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11th November 1918 Armistice
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Treaty of Versailles → £6,600 Million Reparations, army <100,000, no air force, tanks or submarines – Loss of land = Loss of Sudetenland and Polish Corridor. Rhineland demilitarised.
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By 1939 army risen to 3,700,000.
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Re-armament figures → GB 897,000 troops 640 tanks. French 5,000,000 troops, largely conscripts.
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Polish army – 1 million men thinly spread + 1000 ish aeroplanes V 2 million Germans and 2000 aeroplanes!
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Iron ore in Norway and airfields in range of Britain.
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9th April 1940 – 10 German destroyers carrying 2,000 mountain troops arrived at Narvik.
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Failed British landings At Narvik in Norway.
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Norway (surrendered 9th June) meant 300,000 German troops being kept there.
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Russo – Finnish War → 30th November 1940. Russians 1 million men, Finnish 175, 000.
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Actions at Sea – Battle of River Plate – Graf Spee
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In the Air – RAF Mine Laying
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Use of Stuka dive bombers and mobile infantry – fast and furious
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German army and airforce(Guernica) now experienced – good ground to air training college
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Manstein plans Sickle Stroke
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Panzers had advanced 40 miles into France in 4 days. – France capture in just 6 weeks
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French army, mostly conscripts → 101 divisions.
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BEF – 5 regular units → 5TA. Slow well armoured Matilda tanks.
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Dunkirk – 3rd June, 45,000 expected to be evacuated, 328,000 actually were!
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BEF at end of French defence → 68,000 casualties, 64,000 vehicles and 2,500 guns left
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558,000 evacuated altogether from all French ports etc.
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Hugh ‘Stuffy’ Dowding → 60 fighter squadrons. Only 2,000 anti-aircraft guns.
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Goering’s Luftwaffe 2500 V RAF 1000
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By Germans bombing British shipping → bomber command compelled to fly 600 sorties a day → when trying to build up resources.
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Stage 1 =Airfields/Ports then mistake = move to bombing civilian targets (Blitz) allowed airfields and RAF to recover!
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Between July 10th and August 10th 1940, British inflicted more casualties than received themselves, 217 German aircraft to British aircraft 96.
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August 10th → 3,000 German aircraft.
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sturdy Hurricanes and Spitfires → manoeuvrability →Messerschmitts, Heinkels and Dorniers short range over Britain
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Country split into Groups – to aid Fighter command → Group 11 – South East England.
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Use of new technology RADAR – although basic saved precious time.
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August 12th → 6 major raids. 6 radar stations attacked. 5 knocked out, Germans 31 aircraft lost, British 22 lost.
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7th September switches to London. 300 German bombers escorted by 600 fighters.
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9th September → 200 bombers, intercepted → only reach half of targets, 28 German aircraft shot down, for loss of 19.
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400 British fighters lost their lives.
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Preparation during ‘phoney war’ Shelters dug, gas masks issued, identity cards issued, air raid practices
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1st day of Blitz 7th September 1940– 430 killed in London
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Blitz = Not just London – industrial cities -Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth, Bristol, Glasgow, Southampton, Coventry, Hull, Portsmouth, Manchester, Belfast, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham and Cardiff
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Coventry- Nov 1940 500 bombers 900 incendiaries – massive firestorms and devastation.
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LONDON: 1.4 million made homeless, 20,000 killed, 3000 died in one night, bombs landed daily Sept – Nov 1941, 18,800 tons of bombs dropped on London, Height of Blitz – 177,000 civilians sheltered in London underground.
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60,000 total civilian deaths.
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127 raids on U.K. altogether.
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Ends May 1941. But the V1 and V2 raids later mean more Blitz!
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2-3 million evacuee children sent to the countryside.
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1939, preparations for war Ministry of Food set up – Lord Woolton – imported 55 million tons in readiness for war.
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Battle of Atlantic! In 1942 Dry Cargo reaching GB was reduced from 68mill tons to 22mill.
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Rationing required: bacon, butter and sugar then all meat, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, dairy products and canned fruit.
