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WWII Europe

By great_york

  • poland

    September 1, 1939, German tanks rolled into Poland.

  • poland

    September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.

  • soviet union

    According to the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Russia would not attack Germany and in return
    receive territory in Eastern Europe.
    Hitler hated Communism and knew he would eventually attack Russia for its resources.
    Less than one week after Germany’s attack on Poland from the west, the Soviet Union
    attacked from the east.
    On September 27, 1939, Poland surrendered.

  • soviet union

    The Soviet Union took Eastern Poland and set up military bases in Latvia, Lithuania, and
    Estonia to insure access to the Baltic Sea.
    Finland fought the Soviet Union through the winter, but was forced to surrender in
    March. Finn soldiers had been very successful, but heavily outnumbered. They used ski
    patrols to combat the superior numbers.

  • western front

    In April of 1940, Germany rolled into Denmark and Norway.

  • western front

    In May of 1940, Germany took Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

  • france

    France had constructed the Maginot Line, which was a strip of heavy fortifications
    between Germany and France.
    Germany went around the fortifications and wedged between Paris and the defending
    forces.
    French, British, and Belgian forces retreated to Dunkirk, which left them between the
    English Channel and German forces.
    “The Miracle of Dunkirk” was the evacuation of 300,000 forces using everything that
    would float from England.
    On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on Franc

  • england

    On August 8, 1940, the Battle of Britain began. (air war)
    Day and night air raids brought destruction on British cities and caused many children to
    be moved to the countryside.
    The British used the newly invented radar to spot enemy planes.
    Royal Air Force pilots had excellent ratios and kept the Luftwaffe from controlling the air
    over England.
    German submarines blocked supplies badly needed in Britain, which caused shortages.
    The United States was neutral and could not

  • german invasion

    Hitler could not defeat Britain so he turned German attention to the Soviet Union.
    On June 22, 1941, German forces races across Western Soviet territory cutting a line
    from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union brought immediate offers of help from the Allies
    in the form of the Lend Lease Act and other contributions.
    While western powers had been less than favorable toward the Soviet Union, they
    realized that an alliance was important to defeat the co

  • north american campain

    Italy attacked Egypt from the colony of Libya in hopes to control the Suez Canal in the
    fall of 1940.
    Italian forces were driven back causing Hitler to order the Afrika Corps, led by Field
    Marshall Erwin Rommel, to take action maintaining Libya.
    . Rommel’s hit and run tactics earned him the name “desert fox.”
    The British sent Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery to block Rommel from the Suez
    Canal.
    . The two forces finally clashed at El Alamein, in which retreating British forces t

  • italy surrenders

    With the help of the Italian resistance, British and American forces invaded Sicily.
    1. Allied forces took Rome in June of 1944, but German forces put up stiff resistance until
    the following year.
    1. Mussolini’s government was overthrown and he was killed and beat beyond recognition
    by Italians. a. By the time he was taken to the morgue, his head was falling apart. b. Key officials received similar treatment.

  • invade france

    The largest naval invasion in history started on June 6, 1944, on the beaches of Normandy. (Also known as D-Day or Operation Overlord) a. Approximately 120,000 American, British, and Free French soldiers landed on five beaches in Normandy. (Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juneau)
    1. Germans were caught off guard as false messages were sent causing the Germans to
    expect other locations for the invasion.
    1. By late August, Allied forces liberated Paris.
    a. People who had cooperated with the Nazis

  • battle of bulge

    1. Germany was pressed between a closing Soviet army from the east and the Allies from
    France.
    1. Germans, outnumbering the Americans broke through the lines in December of 1944, but
    the Allies managed to hold key towns and roads to contain the advance.
    1. A shortage of fuel made the Germans attempts limited as the battle raged.
    2. In January of 1945, Allies attacked and pressed the Germans past the gains made by the
    last chance efforts.

  • victory in europe

    In late April 1945, American and Soviet Soldiers met in eastern Germany.
    1. On April 30, 1945, as Soviets closed in on his bunker, Hitler committed suicide.
    a. To the end, he blamed the German people and the incompetence of his Generals for b. In the final stages of the war, he became irrational. He ordered troops into battle that c. Immediately before his death, he married his mistress, Ava Braun, who committed 3. Germany surrendered unconditionally and May 8, 1945, became V