WWII_Ch4_info

=**Victory in Europe Background Information**=

Scandinavia was the next strategic move for Hitler in the spring of 1940 (invaded Poland in 1939, but not much else in the way of war). Britain seemed determined to keep Hitler out of Scandinavia and looked to keep Norway free. However, they would underestimate the number of troops necessary to defend. Hitler worried about Allied intentions during the Winter War since he needed to maintain iron ore shipments from Sweden. Hitler saw Norway as important to control the Northern Atlantic. Denmark was also important since it was between Germany and Norway plus it had strategic airfields.
 * __Hitler on the Move__:**

On April 9, 1940 Germany invaded Denmark. The Danish officials had not taken the warnings seriously that an attack was coming. The German army overwhelmed the 15,000 man Danish army in a matter of hours. Officials in Denmark allowed Hitler to take control. Hitler tried to justify his taking of Denmark saying that they were Germany's Aryan brothers and that he wanted them in the Reich. However, his real reason was that Denmark was strategic in terms of its airfields and gaining control of the coastline.

On April 9, 1940 Germany also invaded Norway. This invasion would be risky since the German military had to cross the Skagerrak knowing the Allies put a minefield in the Atlantic and the British navy would fight to keep Norway free. The British navy ran into problems due to storms and they were unable to find Germany's main invasion force. Heavy fog kept the Luftwaffe from going in, but the Norwegians left Oslo (capital) instead of trying to defend. They may have been able to disrupt the German timetable if they fought. Haakon VII was the king of Norway and was determined to hold off the Germans, but the Nazis took Oslo and eventually all of Norway. Haakon set up a government-in-exile in London. The war in Scandinavia showed major deficiencies in Allied strategic planning and tactical execution. Inside Norway, Vidkun Quisling had set up a Nazi party in Norway (called the Nasjonal Samling), which collaborated with Hitler.

Overall, control of Scandinavia gave Hitler more control of the coastline and Northern Atlantic. It also ended the idea of a "phony war."

Plan Yellow was the name given to Hitler's plans to invade Western Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France). On May 10, 1940, Hitler began the invasion. Blitzkrieg was unleashed on the Benelux nations in which Hitler easily overran his enemy and pushed through France. The Allies were pushed to the beaches of Dunkirk where they narrowly escaped (Dunkirk Evacuations). In these evacuations, the Allies made the decision to retreat from the beaches with the help of ULTRA, the British espionage agency that helped to decode Germany messages. The evacuations were by no means an Allied victory, but did allow the Allies to continue fighting the war. Germany moved south through France, which was easily taken by Hitler in June of 1940. The "four Frances" refers to how France was divided. Free France was the government-in-exile in London, also called the French Resistance led by Charles de Gaulle. Occupied France was the northern part of France, which was being controlled by the German army. Vichy France was teh southeastern part of France not under German occupation, but collaborated with Nazi Germany. Overseas France refers to the French colonies in North Africa, which still fought against the Germans. In all, with Hitler controlling Paris Hitler had a strategic post to control western Europe. Henri Petain was the premier of France who looked for a cease-fire. Hitler imposed an armistice to be signed in the same railroad car that Germany submitted to the Allies in 1918. Germany would occupy 2/3 of France including Paris and the coast. Italy would occupy bits of France as well. Charles de Gaulle would lead the French resistance.

In 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain. He gave a speech warning that the Germans may soon attack. He knew Hitler was looking for world domination. German planes were monitoring Britain, testing the British system of defense and responses to the flgihts. Operation Sea Lion would be Hitler's plans to attack and take over Britain beginning July 16, 1940. The Luftwaffe would bomb to soften the coast and also knock out British radar. German troops would then land and invade. The British RAF would fight back and even use barrage balloons, which were hydrogen balloons, which blew up if they were ran into. These in turn forced the Luftwaffe to fly higher. Despite Goering's confidence, the Luftwaffe was having trouble gaining control of the air for the invasion. The Luftwaffe lacked long-range heavy bombers. However, the Germans continued to bomb and even went to night bombings to try to break the British will to fight. Adler Tag (Eagle Day) was in August of 1940 when Hitler decided to bomb heavier than ever. The strategy worked to an extent, but the British were still able to hold and by Sept. of 1940, Hitler realized he wouldn't be able to invade that year so he postponed the invasion.

