THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-45
9.1 Wartime Alliances
May 1939 Pact of Steel required both
countries to help each other in war.
Britain would not ally with the USSR
because:
- Feared Communism
- Knew about mass murder
- Believed that the Red army was useless because of purges
Stalin believed he was on his own and
signed a 10-year Non-aggression Pact with Hitler.
Also called Nazi-Soviet Pact or
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, it had secret clauses that allowed Germany to take ½
of Poland and the USSR to have the rest and the Baltic States.
After Barbarossa the alliance with Britain
and France happened.
The US sided with Britain and France
because:
- Concern about Nazism
- Ethnic ties
- Big business would lose if Hitler took over Europe
1940 Roosevelt started the ‘Lend-lease
Programme’ that would loan arms to Britain while the war lasted.
December 1941 Pearl Harbour the US declared
war.
The Allies = Britain, France, USA and USSR
The Axis = Germany, Italy and Japan.
9.2 A Run of German Victories
1st September 1939 invasion of
Poland.
Blitzkrieg destroyed Poland in 2 weeks.
By the end of October Poland was divided.
The Phoney War
Winter 1939-40. No fighting
France felt safe behind the Maginot line.
Germany stayed behind the Siegfried Line.
Britain sent the BEF.
In April Hitler took control of Norway,
Sweden and Denmark.
Quisling became head of a puppet government
in Norway.
In May the Netherlands, Luxembourg and
Belgium surrendered
The Fall of France
In June Churchill, who had just become PM,
had to evacuate the BEF from Dunkirk.
Petain became leader of the Vichy government.
Mussolini, who sensed a German victory,
declared war.
Dunkirk Evacuation
Britain Alone
Operation Sea Lion.
Goring’s Luftwaffe V Air Marshall Hugh
Dowding’s RAF
The Battle of Britain July 1940 to June
1941
The Blitz.
9.3 The Soviet State at War
November 1939 the USSR invaded Finland.
They made such hard work out of it that Hitler was convinced an invasion of
USSR would be easy.
Operation Barbarossa
June 1941 3 million men in a 3 pronged
attack on Leningrad, Moscow and the Caucasian oilfields.
500,000 died in a900 day siege of
Leningrad. Still the Russians held out until help came.
General Zhukov and ‘General Winter’ pushed
the Germans back in Moscow.
General Von Paulus 6th army sent
to Stalingrad.
Zhukov defended at all costs. Hitler
wouldn’t let Von Paulus surrender. He had to in the end.
The German army started to retreat.
Russian victory in tank battle at Kursk.
Reasons for Soviet Victory
- Hitler delayed Barbarossa for 2 months in order to help Mussolini in Greece.
- General Winter
- Russians dismantled factories and moved them east.
- Nazi brutality galvanised Russians
- Soviet scorched-earth policy
9.4 Allied Victory
American build-up
Montgomery’s victory over Rommel at El
Alamein and Eisenhower’s trapping of the enemy at Tunis meant the way was clear
to attack Germany through Italy.
Mussolini deposed but set up as a puppet
ruler.
Germans defended Italy fiercely.
Operation Overlord
German ‘Atlantic Wall’
Eisenhower in charge of D-day, 6th
June 1944.
Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword
General Patton landed in the South of
France and linked with the Normandy troops.
Eisenhower and Montgomery quarrelled but
Eisenhower’s more cautious approach prevailed.
General Von Runstedt lost the Battle of the
Bulge. Last chance over.
April 1945 Hitler committed suicide on the
same day the Russians entered Berlin.
8th May VE day
Normandy Landings
Japan Surrenders
After Pearl Harbour, Japan continued its
conquest of Asia.
1942 the Battle of the Coral Sea sank the
‘Lexington’(aircraft carrier)
Battle of Midway defeated the Japanese
Fleet (kamakazi)
Japan’s refusal to surrender in the battles
for islands led to the use of atomic bombs.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Attack on Pearl Harbour
Dropping Atomic Bomb
The Grand Alliance
This refers to the fact that the allied
leaders were prepared to sink their differences until Hitler was defeated.
They met at wartime conferences:
- 1943 Tehran Conference. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed that a second front be opened in France. A replacement for the League of Nations should be set up.
- February 1945 Yalta. They advanced a charter for the UN but failed to agree on the future of Poland.
- 1945 (after the war) Potsdam decided on division of Germany but already cracks were appearing
9.5 The Technology of War
Infantry
Lighter, faster-firing rifles developed.
British Lee Enfield. German Karabiner.
The mortar became the soldiers’ own light
artillery.
Tanks
Very prominent role.
US Sherman V Panzer
El Alamein and Kursk
Rockets
V1 and V2 defeated when the launching sites
were bombed.
Planes
Most important.
British Hurricanes and Spitfires (pilot’s
favourite) V Messerschmidt
Stuka dive bomber used in Blitzkrieg
German big bombers Heinkel and Junker
British Lancaster and Wellington
US Flying Fortress
Use of radar important
Code
Thousands employed at Bletchley Park to
crack Enigma.
Success led directly to the defeat of
Rommel in North Africa.
Allied Bombing
Luftwaffe no real threat after the Battle
of Britain.
Sir Arthur Harris (bomber) started with
‘surgical strikes’ but RAF losses were high.
Then adopted ‘carpet bombing’ of German
cities (Dresden, Cologne, Berlin)
Ended the war quicker. Morality?
The Atomic Bomb
1942 a team of British and US scientists
embarked on the ‘Manhattan Project’
Harry Truman approved the Enola Gay.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Led to quick
surrender.
The Sea
Germany relied on small battleships and
U-Boats.
U Boats
The Schnorkel tube made U-Boats very
effective until escorted convoys, the centrimetric radar, and the Hedgehog depth charge were introduced.
The US and the Japanese made great use of
aircraft carriers but US established dominence at the Battle of Midway.
Fallen of WW2
Winston Churchill
We Shall fight on the beaches
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