Tommy's Notes Repository

7 - 3 Theaters and Turning Points

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Theaters and Turning Points

The War Begins

Sept 1 1939

Germany attacks Poland

World War II begins

Bliztkreig

Devastating Effects

Polish air force destroyed

Soldiers no match for the German Army

No natural barriers in the way

Support For Poland

Britain and France declared war on Germany

Allies gave no real help

Poland fell into German hands

Polish Underground State is formed

German Troops are in Position

On germany’s western border

Hitler is eager for assault on France

Plans for invasion are made

Polish Home Army ( Polish resistance ) largest resistance movement in EU

Winter War and White Death

  • Stalin has purged his experienced military commanders
  • Invasion of Finland (1939-1940)
  • Brutally cold weather faced both sides with temperatures falling to -45 degrees farenheit
  • Despite a very strong showing by the Finnish army and by individuals like Simo Hayha the Finnish government would eventually surrender
  • After the invasion of the USSR by Germany, Finland restarted war with the Soviets in what became known as the Continuation War
  • Finnish officers would join the Nazi army and serve in the Waffen SS

Maginot Line

  • France builds a near impenetrable defensive line along the shared German border. Germany goes around it through Belgium.

1940-1941

Attack on France

  • Denmark and Norway captured; the Netherlands and Belgium followed

  • Tank attack through the Ardennes; overwhelmed light resistance there using Blitzkrieg strategies under command of Erwin Rommel

  • Bypassed the French Maginot Line

  • Heroic Dunkirk rescue; France surrendered in June 1940

    • Saved over 300,000 British Troops

    Battle for Britain

  • Great Britain stood alone against German war machine; Churchill now leader

  • Hitler bombed civilian targets (The Blitz)

  • Radar technology secret weapon for air defense

  • British stood firm during Battle of Britain; Hitler called off invasion plans.

French Resistance

  • After the fall of France to Germany in 1940, French people from all walks of life joined together to both passively and actively resist the Vichy Fascist government and Nazi Germany
  • Instrumental in helping the Allies rapid advance through France after D-Day

USA?

  • Lend Lease 1941 Spring
  • Us to ship arms and supplies, without immediate payment to nations fighting the AXIS
  • Atlantic Charter August 1941
  • Roosevelt and Churchill meet and draft document-
  1. No territorial expansion
  2. People have right to choose own government
  3. Build a secure peace 26 countries sign-The Allies To fight the Axis

Invasion of the Soviet Union

  • June 1941, Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union had initial successes
  • Largest invasion force in human history with nearly 4 million soldiers, 600,000 motor vehicles and 600,000 horses
  • Opened up fighting on the Eastern front; Nazis deliberately starved millions of people
  • Major goals of Leningrad and Moscow not reached before harsh Soviet winter; the eventual enslavement, and genocide of the native peoples.
  • Soviet armies had time to rebuild and would fight back

Operation Barbarossa

  • German goal was to invade USSR and capture Moscow within 4 months. Invasion was started in June of 1941

  • Planned stalled on the outskirts of the capital

  • German forces pushed out in 1943 by Marshall Zhukov who was instrumental in the defense of Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow

  • Zhukov would eventually led soviet forces all the way to Berlin

    A Turning Point in the Soviet Union

  • 1941 German invasion halted with winter

  • German equipment failed in bitter cold

  • Poorly equipped troops suffered greatly

Leningrad

  • Citizens under siege in Hitler’s attempt to force a surrender
  • Winter of 1941—1942, thousands starved to death daily
  • Siege of Leningrad cost 1 million civilian lives

Stalingrad

  • In the spring of 1942, Hitler ordered renewed assaults on the Soviet Union. He assembled troops from Italy, Romania, and Hungary. Even with fuel shortages, Axis forces fought well initially

On the Volga River

  • Germans poised to take Stalingrad
  • Key industrial city for Soviets
  • Factories supplied Soviet armies
  • Ports shipped grain, oil, and other products throughout country

Brutal Battle

  • City bombed into rubble; German troops moved in
  • Hold city at all costs
  • Gregory Zhukov led Soviet counterattack
  • Axis soldiers with no food or ammunition
  • Hitler — “Surrender is forbidden”

Final Victory

  • German officers surrendered early February 1943
  • 1 million Soviet dead
  • Crushing defeat for Hitler; once invincible German army in retreat.
  • Battle of Stalingrad turning point in war

War in North Africa and Italy

Italian and British forces battled for control of North Africa. The Suez Canal and the oil fields of the Middle East were essential to the British war effort. After Italian forces failed against the British, Hitler was forced to send German troops to support the Italians.

