Growth of Dictatorship

The Final Stage

 During 1917, French and British military leaders still hoped a
successful offensive could win the war.
 But German leaders accepted the deadlock on the Western
Front and improved their defenses. In March 1917, German
troops were moved back to a strongly fortified new battle line
in northern France.
 It was called the Siegfried Line by the Germans and the
Hindenburg Line by the Allies.
 General Robert Nivelle's offensive opened on April 16,1917. By
the end of the day, it was clear that the assault had failed, but
the fighting continued into May.
 Petain replaced Nivelle in May 1917. Petain improved soldier's
living conditions and restored order. He promised France
would be on the defensive until it was ready to fight again.
Meanwhile, it was up to the British to hold back any further
offensives on the Western Front.
 General Haig was hopeful that a British offensive near Ypres
would lead to victory.
 For three months, British and French troops pounded
the Germans in an especially terrible campaign. Heavy
Allied bombardment before the infantry attacked began
had destroyed the drainage system around Ypres.
 Drenching rains then turned the waterlogged land into a
swamp were thousands of British soldiers drowned.
Snow and ice finally halted the disastrous battle on
November 10. In late November, Britain used tanks to
bread through the Siegfried Line.
 But the failure at Ypres had used up the troops Britain
needed to follow up that success. In 1917, first France
and then Britain saw their hopes of victory shattered.
 Austria-Hungary drove the Italians out of its territory in
the Battle of Caporetto in the fall and revolution in
Russia made the Allied situation seem even more
hopeless.
 The United States Enter the War
 At the start of the war, President Wilson had declared the
neutrality of the United States. Most Americans opposed US
involvement in the European war.
 But the sinking of the Lusitania and other German actions
against civilians drew America sympathies to the Allies.
German military leaders believed that they could still win the
war by cutting off British supplies.
 They expected their U-boats to starve Britain into
surrendering within a few months, longer before the US had
fully prepared for war.
 Tension between the US and Germany increased after the
British intercepted and decoded a message from Germany's
foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, the German
ambassador to Mexico.
 The message known as the "Zimmermann note", revealed a
German plot to persuade Mexico to go to war against the
United States. The British gave the message to Wilson, and it
was published in the US early in March.
 Americans were further enraged after U-boats sank several
US cargo ships.
 The last campaigns
 The end of the war on the Eastern Front boosted
German hopes for victory. By early 1918 German
forces outnumbered the Allies on the Western Front.
In Spring, Germany staged three offensives.
 By March 26, British troops had retreated about 30
miles. In late March, the Germans began to bombard
Paris with "Big Berthas". The enormous guns hurled
shells up to 75 miles.
 In April, after the disaster at St-Quentin, Allied
leaders appointed General Ferdinand Foch for
France to the supreme commander of the Allied
forces on the Western Front. A second German
offensive began on April 9 along the Lys River in
Belgium.
 British troops fought stubbornly, and Ludendorff
called off the attack on April 30. Germany attacked a
third time on May 27 near the Aisne River. By May 30,
German troops had reached the Marne River.
 US troops drove the Germans out of Belleau Wood, a
forested area near the Marne. On July 15 German troops
crossed the Marne.
 On July 18 Foch ordered a counterattack near the town of
Soissons. The turning point in World War 1 was the Second
Battle of Marne. This battle was fought from July 15 through
August 6, 1918. After winning the battle, the Allies advanced
steadily. On August 8, Britain and France attacked the
Germans near Amiens.
 By early September, Germany had lost all the territory it had
gained since spring.
 The last offensive of World War 1 began on September 26,
1918. Almost 900000 US troops participated in heavy fighting
between the Argonne Forrest and the Meuse River.
Ludendorff realized that Germany could no longer overcome
the superior strength of the Allies.
The fighting ends
 The Allies won victories on all fronts in the fall of
1918. Bulgaria forces under the command of General
Edmund Allenby triumphed over the Ottoman army
in Palestine and Syria. On October 30, the Ottoman
Empire signed an armistice.
 The last major battle between Italy and Austria-
Hungary began in late October in Italy. Italy defeated
Austria-Hungary near the town of Vittorio Veneto
with the help of France and Great Britain. Austria-
Hungary signed an armistice on November 3.
 Germany teetered on the edge of collapse as the war
continued through October. Britain’s naval blockade
had nearly starved German people and widespread
discontent led to riots and rising demands for peace.
 In the early morning on November
11,1918, the Germans accepted the
armistice terms demanded by the
Allies.
 Germany agreed to evacuate the
territories it had taken during the
war; to surrender larger numbers of
arms; and other war materials; and
to allow Allied powers to occupy
German territory along the Rhine
River.
 Foch ordered the fighting to stop on
the Western Front at 11 am. World
War 1 was over.
 Signing the Treaty of Versailles,
1919
 The Paris Peace Conference began on January 18, 1919, with 21
nations in attendance. The representatives of Germany and the
other defeated Central Powers were not allowed to sit at the
conference table.
 The "Big Four" - President Wilson of the United States, Prime
Minister Lloyd George of Great Britain, Prime Minister Georges
Clemenceau of France and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy -
dominated the conference and made the important decisions.
 Wilson pushed for inclusion of his Fourteen Points especially the
League of Nations. Many of his proposals, however, clashed with
the secret treaties and territorial rearrangements already made by
the other three European powers.
 The three European leaders found it difficult to hide their contempt
for what they saw as Wilson's naivete and superior attitude.
 Treaty of Versailles, 1919
The Treaty of Versailles includes 440 articles. The principal
items are:

 Germany has to cede Alsace-Lorraine to France.

