fell, Charles de Gaulle (duh GOHL), a French general, set up a government-in-exile in London. He committed all his energy to reconquering France. In a radio broadcast from England, de Gaulle called on the people of France to join him in resisting the Germans: Winston Churchill PRIMARY SOURCE 1874–1965 It is the bounden [obligatory] duty of all Frenchmen who still Possibly the most powerful weapon bear arms to continue the struggle. For them to lay down their the British had as they stood alone arms, to evacuate any position of military importance, or agree against Hitler’s Germany was the to hand over any part of French territory, however small, to nation’s prime minister—Winston enemy control would be a crime against our country. Churchill. “Big Winnie,” Londoners GENERAL CHARLES DE GAULLE, quoted in boasted, “was the lad for us.” Charles de Gaulle: A Biography Although Churchill had a speech defect as a youngster, he grew to De Gaulle went on to organize the Free French military forces become one of the greatest orators that battled the Nazis until France was liberated in 1944. of all time. He used all his gifts as a speaker to rally the people behind the effort to crush Germany. In one The Battle of Britain famous speech he promised that With the fall of France, Great Britain stood alone against the Britain would Nazis. Winston Churchill, the new British prime minister,... wage war, by sea, land and air, had already declared that his nation would never give in. In a with all our might and with all the rousing speech, he proclaimed, “We shall fight on the strength that God can give us... against a monstrous tyranny. beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets... we shall never surrender.” Hitler now turned his mind to an invasion of Great Britain. RESEARCH LINKS For more on His plan was first to knock out the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Winston Churchill, go to classzone.com then to land more than 250,000 soldiers on England’s shores. World War II 927  In the summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe Vocabulary (LOOFT VAHF uh), Germany’s air force, began Luftwaffe is the German word for bombing Great Britain. At first, the Germans “air weapon.” targeted British airfields and aircraft factories. Then, on September 7, 1940, they began focus- ing on the cities, especially London, to break British morale. Despite the destruction and loss of life, the British did not waver. The RAF, although badly outnumbered, began to hit back hard. Two technological devices helped turn the tide in the RAF’s favor. One was an electronic tracking system known as radar. Developed in the late 1930s, radar could tell the number, speed, and direc- tion of incoming warplanes. The other device was a German code-making machine named Enigma. A complete Enigma machine had been smuggled into Great Britain in the late 1930s. Enigma enabled the British to decode German secret messages. With information ▲ A London bus is gathered by these devices, RAF fliers could quickly launch attacks on the enemy. submerged in a To avoid the RAF’s attacks, the Germans gave up daylight raids in October 1940 in bomb crater after a German air raid. favor of night bombing. At sunset, the wail of sirens filled the air as Londoners Recognizing flocked to the subways, which served as air-raid shelters. Some rode out the bombing Effects raids at home in smaller air-raid shelters or basements. This Battle of Britain contin- Why was the outcome of the ued until May 10, 1941. Stunned by British resistance, Hitler decided to call off his Battle of Britain attacks. Instead, he focused on the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. The Battle of important for the Britain taught the Allies a crucial lesson. Hitler’s attacks could be blocked. Allies? The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front The stubborn resistance of the British in the Battle of Britain caused a shift in Hitler’s strategy in Europe. He decided to deal with Great Britain later. He then turned his attention east to the Mediterranean area and the Balkans—and to the ultimate prize, the Soviet Union. Axis Forces Attack North Africa Germany’s first objective in the Mediterranean region was North Africa, mainly because of Hitler’s partner, Mussolini. Despite its alliance with Germany, Italy had remained neutral at the beginning of the war. With Hitler’s conquest of France, however, Mussolini knew he had to take action. After declaring war on France and Great Britain, Mussolini moved into France. Mussolini took his next step in North Africa in September 1940. While the Battle of Britain was raging, he ordered his army to attack British-controlled Vocabulary Egypt. Egypt’s Suez Canal was key to reaching the oil fields of the Middle East. The Middle East Within a week, Italian troops had pushed 60 miles inside Egypt, forcing British includes the coun- tries of Southwest units back. Then both sides dug in and waited. Asia and northeast Britain Strikes Back Finally, in December, the British struck back. The result was Africa. a disaster for the Italians. By February 1941, the British had swept 500 miles across North Africa and had taken 130,000 Italian prisoners. Hitler had to step in to save his Axis partner. To reinforce the Italians, Hitler sent a crack German tank force, the Afrika Korps, under the command of General Erwin Rommel. In late March 1941, Rommel’s Afrika Korps attacked. Caught by surprise, British forces retreated east to Tobruk, Libya. (See the map on page 923.) 