World War 2
Significant battles and events of WWII
May 1940 - Blitzkrieg
General Erich von Manstein lead German armies invade France in a new
and bold plan
Concentrating all tanks in powerful Panzer or armored divisions + dive
bombing aircrafts
Completely surprised the British and French
Tanks smashed through the Ardennes forest, crossed the River Meuse,
drove on to the sea
French armies in north were split, trapped and demoralized
British lost faith in their ally and prepared to evacuate them in their only port
remaining in their control - Dunkirk
They had done what the Kaiser’s armies in WWI couldn’t do - smashing
through enemy’s lines at minimal cost
Blitzkrieg → Lightning war
May → June 1940 - Dunkirk
Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, 338,000 British and French troops were
evacuated to Britain from the beaches of Dunkirk in France
British appealed for owners of small boats to sail to France, to the waiting
large ships of the Royal Navy
British soldiers were forced to leave behind almost all of their equipment
France surrendered on 25 June
German forces were now only 22 miles from Britain
Dunkirk was a defeat and humiliation for British and France
July → September 1940 - The Battle of Britain
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Goering → Reichsmarschall of Hitler’s air force
Boasted he could bomb Britain into surrender after the Dunkirk Evacuation
Bombed Britain with planes in broad daylight
However British RAF (Royal Air Force) was underestimated
RAF’s modern fighter planes were flown by pilots of many nations
All were directed clearly by radar against the German formations
RAF had no problem with fuel supply, however the German could only
stay over London for 10 minutes before their fuel became dangerously
low
Goering nearly won
His attacks still seriously damaged the RAF’s ability to continue fighting
It was only Hitler’s order to focus the bombing attacks on London that
perhaps saved Britain
End of 1940, 13,596 Londoners died but RAF was still able to fight on
September 15, 56 German planes were shot down and Goering had to
abandon daylight bombing
In conclusion, Germany had tried to force a British surrender but failed
February 1941 - Lend Lease
President Roosevelt managed to get US congress (even though US is a
neutral country) to agree to supply weapons, industrial equipment and
supplies to Britain on a credit agreement known as Lend Lease
Lend Lease → Britain would be supplied with ammunition etc. by US
factories immediately but would only have to pay after the war was won
Britain (and after the USSR) was able to gain access over 50 billion dollars
worth of goods
17 million rifles
315,000 cannons
87,000 tanks
2,434,000 motor vehicles
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296,000 planes
Britain was never short of equipment after Lend Lease as USA was the
most dominant industrial power in the world
June 1941 - Operation Barbarossa
Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union
Hitler signed a pact of friendship with communist Soviet Union in August
1939, to allow himself a free hand in attacking Poland
Many were surprised as Hitler hated communism, a Jewish idea he saw
as
By 1941 Hitler felt powerful enough to move against communism
A German force of 3 million men invaded Russia in June 1941 without
warning
Soviets were surprised and unprepared, resulting in retreating the fast
progressed chaos
Winter 1941 the German forces had taken a million prisoners and were at
the gates of Moscow
Germany had also capture huge amounts of rich agricultural land and
destroyed much of Russia’s industry
Russia couldn’t prevent this collapse
May 1941 → June 1942 - Greece, Yugoslavia, North
Africa invaded
Germany + Italy invaded Yugoslavia and later attacked Greece
Greek army and the British and Empire troops came in support but defeated
Huge amounts of equipment were lost as British troops evacuated by
sea
German troops were under the famous General Rommel and landed in
North Africa, advancing rapidly towards Egypt, which was controlled by
British
Germans would gain control of vast oil reserves and (by capturing the
Suez Canal) could cut off Britain from its Eastern empire and India
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In June 1942 the British fortress of Tobruk fell to the Germans
The road to Egypt was wide open and German forces seemed unstoppable
December 1941 - Pearl Harbor
Japan emerged as a growing industrial power in the first 3 decades of the
20th century, looking to expand and gain control of East Asia
Japan had been taking advantage of China’s weakness and had been
fighting a brutal war for territory with that country since 1931
France and Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany; Britain fighting
for its own life
