World War II Battles in Europe PDF

WORLD WAR II THE BATTLES: EUROPE  “THE PHONEY WAR” ONCE GERMANY INVADED POLAND UNDER FABRICATED REASON THAT POLAND HAD ATTACKED GERMAN BORDER POST, BRITAIN ALONG WITH AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY. FRANCE, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA & NEPAL WOULD QUICKLY FO...

WORLD WAR II THE BATTLES: EUROPE  “THE PHONEY WAR” ONCE GERMANY INVADED POLAND UNDER FABRICATED REASON THAT POLAND HAD ATTACKED GERMAN BORDER POST, BRITAIN ALONG WITH AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY. FRANCE, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA & NEPAL WOULD QUICKLY FOLLOW ALLIED TROOPS GATHERED ON BORDER OF FRANCE & GERMANY - DID NOT ATTACK FOR 7 MONTHS. LEADERS ON BOTH SIDES STILL HOPED FOR PEACE. THIS SEVEN - MONTH PERIOD OF WAS KNOWN AS THE “PHONEY WAR”.  GERMANY’S NEW WAR TACTIC WAS CALLED THE BLITZKRIEG OR “LIGHTNING ATTACK”. IT WAS A FAST-MOVING WAY OF FIGHTING. COLUMNS OF TANKS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES WOULD SMASH THROUGH KEY DEFENSIVE POINTS WHILE DIVE-BOMBERS SUPPORTED THE BLITZKRIEG ATTACKS. THE IDEA WAS TO HIT THE ENEMY HARD AND FAST BEFORE THEY COULD MOUNT AN EFFECTIVE DEFENSE. GERMANY USED THIS “LIGHTING WARFARE” WHEN THEY ATTACKED POLAND.  WAR BREAKS OUT THE GERMANS ENDED THE “PHONEY WAR”. HITLER INVADED NORWAY AND DENMARK NEXT BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS AND FRANCE. THE BLITZKRIEG WAS EMPLOYED TO SMASH THROUGH FRENCH AND BRITISH DEFENSES. WITHIN WEEKS, THE GERMANS HAD OVERRUN THE NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND FRANCE.  EVACUATION AT DUNKIRK BRITISH ARMY FORCED BACK TO THE SEA AT THE FRENCH PORT OF DUNKIRK. SHIPS ON A RESCUE MISSION FOR THE BRITISH WERE BOMBARDED AND MACHINE GUNNED BY HITLER’S TROOPS 330 000 BRITISH & FRENCH TROOPS SAFELY FERRIED ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL TO BRITAIN. EVACUATION SAVED THE BRITISH ARMY. FRANCE, HOWEVER, COULD NOT BE SAVED.  FRANCE SURRENDERS JUNE 17, 1940: FRENCH GOVERNMENT SURRENDERED TO THE GERMANS. GERMAN ARMY MOVED IN DIRECTLY CONTROLLING 3/5 OF FRANCE. THE REST OF FRANCE WAS CONTROLLED BY A COLLABORATIONIST GOVERNMENT (VICHY FRANCE) THE GERMANS NOW OCCUPIED MOST OF FRANCE. BRITISH FIGHT ON HITLER EXPECTED BRITAIN TO SIGN A PEACE TREATY AFTER FRANCE SURRENDERED. THE NEW BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, WINSTON CHURCHILL WOULD NOT SUBMIT TO THE NAZIS. HE SAID BRITAIN WOULD FIGHT ON.  OPERATION SEA LION & THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN  GERMAN PLAN TO INVADE BRITAIN  HITLER ORDERED TLUFTWAFFE TO ATTACK BRITAIN.  AIR BATTLE KNOWN AS THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN.  