JohnsonK2013+INO-+Global+War+March+1+2011+(Part+1)

= Global War - Part 1 = toc

=Awesome=





=1. From Lightning to Phoney War= - German forces invaded Poland on 1 Sept. 1939
 * key to victory = **Blitzkrieg** (lightning war)

Blitzkrieg
- aim of blitzkrieg: smash an enemy's defenses with a sudden, combined attack by aircraft, tanks and infantry - Poland: attack started by bomber aircrafts - at the same time, German forces crossed the Polish border to fight the Polish army - By 17 Sept. Western Poland captured
 * destroyed most of the Polish Air Force
 * blew up roads and railways
 * blew up factories and power stations
 * began bombing the Poles with **Stuka dive-bombers**
 * then tanks crushed the Polish defenses
 * finally, the infantries killed any of the survivors
 * Germany and USSR had a secret agreement
 * USSR invaded Eastern Poland
 * Warsaw surrendered, Poland = defeated

The Suffering of the Poles
- Blitzkrieg: both the soldiers and civilians were involved with the fighting
 * the effects of blitzkrieg described by eye witnesses were published in Britain in 1940 //**The Polish Black Book**//

The "Phoney War"
- Britain and France promised to defend Poland against attack - However, it was difficult for them to defend Poland - Both countries prepared for war - 9months, no fighting between Britain, France and Germany
 * 2days after the invasion, they declared wat on Germany
 * Britain: navy + army = small
 * France: not ready to fight
 * Poland was too far away
 * Britain and France did nothing to stop Germany
 * Britain sent a British Expeditionary Force to France
 * while France placed her armies along the frontier with Germany and Belgium
 * Night-time **blackout** forbade people to use lights in the open at night
 * people had to carry gas-masks
 * French "Odd War"
 * British "**Phoney War**"

=2. The Fall of Western Europe=

Germany Attacks Norway
- "Phoney War" ended when the Germans invaded Norway, April 1940 - German forces quickly captured Narvik, Trondheim and Bergen on the Atlantic Coast - The British tried to stop the invasion - In the House of Commons in Britain, people blamed the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain
 * Hitler ordered the invasion while the British Royal Navy liad mines along the Norwegian coast
 * British aim: stop iron ore being taken by rail and ship from N.Sweden to Germany
 * took Oslo
 * occupied Denmark
 * The R.Navy sank many German ships
 * but the British forces were poorly trained, poorly equipped and did not have enough fighter planes to protect themselves from German air forces
 * within weeks, retreat
 * he resign and replaced by **Winston Churchill**
 * formed a National Govt. a coalition which included members of the Conservative, Labor and Liberal parties.

Germany Attacks the West
- soon after Poland, Hitler's aim was to smash France and force Britain to surrender - **Operation Yellow** (10 May 1940): blitzkrieg into Holland and Belgium, then invaded France - French + British organized a seaborne rescue operation for the half-a-million soldiers trapped there - Evacuation = a great defeat
 * French were unexpected
 * forced the British and French armies to retreat to **Dunkirk** on the Channel coast
 * half were able to get on the ships
 * 26 May - 4 June: 338,226 men escaped
 * 70,000 KIA, MIA
 * 2500 Big guns, 90,000 rifles, 64,000 vehicles behind
 * 150,000 French allies abandoned
 * 1/3 mil of the soldiers will soon fight again

The Fall of France
- British driven out = Germans new attack on France - Germans advance :: French govt. fled
 * Prime Minister resigned, replaced by a retied army general, **Marshall Petain**
 * signed an armistice
 * Germans occupied all northern and eastern France
 * south governed by Marshal Petain based in the town of **Vichy**

Britain Alone
- < a year, Germans conquered 6 European nations, only Britain was still in war with Germany - Hitler thought Britain would sign an armistice, however Churchill rejected the offer - Britain quickly prepared to defend - a stand alone against Germany 1940
 * Hitler then ordered to invade Britain
 * over a mil men joined a volunteer defense force "**Home Guard**"
 * Road signs were painted out and the names of railway stations removed
 * scrap metal for making tanks and plans
 * King George VI: intended to die fighting

=3. Battle Over Britain= - **Operation Sealion**: code-name for a cross-Channel invasion of England

Operation Sealion
- **Luftwaffe**: the German air force was ordered to keep the British RAF from sinking the invasion boats/ships
 * 10 July 1940: Bomber planes attacked British ships and bombed ports
 * 3000 Luftwaffe vs the British RAF, not as strong as they seemed
 * more bombers but same amount of fighters
 * German fighters had limited amount of fuel therefore limited targets within 150-kim radius
 * British had a chain of radar stations, able to predict the German movements
 * **Battle of Britain**

