Warinfo
The 2nd World War, in all its briefness.
The European Theatre
From Vichy France to operation Barborossa
The European Theatre of WW2 is without a doubt the most bloody Theatre of WW2. It was here where the war had officially begun. Major European powers would clash here and this theatre saw the most amount of fighting and had the longest length out of all WW2 theatres.
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6 years of non-stop fighting saw bloody battles, the largest land invasion on earth and the most complicated of loyalties between alliances.
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Read on to learn about the war waged on the bloody European soil.
German invasion of Poland
The German invasion of Poland was staged in no less than 3 weeks and commenced on the 1st September 1939 up to October 6th 1939 under the command of Adolf Hitler.
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This event was the trigger that lead The Allies: France and Britain at the time, we'll talk about the USSR later, to declare war on Germany. This wasn't the first time that Hitler had invaded another nation. Previously it had been Austria and Czechoslovakia.
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so it was and the German invasion of Poland had started of the 2nd World War: The largest global conflict that the world had seen.
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The Polish invasion had caused the following losses for German and Soviets: 17369 infantrymen, 246 aircraft, 236 aircraft and 800 vehicles - German. 1475 troops, 38 tanks - USSR. 37 troops, 2 aircraft - Slovak Reoublic.
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The USSR
Joseph Stalin, premier of the USSR at the time had been an obstruction to Germany as the USSR was allied with the countries of France and Great Britain. Hitler did not want to end up fighting a war on 2 fronts, one the East and West and so had come to a deal with the Soviets. When Warsaw was to fall, Poland would be split between the Soviets and Germany.
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This stunning alliance had left other Allied forces dumbfounded as Stalin had also started the war with Finland.
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The Phoney War
The phoney war is a period during the 2nd World War that is known for Allied inactivity after the German Occupation of Poland.
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The Phoney war is said to have started on the 3rd September 1939: 2 days after the attack on Poland and lasted up to the 10th May 1940.
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Saar Offensive
The Phoney War may have been very inactive in terms of allied activity but there was one french offensive by the name of the Saar Offensive in which French troops had been mobilised an area on the Germany-France Border called the Saarland. However, this small and mostly insignificant offensive resulted in a french withdrawal as well as a waste of troops.
The Battle of France
The Battle of France was a major battle that resulted in the fall of France as well as the German occupation of Belgium and The Netherlands. This long battle took place from the 10th May 1940 to the 25th May 1940 and lasted for 46 days. The Battle was fought by two sides, one on the North, with Germany and one on the South-East: Italy.
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France and her allies: the United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands fought hard against the Germans and Italians, but were unable to protect France. And so on the 14th June 1940, France surrendered to Axis forces. What the Schleiffen Plan couldn't do in the 1st World War, Germany had done just like that.
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Along with the fall of France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg had also fallen.
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It was in this battle that the Germans had also used the effective encircling movement of Blitzkrieg, it was here that the British and other allied forces were pushed towards the coast and made a last minute escape at Dunkirk that you will read about later.
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Losses
In terms of German losses, Germany had lost 27074 infantrymen, 1129 aircrew, 1236 planes and 795-822 tanks destroyed. Italy lost 6029 to 6040 infantrymen in the battle.
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In terms of Allied losses, 360,000 were dead or wounded,
1,900,000 had been captured after the armistice of surrender, 2233 aircraft had been shot down, 1749 tanks had been lost - french and 689 tanks had also been lost - english.
State : Vichy France
On the 14th of June 1940, Paris fell and France surrendered to the German forces. However, Hitler had let part of France keep its culture and would remain un-occupied - Vichy France. With Vichy as its capital, this state would be in the south of France and would be a controlled German puppet state. This part of France was un-occupied as Hitler would need the Coastal areas for defence of sea and the north for defence against British forces. The whole point of having a puppet state was to emphasise that Britain was alone in the war and that her old ally France had joined the German side.
Vichy France was under the command of Philippe Pètain and after a series of complicated agreements, Vichy France would not be a separate nation but it would definitely support Germany. This was not known to the British and had thought that Vichy France would fight along Germany.
However, not all peoples of France wanted to support Vichy France and some had started the Free France Movement.