 Germany has to cede the coal mines in the Saar-area to
France.
 Germany has to cede an area with Moresnet, Eupen, Malmédy
and St. Vith to Belgium.
 Germany has to cede the main part of West-Prussia and
almost the whole province of Posen to the new state of
Poland.
 Germany has to cede all colonies: Togo en Cameroun, the
territories in East- and South-West Africa, islands in the
Pacific and possesions in China.
 All German properties in foreign countries are confiscated.
 Germany has to cede all war material to the allies.
 German compulsory military service is abolished, as well as
the General Staff
 Germany is not allowed to have tanks, airplanes,
submarines, large warships and poison gas.
 During 15 years Germany is not allowed to station
troops on the left border of the river Rhine and in
a 50 km strip on the right border of the Rhine.
 The total size of the Germany army is not to
exceed 100.000 men.
 The German navy has a maximum of 15.000 men.
 Germany is allowed a total of 4.000 officers.
 Germany is not to take part in the League of
Nations.
 Austria has to cede South-Tirol to Italy.
 Turkye has to cede all foreign possesions.
England gets Iraq, Palestine and Trans-Jordan,
France gets Syria and Libanon.
 Germany has to cede to the allies all seagoing
ships with a carrying capacity exceeding 1600
Brt, plus half of all ships between 1000 and
1600 Brt.
 Furthermore one fourth of the fishing fleet
and two fifths of the inland navigation fleet
has to be ceded.
 Germany has to cede large amounts of
machinery and building materials, trains and
trucks.
 Germany has to deliver certain amounts of
coal, chemicals, dye and fuel for many years.
 All German sub ocean telegraph cables are
confiscated.
 Germany has to pay 20 billion gold marks.
 Before you jump to conclusions:
Note 1:
 The reparations were progressively reduced by the
Dawes (1924) and Young (1929) Plans. In 1932 they were
forgiven completely.
By that time the damage had been done:
1. Destruction of the German currency and economy -
what was left after the war anyway -, and
2. Destruction of the nation's political stability that
allowed major riots and street battles between
Communists, Nazis and others, leading to the
successful grab for power by Adolf Hitler.
Note 2:
 The terms imposed on Germany at Versailles were
much more mild than those Germany had imposed on
Russia (the Brest-Litovsk treaty, summer 1918), or those
that Germany planned to impose on the Western Allies
if she had won the war - including, among other things,
the subjugation of Belgium, innocent victim of German
aggression in 1914.
Note 3:
 Had the Versailles Treaty been applied as
envisioned Germany would not have been
rearming in 1932.
 The fact that Germany did rearm was not a
problem brought about by the Treaty. In the
end, Versailles became a dog's dinner.
 It neither crushed Germany enough to stop her
rise again, yet it was still able to humiliate her.
Wilson had devised a 14 point plan that he believed
would bring stability to Europe

