German Invasion of USSR-June 1941
- Operation Barbarossa- invasion of Soviet Union
- Went very well for Germany until winter set in
- Hitler's biggest mistake in the war
Scorched Earth Policy
- As the Soviets retreated, they burned everything that they couldn't take with them
- It was so the Germans couldn't take any spoils- crops, factories, etc.
Siege of Leningrad:
Siege: surrounding a city, cutting off supplies, bombarding it, all in order to force them to surrender and take over the city without invading it
- On August 30th 1941, the Germans took over Lenngrad's railroads, cutting them off from the rest of Russia and the world
- Unlike the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans surrounded the city to starve them into submission
- Between November 1941 and October 1942, 641,000 people died of starvation
- People resorted to eating rats, wallpaper paste, and even cannibalism
- A successful Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad forced the Germans to move troops there and eventually, the siege failed
- The Germans never took Leningrad, but it was one of the most costly conflicts Russia had ever faced- over one million died
- As Russians pushed Germany back, they did some awful things as revenge, specifically to women and children
Battle for Moscow
- The Soviet Winter Counteroffensive December 6, 1941- April 30, 1942
- The Russian winter sets in and makes a huge turning point in the war
- Germans almost took over Moscow, but winter set in the the Russians counterattacked and slowly pushed them back
Battle of Stalingrad: August 1942-February 1943:
Since the city bore Stalin's name, it was important for their morale to defend the city
- Civilian men formed militias
- Women and children dug trenches and built defenses, and were even scouts and snipers
- Stalin declared that if anyone tried to retreat, they would be shot, so they might as well die fighting
- German army:
- 1,011,500 men
- 10,290 guns
- 675 tanks
- 1,216 planes
- Russian Army:
- 1,000,500 men
- 13,541 guns
- Soviet victory
- More than 1,830,000 killed or wounded
- More than 11,400 casualties every day
- The biggest defeat in the history of the German army
- Turning point not only on the Eastern front, but also the turning point of the whole of WWII
The North Africa Campaign: June, 1940-May, 1943
- Gen. Bernard Montgomery ("Monty")
- Famous British general
- Gen. Erwin Rommel, the "Dessert Fox"
- Famous German general
- Usually outfoxed British, thus the nickname
- One of the best generals in history
Operation Torch- November 1942
- Americans and British invaded North Africa- Vichy France, Italy, and German territory
- By May 1943, Axis forces surrendered in North Africa
- The campaign
- Beginning of the end for the Germans
The Italian Campaign "Operation Avalanche"
- Italy was Europe's "soft underbelly"
- Allies plan assault on weakest Axis are- North Africa- Nov. 1942-May 1943
- George S. Patton lends American troops
- Germans rapped in Tunisia- surrender over 275,000 troops
- Italy surrendered quickly and joined the Allies
Allies Liberate Rome: June 5, 1944
Invading France- D-Day ("Operation Overlord")
- The Atlantic Wall- built by Nazis to defend against Allied invasion- barbed wire, mines, etc.
- Focused on weak areas first (North Africa and Italy), then went for the stronger areas (France)
- We knew we had to invade France on some point in order to win the war
- June 6, 1944
- American, Canadian, and British forces did most of the action
- Omaha beach was the toughest
- Before the battle, we let some false info leak to Hitler that we would invade most heavily somewhere else, where the gap was most narrow between Britain and France, and he bought it and moved many troops over there, making it easier then it would have been otherwise
- Beginning of the end for Germany, surrendered 11 months after D-Day
July 20, 1944 Assassination Plot
- Plot to assassinate Hitler
- He survived, however, and those people were executed
Liberation of Paris
- August 25, 1944
- After allies moved into Paris after D-Day
Battle of the Bulge:
- Hitlers last offensive
- Dec 16, 1944-Jan 28, 1945
- Created a "bulge" in the front line
- Allies were on "cruise control" at this point- thought it would be smooth sailing from here on out
- Then Germany suddenly fought back with a vengeance
- Caused a lot of casualties
- Bloodiest battle for US against Germany
- But allies stuck it out and won
US and Soviets meet at Elbe River in German- April 25, 1945- Agreed that Soviets would be the ones to go into Berlin
Hitler Commits Suicide
- April 30, 1945
- Didn't want to get caught
- Hitler and his wife took cyanide pills and Hitler shot himself
V-E Day (May 8, 1945)
- Victory in Europe Day
- German surrenders and signs an armistice
The Holocaust
- The genocide of about 6 million European Jews during WWII
- A program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory
- About 2/3 of the 9 million European Jews living before the Holocaust died
- Some say that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazi's killing of millions of people in other groups from Germany and other occupied territory
- By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 and 17 million people
Genocide-
- Destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting of the group conditions of life calculated to bring the physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
The Aryan Race-
- Nazis used term to refer to a so-called master race that originated around Germany
- Perfect Aryan was blonde, blue-eyed, tall, and muscular (ironically, Hitler himself was none of these)
- The original term refers to a people speaking a Indo-European dialect
Who did Hitler consider Inferior?
