One day your life will flash before your

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching. ” -? Salt is the most common seasoning mentioned in the Bible.

World War II The Battle of France and the Battle of Britain

Invasion of the Low Countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg www. sitesatlas. com/Maps/510. htm

Invasion of the Low Countries: Operation Yellow

Operation Yellow: Invasion of Luxembourg and the Netherlands n May 9, 1940: Germ. invades Luxembourg. n May 10: German troops parachute into the Netherlands catching the ill-equipped and underprepared Dutch army off guard (1 st large-scale airborne attack in history). n May 11: Germ. occupies Luxembourg.

Operation Yellow: Invasion of Luxembourg and the Netherlands n May 13: Germans reach Rotterdam and give an ultimatum for surrender. n May 14: Germany bombs Rotterdam. n May 15: Netherlands surrender to Germany. n May 17: German occupation of the Netherlands begins; Queen Wilhelmina establishes a government-in-exile in England.

Queen Wilhelmina

n Nazi Invasion of the Low Countries

Operation Yellow: Invasion of Belgium n On the same day that Germ. invaded the Netherlands, Brit. and Fr. forces moved into Belgium, however, Germ. panzers moved through the Ardennes and began to encircle them. n Although the Belgian forces fought valiantly, they did not hold out as long as had been expected. The Germs. were now rolling through undefended open country.

Retreat to Dunkirk n May 18 -25: With the collapse of the Belgian army, the Germ. army was able to advance uncontested toward the English Channel. n During this advance the Germs. were able to split the allied armies: Brit. , Fr. , and Belgium forces were trapped in the NW corner of Fr. ; Maginot Line to the S. n The allies were forced to evacuate by sea from the Fr. port of Dunkirk.

www. harborheroes. org/dunkirk. html

Operation Dynamo: May 27, 1940 n The Brit. Admiralty evacuated over 300, 000 Allied soldiers using 850 vessels ranging from destroyers and cruisers to trawlers, tugs, yachts, and fishing boats. n Despite the fact that this was a successful operation (esp. when under fire by air and ground attack) Winston Churchill pointed out “wars are not won by evacuations. ” n May 28: Belgium surrenders; King Leopold III is arrested.

King Leopold III www. answers. com/topic/leopold -iii-of-belgium

n Operation Dynamo

France’s Problem n The Maginot Line: a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates and machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along its borders with Germ. and with Italy. n The French established the fortification to provide time for their army to mobilize in the event of attack and/or entice Germany to attack neutral Belgium to avoid a direct assault on the line.

The Maginot Line

France’s Problem n The Line also had one major weakness: a 50 mile gap in the Ardennes which the Germs. exploited to surround the allies in NW Belgium. n The problem with the Maginot Line was that it caused the Fr. to act defensively instead of offensively; The Brit. and Fr. forces watched and waited behind the line. n While the Brit. And Fr. troops were “mobilizing, ” Hitler was launching the massive attack on the Low Countries.

Operation Yellow: Invasion of France n While Germ. was invading Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium, they also began invading France. n The best and most modern of the French armies were eventually cut off in Belgium and had to be evacuated at Dunkirk. n The greatly depleted Fr. army had no hope for Allied reinforcement and were stretched along the 400 mile long front of the Maginot Line.

Operation Yellow: Invasion of France n May 18 -25: During the advance toward the English Channel, the Germs. were able to break through the Maginot Line. n June 3, 1940: Germs. bomb Paris. n June 10: Italy declares war on France and the UK and launch a successful attack against Fr. in the Alps. n The under prepared Fr. army and confused Fr. gov. were unable to halt the Germ. advance.

Operation Yellow: Invasion of France n n n June 14: Paris occupied by Germ. troops. June 25: France surrenders to Germany Direct Germ. occupation of Paris and 2/3 of Fr. (NE Fr. and the Atlantic Coast line to the Spanish border). Germ. puppet state of Vichy Fr. est. and HQed in SE Fr. June 28: General Charles de Gaulle recognized by Brit. as the leader of Free France.

Charles de Gaulle

Vichy and Free France

Vichy and Free France n HQed in the city of Vichy in S. Fr. under French Marshal Henri Pétain. n Pétain and other Vichy “officials” collaborated with the Germs. , including their racial policies to an extent. n In spite of the Vichy gov. , resistance movements (Fr. Resistance) dev. underground to oppose Germ. occupation. n In Brit. , Charles de Gaulle organized the French Gov.

n France

n France Gives Up!

The Battle of Britain (Operation Sealion) n After Fr. , Brit. was now the only force left that stood in Hitler’s way for domination of W. Euro. n Hitler assumed that Brit. would try to make peace, however, he was mistaken. n May 13, 1940: Churchill delivers his “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” speech to the House of Commons.

The Battle of Britain (Operation Sealion) n “You ask, what is our policy? I will say: it is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory – victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however hard and long the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. ”

The Battle of Britain (Operation Sealion) n After Fr. fell, Hitler began making plans to invade Brit; the invasion depended on winning air/naval supremacy over the English Channel and destroying Brit. airfields and vital industries.

The Battle of Britain (Operation Sealion) n n n Aug. 1940: Luftwaffe began bombing Brit. S. coast. 4 aircraft factories and 5 Royal Air Force (RAF) airfields damaged. Brit. fighter planes, Hurricanes and Spitfires, shot down 75 German planes. Aug. 24 – Sept. 6: Göring begins to focus on the RAF – sends 1, 000 planes every day. RAF: 466 fighters and 103 pilots; Germ: more than 1700 lost throughout the battle (Brit. radar). After this, Göring decides to start night-bombing London in an attempt to be more successful.

Hurricane and Spitfire

The Battle of Britain (Operation Sealion) n n n Sept. 7 – Nov. 3: German bombers pounded London in its great blitz, or series of air raids. In one night: 70, 000 fire bombs were dropped killing and injuring thousands of civilians, damaging light, power, and gas lines and destroying buildings, roads, and railways. Despite their efforts, the Luftwaffe was never able to gain air supremacy due to the efforts of the RAF and the use of radar: Hitler’s invasion was blocked.

London Bombing

London Bombing www. skylighters. org/howali ghtworks/

London Bombing

London Bombing n Public shelters were set up throughout London in subway tunnels and other protected areas. At the height of the blitz, 1 out of 7 Londoners slept in a shelter. n Many school children were evacuated to safer parts of Britain to escape bombing also.

n London Blitz

During the Bombing n n n 1940: Am. Congress approves the cash and carry policy and the Lend-Lease Act. Aug. 25: Churchill orders the bombing of Berlin in retaliation for bombing of London. Sept. 24: Berlin suffers heavy bombing raid by the RAF. Sept. 27: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germ, Italy, and Japan, promising mutual aid. An informal name, "Axis", emerges. Sept. 28: Hitler makes plans to invade Russia.