State: Free France
As we were saying in the previous slide about Vichy France, not all people had wanted to support Vichy France. Led by Charles de Gaulle,
who had recently escaped France during the German occupation, the Free French movement were all frenchmen and women who had opposed the German invasion. Many other overseas colinies in Africa, led by Félix Èbouè of Chad (at the time which French Guinea) had also decided to join the Free French. Broadcasted from a BBC radio in London, de Gaulle had pledged the alliance to Free France and in no time, an army was set up. Éboué and de Gaulle had been quite successful in this and had pledged other states to join them, all went well except for Gabon, controlled by Vichy France, that had to be taken by force.Other French (Vichy) colinies would be Algeria and Morocco. Free France would be a free state that would side the allies and would play an imperative force in the North African Campaign and the re-capture of France.
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is more of a military campaign like the Battle of the Atlantic
which was a long series of battles fought in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Unlike the Battle of the Atlantic, the Battle of Britain was fought completely in the air between the Royal Air Force, with some support from the Canadian Air Force and German Luftwaffe and Corpo Aero Italiano of Italy.
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The battle was fought over British airspace of which some parts covered the English Channel. The channel would provide the British with a very good defence. The Battle of Britain lasted for 3 months and 3 weeks between the 10 July 1940 and 31 October 1940.
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Now let's actually talk about the Battle in context. The Battle of Britain was a set of attacks on British coastal facilities, RAF bases and finally London - The Blitz. German planes would attack in swarms of fighters and bombers. British fighters would repel these bombers and fighters by shooting them down, as I said before, over Southeastern British Airspace and parts over the English Channel.
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Though mainly it was the Canadians and British defending against German offenders, Polis, Czech, Indian, pilots from the commonwealth, French etc. had also fought along side Great Britain.
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By the end of the battle there were 1542 British aircrew were killed, 1744 aircraft were shot down or destroyed when in airbase and 14286 civilians were killed during blitz attacks or normal bombings in total. German and Italian losses - 2858 aircrew were killed and 1977 aircraft were destroyed both in combat or when in base.
Dunkirk
The Dunkirk Evacuation codenamed operation Dynamo was the evacuation of allied troops - mainly British - from the rapidly closing in German forces who were going to finish off France. What is so famous about Dunkirk is that as well as minor surface warships, small British private vessels had made the perilous journey across the Channel to bring British troops home.
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Background
At this moment in time, 1940, the situation was very very bad for France. Following the recent victory at the Battle of France, Germany had occupied The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and most of France. Slowly and slowly, allied troops were being pushed back to the coast of France, desperate for an escape from danger. As time was reducing, their situation would become more dangerous as German forces were advancing closer and closer to the allies.
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Now it was confirmed that something had to be done, Operation Dynamo was the codename for the operation to bring back allied forces stuck at the beach of Dunkirk, who were getting closer and closer to peril, in no time, compromises were made to allow even the smallest of fishing vessels to private boats to sail the channel and rescue allied forces. Troops would wait in lines on the beach and were subject to daily air raids by the Luftwaffe.
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The Evacuation
The evacuating took place between the 26th May 1940 to the 4th June 1940. 338226 soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk beach. nationalities varied from Indian, French, Polish, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch, and Moroccan.
Invasion of Norway: Operation Weserubung
Operation Weserubung, the invasion of Norway was the German Occupation of Norway, officially breaking her neutrality for the rest of the war.
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Background of the Situation
Initially, Norway was a neutral country, along with Sweden, there was a shipping of Iron ore in which the goods would be transported through Norway from Sweden to Germany. This was requested to stop by France and Great Britain, but Norway and Sweden had not stopped exporting. Remeber when we were talking about the USSR's offensive with Finland? Well the UK and France had also asked Norway and Sweden whether they could use the countries as an access to help Finland in the winter war being waged with Russia. Sweden and Norway had again said no.
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There had to be something done so Allied forces mined waters around Norway forcing transport to stop in the trade. Hitler had immediately understood what the Allies were trying to do and launched an invasion of Norway through Denmark. The Allies quickly were first to respond but the battle was decided by the air superiority, and as Germany had the most airfields, the Allies were completely outnumbered. This had forces The Allies to retreat back.
The Invasion
The invasion took place between the 9th April 1940 and the 10th of June 1940. To secure Norway and Denmark in German hands, the invasion would have to be played out at the same time of a very Grand scale. Operation Weserübung would require the maximum strength of the Kriegsmarine : German Navy. Paratroopers, amphibious landings, air raiding and Warship combat would be played in securing Norway and Denmark firmly in german hands.