Hitler turned his sights on the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. Italy would attack Greece in October of 1940. However, Mussolini wanted to control the whole Mediterranean region. However, Italy ran into trouble when the British supplied Greece. Germany would come in (after agreements with Romania and Bulgaria) to aid Mussolini and took Greece as well as Yugoslavia. At the outbreak of the war, much of Africa was still colonized by Europe and therefore, the war would extend to the African colonies. Mussolini, looking to escape Hitler's shadow, attacked in Egypt, Kenya, the Sudan, and Ethiopia. Italian field marshall Rodolpho Graziani recognized deficiencies in the Italian military and tried to make necessary changes. British General Archibald Wavell defended in Africa and pushed the Italians back. Once again, Hitler came to Mussolini's rescue and put General Erwin Rommel "the Desert Fox" in command, who is considered one of the best and most intelligent generals in the history of warfare. As a result, Rommel was able to push the British across Africa. The Allies would regain some ground and fighting some ground and fighting would continue in the African colonies. In the Middle East, a pro-German coup took control in Iraq, but Britain came in and restored a friendly government in Iraq. Hitler didn't have plans for areas in the Middle East, but Churchill insisted on sending troops to Syria to control the Mediterranean region.

Hitler would be ready to double cross Joseph Stalin. Operation Barbarossa was Hitler's plans to attack the Soviet Union. U.S. and British intelligence found out and tried to warn Stalin, but he didn't believe them. Germany pushed through the USSR, but would be unable to take all of the Soviet Union. Hitler wanted to expand for his dream of Lebensraum, or living space for the German nation. However, Hitler underestimated the obstacles the large Russian land and cold winters.

The year 1941 was a crucial year since the USSR would join the Allies as would eventually the U.S. By 1942, Hitler would be unable to take Moscow, so he concentrated on the Caucasus Mountain oil field region. Still Hitler was unable to defeat the Soviet resistance. General Georgy Zhukov, who became known as "the Savior of Moscow" was made overall commander in the southern part of USSR. The Battle of Stalingrad would become the turning point battle. Germany heavily bombed the city using battering-ram tactics and pushed the Red Army back as the battle became one of attrition. The city became symbolic for both sides to win. Hitler lost site of true objectives since he wanted to take the city named after Stalin. Zhukov launched counterattacks and was seeing success. Hitler ordered his soldiers to fight to the death, but many were starting to surrender. Stalingrad would be the turning point battle on the eastern front since Germany would be on the defensive for the rest of the war in the east.
 * __Tide Begins to Turn__:**

Another turning point came against Rommel's forces in Egypt at El Alamein in October of 1942. Hitler saw North Africa as a sideshow and put much less attention and effort into the region. Many view this as a missed opportunity. IF he concentrated on controlling the Suez Canal region, he may have gotten control of the Middle East oil fields. General Bernard Montgomery was put in charge of the British army in North Africa and would be part of the defenses at El Alamein.

The Declaration of the United Nations was signed by nations who opposed teh Axis agreeing to the parts of the Atlantic Charter. This took place at the Arcadia Conference from Dec. 22, 1941 to January 14, 1942. The Allies also agreed to the Germany First Strategy to concentrate most of the efforts to winning first against Hitler then Japan. The Soviets pressed for the Allies to open a second front in Europe while they were holding the Nazis in the east. However, the British wanted to surround and crush Germany, by starting in North Africa then move to Europe, which the U.S. agreed with. The Allies would develop two operations: Balero, which called for a build up of troops and supplies for a cross-channel invasion with Sledgehammer to have a small force ready to invade if the chance came up for if the USSR was on the verge of collapse.

Operation Torch was the name given to the Allied plan to invade North Africa in November of 1942 led by General Bernard Montgomery. General Dwight Eisenhower was the American commander in the campaign. At the Casablanca Conference in January of 1943, FDR and Churchill agreed to go into Sicily after North Africa and would fight to an "unconditional surrender" of the Axis. The Allies would land in Morocco and Algeria. Rommel wasn't able to stop the Allied advance. Eisenhower put General George Patton in command of the Second Corps looking for him to tighten discipline and instill a fighting spirit. The Allies got control of the air, which made it impossible for the Axis to supply or evacuate troops. The Allies would look to go into Italy next and postpone a cross-channel invasion, which upset Stalin, though he was happy the Allies agreed to get "unconditional surrender" of the Axis.