HITLER WANTED TO MAKE INVADING BRITAIN EASIER BY FIRST DESTROYING BRITAIN’S ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF).  ON AUGUST 13, 1940, THE LUFTWAFFE BEGAN ATTACKING RAF AIRFIELDS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND.  1000 GERMAN BOMBERS WERE ATTACKING BRITAIN EACH DAY BY THE END OF AUGUST.  THE RAF COULD NOT REPLACE THE PILOTS AND PLANES BEING LOST FAST ENOUGH  BATTLE OF BRITAIN & THE BLITZ TIDE TURNED IN FAVOR OF THE BRITISH WHEN THE RAF BOMBED BERLIN. FURIOUS HITLER BEGAN BOMBING LONDON INSTEAD OF THE RAF AIRFIELDS. GERMAN ATTACKS ON LONDON AND OTHER BRITISH CITIES WOULD BE KNOWN AS THE “BLITZ”. THE BLITZ WOULD DRAG ON FROM SEPTEMBER 7, 1940 UNTIL MAY 10, 1941. 43 000 DIED IN LONDON AND A MILLION HOMES WERE DESTROYED.  BLITZ CONTINUED… ALTHOUGH THE DAMAGE TO BRITISH CITIES WAS DEVASTATING, THE BLITZ SAVED THE RAF. NOW THAT AIRFIELDS WERE NOT BEING ATTACKED, THE RAF HAD TIME TO REPAIR AND REPLACE DAMAGED AIRCRAFT AND TRAIN NEW PILOTS. RAF SPITFIRES AND HURRICANES WERE SHOOTING DOWN MORE AND MORE GERMAN AIRCRAFT EVERYDAY BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER 1941, HITLER REALIZED HIS PLAN HAD FAILED. HE HAD LOST THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. OPERATION LION AND THE INVASION OF BRITAIN HAD TO BE ABANDONED.  HITLER INVADES THE BALKANS BEGAN WITH ITALIAN INVASION OF GREECE OCTOBER 28, 1940 ATTACK STALLED AND GREEKS LAUNCHED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE INTO ITALIAN CONTROLLED ALBANIA GERMANY LOOKED TO HELP THE ITALIANS BY SENDING TROOPS TO ROMANIA AND BULGARIA AFTER A COUP D'ÉTAT IN YUGOSLAVIA, HITLER ORDERED HIS TROOPS TO INVADE. HUNGARY AND BULGARIA HAD JOINED THE AXIS ALLIANCE AGAINST THE ALLIES REPRESENTED BY BRITAIN, GREECE, YUGOSLAVIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. BY JUNE 1ST ALL OF GREECE HAD FALLEN UNDER AXIS CONTROL INCLUDING THE ISLAND OF CRETE  OPERATION BARBAROSSA ON JUNE 22, 1941, HITLER INVADED THE USSR. HITLER BROKE THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT ONCE HE HAD SECURED POLAND AND FRANCE. HITLER ATTACKED THE USSR FOR TWO REASONS 1)HATRED OF COMMUNISM 2)LIVING SPACE OR LEBENSRAUM CODE NAME: “OPERATION BARBAROSSA” THE SOVIETS WERE CAUGHT BY SURPRISE. MILLIONS OF SOLDIERS WERE KILLED OR CAPTURED. BY THE END OF THE YEAR THE GERMAN ARMIES WERE ONLY 30 KM FROM MOSCOW.  