Ch 6 notes

War in Europe. September 1939 : Germany invaded Poland, and Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR by the end of the month. May and June 1940 : Germany began the Blitzkrieg, conquering Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Blitzreig:- Involved making swift and focused attacks using mobile forces to overwhelm the enemy. Benefits: Speed; Surprise; Superior firepower – coordinated air and land attacks; Main reason for strategy: Lacked important resources such as copper, rubber and oil to support long drawn-out campaigns and it also avoided military stalemate. How it worked: 1. Fast moving vehicles were used to take enemy forces by surprise and create openings for infantry troops to move in. 2. Junkers 52 transport planes were used to carry paratroopers which would land behind enemy lines to capture key bridges, airports and other vital infrastructure ahead of their main forces. 3. Germans used modern attack aircraft to break up enemy forces and defences and damaged much infrastructure 4. Modern, powerful field radios were used to coordinate air and land forces, enabling German troops to work together effectively. By late May 1940, the British and French were surrounded and faced a total defeat. They retreated to Dunkirk and at that point, they were vulnerable and could have been defeated. However, Hitler's generals felt that they needed to slow down and consolidate the German forces so that they would not be vulnerable to attack. July 1940 - May 1941 : Germany began intensive bombing/ the Blitz, in the battle of Britain June 1941 : Operation Barbarossa Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression pact and attacked the USSR. --> Hitler wanted to destroy communism and expand German territory into Eastern Europe and the USSR. -->Hitler could also access the USSR's vast resources. August 1942 - February 1943 : USSR counterattacked German forces at Stalingrad. The Siege of Stalingrad was where German forces were defeated by the USSR --> a turning point in WW2 & a huge victory for USSR. July-August 1943 : Germany launched an attack on the city of Kursk. Soviet forces were able to halt and counter German attacks. June 1944 : Allies launched Operation D-Day. Allied troops landed in Normandy and began a slow advance across France and towards Germany. German forces tried to launch a counterattack in 1944 through the Ardennes Forest but were steadily driven back. German troops were forced to retreat and Soviet troops encircled Berlin by Jan 1945. April 1945 : Allies entered Berlin and Hitler committed suicide. 8 May 1945 : Germany surrendered.

Strengths of the Allies USA (Economic & military strength) Military resources in terms of manpower (soldiers), war machinery (weapons, ammunition, ships, aircrafts), and other resources (food, raw materials) were unmatched After Pearl Harbour bombing, war production increased to an even more staggering volume →US rebuilt its fleet and trained troops and produced weapons and other essential equipment quickly. Speed of US industrial production → In 1943, three cargo ships were completed daily. Soon, the US was building more ships then the U-boats were sinking. → battle of atlantic “Arsenal of Democracy” → cos’ by 1944 – US was producing about half of the weapons made globally and twice of G-J combined The war production of the Axis powers never exceeded the Allies, mostly due to the US’ staggering output. Morale and Motivation of the People → the US turned the attack on Pearl Harbour to its advantage. Its people, factories, shipyards, farms and even Hollywood and the movie industry willingly participated in the war-effort. Britain (Control of the Atlantic Ocean, 1939-45) British intelligence • Able to allow Britain to survive and hold out before US entry • Could turn the tides of war on various occasions E.g. – Battle of the Atlantic: Control of shipping routes across the Atlantic • US military power would be worthless if the supplies cannot cross the Atlantic to bolster its allies. • German U-boats were very effective in the Battle of the Atlantic, sinking thousands of the Allies ships and reducing the British navy to having only 2 months’ supply of oil • Developed better tracking technology to steer clear of German U-boats & safely escort convoys • British intelligence broke the secret codes used by the U-boats in 1943 and successfully avoided them and enabled the USA to overcome the German U-boats threats and control the Atlantic Ocean by 1943 • By the second half of 1943, the Germans were losing more U-boats than Allied ships that they were sinking. → leading to the campaign to be called off British technology E.g. – Battle of Britain • Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) had comparable fighter aircraft (Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane) • Possessed new technology of radar to detect enemy aircraft Huge military base Britain also allowed itself to become a huge military base for the Allies including being a base from where the Allies eventually launched their successful D-Day landings in 1944 USSR (Operation Barbarossa) Reorganisation and Resistance Operation Barbarossa was initially successful-->Stalin was on the verge of abandoning Moscow However, German troops were halted by the harsh winter.

Stalin used the winter to reorganise the Soviet war effort and made use of the resources from the US Lend-Lease Scheme. Not only did the Soviets persisted in their attack against the Germans ( →Harsh discipline was used so that the army would fight for every bit of Russian soil.) , they also were able to developed new and more effective weapons such as tanks in large numbers as well as intercepting the Germans radio messages E.g. Radio communications were adopted and were placed in all tanks and aircrafts E.g. Specialist units were created to listen in on German radio signals and disrupt them. By 1943, these units were disrupting almost ⅔ of German radio messages. →Successfully encircled the Germans, leading them to their defeat, when they advanced into Stalingrad Resources and Production Using harsh measures, Soviets were forced to keep up with the high demand of weapons -Eg. Adults in USSR received no food unless they work in some way for the war effort -Eg. Forced labour was used and the secret police also kept close control of the population. The USSR’s production of weapons equalled and surpassed German war production in 1942. By 1943, the USSR produced one and a half times as many aircraft and twice as many tanks as the Germans. Despite Germany capturing the USSR’s agricultural and industrial capacity, they were able to shift its major industrial comp