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The phoney war
It happened in the west for five months. The Russians took over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and invaded Finland. Meanwhile the French and Germans manned their respective defences. -
Poland defeated
The Poles were defeated by the German Blitzkrieg. The German air force put the Polish railway system out of action and destroyed the Polish air force. On 29 September Poland was divided up between Gennany and the USSR. -
Germany invades Norway and Denmark.
Hitler's troops occupied Denmark and landed at the main Norwegian. The control of Norway was important for the Germans because Narvik was the main outlet for Swedish iron-ore, which was vital for the German armaments industry. -
Hitler attacks Holland, Belgium and France.
Blitzkrieg methods brought victories again. The Dutch surrendered after only four days. Belgium held out for longer, only Dunkirk remained in Allied hands. The troops at Dunkirk had lost all their arms and equipment, so that it became impossible for Britain to help France. -
The Battle of Britain- 12 August to 30 September 1940
This was fought in the air, when Goering's Luftwaffe tried to destroy the Royal Air Force as a preliminary to the invasion of Britain. In September, the Germans bombed London. The RAF inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe, British air power was far from being destroyed, Hitler called off the invasion. -
Mussolini invaded Egypt
Mussolini sent an army from the Italian colony of Libya which penetrated into Egypt. However, the British soon drove the Italians out of Egypt, pushed them back far into Libya and defeated them at Bedafomm. -
THE AXIS OFFENSIVE WIDENS: North Africa and Greece.
Hitler's first moves to help out his ally. In February together with the Italians, they drove the British out of Libya. In June 1942 the Germans were in Egypt. In April 1941 Hitler's forces invaded Greece. -
Operation Barbarossa
The German invasion of Russia: Important cities such as Riga, Smolensk and Kiev were captured. However, the German forces failed to capture Leningrad and Moscow. The Germans had inadequate winter clothing. The failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war. -
The USA entered the war
The USA was brought into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Japanese motives.for the attack were tied up with her economic problems. The Americans assisted the Chinese, who were still at war with Japan. When the aggressive General Tojo became prime ministe, 353 Japanese planes arrived undetected at Pearl Harbor, 3700 men were killed. -
Midway Island
Midway proved to be a crucial turning point in the battle for the Pacific: The Americans destroyed the Japanese carriers and planes., and they maintained their lead. Gradually the Americans began to recover the Pacific islands and the Solomon Islands. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In Russia, the Germans had penetrated as far as Stalingrad on the river Volga. Here the Russians put up such fierce resistance that in the following February the German army was surrounded and forced to surrender. -
Second Battle of El Alamein
This great battle was the culmination of several engagements fought in the El Alamein area: first the Axis advance was temporarily checked. Secondly, when Rommel tried to break through he was halted again at Alam Halfa. Finally, seven weeks later, he was chased out of Egypt for good by the British and New Zealanders. The Allies were successful. -
The Battle of the Atlantic
This was the struggle against German U-boats attempting to deprive Britain of food and raw materials. -
The fall of Italy
This was the first stage in the Axis collapse. British and American troops landed in Sicily from the sea and air and quickly captured the whole island. This caused the downfall of Mussolini. -
Operation Overlord
The invasion of France: was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy Landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. -
The assault on Germany
With the success of the Second Front, the Allies began to gather themselves together for the invasion of Germany itself. Early in 1945, Germany was being invaded on both fronts, from east and west. The British wanted to take Berlin, but commander Eisenhower refused, and Berlin fell to Stalin's forces in April. Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered. -
The defeat of Japan
On 6 August 1945 the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later on Nagasaki. The dropping of these bombs was one of the most controversial actions of the entire war, since the Japanese had already put out peace feelers.