BLITZKRIEG

THE RAMONES

DENMARK
WHAT IS THE BLITZKRIEG?

• GERMAN WAR TACTICS

• MEANS “LIGHTNING WAR”
NORWAY • USES ARMORED COLUMNS
• 300 TANKS (PANZER DIVISION)
• SUPPORTED BY AIRPLANES
YOU CAPTURED • BREAKS THROUGH ENEMY LINES
BLITZKRIEG BOP POLAND • ENCIRCLES THEM
• FAST, EFFICIENT, SUDDEN

BELGIUM POLAND SURRENDERED ON

SEPTEMBER 1939.
POLAND GERMANY & THE USSR DIVIDED
POLAND
NETHERLANDS FRANCE
 AN ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED BETWEEN FRANCE &
FRANCE GERMANY IN JUNE 1940. THE NAZIS NOW CONTROLLED
3/5 OF FRANCE. IT WAS KNOWN AS VICHY FRANCE.

GERMANS WENT AROUND &

ATTACKED THROUGH DUNKIRK
BELGIUM US POSITION:

MAGINOT LINE 1. DENOUNCED AGGRESSORS FRANKLIN D.

2. ISOLATIONISM ROOSEVELT
CONCRETE & STEEL FORTIFICATIONS 3. NEUTRALITY
ARMED WITH HEAVY ARTILLERY
BUILT BY FRANCE AS A DEFENSE WANTED TO AVOID CONFLICT.
SYSTEM.
BRITAIN

VS

GERMAN’S AIR FORCE (LUFTWAFFE) BOMBED AIR &

THE BRITISH FOUGHT BACK & USED A RADAR SYSTEM
NAVAL BASES, HARBORS, COMMUNICATIONS & WAR
FOR EARLY WARNING.
INDUSTRIES.
INFLICTED MAJOR LOSSES ON LUFTWAFFE BOMBERS.
THEN STARTED BOMBING BRITISH CITIES.

HITLER POSTPONED INVASION INDEFINITELY.

WINSTON CHURCHILL
PRIME MINISTER

GERMANY INVADED THE SOVIET UNION IN JUNE, 1941.
THE ATTACK WAS MASSIVE (2,900 KM LONG)
AT FIRST THEY ADVANCED QUICKLY CAPTURING:
USSR
WINTER CAME EARLIER & THE GERMANS HAD
NOT PLANNED FOR WINTER UNIFORMS.
THE SOVIETS RESISTED FIERCELY &

• UKRAINE PUSHED THE GERMANS BACK.

• LENINGRAD
• 2 MILLION RUSSIAN SOLDIERS BY DECEMBER, THE SOVIET ARMY
HAD RECOVERED SOME TERRITORY.
 JAPAN AT WAR
PEARL HARBOR

ON DECEMBER 7, 1941, JAPANESE AIRCRAFT ATTACKED

THE U.S. NAVAL BASE AT PEARL HARBOR IN HAWAII.

• 350 AIRCRAFT DESTROYED

• 18 SUNKEN SHIPS
• 3,500 AMERICANS KILLED
THE GREATER EAST ASIA
CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE
THE SAME DAY, INVADED THE
REST OF SOUTHEAST ASIA AND
WESTERN PACIFIC.

A NEW GLOBAL CONFLICT

HIDEKI TŌJŌ

HITLER DECLARES
WAR ON THE US

JAPAN’S PRIMER MINISTER &

MILITARY DICTATOR.

