WWII
BLITZKRIEG:
“Lightning Warfare”
• Create disorganisation among enemy forces
• Speed, co-ordination and ferocity:
• 1. Luftwaffe’s dive-bomber units - Stuka dive bombers
• 2. Panzer Tanks
• 3. Wehrmacht
• Get in behind enemy lines and create disorganization
• All co-ordinated by radio
PHASE ONE: FALL OF
POLAND & THE “PHONEY
WAR”
• Poland attacked and carved up by Germany to the West and Russia to the East
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• German Blitzkrieg effective – Polish cavalry never stood a chance
• Britain and France worried about their own defences and had no plans for aerial
cooperation worked out
• 28 September 1939 Warsaw surrendered
• Germans and Russians partitioned Poland and Baltic states between them
,• Britain and France waited for attack….
• None came – “Phoney war”
• Hitler trying to bargain Britain out of war? Waiting for Winter to end?
• British practiced air raid drills, dug trenches in Hyde Park, night time black outs
• Naval action in South Atlantic - Graf Spee sunk
• Russia and Finland battled on – Russian victory in March 1940
PHASE 2: BLITZKRIEG IN
THE WEST AND DUNKIRK
• Britain & France asked Norway to at Narvik to help Finns – refused (feared
German attack)
• Germans attacked Norway on 9 April 1940 – keep iron-ore supply safe
• Denmark surrendered when attacked too. Sweden remained neutral
• British & French attempted to send a force to Norway - landed on West Coast but
were largely unsuccessful. Norway surrendered 10 June 1940
• Norway’s king, troops and gold reserves evacuated
, • Chamberlain resigned as PM of Britain after fall of Norway
• Replaced by Winston Churchill
• Next wave of Blitzkrieg: Holland, Belgium and France on 10 May 1940
• Holland surrendered 15 May
• Belgium surrendered 28 May
• British and French forces separated from each other – driven towards coast at
Dunkirk
• OPERATION DYNAMO launched to evacuate Allied forces from beaches of
Dunkirk
• 26 May – 4 June 300 000 Allied troops evacuated
• Relief but “ Wars are not won by evacuation” – Churchill
• 16 June Marshal Henri Petain replaced Reynaud and became new leader of
France & prepared country for surrender
• France divided into occupied France in the North and Vichey France in the South
(Petain premier and collaborated with the Nazis)
PHASE 3: THE BATTLE
OF BRITAIN
• OPERATION SEA –LION – Nazi plan to conquer Britain
• Step 1: Luftwaffe to engage in saturation bombing to destroy RAF bases
• Step 2: Major land invasion from the sea
• DOGFIGHTS in the skies above Britain – Spitfires and Hurricanes vs
BLITZKRIEG:
“Lightning Warfare”
• Create disorganisation among enemy forces
• Speed, co-ordination and ferocity:
• 1. Luftwaffe’s dive-bomber units - Stuka dive bombers
• 2. Panzer Tanks
• 3. Wehrmacht
• Get in behind enemy lines and create disorganization
• All co-ordinated by radio
PHASE ONE: FALL OF
POLAND & THE “PHONEY
WAR”
• Poland attacked and carved up by Germany to the West and Russia to the East
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• German Blitzkrieg effective – Polish cavalry never stood a chance
• Britain and France worried about their own defences and had no plans for aerial
cooperation worked out
• 28 September 1939 Warsaw surrendered
• Germans and Russians partitioned Poland and Baltic states between them
,• Britain and France waited for attack….
• None came – “Phoney war”
• Hitler trying to bargain Britain out of war? Waiting for Winter to end?
• British practiced air raid drills, dug trenches in Hyde Park, night time black outs
• Naval action in South Atlantic - Graf Spee sunk
• Russia and Finland battled on – Russian victory in March 1940
PHASE 2: BLITZKRIEG IN
THE WEST AND DUNKIRK
• Britain & France asked Norway to at Narvik to help Finns – refused (feared
German attack)
• Germans attacked Norway on 9 April 1940 – keep iron-ore supply safe
• Denmark surrendered when attacked too. Sweden remained neutral
• British & French attempted to send a force to Norway - landed on West Coast but
were largely unsuccessful. Norway surrendered 10 June 1940
• Norway’s king, troops and gold reserves evacuated
, • Chamberlain resigned as PM of Britain after fall of Norway
• Replaced by Winston Churchill
• Next wave of Blitzkrieg: Holland, Belgium and France on 10 May 1940
• Holland surrendered 15 May
• Belgium surrendered 28 May
• British and French forces separated from each other – driven towards coast at
Dunkirk
• OPERATION DYNAMO launched to evacuate Allied forces from beaches of
Dunkirk
• 26 May – 4 June 300 000 Allied troops evacuated
• Relief but “ Wars are not won by evacuation” – Churchill
• 16 June Marshal Henri Petain replaced Reynaud and became new leader of
France & prepared country for surrender
• France divided into occupied France in the North and Vichey France in the South
(Petain premier and collaborated with the Nazis)
PHASE 3: THE BATTLE
OF BRITAIN
• OPERATION SEA –LION – Nazi plan to conquer Britain
• Step 1: Luftwaffe to engage in saturation bombing to destroy RAF bases
• Step 2: Major land invasion from the sea
• DOGFIGHTS in the skies above Britain – Spitfires and Hurricanes vs
