Campaigns of WWII - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Campaigns of WWIISlide2

Polish Campaign

Using

blitzkrieg

, Hitler’s armies crushed Poland in four weeks In accordance with his pact, Poland was partitioned between Germany and Soviets Slide3

The Phony War

During the winter of 1939-1940, the war in the West was known as the Phony War

No one moved

 Hitler did not carry out an offensive against France, British or French did not move against GermanyFrench believed that in future war advantage was on the defense Slide4

European Theater of OperationsSlide5

Hitler’s Scandinavian Campaign

April 9, 1940

 Germans invaded Denmark and Norway

Wanted to provide a secure route for the shipment of iron ore from Sweden through Norway’s coastal waters to GermanyBritish failure in Scandinavia led to a House of Commons debate on the Prime Minister’s conduct of war

Facing considerable opposition, Chamberlain stepped down

May 10, 1940

 Winston Churchill became prime minister Slide6

The West, 1940

In May 1940, Hitler’s assault on Western Europe began

Germans overran Luxembourg and invaded the Netherlands and Belgium

German blitzkrieg proved unstoppable and Netherlands fell after just 5 daysJune 14, 1940

 Hitler took Paris

The French cabinet decided to seek an armistice, Reynaud resigned and France’s new government led by Petain signed an armistice with the Germans on June 22

The Vichy Government ruled unoccupied France – headed by Petain

General Charles de Gaulle went to London where he established the Free French movement Slide7

France Surrenders

June, 1940Slide8

A Divided France

Henri PetainSlide9

Battle of Britain

After the fall of France, Great Britain stood alone

Operation Sea Lion- Hitler’s planned invasion of England

In order for this to work it would be necessary for the Luftwaffe to win control of the air space over the English Channel and southern England During August and September 1940, Luftwaffe attempted to destroy Britain’s Royal Air Force and its bases

RAF benefited from skilled pilots and new radar systems

 Germans suffered heavy losses

Frustrated the Germans bombed London and other British cities in an effort to weaken morale and destroy industry fail Slide10

The London “Tube”:

Air Raid Shelters during the

BlitzSlide11
Slide12

Battle of Britain:

The “

Blitz

”Slide13

Battle of Britain:

The “

Blitz

”Slide14
Slide15

Hitler’s Diversion to Russia

By late summer 1940, Hitler was involved in his planning for Operation Barbarossa

 scheduled for Spring 1941

He believed that the British might soon be forced to make peace on her terms

If they did not, they would have no choice but to surrender once the Soviets had been defeated Slide16

Battle of the Atlantic

German submarine fleet presented a serious threat to Great Britain

German subs sinking allied ships carrying crucial British supplies

Following the fall of France, the US increased its assistance to Great Britain Following US entry in 1941, the US stepped up its efforts in the Battle of the Atlantic

By May 1943, Germans lost more subs than they were able to put into service Slide17

War in the Mediterranean

Rommel’s Campaign

In order to save Italians in Africa, the Germans dispatched their

Afrika Korps – Erwin Rommel, Desert Fox

In April 1941, renewed attack on the British – not able to follow up on successful advance

Reinforcements not sent to Rommel because Hitler’s focus on the Soviet Union

Eventually, Montgomery (British) counterattacked and forced Rommel’s forces to retreat Slide18

Victory in N. Africa

November 1942, Anglo-American forces commanded by General Eisenhower carried out Operation Torch

 invasion of Morocco and Algeria in French N. Africa

Germans and Italians caught in a squeeze as Eisenhower’s forces pushed from West and British pressed from east

In May 1943, the remaining Axis troops surrendered in Tunisia Slide19

Invasion of Sicily and Italy

After victory in N. Africa, the Anglo-American forces decided to invade Sicily and Italy

In July 1943 Sicily was invaded, that same month Italians overthrew Mussolini

The new Italian government surrendered, but Hitler anticipated this and quickly took over much of the country The Italian campaign was long and frustrating The Allies did not take Rome until June 1944Slide20

Hitler’s Balkan Campaign

In October 1940, Mussolini decided to invade Greece from Italian-occupied Albania

The Greeks counter attacked

To save Mussolini, in April 1941, the Germans overran Greece and Yugoslavia Pulled Hitler into the Balkans early Slide21

The Russo-German War

June 2, 1941

 Hitler’s armies invaded the Soviet Union

Three FrontsToward Leningrad to the north

Moscow at the center

Into the Ukraine in the south

The deterioration of Japanese-American relations in 1941 enabled Soviets to move troops away from Manchurian border to the defense of Moscow

In December, Soviet forces counterattacked – front stabilized in 1942 Slide22

Battle of Stalingrad

Early1942, Germans launched a new offensive with 2 objectives

The oil-rich Caucasus, lying between the Black and Caspian seas

The city of Stalingrad on the Volga River Did not succeed in reaching the oil fields Stalingrad became one of the bloodiest battles and in early 1943, the remnants of the German army surrendered

In early summer 1943, Germans tried last offensive, but Soviets counterattacked and by the end of that year they had recaptured 2/3 of Soviet territory from the Germans Slide23

Normandy

By 1944, an Allied victory was in sight

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

 Allied forces commanded by General Eisenhower opened the second front in France Operation Overlord was the

largest

amphibious operation in

history Slide24

D-Day (June 6, 1944)Slide25

Normandy Landing

(June 6, 1944

)

Higgins Landing Crafts

German PrisonersSlide26

Battle of the Bulge

German counterattack against advancing Americans in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium in Dec. 1944

Not able to achieve a breakthrough Slide27

End of the European War

Soviets took Warsaw in the beginning of 1945 and Red Army continued to advance to Berlin

Americans coming from the West

At the end of April, Germany’s armies in Italy surrenderedItalian partisans seized Mussolini and murdered him Red Army entered Berlin on April 19

th

and Hitler committed suicide on April 30

th

Germany surrendered in May 1945 Slide28

Horrors of the Holocaust ExposedSlide29

Crematoria at

Majdanek

Entrance to Auschwitz:

Work Makes You FreeSlide30

First established 

ghettos

 (enclosed areas designed to isolate and control the Jews)

Polish

and western European Jews were deported to these ghettos where they lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions with inadequate food.Slide31

By June 1941, German 

mobile killing units

began massive killing operations aimed at entire Jewish communities.

Gypsies (

roma

), Slavs (Russians and Poles), homosexuals, and Jehovah Witnesses were also executed by the SS.Slide32

The Final Solution: Mobile Killing Units

Mother and child being executed

Polish Civilians being executed Slide33

Autumn of 1941, SS chief Heinrich Himmler begins the implementation of a plan to systematically murder the Jews of central and eastern

Poland.

the

SS and police introduced mobile gas vans. These were used to complement ongoing shooting operations.Three 

extermination camps

were

established in Poland -- 

Belzec

, 

Sobibor

, and Treblinka.Slide34

The Final Solution

Mobile Gas Van

Ongoing shooting operationsSlide35

Concentration Camp and Extermination Camp

Concentration camps

, on the other hand, had a number of purposes, among these to work as reformatory facilities, “punishment camps”, POW camps, transit camps, etc.

Extermination camps were only constructed with one purpose: to mass murder Jews and other “unwanted”. 

Combined camps

were used to serve both purposes.

Example:

Auschwitz Birkenau