Battlefield Guide By: Janie Massie P.5 Blitzkrieg Event: Blitzkrieg Date: September 1, 1939-Attack on Poland Quote: “Speed and still more speed, and always speed was the secret…and that demanded audacity, more audacity and always audacity.” – Major General Fuller Events: On September 1, 1939, Germany successfully invaded Poland, using the Blitzkrieg tactic. They were attacked from East Prussia ad Germany in the north, and Silesia and Slovakia in the south. More than 2,000 tanks and 1,000 planes broke through Polish border, and used an encirclement attack. After lots of bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans. Outcome and Impact: The Germans used this tactic to successfully take over many countries; and even though they lost to Great Britain, the German Blitzkrieg still invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. At first they were succeeding, but the Soviet troops pushed them back 600 miles to Moscow. In 1941, Hitler declared war on the U.S, which was another problem. Germany was unable to defeat the Soviet Union, who had the aid of Great Britain and the United States, which lead to Germany’s defeat in May 1945. Primary Source Description: The most effective tactic is when the Germans attack, they used most of their bombers as a flying artillery. The second factor is their use of heavy tanks that are powerfully armored. They also attack in a line, rather than scattered. -Tom Wintrinham, New Ways of War. (1940) The Battle of Britain Event: The Battle of Britain Date: June 1940-October 1940 Quote: “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin” –Winston Churchill, British House of Commons, June 18, 1940 Events: On July 10, 1940, the first German bomber attacked over t... ... middle of paper ... .... Primary Source Description: Allen W. Stephens was an American pilot in the 397th Bomb Group on D-Day. The troops were awakened at 2:00 in the morning to start Operation Overlord; this was Stephens 21st mission. They moved toward the beaches and they could see the ships in the channel below them. “We saw hundreds upon hundreds of ships below, moving toward the coast of France…” Stephens saw most of the fight from his airplane. “we could see the big naval guns shelling the coast…I saw one large ship going down but still throwing shells at the coast…We saw hundreds of discarded parachutes that had been thrown off by paratroopers…I saw one B-26 Marauder explode in midair near the target area.” Every move of the bombings was timed to the split second. “Our bombs went away at 6:30 a.m., the precise time planned.” –Allen W. Stephens, American Pilot, 397th Bomb Group
Before the landings were to begin, the coastal German defenses had to be adequately prepped, and softened by a combination of a massive battering by United States ships, and bombing by the United States Air Force. Between the hours of 0300 and 0500 hours on the morning of June 6, over 1,000 aircraft dropped more than 5,000 tons of bombs on the German coastal defenses. As soon as the preliminary bombing was over, the American and British naval guns opened fire on the Normandy coastline (D' Este 112). A British naval officer described the incredible spectacle he witnessed that day: "Never has any coast suffered what a tortured strip of French coast suffered that morning; both the naval and air bombardments were unparalleled. Along the fifty-mile front the land was rocked by successive explosions as the shells of ships' guns tore holes in fortifications and tons of bombs rained on them from the skies. Through billowing smoke and falling debris defenders crouching in this scene of devastations would soon discern faintly hundreds of ships and assault craft ominously closing the shore.
Columbia University, Press. "Battle Of Britain." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. History Reference Center. Web. 2 May 2014.
Tactical changes within both main armies fighting on the Western Front would eventually lead to battlefield success for both sides while leading to an impending victory by the Allies. The Germans on one hand developed the use of combined arms, Stormtroopers. These soldiers while extremely successful also led to a destruction of the German moral and reserves due to high casualty rates. On the other side, the Allies stymied their original failures in tactics by maintaining moral and developing their own tactics. These new tactics included the creeping barrage, difeme en profondeur, and bite and hold. By combing these with a genuine strategy the allies overcame the weakened German Army.
"World War 2 was a war fought in two distinct phases. The first was the last war of a new generation. The second was emphatically the first of a new era" .
Operation Overlord, otherwise known as the D-Day invasion, was planned out far before the actual invasion took place. This means that, unlike Pearl Harbor, American news media had time to prepare for the reporting of the event and was not caught off guard when the attack finally commenced. In 1944, radio remained the fastest way to inform the public of when D-Day had begun and all around the world, citizens of the allied nations waited breathlessly for the broadcast that the liberation of France had begun, for to them, this would mean the end of the war was soon to come. Radio’s role in D-Day does not begin on June 6th (the day of the actual invasion) however, it begins on the 3rd of June. At 4:39 p.m. eastern war time, as many Americans were
Johnson, David E. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1998. Print.