 Open Diplomacy - There should be no secret

treaties between powers
 Freedom of Navigation - Seas should be free in
both peace and war
 Free Trade - The barriers to trade between countries
such as custom duties should be removed
 Multilateral Disarmament - All countries should
reduce their armed forces to the lowest possible
levels
 Colonies - People in European colonies should have
a say in their future
 Russia - Russia should be allowed to operate
whatever government it wanted and that
government should be accepted, supported and
welcomed.
 Belgium - Belgium should be evacuated and
restored to the situation before the war.
 France - should have Alsace-Lorraine and any
lands taken away during the war restored.
 Italy - The Italian border should be readjusted
according to nationality
 National Self -Determination - The national
groups in Europe should, wherever possible, be
given their independence.
 Romania, Montenegro and Serbia - Should be
evacuated and Serbia should have an outlet to the
sea
 Turkey - The people of Turkey should have a say in
their future
 Poland - Poland should become an independent
state with an outlet to the sea.
 League of Nations - An assembly of all nations
should be formed to protect world peace in the future.
 Germany expected a treaty based on these fourteen
points. However, negotiations between the 'big four'
Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy,
Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson of
America did not go smoothly.
 Wilson believed that his fourteen points was the
only way to secure everlasting peace.
 The French however, wanted the defeated
nations to be punished severely and believed
Wilson's plan too lenient.
 Privately Lloyd George sided with Wilson
although he was concerned about the threat
from Communism, however, the British public,
like Clemenceau, wanted Germany punished
severely.
 Lloyd George knew that if he sided with Wilson
he would lose the next election.
 Afterprolonged discussion agreement was
eventually reached. The Germans were
summoned to Versailles to sign the treaty on
28th June 1919.
 The final treaty bore little resemblance to
Wilson's fourteen points:
 Although Germany was not happy with the
Treaty they had little choice but to sign. This
cartoon clearly shows the situation Germany
was in.
General Clauses
 The establishment of the League of Nations
War Guilt clause - Germany to accept blame for starting the
war.
Financial Clauses
 Reparations - Germany was to pay for the damage caused by
the war. The figure of £6,600 million was set some time after the
signing of the treaty.
Military Clauses
 Army - was to be reduced to 100,000 men and no tanks were
allowed
Navy - Germany was only allowed 6 ships and no submarines
Air force - Germany was not allowed an air force
Rhineland - The Rhineland area was to be kept free of German
military personnel and weapons
Territorial Clauses
 Anschluss - Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.
Land - Germany lost land to a number of other countries.
Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, Eupen and Malmedy
were given to Belgium, North Schleswig was given to Denmark.
Land was also taken from Germany and given to
Czechoslovakia and Poland. The League of Nations took control
of Germany's colonies
World War II
 The failure to force the German General Staff to admit
defeat would have a huge impact on the future of
Germany. Although the army was later reduced in size, its
impact would be felt after the war as a political force
dedicated to German nationalism, not democracy.
 The German General Staff also would support the false
idea that the army had not been defeated on the battlefield,
but could have fought on to victory, except for being
betrayed at home, the infamous 'Stab in the Back' theory.
 This 'Stab in the Back' theory would become hugely
popular among many Germans who found it impossible to
swallow defeat.
 During the war, Adolf Hitler became obsessed with this
idea, especially laying blame on Jews and Marxists in
Germany for undermining the war effort. To Hitler, and so
many others, the German politicians who signed the
armistice on November 11, 1918, would become known as
the 'November Criminals.'
 The terms of the Treaty of Versailles imposed
upon Germany at the end World War I sowed the
seeds of World War 2 by stripping Germany of
territory and requiring her to pay huge reparations
to the victorious powers.
 The demands in Germany for vengeance were
given added stimulus when Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi party came to power in January 1933.
 By early 1939 Germany had thrown off the
shackles of the Versailles treaty, remilitarized the
Rhineland introduced conscription, annexed
Austria and occupied Czechoslovakia. The seeds
of war were almost ripe!
 Germany was now a republic, a form of
government (democracy) the Germans
historically had little experience or interest in.
With the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm and the
collapse of the Hohenzollern Monarchy, the
German Empire founded by Bismarck in 1871
(The Second Reich) had come to an end.
 But Germany was also a nation in political and
social chaos. In Berlin and Munich, left-wing
Marxist groups proclaimed Russian-like
revolutions, only to meet violent opposition
from right-wing nationalist Freikorps (small
armies of ex-soldiers for hire) along with
regular Army troops.
 Amid this political turmoil, on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles
was signed by the victorious Allies and was then dutifully ratified by
the German democratic government.
 Under the terms of the treaty, Germany alone was forced to accept
responsibility for causing the war and had to pay huge war reparations
for all the damage. Germany also had to give up land to France and
Poland.
 The German Army was limited to 100,000 men and was forbidden to
have submarines or military aircraft.
 The treaty had the effect of humiliating the German nation before the
world. This would lead to a passionate desire in many Germans,
including Adolf Hitler, to see their nation throw off the "shackles" of the
treaty and once again take its place in the world - the "rebirth" of
Germany through a strong nationalist government.
 In years to come, Hitler would speak out endlessly against the treaty
and gain much support. In addition, he would rail against the
'November Criminals' and 'Jewish Marxists.'
 In the summer of 1919, Adolf Hitler was still in the army and was
stationed in Munich where he had become an informer. Corporal
Hitler had named soldiers in his barracks that supported the
Marxist uprisings in Munich, resulting in their arrest and
executions.
 Hitler then became one of many undercover agents in the
German Army weeding out Marxist influence within the ranks and
investigating subversive political organizations.
 Hitler's anti-Semitic outbursts impressed his superiors including
his mentor, Captain Karl Mayr (who later died in Buchenwald). In
August 1919, Hitler was given the job of lecturing returning
German prisoners of war on the dangers of Communism and
pacifism, as well as democracy and disobedience. He also
delivered tirades against the Jews that were well received by the
weary soldiers who were looking for someone to blame for all
their misfortunes.
 An Army report on Hitler referred to him as "a born orator."
 Nazi Party is Formed

