Topic 21 Discussion 106 The Years of Axis Triumph

1. Nazi Europe, 1939 – 1940: Poland and the Fall of France

a. 1939 Germany invaded Poland

i. Luftwaffe

ii. Blitzkrieg

b. Poland was under German control within a month

c. USSR moved into the eastern half of Poland

i. Baltic states

ii. Finland was invaded

1. Combined resistance of Finns, French, and British helped Finland maintain its independence

d. 1940 Germans invaded Norway and Denmark

i. Interest in Swedish steel and access to the Atlantic

e. May 1940 Germany invaded Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

i. Sent their main forces through the Ardennes forest

ii. Out flanked the Maginot line to the north and entered France

iii. Belgium surrendered

iv. Large part of the French army surrendered

v. Heroic effort was made to extract the British army with some of the French army

vi. By 6/1940 France sued for peace and Germany was in control of France

1. Free French movement begins to organize under General Charles de Gaulle

2. Resistance movement began to form within France

vii. Vichy Government

1. Marshal Petain

2. Pierre Laval

3. Liberty Equality Fraternity was banned

4. French fascist groups move into control

5. Collaborted with the Nazis to integrate Vichy France into the new order

a. Sent French workers as slaves to Germany

b. Sent French Jews to Germany

viii. Italy attacked France in the south when it was clear Hitler was in control of the north

1. Turned on Greece

2. Moved against the British in Africa

ix. The Axis powers control as much of Europe as Napoleon did

1. Continental system

2. POW camps as slave labor

3. Many of Europe’s citizens were aligned with the ideals of Nazi Germany

a. When Germany invaded USSR 500,000 non-Germans fought in the army

f. The Battle of Britain and American Aid

i. US began to send arms and supplies to Britain

1. 1941 Lend-Lease

ii. German air raids were eventually repelled by the RAF

1. RADAR

2. Enigma

3. Morale of the civilian population was not broken

iii. Germany began to shift its attention to Russia

2. The Nazi Invasion of Russia: The Russian Front, 1941 – 1942

a. USSR was expanding in the Baltic and the Balkans

i. Regaining territory lost in WWI

b. Germany threw support into the Balkans and prevented USSR from expanding to the Mediterranean

c. 6/1941 Germany invaded USSR

i. By the fall Germany stood outside the “Gates”

1. Leningrad

2. Sebstopol

3. Moscow

ii. Winter approached

iii. Stalin launched a counter offensive

1. Military complex was located east of the Urals

iv. Hitler refocused on the south

1. Sebastopole fell

2. Battle of Stalingrad

v. Albert Speer directed the war effort and tripled German war production

3. 1942, the Year of Dismay: Russia, North Africa, the Pacific

a. German advance into USSR was not producing needed resources

i. Scorched earth retreat of USSR army

ii. Shift of military complex to east of Urals

iii. Guerilla attacks by Soviet resistance forces

b. North African campaign

i. Britain displaced Italian forces and controlled the Suez

ii. Germany under Rommel was threatening to control the canal

c. Germany was making gains around the Mediterranean and through the Caucasus

i. Germany might have linked up with Japanese forced moving westward through China

d. Japan

i. Tojo sent delegation to the U.S.

ii. 12/7/1941 attacked Pearl Harbor

1. At the same time launched attacks throughout the South Pacific

iii. 12/8/1941 U.S. declared war on Japan

1. Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

iv. Japan expanded quickly and received significant support from anti-western factions in the territories they moved into

v. 1942 was the worst period of the war for the west

1. Japan and Germany seemed unstoppable