Overview

An Overview of World War II

Poland 1939

• The attack on Poland saw the start of Blitzkrieg (Lightning War)
• 1^st September Hitler sent 6 panzer (armoured) divisions into Poland
• 3^rd September Britain declared war on Germany
• France then joined Britain
• 27^th September Warsaw surrendered
• 3^rd October Poland surrendered
• Russia meanwhile attacked Poland from the east
• Germany and Russia now divided Poland between them

The Phoney War

• So-called because there was a lull in the fighting
• US senator William Borah said “there’s something phoney about this war”
• Churchill called it the “Twilight War”
• The Germans called it Sitzkrieg or the “Sitting War”
• In Poland it was the Dziwna Wojna or “Strange War”
• In France: drole de guerre or “strange/funny war”
• Britain and France could not save Poland and –
• The German generals were unwilling to risk an attack on France
• The French believed they were safe behind the Maginot Line
• They were not willing to attack the German Sigfried Line
• Britain was furiously re-arming to make up for years of neglect of defence
• Britain and France still hoped peace terms might be agreed - or
• That naval blockade would bring Germany to her knees as in 1917-18
• Meanwhile all sides built up their forces

The Naval War

• U-boats (German submarines) attacked merchant shipping
• Britain was dependent on food imports and Germany hoped to win this way
• On the day Britain declared war a U-Boat sank the liner Athena
• In October another U-boat sank the battleship Royal Oak in Scapa Flow naval base
• German surface raiders attacked shipping in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
• One such ship; Graf Spee was involved in the Battle of the River Plate with British cruisers stationed at the Falkland Islands – she fled to Montevideo where she was scuttled (her crew sank her)

Scandinavia

• Finland had been invaded by Russia
• Britain and France wanted to send help to the Finns
• Norway lay across the route to Finland and Swedish iron-ore was taken to Germany thru Norwegian waters
• Churchill (1^st Lord of the Admiralty) ordered mines to be sowed there to stop this
• Then the German ship Altmark carrying prisoners from sunken British ships was chased into a Norwegian fjord and boarded by sailors from HMS Cossack where the prisoners were freed
• Britain planned to invade Norway and capture its coast

German invasion of Scandinavia

• Hitler moved first – 9April Denmark and Norway were invaded
• Denmark surrendered same day
• British forces went to Norway but it was conquered after fierce fighting
• British forces were withdrawn when Holland was invaded next
• The fall of Norway led to the fall of Chamberlain’s government in Britain
• Churchill became Prime minister

The fall of the Low Countries

• Now the Germans invaded Belgium Holland and Luxembourg
• Blitzkrieg led to a swift Dutch surrender
• German forces attacked Belgium thru the Ardennes  and quickly reached the coast
• German forces quickly crossed northern France and on 24^th May reached Dunkirk

Dunkirk 24^th May-3^rd June 1940

• Most of the British army was trapped in the Dunkirk pocket
• They came under attack but Hitler halted the German advance
• Hundreds of ships and boats were sent from Britain to rescue the troops
• Some 200,000 British and 140,000 French troops were returned to Britain
• This is known as ‘The Miracle of Dunkirk’

The fall of France June 1940

• The fall of Belgium allowed the Germans to go round the end of the Maginot Line
• The French army retreated
• 14^th June Paris fell to the Germans
• General Weygand told the government the Germans could not be stopped
• Prime Minister Reynaud resigned
• Marshall Petain became new head of government
• He asked for an armistice
• It was signed at Compiegne where the Germans had signed their surrender in 1918
• Mussolini joined in on Germany’s side in June 1940 just before the end
• He invaded France , made a separate and gained some French territory

Vichy France

• Petain made his capital at Vichy in unoccupied France
• Germany controlled the North and West of France
• France had to pay for the cost of German occupation
• German refugees in Vichy France were returned to the Nazis
• French Prisoners of War stayed in German hands
• The French fleet was attacked by the Royal Navy to prevent it falling into German hands, even though the French promised to prevent this
• The Vichy government became fascist in 1944; Hitler didn’t trust them and occupied all of France in 1942
• The Free French under general de Gaulle joined Britain to continue the fight