Many a successful wordsmith has mastered voice, Winston Churchill included. He start off his speech in a jovial way, after all, summertime has hit Britain. But Winston mainly concerns himself with the prospect of Germany hitting England, and so, as he delves deeper into his speech, his voice becomes less jovial and more ironic and grave. In his last three paragraphs, he speaks as though with a straight face, getting into the nutshell of the current events. “If Herr Hitler does not make war, there will be no war. No one else is going to make war. Britain and France are determined to shed no blood except in self-defense or in defense of their Allies…we must strive to frame some system of human relations in the future which will bring to an end this prolonged hideous uncertainty.” (Churchill, Paragraph 9; 11) So there: he has laid down the gauntlet for America. The US must come to the aid of their Allies, or only more uncertainty will abound. Using voice, a most powerful weapon, Winston Churchill successfully, eventually, helped cajole America into World War
Churchill, Winston S., M.P. “Churchill as War Leader: Lessons for the Future.” Address to the International Churchill Society. The Churchill Center. Online. Nov. 7., 2002. www.winstonchurchill.org
During WWII, Germany possessed many powerful advanced technologies and weapons. One of these new technologies was blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg was a new set of tactics which were used to easily defeat opposing armies who were attempting to fight in trench warfare. Germany was the first country to recognize how useful this new set of tactics could be. Germany quickly perfected blitzkrieg and trained its army in how to use them. Blitzkrieg was Germany's most powerful weapon because it allowed Germany to quickly defeat its opponents and take an early lead in the war. Germany's use of blitzkrieg was it largest advantage in WWII and is what allowed Germany to nearly take over Europe early in the war.
As the cold hand of death swept over the remnants of France, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, orated on the imminent battle that would rage over his homeland and the foreboding struggle for survival that was now facing Britain:
Winston Churchill was perhaps one of the greatest public speakers in history. Some of the best speeches have come from being in life or death situations, Winston was known best for this. His small sound clips like, “this was their finest hour”, and “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”, encourage his troops and his people that they will win this war and will overcome the greatest odds. Although Churchill told many speeches, his speech on June 18, 1940 showed the most emotion and courage of any other speech he told. In this speech he explained that the war in France is over and the war in Britain would begin. He said that if we fail then the world sink into an abyss. This emotion that he shows would give Britain hope, courage and most of all determination.
After numerous Allied operations against Hitler that helped contribute to the end of the Third Reich, it ended up being his own greed and ambition that brought about his downfall which started 3 years earlier. Operation Barbarossa was launched in June, 22 1941. Germany was to invade Russia on a extraordinary 2,000 miles long front and take the massive landmass the Soviets had and give it to the German people. This was in total violation of the non-aggression treaty that the Soviets and Germans had agreed to two years prior, according to William L. Shirer who wrote The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich A History of Nazi Germany “The basic idea went back much further, at least fifteen years-to Mein Kampf.” Even with the idea of invading Russia
Hitler then ordered the attack on Belgium, Holland and France. The British and French had predicted that the German attack would come through Belgium. So the British and French forces moved north into Belgium to meet the German advance. The Germans again used overpowering blitzkrieg tactics and quickly overwhelmed Holland. The main German attack began further to the south, as...
...rounded in Europe with the British and the U.S. pressing in from the west, and the Russians coming in from the east killing about half the German army in the war. Since Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945 Germany was falling apart and didn’t have a powerful leader to guide them. So, Germany decided to invade Russia, and they were horribly equipped for winter warfare, and had summer equipment when they invaded. This was because Hitler anticipated they would have beaten Russia before winter. Russia kept the German army occupies while the other allies liberated France. On January 12th, 1945 the Soviet Union invaded Berlin, Germany at the Battle of Berlin and succeeded. In late April and early May of 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies and World War Two came to an end. As General Eisenhower said in 1945, “The world must know what happened, and never forget”.
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” exclaimed Winston Churchill in a speech in the midst of World War II on June 4, 1940. This is a small passage of the passionate speech he delivered in the United Kingdom, House of Commons in Parliament. Churchill was your typical British speaker. He acquired a stiff upper lip, which enabled him to suppress emotions and refrain from trembling ensuring his powerful delivery. This particular speech was given during a time of a crucial importance. The British Isles were left to fight the Nazi’s singlehandedly due to the majority of Europe being occupied by Nazi Germany. Churchill’s speech was delivered in order to raise the morale of the British citizens as well as its military personnel during the war, to continue the struggle, and to ultimately overthrow the Nazis.