 Please write
an 300 words
essay on how
the Nazi party
was formed
and how Hitler
became it’s
Leader.
The Locarno Treaties
 The Locarno Treaties were signed in December 1925.
The major politicians of Europe met in neutral
Switzerland. The following was agreed to :
 France, Germany and Belgium agreed to accept their
borders as were stated in the Treaty of Versailles.
France and Belgium would never repeat an invasion of
the Ruhr and Germany would never attack Belgium or
France again. Britain and Italy agreed to police this
part of the treaties. Germany also accepted that the
Rhineland must remain demilitarised.
 In other treaties, France promised to protect Belgium,
Poland and Czechoslovakia if Germany attacked any
one of them. Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium,
Poland and Czechoslovakia all agreed that they would
never fight if they had an argument between
themselves - they would allow the League to sort out
the problem.
 The other major treaty which seemed to herald in an era of
world peace was the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928.
 This pact was signed by 65 countries. All 65 nations agreed
never to use war again as a way of solving disputes.
 Therefore, Europe was effectively lulled into a false sense of
security by 1929 as the politicians of Europe had made it
plain that war was no longer an option in solving disputes
and that previous enemies were now friends.
 This new Europe relied on nations being at peace and
harmony with one another.
 The stability of Germany was shattered by the
Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and the nationalists who
had spent 1925 to 1929 in relative obscurity, rose to the
political surface once again.
 They had no intention of accepting either Versailles or the
Locarno treaties and the League’s weaknesses in this decade
had also become apparent.
 The League could only function successfully, if the
politicians of Europe allowed it to do so. Hitler and the Nazis
were never going to give the League a chance once they had
gained power.
The Road to War
The actual war in Europe itself began with a series of
events:
 Germany took Austria (1938) and the Sudtenland
(1938)
 The Munich Pact was created (1938) with England and
France agreeing to allow Hitler to keep the Sudtenland
as long as no further expansion occurred.
 Hitler and Mussolini created the Rome-Berlin Axis
military alliance to last 10 years (1939)
 Japan entered an alliance with Germany and Italy
(1939)
 The Moscow-Berlin Pact occurred promising
nonaggression between the two powers (1939)
 Hitler invaded Poland (1939)
 England and France declared war on Germany
(September 30, 1939).
The Outbreak of War
 During March 1938 German troops had occupied Austria,
incorporating it into the Reich. In September Hitler
announced that the "oppression" of ethnic Germans living
in Czechoslovakia was intolerable and that war was near.
England and France met with Hitler (the Munich Pact) and
compelled Czechoslovakia to cede its frontier districts to
Germany in order to secure "peace in our time." Peace,
however, was only an illusion.
 During March 1939 Hitler seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia by force of arms and then turned his
attention to Poland. Although Britain and France had
guaranteed the integrity of Poland, Hitler and Josef Stalin,
dictator of the Soviet Union, signed a secret, mutual
nonaggression pact in August 1939.
 With the pact Stalin bought time to build up his strength at
the expense of Britain and France, and Hitler gained a free
hand to deal with Poland. When Hitler's army invaded
Poland on 1 September 1939, World War II began.
 While German forces overran western Poland, Soviet
troops entered from the east to claim their portion of
that country.
 France and Britain declared war on Germany and
mobilized their forces. The subsequent period of
deceptive inactivity, lasting until spring, became
known as the Phony War. Nothing happened to
indicate that World War II would differ significantly in
style or tempo from World War I.
 The Phoney War had far reaching political
consequences for Britain.
 Neville Chamberlain had returned a hero as
the man who had averted war at the last
minute. Now in 1939, with war declared, his
star shone less brightly.
Chamberlain after the Munich
Conference

 On September 28th 1939, Chamberlain gave

a speech on the war that was considered
dull, boring and full of platitudes. It was
greeted with apathy.
 Then Winston Churchill rose to give a
speech. As he had joined the government
three weeks earlier, this was done with
Chamberlain's knowledge and blessing.
 "I am entitled to say that so far as they go
these figures need not cause any undue
despondency or alarm....we have in fact got
more supplies in this country this
afternoon than we would have if no war had
been declared and no U-boats had come
into action. It is not going beyond the limits
of prudent statement to say that at any rate
it will take a long time to starve us out."
What happened in 1939?
 September 1st:Germany invaded Poland. First use of
Blitzkrieg. Britain and France gave Germany an
ultimatum to get out. Blackout and evacuation plans
were put in place in Britain.
 September 2ndChamberlain sent Hitler an ultimatum:
withdraw German troops from Poland or war will be
declared. The Luftwaffe gained air superiority over
the Polish air force.
 September 3rdGermany ignored the ultimatum and
Britain and France declared war on Germany. British
troops (the BEF) were sent to France. The passenger
liner "Athenia" was sunk by U-30 off of Ireland. 112 of
the passengers were killed.
 September 4thThe RAF raided German warships
based in the Heligoland Bight.
 September 6thSouth Africa declared war on Germany;
Egypt broke off relations with Germany,
 September 9thThe IV Panzer Division reached
Warsaw.September 17thRussia's Red Army attacked
Poland from the east.
 September 24th1,150 German aircraft bombed
WarsawSeptember 26thThe Luftwaffe attacked the
Royal Navy at Scapa Flow.
 September 27thPoland surrendered to Germany.
 October 6thLast Polish troops ceased fighting. Hitler
launched his "Peace Offensive" but this was rejected
by Neville ChamberlainOctober 14th'HMS Royal Oak'
is torpedoed at Scapa Flow by U-47
 November 30thRussia's Red Army invaded Finland -
the Winter War
 December 13thThe Battle of the River Plate was
fought.
 December 14thRussia expelled from the League of
Nation
 In the spring of 1940 their theories were put to the test as
German forces struck against Norway and Denmark in
April; invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
in May; and late in the same month broke through a hilly,
wooded district in France.
 Their columns sliced through to the English Channel,
cutting off British and French troops in northern France
and Belgium.
 The French Army, plagued by low morale, divided
command, and primitive communications, fell apart. The
British evacuated their forces from Dunkerque with the
loss of most of their equipment. The Germans entered
Paris on 14 June, and the French government, defeatist
and deeply divided politically, sued for an armistice.
 The success of the German Blitzkrieg forced the remaining
combatants to rethink their doctrine and restructure their
armies.
Blitzkrieg : what is it ?

