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World War II – Key terms

Blitzkreig: lightning war – (1) German bombers destroy enemy targets. (2) Then large numbers of tanks smash through enemy defences. (3) Infantry (foot soldiers) advance to occupy and control newly captured territory.

Phoney War: the period between the invasion of Poland, Oct 1939 and the invasion of Denmark, April 1940, when enemy troops faced each other across the French – German border but didn’t fight.

Maginot Line: Forts built along the French German border by the French in the 1930s to protect against a German invasion. The German forces by passed the Maginot Line and invaded France through Belgium.

Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo): the evacuation of 300,000 British and French troops from France. The British used over 900 boats (warships to fishing boats) to rescue the troops from the beaches.

The Luftwaffe: the German Air force

The Blitz: the German bombing of British cities. During the Blitz, highly explosive bombs rained down on urban areas. About 60,000 people died and ninety per cent of London buildings were damaged. Hitler failed to break the morale of the British people. People spent their nights in Underground for safety. A loud air raid siren would warn of an attack. Children were evacuated to the countryside. Everyone was given a gas mask in case of chemical warfare. People had to cover their windows so that no light could be seen outside (blackout).

Battle of Kursk: the biggest tank battle in history. Soviet tanks defeated the German tanks.

Battle of El Alamein: Another major turning point in WWII. Italy’s efforts to extend its empire in North Africa came unstuck, forcing Hitler to send General Rommel to Africa to rescue the struggling Italians. The goal was to gain control of the Suez Canal. Rommel’s forces were initially successful but they were eventually defeated by Montgomery at the decisive battle of El Alamein in Egypt. In May 1943 the Germans and the Italians in North Africa surrendered.

Pearl Harbour December 7th 1941: On this day Germany’s ally Japan attacked the US Pacific fleet at pearl Harbour in Hawaii. Japan wanted to build an empire in Asia and wanted to wipe out the US Navy in the Pacific. 18 US ships were sunk, 200 aircraft destroyed and 2,500 men killed. The US entered the war against Japan and Germany.

Allies: America, Great Britain, Soviet Union among others.

Axis Powers: Germany, Italy and Japan.

The Battle of the Atlantic: German U-boats (submarines) attacked and sank hundreds of Allied cargo ships in the Atlantic. To protect themselves, cargo ships travelled in large groups called convoys, flanked by warships. The Allies were eventually able to defeat the U-boat threat by: increasing shipbuilding, using air reconnaissance, radar, sonar and by code breaking that deciphered messages sent to U-boats at sea.

The Battle of Midway Island June 1942: the turning point in the war in the Pacific. The US Navy sank four Japanese aircraft carriers. After this battle the US invaded a large number of Japanese held islands in the Pacific and drove the Japanese back towards Japan.

V1 and V2: the V1 was a flying bomb and the V2 was a rocket built by the Germans to bomb British cities. They came into use to late in the war to effect the result.

Operation Overlord: the Allied (GB, USA and CAN) invasion of France on 6th June 1944.

The fall of Berlin: By April 1945 the Germans had been defeated on both fronts. Hitler called on young and old to defend Berlin. In March 1945 the Allies crossed the Rhine and on the 30th April 1945, Hitler committed suicide with the Soviet troops a few hundred metres away. A week later Germany surrendered and the war in Europe was over.

Atomic bombs: the war against Japan continued in Asia. In August 1945, to prevent having to invade Japan, US President Harry Truman took the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both cities were destroyed. Over 100,000 people were killed and many more in the years after for radiation. Japan surrendered soon after.

Why did the Allies win the war?

1. The Allies had larger populations and larger armies than the Axis Powers.

2. American industrial might. America produced thousands of planes, tanks, jeeps, ships for the Allied war effort. In factories that were far away from German or Japanese bombers.

3. Access to oil. The Allies had greater access to oil than Hitler or the Japanese.

4. The Allies won the key battles that were turning points in the war – the Battle of Britain, the Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Stalingrad.

5. Hitler’s invasion of Russia turned out to be a fatal mistake for Germany.

6. The Allied bombing of German cities and factories reduced the military equipment Germany could build. It also meant that the Luftwaffe was tied down defending Germany rather than winning battles.

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