Operation ‘Sealion’

• Britain refused to make peace with Hitler
• So Operation ‘Sealion’ was prepared for the invasion of England
• 13 divisions were assembled and the Luftwaffe attacked the RAF to prepare for it

The Battle of Britain July-September 1940

10^th July-7^th August

• Luftwaffe attacked coastal convoys and vital inland targets
• Some attacks on cities
• Mines sown in river estuaries

8^th-23^rd August

• Large scale attacks on RAF air bases and radar stations
• Hitler hoped to defeat Britain before attacking Russia

24^th August-6^th September

• Luftwaffe attacked factories and military targets

7^th-30^th September

• RAF fighters now based in south to fight off invasion
• Huge losses on both sides
• Germans went back to attacking airfields
• London attacked at night

The Blitz 1940-1

• Night bombing of British cities e.g. London and Coventry
• Liverpool docks bombed for 8 nights May 1941
• High explosive and incendiary bombs, and parachute mines used
• Civilians hid in Anderson shelters in their gardens and/or Morrison shelters which were indoor steel boxes
• Also communal shelters and the London underground stations

Battle of the Atlantic

• Hitler decided to attack British convoys
• These brought food and supplies
• The convoys system had also operated in 1^st World War
• The Atlantic crossing took 15 days
• U-boats operated in ‘wolfpacks’ which waited till a convoy was outside the range of air cover
• In British waters Heavy bombers (Focke-Wolf Condors) attacked
• Mines were sown in British coastal waters and estuaries
• Surface raiders were also used by the Germans
• For example, disguised merchant ships with guns and torpedoes operated in the wastes of the oceans
• Warships used too; most serious was Bismarck (sunk 1941) and Scharnhorst (1943)

Progress in the Atlantic

• 1941 and 1942 - 800,000 tons of shipping lost each month
• Escort vessels became better equipped with asdic and radar, and bomb throwers
• New escort vessels came into service e.g. frigates and corvettes
• 1942-3 aircraft played bigger role in protecting convoys
• Escort aircraft carriers came into service – small carriers which bridged the gap between America and Britain unreachable by land-based planes
• 1943 number of U-boats sunk rose from 10 a month (1942) to 50 a month (1943)
• Shipping losses fell to under 100,000 tons a month

Italy and the Balkans

• Declared war on Allies June 1940
• October 1940 invaded Greece
• Greece defeated Italy and invaded Albania (ruled by Italy at the time)
• Hitler agreed to help Italy
• November 1940 Hungary and Rumania signed alliances with Germany
• April 1941 Germans invaded Yugoslavia and Greece
• British troops were sent from North Africa to help Greece
• May 1941 British defeated and Greece surrendered
• British troops withdrawn to island of Crete
• German airborne forces captured it

Africa

• Italians attacked British Somaliland
• Italian forces in Libya invaded Egypt

Operation ‘Barbarossa’

• German invasion of USSR
• Aims:
  • Destroy communism
  • Enslave the Slavs (Russians)
  • Gain lebensraum (living space for the Germans)
  • Secure Ukrainian wheat
  • Secure oil from the Caucasus region
  • Secure a link with Japan (ally of Germany)
• With most of Europe and western USSR occupied Germans could attack Africa and Middle East with its oil fields and the route to India

The Invasion

• Delayed because of German involvement in Greece and Yugoslavia
• 22^nd June 1941 Hitler sent 153 divisions (3 million men) into USSR
• Supported by 2,000 planes
• Italy, Hungary and Rumania sent troops to help Germany
• There were 3 main prongs to the attack:
  • Army Group North moved towards Leningrad which was quickly besieged
  • Army Group Centre drove towards Moscow
  • Army Group South moved thought the Ukraine

German Successes

• The Luftwaffe practically eradicated the Soviet air force very quickly
• Tanks supported by planes raced quickly east
• Many Ukrainians welcomed the German as liberators after the suffering they had suffered during Stalin’s Collectivization and Purges
• September:
  • Leningrad was besieged
  • 5 Russian armies were destroyed in the battle to capture Kiev
• October:
  • Germans advanced from Smolensk towards Moscow
  • Government was evacuated to Kuibeshev
  • Forces advanced into the Crimea
• November:
  • Sieges of Leningrad and Sebastopol continued
  • A second offensive against Moscow failed
  • Soviet counter-offensives
  • Winter halted German progress
  • Germans entered suburbs of Moscow – driven out