Back-and-forth fighting

  • Afrika Krops led by Erwin Rommel
  • Pushed British back into Egypt
  • Traded blows for two years
  • 1942- Battle of El Alamein
  • British victory under Gen. Bernard Montgomery
  • Axis power lessened in North Africa

Americans join the battle

  • Soviets wanted European front opened up
  • Invasion of western North Africa
  • General Dwight D Eisenhower led troops
  • Rommel caught between forces in east and west
  • Supply problems worsened
  • May 1943—surrendered to Allies

Nearly 250000 Axis soldiers taken prisoner; with surrender, all of North Africa in Allied hands.

Allied Invasion of Italy

  • After defeating the Axis in North Africa, Churchill looked to Italy to further weaken the Axis.
  • Popular support for the War among Italian citizens was low
  • After a successful invasion of Scility, the Allies invaded Italiy in September of 1943.
  • Italy surrendered within days and Nazi Germany puts it under Puppet Rule.

Liberation of Italy

  • From 1943-1945 the allies fought in Italy until the surrender of the German allied forces in May 1945.
  • Most costly campaign on the Western Front in terms of infantry lives lost
  • Battle of Anzio Jan-June 1944 ended with the capture of Rome.

Audie Murphy

  • The single most decorated soldier of World War II, fought in the Italian campaign and the French liberation and at the Battle of Anzio, where the poem comes from
  • Earned every medal possible for the military in the US
  • Later became a Hollywood actor that starred in a movie about himself during World War II

Operation Overlord

  • Codename given to the allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6th 1944.
  • General Dwight Eisenhower was named Supreme Commander of the operation.
  • 160,000 troops crossed the English channel

D-Day

  • Ultimate goal was to liberate France and march towards Berlin to end the war.
  • Beginning of the end

A Turning Point in the Pacific

  • The attack on pearl harbor was an enormous success for japan .

  • The damage took time to overcome; U.S. ability to strike back was limited.

  • Three Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers undamaged

    • Air power provided support for allied ground and naval forces
    • Japanese navy still ruled the seas
    • Allies focused on Europe

  • Vital territory fell to Japanese

    • Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma and strategic islands
    • Target —U.S.-held Philippines
    • US general Douglas MacArthur led doomed defense
    • Americans surrendered in April 1942

  • Bataan Death March

    • Forced march of 70000 American and Fillipino prisoners
    • Brutal violence, tropical heat, and lack of food or water
    • Many survivors perished in inhumane prison camps

Battle of Midway

  • June 1942—high seas battle
  • Midway is a strategic island - home to US military base
  • Japanese advantage — more ships and carriers
  • US advantage — Japanese code broken by Cpt. Joseph J Rochefort of US Navy
  • Admiral Chester Nimitz responsible for Allied victory; Japan’s navy suffered terrible blow
  • Midway turning point in the Pacific

Island Hopping

  • A term used to describe the fighting in the Pacific
  • US and Japan would go from island to island fighting for control
  • Japan controlled most of the islands in the Pacific
  • US picked strategic islands to fight for — Why ?

Battle of Guadacanal Campaign

  • US attacks a Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal a part of the Solomon islands. First major land offensive against Japan .
  • U.S launches a surprise attack on the Japanese forces.
  • Despite the surprise attack it took 6 months for the US to gain control .

Iwo Jima-Operation Detachment

  • Tiny volcanic Islands in the pacific North West
    • Important Japanese airbase
  • Feb 1945 to March 1945
  • 660 Miles south of Tokyo
  • Famous photograph of US troops raising flag

Battle of Okinawa

  • April to June 1945
  • Second largest amphibious battle of WWII
  • Bloodiest battle of the Pacific War

Desmond Doss

  • Combat Medic who served with the 77th Infantry Division
  • Was a Conscientious Objector: Refused to fire a gun or kill and hurt people during the war, due to being a Seventh Day Adventist
  • Rescued 75 people on Okinawa after a Japanese bombardment while seriously wounded and refusing to seek shelter or medical aid, earning him the Medal of Honor.