1939: Poland A map of In this section, Poland. you will learn Hitler’s main aim was to conquer about... much of Europe to create a 1. Hitler’s invasions . His surprise of Poland, began in Norway and . September 1939 and led to its

2. The rescue of occupation by the end of the French and month. This invasion was aided by British troops at Dunkirk. the Russian army invading Poland from the east on September 17th. Did You Know? Although Britain and France declared war, they did This had been agreed secretly in not act immediately. Some believe that the war would not have lasted as long as it did if they had the German-Soviet pact. attacked Germany whilst it was vulnerable and the majority of the German army were invading Poland. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 16

Image © ThinkStock A modern map 1940: Norway of Europe. In April 1940, after the end of the ‘’, Germany invaded and occupied Norway. Norway Norway was important to the Germans because: • Germany’s supply of iron ore was shipped from Sweden to Norwegian ports. • The west coast of Norway was a good place to have naval and air bases ready to attack Britain. • Norway offered a good base for German troops to attack Allied convoys to Russia later on in the war. The German occupation of Norway led Britain to appoint a new Prime Minister called . Churchill was thought to be more aggressive than Chamberlain, who many felt had failed to stop Hitler.

Image © ThinkStock © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 17 1940: France In May 1940 Germany invaded Belgium, Holland and then France. France had been confident they could defend themselves as they had a line of underground forts A battle damaged bunker on the Maginot Line at called the Maginot Line. However, this only Villy La Ferte. protected France along its border with Germany. Instead, Germany attacked France’s weak point at French troops working in underground Sedan (on France’s border with Belgium). This led artillery towers on the Maginot Line. to the defeat of France in just six weeks. Dunkirk Sedan

Once Germany broke through the Sedan line, German tanks raced towards the Channel to cut off the 250,000 strong British force that had been sent to help defend France. Fortunately, Hitler called off his 200 tanks at Dunkirk as he wanted to use them to attack Paris. If the German tanks had been allowed to continue their attack, it is likely the British and French troops at Dunkirk would have all been killed. Instead Hitler agreed to send the to attack the troops on the beaches at Dunkirk. A map of France. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 18

Images © ThinkStock Dunkirk After the German invasion of France, British and French troops were left stranded on the beaches at Dunkirk. The British launched Operation Dynamo to rescue as many troops as possible from the encircling German army. Between 26th May and 3rd June 1940, 225,000 British troops and 110,000 French troops were rescued. These rescues took place mostly at night because the Luftwaffe were unable to operate. Surprisingly, most of the ships used to rescue the soldiers were owned by civilians who volunteered to help. These boats sailed across the channel, picking up troops from the beaches of Dunkirk and taking them back to vessels or to the English coast.

France’s Anger Although it was a great achievement to rescue so many troops from Dunkirk, the resulting fall of France (on 22nd June 1940) was a huge blow to the Allies. The French felt abandoned and were angry with Britain. During the evacuation at Dunkirk they believed that British troops had been given priority over French troops. They were also angry as Churchill had decided not to send 120 Spitfire planes to France to help the French Air Force. Churchill decided the planes were needed to defend Britain as France was already near defeat. British troops retreating at Dunkirk. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 19 Image © ThinkStock The main reason the Germans invaded other countries was to build In this section, you will learn a greater German state in Europe. The about... Nazi party and its followers believed that 1. Why the Nazi the German race was better than other party treated races. They thought that Danish, Dutch groups of people in different ways. and Norwegian people all originated

2. What happened from Germany so they treated these to people at people better. However Poles, concentration camps. Ukrainians and Russians were all thought to be inferior. The Nazis wanted 3. People who tried to resist the to use these people as slave labour to German help the war effort. Hitler addresses occupation. a crowd. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 20 Image © ThinkStock The Holocaust The Nazis called themselves the ‘master race’. Even before the war began, Hitler and his Nazi government targeted Jewish people. Many German Jews fled the country because of the anti-Jewish laws and the increasing violence and hatred against them.

As the Nazis began to conquer much of Europe, life for the millions of Jews living there grew worse. People who the Nazis believed to be inferior (such as Jewish people, gypsies and homosexuals) were rounded up by Nazi troops and imprisoned in concentration camps. In these camps people were forced to live in terrible conditions and work as slaves.

