-
On this date, Hitler met with top advisors, discussing his plans of invasion of neighboring nations.When his plans were questioned by warning, Hitler replied, “‘The German Question’ can be solved only by means of force, and this is never without risk.”
-
A day after German troops marched into Austria, Hitler announced Anschluss, or unity, with Austria.
-
Hitler wanted control of the Sudetenland, a piece of land of German speaking Czechoslovakians, so he signed the Munich agreement with Neville Chamberlain, giving it to him.
-
On March 15, 1939, German troops poured into what remained of
Czechoslovakia. At nightfall Hitler gloated, “Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist.” -
On this date, Stalin signed a surprise nonaggression pact with Germany, leaving Poland free of defense.
-
The Luftwaffe, or German air force, and the rest of the military rapidly and violently invaded Poland using a tactic called Blitzkrieg (lightning war).
-
For several months after the fall of Poland, French and British troops on the Maginot Line sat staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen. On the Siegfried Line a few miles away, German troops stared back.
-
In the middle of a standstill, Hitler launched a surprise invasion
of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence.” -
The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British
and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of fishing trawlers, tugboats, river barges, pleasure craft—more than 800 vessels in all—ferried about 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety across the Channel. -
On this day, the world witnessed Germany take control of France after their surrender.
-
Over the course of a summer, Germany tried relentlessly to capture Britain, However The RAF fought back with brilliance and strength. They overpowered German forces to the point of backing down.