 Blitzkrieg means "lightening war". Blitzkrieg was first

used by the Germans in World War Two and was a
tactic based on speed and surprise and needed a
military force to be based around light tank units
supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers).
 The tactic was developed in Germany by an army
officer called Hans Guderian.
 He had written a military pamphlet called "Achtung
Panzer" which got into the hands of Hitler.
 As a tactic it was used to devastating effect in the first
years of World War Two and resulted in the British
and French armies being pushed back in just a few
weeks to the beaches of Dunkirk and the
Russian army being devastated in the attack on
Russia in June 1941.
 A British view on Blitzkrieg

A British view on Blitzkrieg

 Blitzkrieg was based on speed, co-ordination and
movement. It was designed to hit hard and move on
instantly. Its aim was to create panic amongst the
civilian population.
 A civil population on the move can be absolute havoc
for a defending army trying to get its forces to the war
front. Doubt, confusion and rumour were sure to
paralyse both the government and the defending
military.
 Once a strategic target had been selected,
Stuka dive bombers were sent in to ‘soften’ up the
enemy, destroy all rail lines, communication centres
and major rail links.
 This was done as the German tanks were approaching
and the planes withdrew only at the last minute so that
the enemy did not have time to recover their senses
when the tanks attacked supported by infantry.
How effective was
Blitzkrieg? 
 In 1941, a diary kept by an unknown French soldier
was found. In it are some interesting comments that
help us understand why this tactic was so successful:
"When the dive-bombers come down, they (the French) stood it for
two hours and then ran with their hands over their ears."
"Sedan fell as a result of a bombardment……….it was a superb
example of military surprise."
"The pace is too fast……it’s the co-operation between the dive-
bombers and the tanks that is winning the war for Germany."
"News that the Germans are in Amiens………this is like some
ridiculous nightmare.“
 All the above were written in a period of just 5 days :
May 15th 1940 to May 19th 1940.
Why were the armies of Europe
caught so badly prepared by this
tactic? 
 Hitler had given his full backing to Guderian.
Ironically, he had got his idea for Blitzkrieg from two
officers - one from France and one from Britain and he
had copied and broadened what they had put on
paper.
 In Britain and France, the cavalry regiments ruled
supreme and they were adamant that the tanks would
not get any influence in their armies.
 The High Commands of both countries were
dominated by the old traditional cavalry regiments and
their political pull was great.
 These were the type of officers despised by Hitler and
he took to his Panzer officer, Guderian, over the old
officers that were in the German Army (the
Wehrmacht).
 In 1940, Britain and France still had a
World War One mentality. What tanks they had
were poor compared to the German Panzers.
 British and French tactics were outdated and
Britain still had the mentality that as an island
we were safe as our navy would protect us.
Nazi Germany, if it was to fulfill Hitler's wishes,
had to have a modern military tactic if it was to
conquer Europe and give to Germany the
'living space' that Hitler deemed was
necessary for the Third Reich.
 It was used to devastating effect in Poland,
western Europe where the Allies were pushed
back to the beaches of Dunkirk and in the
attack on Russia - Operation Barbarossa.
The Attack on Poland
 Poland was attacked by Germany on September 1st
1939. The German attack was code-named Operation
White (Fall Weiss).
 The attack on Poland started at 04.45 hours when
blitzkrieg tore through the Polish military and by the
end of the month Poland had surrendered to the
Germans and the country was occupied.
How did Germany achieve
such an overwhelming
victory?
 While the German Army had been developing
new tactics and building new fighting vehicles
to implement these tactics, the Polish Army,
like many others in Europe, had stayed with a
World War One mentality.
 A comparison of both armed forces clearly
indicates the problems faced by Poland.
 Germany had 11 tank divisions compared to
Poland’s 1;
 Germany had 40 infantry divisions compared
to Poland’s 30;
 Germany four motorised divisions compared
to none in Poland;
 Germany had one cavalry brigade compared to
Poland’s eleven, some of who can be seen
below.
 In terms of air power, the Germans had 850 bombers
and dive-bombers (the JU-87) and 400 fighters. The
Polish Air Force numbered 210 bombers and 150
fighters – though many of these were obsolete and
clearly no match for the modern Luftwaffe that
destroyed the Polish Air Force within two days of the
first attack.
 The Polish Navy consisted of four destroyers, five
submarines, two gunboats, a mine-layer and six mine
sweepers – which meant that any German attack from
the sea could not be repulsed. Despite the terms of
Versailles, Germany had built a modern navy that
totally outclassed the Polish Navy.
 Such a massive superiority of modern weaponry could
only lead to one result – a swift and decisive victory
for the Germans. General von Brauchitsch,
Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, said so.
 One of the main concerns of those in charge, other than whether
a mechanised attack would work, was that the German army was
attacking in the north and south of Poland – but with very little in
the middle to oppose any Polish counter-attack.
 There was a 185 mile gap between the German VIII Army based in
the south in Silesia and the German IV Army in the north based in
Pomerania.