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In terms of losses, the Germans lost 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 10 destroyer and many more U-Boats and other Vessels. In total there were 5296 casualties. In terms of Allied losses, the British lost 1 aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 1 submarine and various more transport ships and smaller surface warships. The Polish and French Navy both lost 1 submarine and 1 destroyer each. Norway lost 116 smaller surface warships and 1700 troops. Denmark lost 26 soldiers.
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the largest ground invasion in History, this secretive Operation was designed to deceive Soviet forces and defeat the Soviet Union, to take over her territory. The surprise invasion was launched by Finland, Germany, Romania, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia against the Soviet Union and would be played mainly by the air and ground and would comprise of many battles. Operation Barbarossa lasted between the 22nd of June 1941 to the 5th December 1941.
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Read on to find out about the major battles fought in the Operation.
Operation Barbarossa : Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad played a pivotal role in deciding the fait of the German forces. and the fait of the USSR. This battle was played out after the Winter, in which less trained, German soldiers had faced off against the Soviets but had to humiliatingly turn back due to the lack of experience to fight in the cold.
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Background:
German forces were advancing deeper and deeper into the Soviet Union and luck was running out, however, before when the germans were pushed back during the Winter, the Soviets had managed to move back their industrial complexes and factories that would used to make lots and lots of warcraft. This was a very big advantage to the Soviets as they would gather all forces for one of the most bloodiest battles in the 2nd World War.
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The Battle lasted between the 23rd of August 1943 and lasted up till the 2nd of February 1943.
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In terms of casualties, Axis losses were: Germany -
300,000–400,000 troops, Italy-114,000–114,520 troops Romania -109,000–158,854 troops and Hungary -105,000–143,000 troops. In total the casualties were:
900 aircraft destroyed
1,500 tanks destroyed (100 Romanian)
6,000 guns destroyed
744 aircraft; 1,666 tanks; 5,762 guns captured
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In terms of Soviet losses,
1,129,619 total casualties
478,741 killed or missing
650,878 wounded or sick2,769 aircraft
4,341 tanks
15,728 guns
Operation Barbarossa : Siege of Leningrad
The German Operation Barbarossa was a ground invasion of the Soviet Union. Of the many objectives to be reached by the end of the Operation, the capture of the industrial city of Leningrad was one of them. Capturing this city would be a blow in Soviet morale as it was an industrial centre.
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It was expected that Leningrad would be captured very easily, however, the Soviets defended the city very very fiercely and Leningrad would be put under an insufferable siege that lasted between the 8th of September 1941 to the 27th of January 1944 a total of 2 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days.
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Leningrad was defended with even its civilians putting up the harsh fight to protect the city. Leningrad saw heavy air raids, bloody fighting and lots of artillery, but the soviets defended it very fiercely and managed to push Germans away from the city.
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The German forces were not able to capture the city of Leningrad and was a humiliating defeat.
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Losses by year: Germany:
1941: 85,371 total casualties
1942: 267,327 total casualties
1943: 205,937 total casualties
1944: 21,350 total casualties
Total: 579,985 casualties
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Losses : The USSR:
1,017,881 killed, captured or missing
2,418,185 wounded and sick
Total: 3,436,066 casualties
Operation Barbarossa: The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk, popularly known as the largest tank battle in history, took place between the 5th of July 1943 to the 23rd August 1943 between the USSR and Nazi Germany. Previously we talked about the battle of Stalingrad which had been a humiliating German defeat, the aftermath of the Battle resulted in the pushing back of German troops' lines as far as the cities of Kharkov, Kursk and Belgorod. It was here that Adolf Hitler would give command to E.V Manstein to re-capture the city of Kursk through various encircling movements that were similar to those used before to capture Smolensk, Kiev and Minsk.
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Manstein began his push and managed to re-capture Kharkov. However, Soviet defences saw this attack coming and had time to enforce defences such as minefields and obstacles. Soviet planes had also attacked transport trains and reduced German supplies.
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German forces had begun Operation Zitadelle (Citadel) - the push to capture of Kursk, where the red army had fallen back after the capture of Kharkov, on the 5th of July 1943.