GERMANS STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS BY THE BITTER RUSSIAN WINTER. HEAVY RAINS TURNED GROUND TO MUD PREVENTING TANKS & LARGE ARTILLERY FROM BEING EASILY TRANSPORTED. OPERATION SNOW AND ICE FOLLOWED, FREEZING BARBAROSSA GERMAN SOLDIERS WHO WERE NOT CONTINUED… PROPERLY EQUIPPED FOR THE CONDITIONS. RUSSIAN ARMIES BOLSTERED BY FRESH TROOPS BEGAN A COUNTER-ATTACK AND BY THE END OF 1941 THE GERMAN ADVANCE HAD BEEN STOPPED. BATTLE OF STALINGRAD 1942-1943 IN 1942, GERMANY LAUNCHED ANOTHER ATTACK; THE RUSSIANS WERE READY. HITLER WANTED TO GAIN AREA OF THE CAUCASUS (RICH IN OIL IN THE SOUTH OF THE USSR) GERMAN SIXTH ARMY WOULD NEED TO PASS THROUGH THE CITY OF STALINGRAD TO REACH THEIR TARGET. BATTLE LASTED 5 STRAIGHT MONTHS. RUSSIANS FOUGHT FOR EVERY HOUSE AND EVERY STREET. IN NOV 1942, TWO RUSSIAN ARMIES CLOSED AROUND STALINGRAD IN A PINCER MANEUVER. 250 000 GERMAN SOLDIERS WERE TRAPPED IN THE CITY. THOUSANDS DIED AS HITLER REFUSED TO ALLOW THEM TO ESCAPE. ON FEBRUARY 2, 1943, LAST GERMAN SOLDIERS SURRENDERED.  UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR FOLLOWING THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR BY JAPAN, THE UNITED STATES JOINED THE WAR ENDING ITS POLICY OF NEUTRALITY. US PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND BRITISH PM CHURCHILL MET AT THE ARCADIA CONFERENCE. BOTH DECIDED THAT GERMANY AND THE NAZIS WERE THE IMMEDIATE THREAT. IN ORDER TO RELIEVE PRESSURE ON THE SOVIET UNION WHO WAS UNDER ATTACK BY THE GERMANS, THE ALLIES AGREED TO ATTACK AXIS FORCES IN NORTH AFRICA.  DEC 11, 1941: JAPAN’S ALLIES DECLARE WAR ON US. JAPAN CONTINUES TO TAKE OFFENSIVE US ENTERS IN THE PACIFIC. THE WAR TIDES OF WAR WILL SOON CHANGE AS TURNING POINTS ON ALL FRONTS WILL OCCUR FROM 1942 -1943.  DIEPPE UP TO 1942, CANADIAN FORCES HAD SUFFERED FEW LOSSES. GESTURE OF CO-OPERATION WITH SOVIET ALLIES, AND RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE DECIDED TO UNDERTAKE A RAID ON THE GERMAN-HELD FRENCH COAST AT DIEPPE UNITS FROM CANADIAN SECOND DIVISION, SOME BRITISH COMMANDOS AND AMERICAN RANGERS SINCE 1940, THE GERMANS HAD FORTIFIED THE FRENCH COAST WITH THE ATLANTIC WALL. AT DIEPPE, THIS FORTIFICATION WAS ON A CLIFF OVERLOOKING THE BEACH. BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS, CONCRETE PILLBOXES, COASTAL GUNS AND ARTILLERY EMPLACEMENTS HAD BEEN INSTALLED.  DIEPPE CONTINUED… AUG 19, 1942 = THE CANADIANS ATTEMPTED A LANDING ON THE BEACH. THEY WERE UNDER FIRE FROM HEAVILY DEFENDED GERMAN POSITIONS. MANY ASSAULT TROOPS NEVER LANDED BLOWN UP ON THEIR LANDING CRAFT BY SHORE BATTERIES. THOSE WHO MANAGED TO GET ON SHORE WERE UNDER CONSTANT FIRE , AND MANY WERE KILLED BEFORE THEY EVER REACHED THE FORTIFICATIONS. SOME TROOPS PENETRATED ONE OR TWO MILES INLAND, ONLY TO BE DRIVEN BACK. 5000 CANADIAN PARTICIPATED, 900 KILLED, 500 WOUNDED, 2000 TAKEN PRISONER  FIGHTING IN NORTH AFRICA CHURCHILL AND ROOSEVELT WERE NOT PREPARED FOR A MAJOR ASSAULT ON HITLER’S “FORTRESS EUROPE”. THEY DECIDED TO FOCUS FIRST ON NORTH AFRICA AND ITALY. GERMANY LED BY ROMMEL HAD BEEN FIGHTING THE BRITISH UNDER GENERAL MONTGOMERY IN THE DESERTS OF NORTH AFRICA. ROMMEL WAS FORCED TO RETREAT AT THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN IN NOVEMBER 1942 IN EGYPT. AMERICAN TROOPS UNDER GENERAL EISENHOWER CAME TO AID THE BRITISH AND FINISHED OFF THE GERMANS. IN MAY 1943, THE GERMANS SURRENDERED, AND THE DESERT WAR WAS OVER.  