 To ease this problem, the Germans put all their faith in a
lightening attack that would a) militarily hammer the Poles and b)
create such chaos in Poland that any form of a unified Polish
attack simply would not occur.
 For the Germans, speed and success went together. By rolling
back the Poles, the Germans assumed that they would always be
advancing and any Polish unit would simply fall back in disarray
even if it was not directly involved in a battle – such was the
chaos and breakdown in command the Germans hoped to
achieve.
 If the Poles were going to counter an attack, this has
to be done before either German army group had
advanced far into Poland. Both army groups had
Warsaw as their target. As they both advanced, the
185 mile gap between them got smaller and smaller;
the nearer both army groups got to each other, the
more formidable they became.
 The Poles had placed great value on the River Vistula
to act as a natural barrier to any form of military
advance.
 The Germans crossed the river on Day 5 of the attack.
By this time, the Polish air force had been defeated
and this had stripped the Polish Army of any form of
air cover – it also meant that the Poles were easy
targets for the Luftwaffe which was free to operate in
Poland after September 2nd.
 When the Russians invaded eastern Poland on
September 17th, the defeat of Poland was
sealed. On September 24th, Warsaw was
bombed by 1,150 German aircraft. On
September 27th, Warsaw surrendered. The last
Polish troops to surrender did so on October
6th.
 No-one doubts that the Polish military put up a
brave fight but they were the first army to feel
the full might of blitzkrieg – a tactic that was to
push the British and French armies back to
Dunkirk in 1940. Tanks versus a primarily non-
mechanised army could only lead to one
result.
According to the man credited with
developing Germany’s blitzkrieg,
Heinz Guderian, even Hitler was
taken aback by its success.
 “On September 5th our corps had a surprise
visit from Adolf Hitler. I met him near Plevno
on the Tuchel-Schwetz road, got into his car,
and drove with him along the line of our
previous advance. We passed the destroyed
Polish artillery, went through the Schwetz, and
then, following closely behind our encircling
troops, drove to Graudenz, where he stopped
and gazed for some time at the blown bridges
over the Vistula. At the sight of the smashed
artillery regiment, Hitler had asked me: “Our
dive-bombers did that?” When I replied, “No,
our Panzers!”, he was clearly astonished.”
 Heinz Guderian
The invasion of
Norway 1940
 Norway was invaded by
Nazi Germany on April 9th 1940.
Hitler had issued the order for the
invasion of Norway on March 1st
under the code word “Weserübung”.
The order also included the invasion
and occupation of Denmark. It was
the start of war in Western Europe -
and an end to the 'Phoney War'.
Why was Hitler interested in
Norway?
 Control of Norway’s extensive coastline
would have been very important in the
battle for control of the North Sea and
easing the passage of German warships
and submarines into the Atlantic.
 The control of Norway would also aid
Germany’s ability to import iron ore from
Sweden.
 At the start of the war, Germany imported
about 10 million tons of iron ore from Sweden.
Therefore it was important for Germany’s war
effort.
 Nine million tons of this came from north
Sweden via the port of Luleå. However, this
port freezes over for the winter months and the
Norwegian port of Narvik does not.
 Therefore control of Narvik, in the north of
Norway, would have been very important to
the Germans in easing the movement of iron
ore to Germany
 Once the invasion of Poland had ended, senior
German military commanders turned their
thoughts to Scandinavia and the rest of
Western Europe.
 Senior Wehrmacht officers believed the same
as Raeder – that the men needed for an
invasion of Norway simply were not available.
 However, on October 10th, Canaris, head of
military intelligence, had informed Raeder of
Britain’s interest in Norway.
 Raeder passed this information to Hitler who
on the same day issued his order for an early
attack on Western Europe.
 In mid-February 1940, the ‘Altmark’ incident
occurred. The ‘Altmark’ was a supply ship for
the scuttled pocket-battleship ‘Graf Spee’,
sunk at the River Plate in December 1939.
 The ‘Altmark’ was returning to Germany and
as a naval auxiliary ship she could legally
claim freedom from search by foreign forces.
 However, she also had a large number of
British merchant sailors on board from ships
sunk by the ‘Graf Spee’. Once these men were
in Germany, they would have been excellent
propaganda fodder for the Nazi government at
such an early stage in the war.
 When the destroyer ‘Cossack’ tried to pull
alongside the much larger ‘Altmark’, the
supply ship attempted to ram the
‘Cossack’.
 In doing so, all the ‘Altmark’ succeeded in
doing was to run aground. British sailors
rushed aboard her and freed the 299
merchant sailors who had been held on
board.
 The ‘Altmark’ was re-floated at high tide
and continued to Germany – minus her
prize.
 The incident was greeted with joy in Britain
and the legality of it was never questioned.
The Norwegians were angered by what they
saw as a blatant infringement of their
neutrality as the ‘Altmark’ was in Norwegian
waters at the time of the boarding.
 Hitler was furious.
 What should have been a propaganda coup for
Germany turned out to be the opposite. Within
days on February 19th, he had ordered
planning for the invasion of Norway.
 After this, events moved relatively swiftly.
The British Expeditionary Force
 The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) stationed in
France in the spring of 1940 was commanded by