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The Battle lasted for 1 month, 1 week and 4 days and was a decisive Soviet victory. The Battle of Kursk took the lives of 11,132 to 203,000 men, 760-1200 guns captured and tanks destroyed and 681 aircraft- Soviet losses. The German forces lost 254,470 troops, 6,064 tanks and assault guns, 1,626–1,961 aircraft and 5,244 guns.
D-Day - The Landings
The D-Day landings were a series of Allied landings on the coasts of Normandy in German occupied France in 1944. The landings were carried out by Maori, Australian, British, Czech, French, Canadian, Polish and Norwegian forces.
The Normandy landings commenced on the 6th June 1944 and ended on the 30th of June 1944. The landings came in 2 parts - firstly a fierce artillery barrage from battleships and cruisers and secondly the amphibious assault on Normandy, this is very similar to the landings at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
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The allied forces would land in separate units on Normandy beach. The Americans at Omaha and Utah, Canadians at Juno and British at Gold and Sword.
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The Landings were a good success for the allied forces and they had secured a foothold of North-Western France, The Allies had also succeeded in securing 5 beachheads on the beach of Normandy and could use this for an even bigger advance into Occupied France.
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The Allies lost 4, 414 troops with 10,000 casualties as well as 185 tanks. German forces lost 4,000 - 9,000 casualties.
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The landings were nicknamed Operation Neptune.
The Dambuster Raid
The Dambuster raid, Operation Chastise, was a raid on German dams by allied forces. The objectives of the Dambuster raid was to hit a decisive blow to the German resources of Drinking water, hydroelectric power which were being provided by dams in the Ruhr valley, the industrial heart of Germany. From here water would be transported by canals in order to be used for construction of steel and a production of clean drinking water for civilians.
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On the 16th and 17th of May 1943, Will Gibson lead the 5th RAF Bomber Squadron over the channel and then attacked the Möhne, Eder, Sorpe and Eneppe Dams in the Ruhr. 2 of the Dams were successfully breached, the Sorpe and Eneppe dams were less likely to be breached as the bomb, which should have skimmed the water to avoid torpedo nets, sank to the bottom of the lake and never managed to breach both dams. The bombs were dropped from Wikers Wellington bombers and the other 2 dams were breached successfully.
In terms of losses, Allied forces lost 8 aircraft, 53 aircrew, with 3 who were taken captive. In terms of German losses, 2 dams were breached, the Eneppe dam being slightly breached, 1600 civilians were killed, including some Soviet POWs.
Battle Of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also commonly known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive was the largest battle in the 2nd world war fought by American troops and was the last German offensive, a last straw. The Battle of the Bulge occurred between the 16th of December 1944 and 27th January 1945.
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After the successful allied landings at Normandy beach, D-Day, the allies were making good progress and were advancing into German occupied territories very quickly. German forces, under the direct order of Adolf Hitler, prepared to launch an attack through the Belgian Ardennes and capture the Port City of Antwerp, it was a strategic port city for the allies, and Hitler's main idea was to come to terms of an unconditional surrender with the American and other allied forces there to re-focus his strengths on the Soviet Union.
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So it was and on the 16th of December 1944, German panzer units had begun the advance through the Belgian Ardennes through to the American forces situated there. Though they were completely outnumbered, the Americans managed to put up a decent fight. Though at first, air superiority was limited towards the allies due to the bad weather and the Axis forces had managed complete surprise on the Allied forces, the weather had gotten better and the allied air force managed to gain superiority as well as more forces arriving to fight the battle.
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By the 27th of January, the Battle of the Bulge had been a firm victory for the allies and was also the last German counteroffensives in order to save the empire. It was also the largest battle fought in WW2 by mainly American forces, who had defended with 700,520 men and 2,428 tanks.
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In terms of losses, there were 89,500 American casualties, 730 tanks destroyed and around 1,000 aircraft that were lost and destroyed. The British lost 1,408 troops. German forces had lost 63,222 to 98,000 troops, 554 tanks destroyed and around 800 aircraft destroyed.
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The Battle of the Bulge gets its name from the triangular bulge created when getting through the Belgian Ardennes on a map view. After this Battle, German forces would be on a defence. The Battle of the Bulge is also commonly known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive.
The Invasion of Sicily
Operation Husky, the invasion of Italy, was a British planned out allied invasion of the Italian island of Sicily, the toe of mainland Italy. The invasion of Sicily was carried out by Free French, American, English and Canadian forces with support of Australian forces. The invasion was carried out as usual with island and land landings with a preliminary bombardment and then a series of amphibious landings, this capture would be no different.
