World War II - Stage 6 Comp - Civilian Casualties - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 6 Unit focus: Word War II Text focus: Information Text Civilian Casualties During World War I, between 6 and 10 million civilians were killed. Mostly, these died from disease or famine, with around 2 million being killed by the enemy. Somewhere between 40 million and 55 million civilians were...

STAGE 6 Unit focus: Word War II Text focus: Information Text Civilian Casualties During World War I, between 6 and 10 million civilians were killed. Mostly, these died from disease or famine, with around 2 million being killed by the enemy. Somewhere between 40 million and 55 million civilians were killed during World War II. The big difference was due to the fact that armies began to attack civilian targets for the first time. During World War I and in the build-up to World War II, the leaders of Britain and the USA refused to attack non-soldiers. The Prime Minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain, said that it was “against international law to bomb civilians … and to make deliberate attacks” on them. World War II changed their beliefs. As the war progressed through Europe, civilians were killed in every country, often as they fled. Most of these were gunned down by soldiers and tanks or killed in explosions. When Germany began to bomb Britain in 1940, in a move nicknamed The Blitz, it provoked a reaction from Winston Churchill. He was Prime Minister of Britain at the time and decided that a swift response was needed to attack the Nazis in their homeland. This involved bombing German cities and killing the civilians who lived there. During the war, around 60,000 British civilians were killed by bombing attacks. Somewhere between 353,000 and 635,000 German civilians were killed in bombing attacks carried out in revenge. It wasn’t just Germany and Britain that suffered civilian casualties due to bombings. Poland, The Soviet Union, Bulgaria, China and Japan also suffered tens and hundreds of thousands of casualties, amongst many other countries. World War I was fought over small bits of land. Most soldiers were fighting along the Western Front, trying to move forward a few miles. World War II was fought in cities and towns across Europe. Rea e um http://www.literacyshedplus.com C u r r ic ul Th all resources ©2024 Literacy Shed A ding ro und We have unfortunately become used to seeing soldiers and tanks moving through cities in modern warfare. World War II was the first time this happened on a large scale. When soldiers entered a town, the civilians were sometimes given a chance to flee, something they weren’t. If a city was valuable, the enemy would try to occupy it. If it was a small village, it might have been burned to the ground. For instance, 642 people were killed in the small French village of Oradour-sur-Glane before it was burned. Fighting that takes place in cities, towns and villages is called urban warfare. In World War 2, this often relied on lots of bombings from the air to get rid of most of the civilians and buildings before soldiers and tanks rolled in to finish the job. Some urban battles during the war were particularly vicious. The majority of the most vicious attacks were carried out by the Axis powers. When Allied troops were liberating occupied towns, they were often more restrained and tried to only attack any Axis soldiers who were left behind. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. How many civilians were killed during World War II? 2. Who refused to attack civilians before the war? 3. Who led Britain’s attacks on German civilians? 4. How many German civilians were killed during the war? 5. Which French village is used as an example in the text? S V V I S VIPERS QUESTIONS Why were more civilians killed during World War II than in World War I? Which phrase in the first paragraph means “because of”? If you “provoke a reaction”, what does it mean? Why might civilians have been afraid of soldiers moving into their town? What was the difference between what soldiers were trying to achieve in the two world wars? all resources ©2024 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com