Lord Gort.
 The BEF was considered to be a formidable fighting
unit but against blitzkrieg, it had little to offer. Against
the onslaught of blitzkrieg, the BEF withdrew, along
with remnants of the French army, to Dunkirk.
 When the BEF was deployed to France at the start of
the war, it was based from Bailleul to Maulde, north-
east of Douai.
 On May 9th, one day before the German attack, it
comprised of 9 infantry divisions with one other
division (the 51st Highland) having been sent to the
Maginot Line to bolster the defences in the Saar
region.
Between arriving in France and the German attack, the BEF had
spent its time building defences and undertaking training
programmes with territorial divisions.
By the standards of the time, the BEF was highly regarded but it
could do little to stem the flow of the Germans after their blitzkrieg
attack of May 10th 1940.
Forced back with little opportunity to counter-attack, the BEF was
pushed on to the beaches at Dunkirk.
Dunkirk &Battle of Britain
1940
 Dunkirk, and the evacuation associated with the
troops trapped on Dunkirk, was called a "miracle" by
Winston Churchill.
 As the Wehrmacht swept through western Europe in
the spring of 1940, using Blitzkrieg, both the French
and British armies could not stop the onslaught. For
the people in western Europe, World War Two was
about to start for real.
 The "Phoney War" was now over.
 The Battle of Dunkirk lasted from around May 25 to
June 3, 1940. After the Phony War, the Battle of France
began in earnest in mid-May 1940.
 German armour burst through the Ardennes region
and advanced rapidly. The combined British, French
and Belgium forces were rapidly split around
Armentieres.
 The German forces then swept north to capture Calais, holding a large
body of Allied soldiers trapped against the coast on the Franco-
Belgian border.
 It became clear the battle was lost and the question now became how
many Allied soldiers could be removed to the relative safety of
England before their resistance was crushed.
 From May 22 preparations for the evacuation began, codenamed
Operation Dynamo, commanded from Dover by Vice-Admiral Bertram
Ramsay. He called for as many naval vessels as possible as well as
every ship capable of carrying 1,000 men within reach.
 It initially was intended to recover around 45,000 men of the British
Expeditionary Force over two days, this was soon stretched to
120,000 men over five days.
 On May 27 a request was placed to civilians to provide all shallow
draught vessels of 30 to 100 feet for the operation, that night was the
first rescue attempt.
 A large number of craft including fishing boats and recreational
vessels, together with Merchant Marine and Royal Navy vessels, were
gathered at Sheerness and sent to Dunkirk and the surrounding
beaches to recover Allied troops.
 Due to heavy German fire only 8,000 soldiers were recovered.
 Despite attacks from German fighter and bomber
planes, the Wehrmacht never launched a full-scale
attack on the beaches of Dunkirk. Panzer tank crews
awaited the order from Hitler but it never came.
 In his memoirs, Field Marshall Rundstadt, the German
commander-in-chief in France during the 1940
campaign, called Hitler's failure to order a full-scale
attack on the troops on Dunkirk his first fatal mistake
of the war.
 That 338,000 soldiers were evacuated from the
beaches at Dunkirk would seem to uphold this view.
 On May 29 there was an unexpected reprieve, the
German armour stopped its advance on Dunkirk
leaving the operation to the slower infantry, but due to
problems only 14,000 men were evacuated that day.
 On the evening of May 30 another major group of
smaller vessels was dispatched and returned with
around 30,000 men.
 One of the reasons put forward for Hitler not
ordering an attack was that he believed that
Britain had suffered from the might of the
Wehrmacht once and that this experience
would be sufficient for Britain to come to
peace terms with Hitler.
 The total destruction of the
British Expeditionary Force might have
created such a climate of revenge in Britain
that our involvement would be prolonged.
 That is one idea put forward for why Hitler did
not order a full-scale attack on the beaches of
Dunkirk - however, we will never know the true
reason.
The tiny boats used help
Rescue the civilian and
soldiers
Britain's Home Front Gas
Masks
 Gas masks were issued to all British civilians at
the start of World War Two. There was a very real
fear in Britain that Nazi German bombers would
drop poison gas bombs.
 Therefore, all civilians were issued with gas masks.
The bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War
had shown what could happen when bombers got
through.
 The government had planned for tens of thousands
of deaths in London alone.
 An advisor to the government - Liddell Hart - told
the government to expect 250,000 deaths in the
first week of the war alone.
 At the start of the war some citizens had not
been issued with a gas mask.
 In a government document "
If war should come" (issued to people in
July 1939), the explanation for this was that
district leaders might have decided to keep
gas masks in storage until they decided that
an emergency situation had developed.
 However, the public was told to tell their
local Air Raid Warden if they had not been
issued with a gas mask and neighbours had.
 It was the responsibility of air raid wardens
to ensure that everybody had been issued
with a gas mask.
 Babies had special gas masks made for them which would only
be issued if an emergency situation arose - see above photo.
 Children were issued with what became known as "Mickey
Mouse" gas masks - the nickname was an attempt by the
government to make the gas masks seem less scary.