1942

• German advance continued after the winter
• July Sebastopol captured
• September siege of Stalingrad began
• Panzers advanced towards the Caucasus

German Mistakes

• Delayed the invasion to deal with Yugoslavia – wasted the good weather
• The attacks were on to many fronts – generals wanted all-out drive on Moscow
• Hitler kept interfering in the conduct of campaigns, changing objectives
• The timetable to defeat Russia (12 weeks) was disrupted as a consequence
• The late start meant the Germans were caught by the winter
• German army not prepared for a winter war
• Difficult to supply the army with such long supply lines
• Inhuman treatment of the population led to fierce resistance from population
• Stalin appealed to patriotism – they called it the ‘Great Patriotic War’
• Stalin used ‘scorched earth’ policy – everything useful to the Germans was destroyed
• Whole industries and populations were evacuated east out of reach
• So the Germans could not live off the land

North Africa June 1940-May 1942

1940

• September Italian army advance from Libya into Egypt
• Britain sent reinforcements including Empire troops from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Rhodesia
• British Mediterranean Fleet carrier raid on Italian naval base of Taranto

1941

• February, General Wavell drove Italians back to Benghazi
• March, German Africa Korps under Rommel sent to save the Italians
• Royal Navy won the Battle of Matapan against Italian Navy
• August, British army defeated Italians in Somaliland
• Restored Emperor Haile Selassie to throne of Abyssinia

1942

• Rommel drove the British out of Libya apart from Tobruk
• General Auchinleck (British) drove them back again
• He captured Cyrenaica and relieved Tobruk
• Rommel was short of supplies due to the needs of the Russian front
• British supplies were affected by air attacks on Mediterranean convoys
• These attacks were from airfields in Sicily
• Malta suffered constant air attacks

May 1942

• Rommel received more supplies
• He now drove the British from Libya and advanced into Egypt
• This was a threat to the Suez Canal, the route to India and Britain’s oil supplies
• This would prove to be the zenith of German success
• The Battle of El Alamein proved to be the turning point
• Britain was on the offensive after this

USA and World War II - 1939-41

• Franklin D Roosevelt wanted to keep US out of the war
• He sold supplies to anyone who had the cash
• By December 1940 Britain could no longer pay for them
• So, Roosevelt got Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act
• It provided that any country whose defence was vital to US security could receive supplies
• Until Russia entered the war, it applied only to Great Britain – the Russia was included
• January 1941 Roosevelt spoke of the ‘four freedoms’
• The Atlantic Charter was drawn up between Churchill and Roosevelt at a meeting in Newfoundland, Canada

Japan 1939-41

• Japan had attacked China in 1931 and full war began in 1937
• Japan had plans for the ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’
• This in effect amounted to an expansion of the Japanese Empire

Summer 1940

• The defeat by Germany of France and Holland left Indo-China and Dutch East Indies vulnerable
• Position of Great Britain was weak so she was unwilling to take on another enemy
• Japan got Great Britain to close the Burma Road cutting off supplies to China
• The Tripartite Axis treaty between Germany, Japan and Italy turned the Anti-Comintern Pact into a joint defence pact against any power ‘not already engaged in war’

The Japanese moves and the USA

• Japanese army entered north Indo-China
• July 1941 Vichy French government formed a joint protectorate with Japan there
• Japanese troops now landed in the south
• In July USA stopped oil supplies to Japan
• USA had earlier halted trade agreements between the 2 countries
• Great Britain and Holland did the same
• Japan depended on the West for oil and metals especially copper
• USA demanded Japan’s withdrawal from China and Indo-China before supplies resumed
• General Tojo replaced the civilian Prime Minister of Japan
• He was willing to use force to get what Japan wanted
• Japanese negotiators went to Washington to find a solution
• Meanwhile Japan prepared to attack USA

