Key Figures of World War II

Key Figures of World War II — page 5 — KEY FIGURES OF 10 WORLD WAR I attack Hitler soon demanded the return of Danzig Gdansk to Germany and a strip of territory link ing East Prussia with the rest of Germany Poland refused In May 1939 Germany and Italy signed a pact pledging to support each other in war Hitler and other German leaders believed Germany lost World War I because it had to fight on two fronts To prevent this in a new war Hitler and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin signed a ten year nonaggres sion pact on August 23 1939 On September 1 Germany annexed Danzig and invaded Poland and the war began THE WAR DURING 1939 On September 3 1939 two days after the invasion of Poland Britain and France demanded that Germany withdraw its troops When Germany refused Britain and France declared war on Germany THE CONQUEST OF POL AND AN D THE PHONY WAR C The Poles were easily defeated by Germany s blitz krieg or lightning war The first day the German Luftwaffe air force destroyed Poland s airfields and bases Within a week it had crippled the lines of communication At the same time German

Key Figures of World War II — page 6 — EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 11 panzer armored and mechanized divisions encir cled the Polish armies The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on September 17 Poland was soon forced to surren der Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them Some Polish government officials soldiers pilots and naval units managed to escape the swift Nazi and Soviet advances They fled to Britain where they continued the fight against Germany with the Allies After Poland's defeat the Western Front saw little fighting for about six months This period is known as the phony war The war at sea however was active Germany launched a counter blockade against the British German submarines U boats mines and bombs sank many Allied merchant and passenger ships SOVIE T FINNISH WAR The Soviet Union invaded Finland on November 30 Finland had refused to give the Soviets mili tary bases The large Soviet army was expected to defeat tiny Finland quickly The Finns however held off the Soviets for several months Finland's Mannerheim Line of fortifications was finally broken through early in 1940 On March 12 Finland signed a peace treaty that gave the Soviet Union important Finnish

Key Figures of World War II — page 7 — KEY FIGURES OF 12 WORLD WAR I THE WA R DURING 1940 Early in April Germany invaded Denmark and Nor way Denmark accepted the protection that Germany offered the two countries Norway how ever declared war British troops landed in Norway but they were unable to stop the German advance In May the Brit ish forces were evacuated On June 9 Norway fell IN VASION OF THE LOW COUNTRIES On May 10 German forces invaded Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg Luxembourg was occupied without resistance Belgium and the Netherlands declared war In Britain Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill replaced him as prime minister The Allies sent troops into the Low Countries but by May 14 the Dutch army had to give up the fight The Netherlands was quickly brought under the rule of German occupation forces On May 13 German armored forces broke through Allied lines in the lightly defended Ardennes Forest of southern Belgium Their columns drove through to the English Channel cutting off British and French troops in northern France and Belgium King Leopold of Belgium surrendered his army on May 28 The Allies had no choice but to escape by sea evacu ating 360 000 soldiers from Dunkirk France between May 29 and June

Key Figures of World War II — page 8 — IN British and other Allied troops wade through the water to board ships at Dunkirk France in 1940 About 198 000 British and 140 000 French and Belgian troops were saved during the

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