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On the 9th of July, General S.Patton, General Dwight D.Eisenhower - The United States and General Bernard Montgomery - Great Britain launched an attack on the southern coast of the Italian island of Sicily. The invasion continued until the 17th of August 1943 resulting in an allied victory.
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In terms of losses, the allies lost 5532 troops (killed) and the Axis forces lost in all 9003 (killed).
Fall of the Italian Empire
After the defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa in 1943, and the invasion of Sicily Island, The Armistice of Cassibile was signed on the 3rd of September 1943 and Italy declared war on Germany. Benito Mussolini was ousted some time before on the 25th of July 1943 and was replaced by on of his superior officers, Pietro Badoglio. This was the formal peaceful alliance between Italy and Allied forces. Though there was a hope that Germany would surrender to the Allied forces as well. For information on Italy's specific role in the 2nd world war, go to War by country: Italy.
Battle of Berlin
We have read previously about the Battle of the Bulge, which had played out to stall allied advance into the German Heartland, however, Hitler had not expected the final blow of his dreams to build a German empire to come form the eastern front - from the USSR and Poland, countries that had been mostly affected by the German expansion. On the 16th of April 1945, Soviet and Polish forces crossed into The Third Reich's capital of Berlin, here the final battle of the 2nd World War would play out - The Battle of Berlin.
After having successfully capturing the city of Budapest - Hungary's Capital, Soviet and Polish forces make a joint push into The Third Reich from the Eastern Front. Hitler had underestimated the force that Polish and Soviets had and instead of building a defensive line on the borders between the Third Reich and Poland and the USSR - the River Vistula line, he launched an ill-advised offensive into Hungary's oil fields in Budapest. This was a humiliating defeat for Hitler and Germany had wasted lots of resources on this ill-advised attack. Due to this, the red army and the Polish army manage to surround the city of Berlin after managing to break into the the Third Reich's mainland, what anyone would have thought the British and Americans would do the Polish and Soviets had successfully done.
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The joint forces managed to encircle the city with towed artillery, tanks and more troops, and started making progress on the 16th of April 1945. The forces made progress into Berlin slowly with artillery, air, paratroop, infantry and tank divisions. On the 2nd of May 1945, the German Third Reich's capital had been captured.
In an attempt to blend into the Soviet invader's crowd, underground tunnels would bear messages to learn Russian fast in order to survive and not be killed for civilians. However, all hope was lost for one man - Der Führer Adolf Hitler. Deep underground in his bunkers, despite the advice of his most senior adviser to flee to the Middle East, Japan or Argentina, Adolf Hitler, his wife Eva Braun and other senior officials in the Nazi German Army had shot themselves. "This will end with the fall of Berlin", Adolf Hitler moments before his death.
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The Battle of Berlin lasted between the 12th of April 1945 to the 2nd of May 1945 and resulted in the unconditional surrender of German forces to the Allies.
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The losses of the Battle of Berlin were as follows. Germany:
92,000–100,000 killed ~ Estimated.
220,000 wounded ~ Estimated.
480,000 captured ~ Estimated.
22,000 civilian dead ~ Inner Berlin lines Estimated.
22, 000 military dead ~ Inner Berlin lines Estimated.​
Soviet and Polish losses were:
81,116 dead or missing
280,251 sick or wounded
1,997 tanks and SPGs destroyed
2,108 artillery pieces
917 aircraft
VE Day
Karl Dönitz succeeded Adolf Hitler after his suicide and on the 8th of May 1945, Germany surrendered and brought an end to the war in Europe, Victory in Europe Day: VE day.
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The European Theatre of WW2 was not a doubt the bloodiest Theatre if WW2, ending with an allied victory, the European Theatre saw combatants from India, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, The USSR, Hong Kong, New Zealand, The United States, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Finland, Canada, South Africa, Luxembourg, Brazil, Greece, Romania, Albania, Slovakia and Free France, Vichy France and the Italian Axis Puppet state.
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Marking the start of the Second World war, The European Theatre started on the 3rd of September 1939 and ended on the unconditional surrender of German forces on the 7th of may 1945 in Berlin.
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In total, forces lost 85 million people in the second world war and in history it would be noted down as the worst global conflict in history. See Aftermath