War in the Far East December 1941- June 1942

• 7^th December 1941 Japanese naval air attack crippled US fleet at Pearl Harbor
• Also attacked Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore
• Initial Japanese success due to USA being unprepared for war
• Also Great Britain had cut defence spending between the war and was not yet re-armed

Advances to May 1942

• Japan took Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Philippines and Dutch East Indies
• Next invaded New Guinea and threatened Australia
• Then invaded Burma and threatened India

Evidence that May was the limit of the Japanese advance

• Battle of the Coral Sea US stopped Japan’s advance
• Australian and US troops stopped Japan’s conquest of New Guinea
• Battle of Midway – US naval victory – turning point of war in Pacific
• British 14^th Army stopped the Jap advance on border of Burma and India

USA’s Part

• Brought into the war by Pearl Harbor
• Tripartite Pact meant US would fight Germany and Italy as well as japan
• Became the ‘arsenal of the free world’ because
• Adapted existing factories and built new ones to produce war materials
• Mass production of warships, planes and tanks etc
• Sent armies to Europe, North Africa as well as Far East
• Never faced the shortage of supplies and security threats of other countries

1942-1945

May: Battle of the Coral Sea

• A Japanese fleet was sent to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea
• US task force prevented this
• It was the first fleet action in which the two sides didn’t see each other, being fought entirely by carrier planes
• Immediate threat to Australia was thus removed

June: Battle of Midway

• Japanese plane to take Midway Island as a forward post to defend against US incursions
• Japan lost 4 fleet carriers and over 90% of their carrier pilots
• US could now begin the advance across the Pacific

July-October: North Africa

• In May Germans advanced into Egypt
• July they were stopped at 1^st Battle of El Alamein 78 miles from Alexandria
• August – Rommel defeated at Alam Halfa
• 23^rd October Montgomery beat him at 2^nd Battle of El Alamein
• Germans now driven west into Tunisia

1943: Russia

• Summer 1942 Germans reached the Caucasus Mountains
• 85% of Russian oil supplies under threat by this
• Fighting in city of Stalingrad
• Germans overstretched now
• Hitler refused to let 6^th Army withdraw from Stalingrad
• 240,000 troops surrounded by the Russians
• Short of food and supplies; temp -30^oC
• 140,000 died
• 2^nd February 90,000 survivors surrendered

Air War

• Increased production in British and US factories made thousands of planes available
• RAF by night and US bombers by day pounded Germany

Allied Victories

Russia

• Massive Russian industrial output east of the Urals
• Massive output of tanks and planes
• Massive Allied aid:
• 8.7 million tons through Vladivostok
• 4.2 million tons via Persia
• 4 million tons via the Arctic convoys
• Included 10,000 tanks, 18,700 planes, 427,000 trucks, 1100 locomotives

Battle of Kursk – July 1943

• Biggest tank battle in history to that date
• At crucial point Hitler pulled SS panzer divisions out to help Italy (Allies had just invaded Sicily)
• Thus Russians survived – turning point on Eastern Front

1944

• June Germans driven across Russian border
• August the Warsaw Rising as Poles tried to drive out Germans to help Russians
• But Red Army waited on the River Vistula so Germans crushed Poles
• December Rumania and Bulgaria captured by Red Army
• January 1945 Hungary overrun by Red Army
• Poland taken in February
• March, Red Army crossed German border
• April reached Berlin

The Pacific Campaign 1943-45

• USA began ‘island-hopping’ campaign
• Involved seizing islands with airbases and by-passing the rest
• High casualties on both sides as Japan’s resistance fanatical
• USA advanced steadily towards Japan’s islands
• USA fleet huge by this time

1944

• British 14^th Army under General Slim defeated Japanese army at Kohima and Imphal
• Japan in retreat from this point
• Australians began to clear New Guinea
• Guam and Mariana Islands taken by USA
• USA able to use heavy bombers to attack Japanese cities from Guam airfields

Philippines

• General MacArthur returned to free Philippines from Japan
• Battle of Leyte Gulf US fleet defeated Japan’s fleet in biggest sea battle of World War II
• Most of Philippines taken by year’s end
• February 1945 Manila captured by Americans