After North Africa, the Allies invaded Sicily, which was the first step before Italy. The Allies had to keep on their Mediterranean strategy and attack what Churchill called "the soft underbelly of Europe." Operation Husky was the code name given to the Allied attack on Sicily. Operation Mincemeat was a hoax, which tricked Hitler into thinking an attack was coming on Sardinia. Controlling Sicily gave the Allies control of shipping in the Mediterranean and would provide for an invasion of the Italian peninsula. Mussolini would fall from power as King Victor Emmanuel III removed him as premier. German airborne forces rescued Mussolini and put him in command in northern Italy, but he would soon be captured and killed by a mob. The Italian king and new premier Pietro Badoglio had close ties with Mussolini, but Churchill wanted them to remain in power since it provided stability and an anti-communist government. The Allies gained control of Italy.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the name given to the ongoing struggle between the Germans trying to produce enough submarines to destroy more Allied ships against the British trying to survive against German U-boats and get Allied control of the Atlantic. Admiral Karl Doenitz was German U-boat commander and recognized the importance of the U-boats and worked to perfect mass attacks on enemy convoys. The Allies would use SONAR (sound navigation and ranging), a high-frequency device that detected submerged U-boats. Doenitz use "wolf pack" tactics in which his U-boats worked together. THe Allies got a major victory in 1941 in the Atlantic by sinking the mighty German battleship //Bismarck//. The Allies used depth charges to sink subs, which were barrels that exploded from pressure and would blow up a submarine.

The Tehran Conference from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, 1943 between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin was the first face-to-face meeting between the Big Three. They made the cross-channel invasion a top priority for 1944 and General Dwight Eisenhower would be the supreme commander of the Allies. The beaches of Normandy would be the landing site due to important ports that could supply the troops. Operation Overlord was the code name given to the D-Day cross-channel invasion on the Normany beaches. The beachheads were code named (U.S. troops would land on Utah and Omaha beaches). General Omar Bradley would be the U.S. field commander on D-Day. Eisenhower ordered the attack June 5, 1944 but had to delay until June 6, 1944 due to stormy weather. The Germans were certain that the weather would delay an invasion longer than one day, which made the attack more of a surprise. Ships brought soldiers to the beaches and were under fire during the landings, which paratroopers would land behind enemy lines. Break-in would be the landings. There would be some confusion since currents took troops out of position, but the Allies would get it straightened out (Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was a big help in reorganizing). Break-out took place on July 25, which was the Allied march toward Germany (USSR going from the east). There were several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler by the Germans. Charles de Gaulle marched into Paris. The Allies continued to press on toward Berlin.
 * __Normandy Invasions__:**

The Battle of the Bulge was Germany's last counteroffensive, which was also called Operation Autumn Fog or the Ardennes Offensive. Hitler saw the Ardennes Forest as the weak point of the Allies. The Germans did manage to surround Bastogne and had surprised the Allies and pushed them back 50 miles, but the Allies would stop the push and regain the momentum. Patton would push on through and Hitler's last offensive was a loss for the Axis.

The Yalta Conference was another major meeting between the Big Three. They agreed on the Declaration on Liberated Europe in which the Allies agreed to restore order, relieve distress, and form governments broadly represented by democratic elements. Furthermore, they agreed to form a post-war organization to be led by the U.S., Britain, France, the USSR, and China to maintain peace. FDR saw Yalta as the first of many conferences necessary to finish the war and maintain a post-war peace, but died suddenly, which made Harry Truman the new president.

The Allies would achieve victory in Europe. Hitler made all attempts to stop the Allied advance at the Rhine, but Patton and the Allies pushed through. Hitler would put forth a scorched earth policy and ordered the Minister of Armaments Albert Speer to destroy everything that might be of use to the Allies, but Speer wouldn't do it saying the war was lost and he'd do nothing to jeopardize the survival of the Germany people. Hitler, upset with Goering and Himmler (tried to negotiate a separate peace), appointed Karl Doenitz as his successor. Hitler married Eva Braun and then the two committed suicide in his bunker. Doenitz looked for peace with the western Allies, but the U.S. (under Truman) and the British were determined to fight to an unconditional surrender. May 7, 1945 Germany signed the surrender and the war in Europe was over.

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