BRITISH, CANADIAN AND AMERICAN ARMIES MOVED ON TO ITALY IN JULY 1943. THE ITALIAN PEOPLE TURNED ON THEIR DICTATOR MUSSOLINI AND OVERTHREW HIM. IN SEPTEMBER 1943, THE NEW ITALIAN GOVERNMENT INVASION MADE PEACE WITH THE ALLIES. OF ITALY HITLER HAD LOST HIS ITALIAN ALLY. HITLER TRIED TO PLUG THE ITALIAN GAP AS QUICKLY 1943 AS POSSIBLE. BY SPRING OF 1944 HITLER WAS DEFENDING GERMANY FROM THE USSR IN THE EAST AND THE ALLIES IN ITALY TO THE SOUTH. HE KNEW ANOTHER ATTACK WOULD SOON BECOMING FROM THE WEST  OPERATION OVERLORD & D-DAY THE INVASION OF NORMANDY IN GERMAN OCCUPIED FRANCE WOULD BE KNOWN AS OPERATION OVERLORD. JUNE 6, 1944. = D-DAY. HUNDREDS OF LANDING-CRAFT NOSED ONTO THE NORMANDY BEACHES (SWORD, JUNO, GOLD, OMAHA, UTAH BEACHES AND POINTE DU HOC) GERMAN SOLDIERS FOUGHT HARD TO REPEL THE ALLIED INVASION, BUT THEY FAILED. BY THE END OF THE DAY, OVER 150 000 ALLIED TROOPS HAD LANDED IN NORMANDY BY THE END OF JULY 1944 ALLIED SOLDIERS HAD CROSSED THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY AND WERE PUSHING THEIR WAY ACROSS EUROPE.  THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE (ARDENNES OFFENSIVE) FOUGHT OVER THE WINTER 1944-45, LAST MAJOR GERMAN OFFENSIVE IN EUROPE. THE BATTLE WAS A LAST ATTEMPT BY HITLER TO SPLIT THE ALLIES IN TWO IN THEIR DRIVE TOWARDS GERMANY AND DESTROY THEIR ABILITY TO SUPPLY THEMSELVES. THE MASSIVE ATTACK PRIMARILY AGAINST THE AMERICANS. HOWEVER, THE SUCCESS OF THE GERMANS LASTED JUST TWO DAYS. DESPITE PUNCHING A BULGE INTO THE ALLIES FRONT LINE, GERMANS COULD NOT CAPITALIZE. GERMANS HAD BASED THEIR ATTACK ON A MASSIVE ARMOURED ONSLAUGHT. HOWEVER, SUCH AN ATTACK REQUIRED FUEL TO MAINTAIN IT & GERMANS SIMPLY DID NOT POSSESS SUCH QUANTITIES OF FUEL. BATTLE OF THE BULGE CONTINUED… THE GERMANS HAD ADVANCED 60 MILES IN TWO DAYS BUT FROM DECEMBER 18TH ON, THEY WERE IN A POSITION OF STALEMATE BY MID-JANUARY 1945, THE EFFECT OF LACK OF FUEL WAS BECOMING EVIDENT AS THE GERMANS HAD TO SIMPLY ABANDON THEIR VEHICLES THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE WAS THE LARGEST BATTLE FOUGHT BY THE AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II. 600,000 AMERICAN TROOPS WERE INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE. THE AMERICANS LOST 81,000 MEN WHILE THE GERMANS LOST 100,000 KILLED, WOUNDED AND CAPTURED.