928 Chapter 32  After fierce fighting for Tobruk, the British began to drive Rommel back. By mid-January 1942, Rommel had retreated to where he had started. By June 1942, the tide of battle turned again. Rommel regrouped, pushed the British back across the desert, and seized Tobruk—a shattering loss for the Allies. Rommel’s successes in North Africa earned him the nickname “Desert Fox.” The War in the Balkans While Rommel campaigned in North Africa, other German generals were active in the Balkans. Hitler had begun planning to attack his ally, the USSR, as early as the summer of 1940. The Balkan countries of south- eastern Europe were key to Hitler’s invasion plan. Hitler wanted to build bases in southeastern Europe for the attack on the Soviet Union. He also wanted to make sure that the British did not interfere. To prepare for his invasion, Hitler moved to expand his influence in the Balkans. By early 1941, through the threat of force, he had persuaded Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to join the Axis powers. Yugoslavia and Greece, which had pro- British governments, resisted. In early April 1941, Hitler invaded both countries. Yugoslavia fell in 11 days. Greece surrendered in 17. In Athens, the Nazis cele- brated their victory by raising swastikas on the Acropolis. Hitler Invades the Soviet Union With the Balkans firmly in control, Hitler could move ahead with Operation Barbarossa, his plan to invade the Soviet Union. Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, the roar of German tanks and aircraft announced the beginning of the invasion. The Soviet Union was not prepared for this attack. Although it had the largest army in the world, its troops were neither well equipped nor well trained. The invasion rolled on week after week until the Germans had pushed 500 miles inside the Soviet Union. As the Soviet troops retreated, they burned and destroyed everything in the enemy’s path. The Russians had used this scorched-earth strategy against Napoleon. On September 8, German forces put Leningrad under siege. By early November, the city was completely cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. To force a sur- render, Hitler was ready to starve the city’s more than 2.5 million inhabitants. German bombs destroyed warehouses where food was stored. Desperately hungry, people began eating cattle and horse feed, as well as cats and dogs and, finally, ▼ Russian soldiers crows and rats. Nearly one million people died in Leningrad during the winter of prepare to attack German lines out- 1941–1942. Yet the city refused to fall. side Leningrad. 929  Impatient with the progress in Leningrad, Hitler looked to Moscow, the capital and heart of the Soviet Union. A Nazi drive on the capital began on October 2, Making Inferences 1941. By December, the Germans had advanced to the outskirts of Moscow. Soviet What does the General Georgi Zhukov (ZHOO kuhf) counterattacked. As temperatures fell, the fact that German Germans, in summer uniforms, retreated. Ignoring Napoleon’s winter defeat 130 armies were not years before, Hitler sent his generals a stunning order: “No retreat!” German troops prepared for the Russian winter indi- dug in about 125 miles west of Moscow. They held the line against the Soviets until cate about Hitler’s March 1943. Hitler’s advance on the Soviet Union gained nothing but cost the expectations for the Germans 500,000 lives. Soviet campaign? The United States Aids Its Allies Most Americans felt that the United States should not get involved in the war. Between 1935 and 1937, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts. The laws made it illegal to sell arms or lend money to nations at war. But President Roosevelt knew that if the Allies fell, the United States would be drawn into the war. In September 1939, he asked Congress to allow the Allies to buy American arms. The Allies would pay cash and then carry the goods on their own ships. Under the Lend-Lease Act, passed in March 1941, the president could lend or lease arms and other supplies to any country vital to the United States. By the sum- mer of 1941, the U.S. Navy was escorting British ships carrying U.S. arms. In response, Hitler ordered his submarines to sink any cargo ships they met. Although the United States had not yet entered the war, Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly and issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter. It upheld free trade among nations and the right of people to choose their own government. The charter later served as the Allies’ peace plan at the end of World War II. On September 4, a German U-boat fired on a U.S. destroyer in the Atlantic. In response, Roosevelt ordered navy commanders to shoot German submarines on sight. The United States was now involved in an undeclared naval war with Hitler. To almost everyone’s surprise, however, the attack that actually drew the United States into the war did not come from Germany. It came from Japan. SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. nonaggression pact blitzkrieg Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Battle of Britain Erwin Rommel Atlantic Charter USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING 2. Which of the listed events 3. Why were the early months of 6. CLARIFYING What do you think is meant by the statement might be considered a turning World War II referred to as the that Winston Churchill possibly was Britain’s most point for the Allies? Why? “phony war”? powerful weapon against Hitler’s Germany? 4. Why was Egypt of strategic 7. MAKING INFERENCES What factors do you think a Cause Effect importance in World War II? country’s leaders consider when deciding whether to First 5. Why did President Franklin surrender or fight? blitzkrieg Allies Roosevelt want to offer help to 8. COMPARING How were Napoleon’s invasion of Russia stranded the Allies? and Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union similar? at Dunkirk Lend-Lease 9. WRITING ACTIVITY EMPIRE BUILDING Write a magazine Act article on German conquests in Europe through 1942. CONNECT TO TODAY PREPARING AN ORAL REPORT Conduct research into “stealth” technology, which is designed to evade radar. Use your findings to prepare a brief oral report titled “How Stealth Technology Works.” 930 Chapter 32