- Jews (6 million dead)
- Gypsies (Roma, Romani) (500,000 to 1.5 million killed) people who traveled a lot
- Mentally/physically disabled (75,000 to 250,000 killed)
- Soviet Slavs/POW's/Troops (16.5 million killed)
- Poles (From Poland- 2.5 million killed)
- Homosexuals (5-15 thousand killed)
- Communists/socialists (many killed but number not confirmed)
- Dark skinned people (death and forced sterilization)
- Mixed races
- Jehovah's Witnesses (2,500-5,000 killed)
Lebensborn- Fount of Life
- The program aimed to promote the growth of "superior" Aryan populations by providing excellent health care and living conditions to volunteer women and by restricting access to those who deemed "fit"
- The women mated with perfect Aryan German soldiers to have perfect Aryan children
- Houses were set up throughout Germany and many occupied territories
- Many Lebensborn children were born to unwed mothers which helped lead to many rumors of rape
- Contrary to widespread rumors, women wee not forced to have relations with Aryan Germans
Hitler's Jewish Question- What do we do with the Jews?
1933
- Nazis "temporarily" suspend civil liberties and rights for all citizens in 1933- never actually restored
- Nazis set up the first concentration camp at Dachau in 1933. The first inmates were 200 Communists- political opponents
- Jews are prohibited from working as civil servants (gov't), doctors in the National Health Service, and teachers in public high schools
- Most Jewish students are banned from public high schools and colleges- little education, won't get well-paying jobs
Nuremburg Laws- 1935
- Took away German citizenship form Jews thus making Jews second-class citizens by removing their basic civil rights
- Established membership in the Jewish race as being anyone who either considered themselves Jewish or had 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents
- People with 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents were considered to be mixed race
- Eventually anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent was at risk in Nazi Germany
- Jews could only marry Jews- don't want mixed race
- No sexual relations between non-Jewish Germans and Jews
1936
- Nazis boycott Jewish-owned business
Kristallnacht- 1938- Crystal Night- "Night of the Broken Glass"
- On the nights of November 9 and 10, 1938, the Nazis roamed through Jewish neighborhoods breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes, burning synagogues and looting
- In all, 101 synagogues were destroyed and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed
- 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps
- Jews wee physically attacked and beaten and 91 died in the attack
- Destroyed the livelihood and culture of the Jews
1938 Cont.
- All Jewish children are expelled from public schools in Germany and Austria
- Nazis take control of Jewish-owned businesses
Hitler's final solution- Genocide
1939
- Hitler orders the systematic murder of the mentally and physically disabled in Germany and Austria
- Jews are required to wear armbands or yellow stars
1940
- Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland- most people didn't see what's going on- they knew something was up, but they had no clue what
- Jews are forced into ghettos
- Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews in Poland
Auschwitz
- most infamous death camp
- families were split up
- if you were able-bodied, you were most likely put to work, if not, you were put to death
1941
- Jews throughout Eastern Europe are forced into ghettos
- In 2 days, German units shoot 33,771 Ukrainian Jews at BabiYar- the largest single massacre of the Holocaust
- the death camp at Chelmno in Poland begins murdering Jews
1942
- Nazi officials announce "Final Solution"- their plan to kill all European Jews
- 5 death camps begin operation in Poland Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Ghettos of Eastern Europe are being emptied as thousands of Jews are shipped to death camps
- The US, GB, and the Soviet Union acknowledge that Germans are exterminating the Jews of Europe
1943
- Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto resist as the Nazis begin new rounds of deportations
- These Jews hold out for nearly a month before the Nazis put down the uprising
1944
- Hitler takes over Hungary and begins deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz where they are murdered
1945
- Hitler is defeated and WWII ends in Europe
- The Holocaust is over and the death camps are found and emptied
- Many survivors are placed in displaced persons camps until they find a country willing to accept them
- Some 850,000 people lived in Displaced Person camps across Europe
- Armenians, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Yugoslavs, Jews, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, and Czechoslovaks
1947
- The United Nations established a Jewish homeland in British controlled Palestine, which becomes the State of Israel in 1948
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