HE HOPED THAT WITH THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK,

ROOSEVELT DECLARES WAR ON
THE US ACCEPTED JAPANESE DOMINATION OF THE
JAPAN & JOINS THE EUROPEAN
PACIFIC.
COUNTRIES.
A RECAP
 MAGIC SLIDE
• HITLER USED BLITZKRIEG TACTICS TO QUICKLY CONQUER POLAND, DIVIDING THE COUNTRY WITH THE SOVIET UNION IN 1939. IN 1940, HE LAUNCHED A SURPRISE
ATTACK ON DENMARK, NORWAY, THE NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM, AND FRANCE, USING PANZER DIVISIONS TO BYPASS THE HEAVILY FORTIFIED MAGINOT LINE. THE
GERMAN ARMY SUCCESSFULLY TRAPPED FRENCH TROOPS AND THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE BEACHES OF DUNKIRK, BUT THE BRITISH MANAGED TO EVACUATE OVER
300,000 TROOPS WITH THE HELP OF THE ROYAL NAVY AND CIVILIANS IN PRIVATE BOATS.

• THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN CONTINUED THROUGH THE SUMMER AND FALL OF 1940, AS THE ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF) DEFENDED THE SKIES OVER ENGLAND. THE
GERMANS HOPED TO DESTROY THE RAF AND GAIN AIR SUPERIORITY, BUT THEY WERE ULTIMATELY UNSUCCESSFUL. THE BRITISH USED ADVANCED RADAR
TECHNOLOGY TO DETECT INCOMING GERMAN PLANES AND DEPLOYED SKILLED PILOTS IN THEIR FIGHTER PLANES, INCLUDING THE FAMOUS SPITFIRE AND
HURRICANE MODELS.

• BY THE END OF OCTOBER 1940, HITLER POSTPONED HIS PLANS FOR A FULL-SCALE INVASION OF BRITAIN, RECOGNIZING THAT AIR SUPERIORITY WAS NOT
GUARANTEED. THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN WAS A SIGNIFICANT VICTORY FOR THE BRITISH, AS THEY HAD SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED THEIR ISLAND AGAINST A MAJOR
ATTACK FROM GERMANY. THE BATTLE ALSO MARKED A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR, AS IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT HITLER'S MILITARY FORCES HAD BEEN
STOPPED.

• THE GERMAN ARMY, HOWEVER, WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THE HARSH RUSSIAN WINTER, WHICH SLOWED ITS PROGRESS. THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND CIVILIANS
FOUGHT BACK FIERCELY, USING TACTICS SUCH AS SCORCHED-EARTH POLICIES AND GUERRILLA WARFARE. THE GERMANS WERE ALSO HAMPERED BY THEIR
OVEREXTENDED SUPPLY LINES AND BY THE VAST DISTANCES THEY HAD TO COVER. AS THE WINTER SET IN, GERMAN TROOPS BECAME INCREASINGLY DEMORALIZED
AND THEIR ADVANCE SLOWED TO A HALT.

• THE TIDE OF THE WAR BEGAN TO TURN AGAINST GERMANY, AS THE SOVIET UNION RECEIVED AID FROM THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER ALLIED POWERS. THE
GERMAN ARMY WAS EVENTUALLY FORCED TO RETREAT, AND BY THE END OF 1942, IT HAD BEEN PUSHED BACK TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF STALINGRAD. IN FEBRUARY
1943, GERMAN FORCES IN STALINGRAD SURRENDERED, MARKING A MAJOR TURNING POINT IN THE WAR.

• IN DECEMBER 1941, JAPAN ATTACKED THE US NAVAL BASE AT PEARL HARBOR, WHICH LED TO THE US JOINING THE WAR EFFORT AGAINST JAPAN. BY THE SPRING OF
1942, ALMOST ALL OF SOUTHEAST ASIA AND MUCH OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC HAD FALLEN TO THE JAPANESE. JAPAN DECLARED THE CREATION OF A "COMMUNITY"
OF NATIONS UNDER ITS DIRECTION, AND PRIME MINISTER HIDEKI TŌJŌ BECAME A VIRTUAL MILITARY DICTATOR. HOWEVER, THE JAPANESE MISCALCULATED AS THE
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR UNIFIED AMERICAN OPINION ABOUT BECOMING INVOLVED IN THE WAR. THE UNITED STATES JOINED WITH EUROPEAN NATIONS AND
NATIONALIST CHINA IN A COMBINED EFFORT TO DEFEAT JAPAN.