1945

• February Iwo Jima island fell to US forces after 2 months fighting
• 20,000 casualties
• 40,000 casualties in battle for Okinawa
• Kamikaze (suicide) planes crashed themselves on Allied ships
• Bombing of Japan continued

Conclusion

• US planned 2 invasions of japan
• Southern Japan to be invaded in 1945
• Honshu (main island) 1946 – huge casualties expected
• Japan rejected the Potsdam peace proposals
• So 6^th August 1945 a B-29 bomber dropped 1^st atomic bomb on Hiroshima
• City wrecked – 80,000 casualties
• 8^th August Russia invaded Manchuria and Korea and defeated Japanese forces
• 9^th August – 2^nd atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki – 40,000 killed
• 15^th August Japan surrendered

North Africa

• November 1942: Operation ‘Torch’ – Anglo-American invasion of North Africa
• Casablanca captured
• Allies crossed Morocco and captured Oran in Algeria
• Hitler sent reinforcements to stop Allied advance
• Battle of Kasserine Pass – US  army badly hit
• Montgomery’s 8^th Army arrived from the east and defeated Germans
• Tunis was captured
• 14^th May Axis surrender in North Africa

Italy

• July 1943 Allies crossed from Africa to Sicily which fell in August
• September mainland Italy invaded
• Salerno captured to provide a port for reinforcements and supplies
• Churchill had described Italy as the ‘soft under-belly of Europe’
• King of Italy sacked Mussolini who was put in prison
• A government under Marshall Badoglio asked for an armistice
• German forces arrived to stop Allied advance
• Italy proved tougher to capture than Churchill had thought
• Italy mountainous and many of rivers – Germans fought fiercely
• Germans rescued Mussolini and set him up as ruler of northern Italy
• June 1944 Rome fell
• April 1945 northern Italy finally captured
• April 1945 Mussolini captured by Italian communists and murdered

France

• August 1942 Dieppe raid
• Hitler’s defences for ‘Fortress Europe’ tested in sea-borne raid
• German West Wall built to defend conquered Europe
• Operation ‘Jubilee’ was Allied attack on Dieppe
• 6,000 men, mainly Canadians took part – over half were killed
• Allies learned the lesson that a heavily defended port could not be captured without heavy casualties
• Allies now designed their own port, the Mulberry Harbour
• Operation ‘Overlord’ 1944
• This was the Allied code-name for the invasion of Europe on D-Day
• US General Eisenhower was overall Commander-in-Chief
• Thousands of landing craft were built to carry troops across the Channel
• Mulberry Harbours built by British engineers and towed across the Channel
• Through these troops poured into France
• PLUTO (pipe line under the ocean) took oil from Great Britain to France
• Diversionary attacks were launched in the Pas de Calais to divert the Germans
• 6^th June the real invasion was launched against the Normandy coast
• 130,000 troops were landed there
• Allies had complete control of air and sea
• German convoys, troop trains etc destroyed – Rommel (German area commander received serious wounds when his car was shot up by a British fighter plane
• A million men were poured into the area
• Bridge-carrying tanks, flail tanks to destroy minefields, and flame-thrower tanks used
• After fierce fighting Normandy was secured
• The French Resistance hindered German attempts to pour in reinforcements
• Eventually the Allies began the advance towards Paris

The Eastward Advance

• 25^th August Paris taken
• September British parachute regiment landed at Arnhem to seize the Rhine Bridges and end the war sooner
• They met panzer forces there and were defeated

German V Weapons

• V1 flying bombs (nicknamed ‘Doodlebugs’) and V2 rockets pounded London until their launch sites were overrun or destroyed by bombing

The Battle of the Bulge

• Christmas 1944 Hitler launched the Ardennes Offensive (nicknamed the Battle of the Bulge) – as a last attempt to defeat the Allies in the West
• They broke through US lines but ran out of fuel and withdrew in January 1945

The Last Months

• 24^th March 1945 Allied forces crossed the River Rhine
• Linked up with Red Army in April
• 30^th April Hitler committed suicide
• 7^th May Admiral Doenitz who succeeded Hitler ordered German forces to surrender
• The war in Europe was over