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Other foods were just unavailable eg: Bananas, some Chocolate etc
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Pamphlets, posters, slogans etc all introduced to help make the people save and not waste (Squander bug) as well as grow food where ever possible (Doctor Carrot and Potato Pete).
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Other things were rationed too eg: from September 1940, petrol rationing and Clothing from1941 (slim line fashion).
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Rationing didn’t completely stop until 1954!
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WW1 near disaster, 3 weeks only of supplies left after successful German naval attacks.
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Battle for Wheat – Farmers paid £2 per hectare for land ploughed.
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Shortfall of 50,000 workers.
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80,000 women went on the land – the farmers were suspicious – could they do the job.
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Loneliness, foreign environment (City girls), lack of creature comforts all had to be coped with.
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Lady Denman in charge – made things better with grouping girls into Hostels.
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Females paid only 28 shillings a week; (males 80 per week).
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Long hours a week: 48 – winter, 50 – summer
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1950 – 100,000 members disbanded.
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Special Double Summer time – time - was introduced so could work later (and also to help with black out accidents)
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The Government took control of farming – grants were given and targets set: The Horse gave way to the tractor – Nos. quadrupled: 1939 = 50,000 - 1945 = 200,000. Underperforming farms were commandeered.
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The 1943 harvest recorded the biggest amount of wheat and barley ever! It was twice the amount of the pre-war years!
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Released men to join armed forces and get war production up – more bullets, tanks, spitfires etc
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Skilled women earned £2.15 a week. (Unskilled men earned more!) – after a few protests(Rolls Royce Factory) pay did increase to the equivalent of semi-skilled males.
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Eventually 3 million married women and widows were employed--almost double pre-war figures.
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WVS – Women’s Voluntary Service = fire fighters and refreshments
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1 million members of WVS by 1943.
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WVS group in Portsmouth in one month collected enough scrap metal to fill four railway carriages.
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Aircraft production went up and up doubling then doubling again. Workers put in massive overtime. 1942 Betteshanger miners(males) could take no more – they were overworked and went on strike – illegally!
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In Britain by 1948 there were still 683,000 more women in industry and over 750,000 more women in trade unions than before the war.
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The number of nurseries rose from 100 before the war to a peak in 1943 of 1,450 local authority day nurseries with places for 65,000 children. This was still far short of what was needed.
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ATS – Auxiliary Territorial Service (Army) July 1942 → 217,000 women.
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WAAF – Women’s Auxiliary Air Force,
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WRENS – Women’s Royal Naval Service
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ATA – Air Transport Auxiliary – piloting aircraft to bases – no bullets – dangerous at times!
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Secret Agents - SOE – Special Operations Executive. Violet Szabo
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By End of 1945 460,000 in military service.
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First week after May 1940 – 250,000. then 500,000 by July.
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17 – 65 year olds.
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Eventually 2 million men had joined.
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Early days → 1 gun for 10 men.
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Churchill changed name to Homeguard
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Local men to defend their local areas – many ex WW1 soldiers!
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November 1944 disbanded.
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Italians – Mussolini (Hitler’s ally) kicks start by trying to rebuild Roman Empire – threatens than attacks parts of British Empire.
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War in the dessert → 5th April, 1941, 60,000 allied troops sent to defend Greece from Italian invasion.
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Three weeks for Germans to capture Greece.
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British Army loses 12,000 troops in Greece.
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Italians falter in desert – Germans come to their aid – Rommel the desert Fox (very good)
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Toing and froing 1941 – Wavell(GB), Rommel (Ger), Auchinleck(GB) - 1942 Rommel (Ger)
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We must protect Egypt and Suez Canal!
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Breakthrough -El Alamein Nov 1942→ Montgomery. 8th division army, consists of 7 divisions El Alamein costs Germans 4 divisions + Italians 8. – We should have won – reinforced, retrained British army - 195,000 men and 1,300 Tanks vs 103,000 men and 500 tanks.