Japan took advantage of this by occupying French Indo-China (Vietnam)
USA responded by refusing to supply Japan with oil
Japan signed an alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on 27
September 1941
7 December 1941, while talks with USA where still in progress, Japan
attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor without warning
It was a peaceful Sunday morning and the US fleet was far from on full
alert
4 battleships sunk
28 ships damaged
2,350 dead
USA responded by declaring war on Japan
However US public weren’t convinced that they should fight Germany and
Japan at the same time
Luckily Adolf Hitler solved the problem by declaring war on the USA just to
help Japan tackle the problem
He was now in war with world’s largest empire - Britain; largest country
- USSR; richest country - USA
Early 1942 the Japanese had taken over much of the Pacific with its rich
resources
They were about to invade India and Australia
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US and British forces were in retreat everywhere
October 1942 - El Alamein
General Rommel had come very close to defeating the British and Empire
troops in North Africa, with good equipment, fighting skill and dedication
Autumn 1942, Rommel stopped 150 miles west of Cairo as his men were
exhausted and his equipment went short or wore out as the Royal Navy in
the Mediterranean had cut off much of his supplies
During Rommel’s weakness, British Army’s strength was increasing as loads
of ammunition arrive through Lend Lease
General Montgomery, a new and confident commander, was appointed as
commander of the British and Empire troops of the 8th army
By now is 2x strong in men and 3x strong in tanks as Rommel’s army
Rommel’s men were sent into retreat as a brilliantly planned attack through
minefields was executed
The Germans were trapped between the British and Empire troops
advancing from El Alamein + US army advancing from Tunisia
275,000 German troops surrendered, but Rommel escaped back to
Germany
British route to India + Oil supplies of the Middle east were safe from
German control
1941 → 1943 - The Battle of the Atlantic
Germans realized that Britain’s sea supply lines and trade routes were very
vulnerable to attack
At the start of the war, they were poorly prepared with only 20 U-boats and
crews
The fleet was expanded quickly and organized to attack convoys of
ships going to and from Britain, using the bases on the French Atlantic
coast
U-boats learned to avoid British detection devices by attacking on the
surface
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Low profile, very hard to pick out in the storm grey Atlantic Ocean
Over 700,000 tones of shipping and cargoes were lost in April 1941
It seemed as if Britain’s economy would collapse and starve into surrender
By autumn 1941 large numbers of US warships joined British ships on
convoy protection duty
Use of radar helped ships and newly developed long range aircraft to spot
U-boats more easily
U-boats were effectively defeated by the end of 1943, around 90% of men
who served in U-boats died
September 1942 → February 1943 - Stalingrad
Spring 1942, German armies moved forward in the USSR
Hitler ordered his famous 6th Army to take the city of Stalingrad
Named after the Soviet leader himself but also a major industrial center
+ protected vital oil supplies in the Caucuses
In the end, the German army found itself surrounded and cut off from help
just as winter set in
Over 90,000 German soldiers surrendered after 3 months
More German equipment was lost in this battle than was possessed by the
entire British army
From this point on there was never less than 65% of the whole German
army fighting the Russians, the British and Americans were facing the other
35%
July 1943 - The Battle of Kursk
Hitler threw his latest generation of tanks into a desperate attack against
the Soviets
Furious because off the defeat at Stalingrad, and in attempt to capture
Kursk (city)
Soviets had been warned by British code breakers that an attack was soon
and had found the exact date of the attack from German prisoners
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Even though advised not to by his generals, Hitler launched 2,700 tanks at
the Russians, which were countered with over 3000 (though smaller) tanks
of their own
This was the largest tank battle
Many new German tanks broke down and many more smashed by the
Soviet defense lines, the attack failed completely
Germany lost so many men and tanks that it was never again in a position to
call an attack in the east
After Kursk, the Germans were in steady retreat towards Germany
End of 1943 Soviet troops had crossed the Polish border
1943 → 1945 - The Burma Campaign
Japan had seized the whole Burma and begun to advance towards India by
June 1942
They seemed invincible in jungle warfare
