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The Battle of the Atlantic
This was the struggle against German U-boats attempting to deprive Britain of food and raw materials.
The reasons for the Allied success were:
-More air protection was provided for convoys by long-range Liberators
-Both escorts and aircraft improved with experience
-The British introduced the new centimetric radar sets, which were small enough tobe fitted into aircraft; these enabled submarines to be detected in poor visibility andat night. -
Poland Defeated
On 29 September Poland was divided up between Gennany and the USSR (as agreed in the pact of August 1939) -
The "Phoney" War
The Phoney War refers to what happened in Western Europe between September 1939 and the spring of 1940. To assume that nothing was going on in Europe would be wrong as Poland was in the process of being occupied with all that brought for the Polish people. -
Invasion of Denmark and Norway
Hitler's troops occupied Denmark and landed at the main Norwegian ports in April 1940, rudely shattering the apparent calm of the 'phoney war' -
Hitler attacks Holland, Belgium and France
The attacks on Holland, Belgium and France were launched simultaneously on 10 May. The Dutch surrendered after only four days. Belgium held out for longer, but her surrender at the end of May left the British and French troops in Belgium perilously exposed as German motorized divisions swept across northern France; only Dunkirk remained in Allied hands. -
The Battle of Britain
The Germans bombed harbours, radar stations, aerodromes and munitions factories; in September they began to bomb London, in retaliation, they claimed, for a British raid on Berlin -
Mussolini invades Egypt
Mussolini sent an army from the Italian colony of Libya which penetrated about 60 miles into Egypt (September 1940), while another Italian army invaded Greece from Albania (October). -
The campaign in North Africa
Hitler's first moves in 1941 were to help out his faltering ally. In February he sent Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps to Tripoli, and together with the Italians, they drove the British out of Libya. After much advancing and retreating, by June 1942 the Germans were in Egypt approaching El Alamein, only 70 miles from Alexandria -
The campaign in Greece
In April 1941 Hitler's forces invaded Greece, the day after 60 000 British, Australian and New Zealand troops had arrived to help the Greeks. The Germans soon captured Athens, forcing the British to withdraw, and after bombing Crete, they launched a parachute invasion of the island; again the British were forced to evacuate -
The German invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
Hitler feared that the Russians might attack Germany. He hoped the Japanese would attack them from the East. Hitler tought that the more powerful Japan became, the less chance there was of the USA enteringthe war. But above all there was his hatred of communism and his desire for Lebensraum(living space) -
The USA enters the war
The USA was brought into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (their naval base in the Hawaiian Islands) on 7 December 1941 -
Midway Island
At Midway Island in the Pacific the Americans beat off a powerful Japanese attack. The Americans, with only three carriers and 233 planes, destroyed four of the Japanese carriers and about 330 planes -
Stalingrad
At Stalingrad the southern prong of the German invasion of Russia, which had penetrated deeply through the Crimea, capturing Rostov-on-Don, was finally checked. The Gennans had reached Stalingrad at the end of August 1942 -
El Alamein
At El Alamein in Egypt Rommel's Afrika Korps were driven back by the British Eighth Army, commanded by Montgomery. This great battle was the culmination of several engagements fought in the El Alamein area: first the Axis advance was temporarily checked (July); when Rommel tried to break through he was halted again at Alam Halfa (September); finally, seven weeks later in the October battle, he was chased out of Egypt for good by the British and New Zealanders. -
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The Axis powers defeated
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The fall of Italy
This was the first stage in the Axis collapse. British and American troops landed in Sicily from the sea and air (10 July 1943) and quickly captured the whole island.This caused the downfall of Mussolini, who was dismissed by the king. Allied troops crossed to Salerno, Reggio and Taranto on the mainland and captured Naples.
The Allies landed a force at Anzio (January 1944), but bitter fighting followed before Monte Cassino and Rome were captured. Milan in the north was not taken until April 1945 -
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord -the invasion of France (also known as the Second Front) - began on 'D-Day', 6 June 1944. It was felt that the time was ripe now that Italy had been eliminated, the U-boats brought under control and Allied air superiority achieved. There was strong German resistance, but at the end of the first week 326 000 men with tanks and heavy lorries bad landed safely -
The assault on Germany
With the success of the Second Front, the Allies began to gather themselves together for the invasion of Germany itself. If they had expected the German armies to fall apart rapidly, they must have been bitterly disappointed. The war was prolonged by desperate German resistance and by further disagreements between the British and American -
Germany surrenders
Early in 1945, Germany was being invaded on both fronts, from east and west. The British still wanted to push ahead and take Berlin before the Russians, but supreme commander Eisenhower refused to be hurried, and Berlin fell to Stalin's forces in April. Hitler committed suicide and seven days later Germany surrendered. -
The defeat of Japan
On 6 August 1945 the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing perhaps as many as 84 000 people and leaving thousands more slowly dying of radiation poisoning. Three days later they dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, which killed perhaps another 40 000; after this the Japanese government surrendered. The dropping of these bombs was one of the most controversial actions of the entire war.