Birkenau concentration camp.

Image © ThinkStock © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 21 Transport trains delivered Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp from Many people who were thought to be of no use as slave all over German-occupied Europe. labour were killed in large gas chambers. This included pregnant women, children, the elderly and the weak. The mass killing of innocent Jewish people was referred to as the ‘Final Solution’ and was organised by Himmler, the chief of the SS. The SS also relied on people in Nazi controlled areas (including Poland and France) to help identify and round up Jewish people.

The Nazis had killed nearly six million Jewish people by the end of the war. This is referred to as the Holocaust (meaning ‘whole’ and ‘burnt’ in Greek) as the Nazis tried to extinguish all Jewish people in Europe.

A guard tower at Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp.

Footwear belonging to © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 22 Images © ThinkStock those killed at Auschwitz. Resistance Most people were scared to stand up to the Germans but some did try to resist occupation in different ways: • Passive resisters did not use violence. Instead they would strike, demonstrate or hide Jewish people being hunted by the Gestapo. For example, the Dutch railway company went on strike in 1944 to support the Allied forces attacking Arnhem. Unfortunately the attack was not successful and the Nazis punished the Dutch by stopping food supplies and leaving many to starve. • Active resisters used violence against the occupying German forces. Sabotage of railway lines, roads, telephone lines and vital machinery in factories and even the attack of German troops were all used. Britain set up a unit called the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which trained people to set up resistance groups in Nazi occupied countries. Agents were parachuted into occupied France where they provided explosives, radios and other weapons to the .

The Nazi response to resistance The occupying Nazi German forces were unforgiving of any form of resistance. If they could not capture those responsible, they would kill hundreds of civilians in revenge, sometimes wiping out whole towns. They would also send people to concentration camps and even kidnap children.

This did not deter many from resisting occupation and they did play an important role. The sabotage of bridges and telecommunication slowed down Nazi troops from reinforcing the front line. It also meant the German army had to leave large numbers of troops in occupied countries to keep order. These troops could have otherwise been used in combat, fighting the Allies. A reenactment of three young French Resistance members.

© Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 23 Image © ThinkStock After the rapid defeat of most of Europe by 1940, Germany needed to In this section, defeat next. However, before he could invade Britain, you will learn about... Hitler needed to destroy their (RAF). Without defeating the RAF, any attacks by German convoys sent across the 1. Why Hitler could be ambushed. needed to destroy the RAF. Between July and , the took place 2. How the RAF between the German managed to Luftwaffe and the British RAF. defeat the Luftwaffe. Commanded by Goering, the Luftwaffe started their attacks 3. How radar was by targeting and bombing used to help the radar stations, fighter bases An illustration of the RAF British forces. Supermarine Spitfire in flight. and aircraft factories in Britain.

© Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 24 Image © ThinkStock Goering had promised Hitler that the RAF would be defeated by August. When this defeat did not occur, Hitler grew angry. Instead of bombing fighter bases and aircraft factories, Goering was commanded to order the Luftwaffe to target major British cities. Hitler believed that by targeting

A Spitfire on a Battle of civilians, Germany would frighten Britain memorial flight. Britain into surrendering.

Operation Sea Lion The Luftwaffe’s failure to destroy the RAF led Hitler to cancel his planned invasion of Britain (codenamed ‘Operation Sea Lion’). Instead, he wanted to focus his troops on invading Russia. He believed that Britain was not a threat. The RAF managed to defeat the Luftwaffe because: • Hitler’s decision to change tactics and bomb British cities allowed aircraft factories to continue building fighter planes for the RAF. This meant that 500 fighter planes could be made each week, strengthening the depleted RAF. If Hitler had continued to attack the aircraft factories, the RAF may have been destroyed completely. • The Spitfire fighter plane used by the RAF was considered to be the best fighter plane in World War II. • Advances in the use of radar gave the RAF early warnings of German attacks. This meant the head of the RAF could be strategic and use the few planes where they were most needed. An illustration of a Hawker Hurricane fighter plane. © Teaching Packs - World War II - Page 25 Images © ThinkStock