Fighting took place in dreadful conditions
Malaria and other diseases were as much of a hazard to life as wounds
caused in battle
However, with coordinated attacks and inspired leadership, combined
operations between British and Indian troops + US + Chinese + some Dutch
forces, began to drive the Japanese back
The Japanese lost around 144,000 men defending Burma
6 June 1944 - D-Day
Stalin, Soviet leader, had been pressing for the British and Americans to
invade German-occupied France
Soviets advance in east, British and Americans advance in west, this
would squash the German armies from both sides and would take
considerable pressure off the hard-pressured Soviet armies
Invasion of France was hard as the coast was heavily defended by 1944
A successful invasion would require transporting large number of
troops across and unpredictable English Channel and landing them in
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sufficient strength to stand up to German counter attacks
6 June 1944, 4000 allied ships 156,000 British, American, Canadian and
French soldiers on the coast of France
Resistance was tough but by August they had crushed the retreating
Germans
It seemed possible that the war could be over by Christmas 1944
December 1944 → May 1945
The Battle of the Bulge
Hitler gathered what remained of his tank forces and ordered an attack on
the British and Americans who were advancing towards Germany
Germans were halted
Heroic defense in the snow by American parachute troops
German shortage of fuel
Once weather cleared, German tanks were smashed by Allied rocket-firing
aircraft
19,000 US troops died but Germans had not broken through, and lost most
of their remaining tanks and effective troops
The Battle for Berlin
British and Americans agreed to let Soviets attack Berlin
Berlin was already badly damaged by massed Allied air raids, then
reduced to rubble in fighting
Over 90% of the city was destroyed and 100,000 people died
Adolf Hitler had remained in Berlin and after marrying his long-term
mistress, Eva Braun, he committed suicide on 30 April
The Soviet red flag was raised above the German Parliament building, the
Reichstag
Fighting stopped in the city on 2 May
German forces across the whole Europe surrendered unconditionally and all
fighting had stopped by 8 May 1945
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6,9 August 1945 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki
US forces gradually forced the Japanese back across the Pacific
Island after island was recaptured but at enormous cost to the invaders
By August 1945 the US was faced with the daunting prospect of mounting
an invasion of Japan
Japan was completely exhausted from war but did not want to surrender
Some sections of the military still seemed determined to fight to the
death
President Truman decided to drop an atomic bomb on the undamaged
Hiroshima
Despite massive destruction and immediate loss of 70,000 lives, Japan still
did not surrender
3 days later, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, with similar
casualties and destruction
Japan finally surrendered on 15 August 1945
Protection in British cities
The government was well aware of the potential of air attack to cause huge
casualties
Airplanes had become far larger than those in WWI and could carry
large bomb loads over very long distances
The government made sure that everybody in Britain had access to some
form of shelter
No shelter could protect against a direct hit but the could give
protection to some degree from blasts and flying metal fragments called
shrapnel
Three types of shelter were available but these were often supplemented
by people sheltering in underground train tunnels
The Anderson Shelter
Highly effective, bolt-together corrugated steel shelter
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When covered in earth it was capable of protecting people from bombs
landing within a few yards of the shelter
Combination of earth cover and corrugated steel → made it very strong
Needs a large space
The Morrison Shelter
Does not need a garden
Indoors
Strong table made of steel
Capable of sheltering whole family
If a house was hit, people could easily become trapped inside
The Brick-Built Street Shelter
1½ thickness of brick + reinforced concrete roof
Typically seated 50 people
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Usually built in areas where people tended to live in large blocks of flats
A near miss could lead to people inside being crushed by the concrete roof
The Tube Station
London’s underground (’tube’) stations were used extensively as shelters
The government tried to prevent this but eventually had to agree to the
public
Londoner’s simply wouldn’t take no for an answer
However not all tube stations were deep underground
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