Notes 3: War In Europe Modern US History April 1st, 2011.

Notes 3: War In Europe

Modern US History

April 1st, 2011

By March of 1939, Hitler occupied Austria and a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. As Hitler annexed the remaining parts of Czechoslovakia, the Polish government became increasingly concerned. France and Britain guaranteed Poland that they would support their independence.

Invasion of Poland

On September 1st, 1939 Hitler marched German troops into Poland. They converged on Poland from the North, South and West using a military strategy called the Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg means ‘lightening war.’ This type of offensive used powerful tanks and planes to move quickly into enemy territory and secure key positions. The German Air Force – the Luftwaffe – sent over 1,300 planes to drop bombs over cities and roads throughout Poland.

Invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland

Two days into the invasion Britain and France declared war on Germany. However, the fighting in Poland was over in 3 weeks, well before British or French troops could arrive. During the last week of fighting, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the East.

Fall of France

After the invasion of Poland, French and British troops waited along the French-German border for the German offensive. The Germans however moved north and invaded France through Belgium, causing the allied troops to move north to meet them.

Fall of France

Anticipating this, German troops invaded France south of the allied troops and surrounded them. Outnumbered and out powered nearly 330,000 soldiers were forced to evacuate to Britain. The Italians followed suit and invaded France from the south.

The Fall of France On June 14th, 1940

German troops marched into Paris. Upon his arrival Hitler handed the French government his terms of surrender. Germany would occupy the northern parts of France, but in the southern regions of France, a Nazi controlled government would be set up – this was called Vichy France.

The Fall of France

The Battle of Britain Once France had fallen,

Hitler hoped for full continent domination and set his sights on Britain. He realized that in order to assault Britain on land he must first take out the British Royal Air Force (RAF). Hitler began to attack Britain with German planes - on August 15th nearly 1,000 planes bombarded London.

The Battle of Britain

Germans first attacked the countryside and airfields, but eventually moved into the major cities. The bombing of cities became known as “The Blitz.” People all over began to hide in bomb shelters during this time.



The RAF however was able to defeat the Luftwaffe with the help of a new type of technology called radar. They were able to plot the flight paths of German planes even at night. After the RAF shot down 56 German planes in September of 1940, Hitler ‘postponed’ the invasion.

Europe First Two days after Pearl

Harbor, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill contacted FDR in hopes of devising a plan for the war. The two agreed that Hitler was the larger threat, and that if the Americans helped the British to defeat him, the British would aid America in the their war against the Japanese in the Pacific.

Key Players in WWII

The Allies France Great Britain Soviet Union United States

The Axis Germany Italy Japan

The Battle of the Atlantic

Once America had entered the war, Hitler ordered German U-boats to attack ships off the Eastern coast of the US. In the first 4 months of 1942, Germany sank 87 US ships. In that year alone Germany destroyed 681 American ships.


In response to this aggression, Allied forces organized their cargo ships into groups to travel together for mutual protection – these are called convoys. Each convoy traveled with destroyers, which were equipped with a new type of technology called sonar. This allowed the destroyers to detect U-boats underwater, while planes used radar to detect U-boats on the surface of the ocean.


Operation Torch While Russia was still

being attacked by Germany, Stalin asked that the England and America invade across the English Channel, in hopes that Hitler would divert some of the troops. The remaining Allies did not feel that they were ready to invade France, so they opted to invade Axis-controlled North Africa.

Operation Torch

In November 1942, nearly 110,000 troops (mostly American) landed in North Africa. An American general named Dwight D. Eisenhower led this attack, which was known as Operation Torch. The operation moved east chasing Hitler’s Africa Korps led by General Erwin Rommel. After months of fierce battles the fighting ended in May 1943 when the Africa Korps fled to Italy or surrendered.

Operation Torch

Operation Husky

After Allied forces pushed the Axis out of Africa they looked north – to Italy. This mission was called Operation Husky. The Allies first moved to Sicily, which they took easily. This caused the King of Italy to demand the resignation of Mussolini, who was then arrested. Hitler however responded by taking control of Italy.

Operation Husky

German soldiers were determined to keep the Allies from reaching Germany, which made fighting brutal and movement slow. In the spring of 1944, 40 miles outside of Rome, one of the most difficult battles of the operation was fought. “Bloody Anzio” lasted for four months and caused 25,000 Allies and 30,000 Axis deaths. The Allies were unable to fully occupy Italy until the end of 1945 towards the end of the war.

Soldiers and New Technology

Rations (food) were provided to soldiers during WWI, but changed dramatically at the onset of WWII. There were 5 different types of rations – the most common were C-rations and K-rations. These rations were individual, pre-cooked ready to eat meals. They were 16 oz and came in 3 varieties – Meat and beans, meat and potato hash and meat and vegetable stew.


The M1 Garand was weapon of choice during WWII. It is a .30 caliber semi-automatic rifle that gave Allied forces a significant advantage in terms of firepower and shot to shot recovery time.


Each soldier was issued a M1 helmet. This helmet was used by the military until 1983. It consisted of a steel shell, which was often painted olive green and a liner. The steel shell was one size fits all, while the liner adjusted to fit each soldier’s head.


It was during WWII that radar and sonar were used for the first time. These two pieces of technology when added to naval vessels or aircrafts allowed the military to better detect the enemy – even at night or underwater. Radar uses electromagnetic waves – specifically radio waves - to determine the range, altitude, speed or direction of an object. Sonar uses sound waves, particularly underwater, to navigate, communicate or detect other vessels.


Soldiers and New Technology The Allies worked hard

throughout the war to break the enemy code. Germany typically encrypted their information on an enigma machine, which was eventually broken by the British through cryptanalysis. Britain was able to gain valuable military intelligence through decoding these radio waves. The information they received through this code breaking was called Ultra.


Although planes existed prior to WWII, engineers continued to develop them in hopes of better performance. The RAF used a plane called the Hurricane. This plane was used extensively during the Battle of Britain. It was able to operate from ships and was faster than any RAF plane before it.


The plane that the RAF used in greater frequency than any other was the Spitfire. The elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, which allowed a higher top speed than most other fighter planes. This plane was superior to the Hurricane.

Notes 3: War In Europe Modern US History April 1st, 2011.

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