The Ministry of Home Safety issued advice on how to put on a gas

mask :

 Hold your breath

 Hold mask in front of face with thumbs inside straps
 Thrust chin well forward into mask, pull straps over head as far
as they will go
 Run finger round face piece taking care head straps are not
twisted.
 If out of doors people were advised to turn up their jacket collar
to stop gas drifting down their necks and to put on gloves or put
hands in pockets to stop open skin being hit b gas.
 After the Blitz had ended, carrying around a gas mask became
less and less important in the mind of the public.
Evacuation WW2
 Evacuation took place during the first months of
World War Two. Evacuation was a potentially traumatic
occurrence and the government tried to lessen its impact
by issuing advice to all of those impacted by evacuation.
 This advice was delivered to what the government referred
to as "evacuable" areas - the advice is clearly biased
towards the government's viewpoint - that evacuation was
for the best and pushed home hard the potential
consequences of what might happen if children were not
evacuated from danger areas.
Why evacuation?
 There are still a number of people who ask “What is
the need for all this business about evacuation?
Surely if war comes it would be better for families to
stick together and not go breaking up their homes?”
 It is quite easy to understand this feeling, because it is
difficult for us in this country to realise what war in
these days might mean.
 If we were involved in war, our big cities might be
subjected to determined attacks from the air – at any
rate in the early stages – and although our defences
are strong and are rapidly growing stronger, some
bombers would undoubtedly get through.
 We must see to it then that the enemy does not secure
his chief objects – the creation of anything like panic,
or the crippling dislocation of our civil life.
 One of the first measures we can take to prevent this
is the removal of the children from the more
dangerous areas.
The Government Evacuation Scheme

 The government have accordingly made plans for the

removal from what are called “evacuable” areas to
safer places called “reception” areas, of school
children, children below school age if accompanied by
their mothers or other responsible persons, and
expectant mothers and blind persons.
 The scheme is entirely a voluntary one, but clearly the
children will be much safer and happier away from the
big cities where the dangers will be greatest.
 There is room in the safer areas for these children;
householders have volunteered to provide it. They
have offered homes where the children will be made
welcome.
 The children will have their school teachers and other
helpers with them and their schooling will be
continued.
Weapons of the Home Guard
Lee Enfield Rifle:

 The Lee Enfield was first produced in 1907; it had been designed
by an American called James Lee and built at the Royal Small
Arms Factory in Enfield - hence the rifle's name. The Lee Enfield
enjoyed a good reputation with those who were issued with it. It
had a ten-bullet magazine and its rate of fire in the hands of well-
trained men was high. At the Battle of Mons, the advancing
Germans believed that they were under fire from British machine
guns. In fact, it was the well drilled infantry of the BEF using their
standard issue Lee Enfield. A good infantryman would expect to
shoot off about twelve well-aimed bullets in a minute.

 If the Lee Enfield had one weakness, it was that the firing
mechanism was susceptible to dirt and grit. Therefore, keeping
your rifle clean in the muddy environment of the trenches was of
paramount importance. When not in battle, many men simply
covered the firing mechanism with cloth in an effort to keep out
dirt which would clog up the rifle. The butt of the Lee Enfield had a
space inside it where cleaning material could be kept.
 The Lee Enfield was so highly thought of that it was the standard
issue rifle to infantrymen in the British Army in World War Two,
some twenty years after World War One. I
 Its robust nature meant that it was issued to the Home Guard.
The Home Guard manual had a 28-page section on the Lee
Enfield that covered how to fire it, how to keep the rifle clean,
how to load the rifle, judging distance and overall rifle
maintenance.
Bren Gun
 The Bren Gun was eventually issued to the
Home Guard in World War Two.
 The Bren Gun was a light machine gun that was
robust and could maintain short, sharp bursts of gun
fire. The Bren Gun used the same size ammunition as
the Lee Enfield rifle (.303 inch) and this compatability
was obviously useful.
 The Bren weighed 21 lbs and had a length of 45
inches. It was capable of firing either single shots or a
burst of fire. The Bren was capable of firing 500
rounds a minute - though this was a theoretical figure
as the rate of firing was dictated by the speed with
which a fully loaded magazine could be changed.
 Each magazine held just 30 rounds. Hence when in
use the firer used short bursts of fire.
Lewis Gun
 The Lewis Gun was issued to units of the Home Guard
in World War Two. The Lewis Gun was a light machine
gun that used .303 ammunition - the same as the
Lee Enfield rifle and the Bren gun.
 This ammunition compatibility was very useful during
live firing exercises.
 The Lewis gun was air-cooled and could produce a
high rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. However, as
this depended on the speed with which its circular
magazine (called a pan magazine) could be changed
(the magazine held 47 rounds), those who fired the
gun used short bursts that tended to limit its rate of
fire to 120 rounds a minute.
 The Lewis machine gun weighed 26 lbs and was
designed so that it could be fired by either a left-
handed or right-handed firer.