The Battle of Britain
- Luftwaffe shot down many RAF fighters and damaged the RAF airfields, RAF was close to defeat - 7 Sept. Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack London, in revenge for British air-raids on Berlin - The RAF controlled the air over Britain
 * not enough pilots
 * gave RAF time to rebuild and reorganize
 * RAF was able to break up the Luftwaffe bombers with a new formation
 * Luftwaffe lost 60 aircrafts and heavy damaged
 * switched to night time bombing
 * Hitler cancelled the Operation because he realized that he was under risk

The Blitz
- Luftwaffe's strategy of bombing different parts of the city (railroads on one day, factories on the other) was called the **Blitz** - British had many preparations against bombing - Blitz did less damage because of these preparations
 * civilian defense organization- Air Raid Precautions (ARP)
 * All citizens, including children, were issued gas-masks
 * Air-raid shelters were constructed -garden
 * **Morrison** shelters - indoors
 * Air raid sirens in different areas
 * Barrage balloons above cities
 * forcing aircrafts to fly higher, less chance of hitting targets
 * 'Blackout' regulations banned the use of street lights, car headlamps or any other light
 * did not destroy the morale of the population
 * did not reduce the production of factories
 * 3.5 mil homes destroyed, 1/4 mil homeless and 60,595 killed

=4. The Mediterranean War= - Summer 1940: much of Europe was under German control
 * only Britain left
 * Britain could only attack in the Mediterranean region = lull in the European war

Importance of the Meditteranean
- Mussolini, dictator of Italy wanted land around the Mediterranean - The Mediterranean was a vital trade route between Britain and her colonies in the Middle and Far East - Hitler: Mediterranean was less important - 1940- 3 countries, struggle for control of the Mediterranean
 * rebuild the ancient Roman Empire and make the Mediterranean the "Italian Lake"
 * Naval bases at Gibraltar and Malta protected this route
 * British army in Egypt protected the Suez Canal
 * promised Mussolini that it should belong to Italy
 * generals wanted to drive the British out of their Mediterranean bases, conquest of Egypt and the Middle East
 * oil supplies in Iraq and Persia
 * Balkan and North-eastern Africa

War in the Balkans
- Mussolini+Hitler because of the Rome-Berlin Axis - Italian soldiers, poorly equipped and trained were defeated by the Greeks and driven back to Albania - November 1940, British aircraft attacked Italian navy at Taranto - Hitler decided to help - Germany also invaded Greece
 * Hitler did not consult him before invading Poland and Yugoslavia
 * therefore, Mussolini resented this and invaded Greece without consulting Hitler
 * drew back to Naples, leaving the British in control of the Mediterranean
 * feared that the British would set up RAF bases in Greece and bomb Romania (oil fields)
 * Germany moved into Romania and forced the Balkans to join
 * Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria agreed to join
 * Germany invaded Yugoslavia when it refused
 * Churchill sent help but failed
 * Balkan states all under Axis control
 * Crete in May 1940

War in North Africa
- Sept. 1940 300,000 Italian invaded Egypt. VS 36000 British, Australian, Indian and N.Zealand troops - Feb. 1941 British had destroyed ten Italian army divisions - 1941, Churchill sent O'Connor's soldiers to help defend Greece, Hitler sent General Rommel and the German Africa Korps to N/Africa - General Wavell (commander of the british forces in Africa) tried to halt the advance of Rommel at Halfaya - middle of 1941 Britain's prospects in the Mediterranean war seemed poor
 * British General O'Connor attack the Italian base at Sidi Barrani
 * surprise attack = won
 * captured Italian bases at Bardia, Tobruk, Benghazi and El Algheila
 * overwhelming victory
 * Rommel was able to counter-attack
 * Driven the British all the way back to the Egyptian border
 * 91 tanks were destroyed and had to withdraw
 * June 22, the Mediterranean war stopped to be the center of war
 * Struggle for world power

=Summary= The Germans invaded Poland with Blitzkrieg. Britain and France then declared war on Germany however nothing happened in the first 6 months, "Phoney War." German later invaded western Europe and captured Holland, Denmark, Belgium and France. Britain was the only country left that Germany had to capture. Operation Sealion was to invade Britain but it failed. The Mediterranean was valuable for Britain, Italy and Germany, therefore they fought for control over it.

=Questions= 1. What was the Blitzkrieg strategy? 2. Why did Operation Sealion fail? 3. What was the blackout regulation? Was it successful? 4. Why was it called the "Phoney War"? 5. Why was the Mediterranean so valuable for the 3 countries?