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1942 Americans arrive (Eisenhower and Patton): Tunisian Campaign → 400 German aircraft taken from the Russian front. American Industrial Might helping – new tanks (Shermans) etc – we are now building better tanks too!(Churchill tanks)
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Two years of dessert wars → German and Italian soldiers, one million soldiers killed or captured.
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Tunisia – Sicily – Italy (Competitive commanders – Patton and Montgomery racing!)
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‘Operation Mincemeat’ i.e. ‘the man who never was’ TRICK → caused one panzer unit sent to Greece from France.
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39,000 German troops, 70,000 Italians evacuated from Sicily.
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160,000 men killed/captured in Sicily.
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September 1943 Italy signs a secret armistice with Allies: Helps the allies to land on the toe of Italy unopposed! – Germans then realise and take over the defence of Italy. Landings at Salerno and Tarranto push up Italy.
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Gustav line halts advance – Anzio Landings –Clark lands 60 miles north of Gustav lines – too slow and cautious -Lucas loses 1700 Texans killed. Allies and Germany lost 100,000 soldiers each in the Gustav campaign. Churchill wanted a wildcat but got a whale! Monte Casino – monastery bitter fighting.
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26 German divisions were occupied → nick name D-day dodgers. Some disagreements between commanders – Clark seen as flawed.
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Rome taken on June 6th 1944 –same day as D Day – which was now the main allied focus!
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A planned strategy to win the war by bombing Germany into submission. (Different to tactical bombing which is bombing a military target in battle eg: some enemy tanks or bunkers)
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Britain/USA not fighting on land in Europe until D Day - this was their only way of pulling their weight (Russians’ suffering high casualties)
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‘Bomber’ Harris convinced he could win the war through bombing – but he is allowed to do things as he wants.
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1942 1000 bomber raids – Cologne, third largest city in the Reich burned. – first raids more about morale boosting for us – hitting back – not really 1000 bombers – aircraft scraped together – many out of date.
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2 types of target – Industrial and Civilian
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Lord Cherwells Report 1941; “Of those aircraft attacking targets over the Rúhr, one in ten got within 5 miles.”
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Dresden 27th July 1943 → 40,000 killed. Firestorms → 1000°C 150 mph.
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American USAAF – mostly daylight industrial – RAF mostly Night time Civilian (remember the blitz – no American town had been bombed – difference in opinion.
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America enters the War → Autumn ’43, USAAF, loses 20% of USAAF. USA even stops raids at one point because casualties too high!
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USAAF; B17’s 6000lbs. RAF, Lancasters, 22,000lbs.
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PSI Mustang = fighter that protects bombers – larger fuel tanks→ all the way to target.
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2 million men manning German anti-aircraft guns → aided Russian front. (slave labour brought in to keep up production levels)
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February 1944 → Luftwaffe lost 450 fighters + in March, never recovered.
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600,000 civilian deaths, 6 million homes destroyed.
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1941 → 700 aircraft failed to return back.
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German production in 1943 reduced by 9%. 1944 → 17.40%.
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20th – 28th May 1944 → 500 locomotives destroyed. Railway traffic declined 55%.
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Germans switch to U-boats, cargo reduced from 68 million tons to 22 million tons.
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October 1940 → 20/34 ships in a convoy destroyed by a wolf-pack.
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Convoys introduced → March, 1941, cost the Germans, 5 U-boats to sink 19 ships.
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1941 USA in war - May 1941 → U boats attacked- lights even on! 111 ships sunk in May alone. Now just a small ‘Black gap’ where there is no air protection against U boats
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U.S. Naval construction → 200 ships a year between 1941 – 1945.
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April 1943 → 45 U-boats destroyed.
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Increase in technology – destroys the uboat – Flying boats (Catalina), Catapults, longer range(Liberator) Then Radar and Hf-Df (Huff Duff), Depth charges – Hedgehog
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Enigma – ULTRA – able to understand German codes
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Donitz calls off battle 23rd May, 1943.
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Battle of Atlantic – 75,000 – 88,000 allied seamen killed.
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22nd June 1941 – Germans attack Russia = Operation Barbarossa
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Stalin orders ‘scorched earth’, 40 miles behind enemy lines → burnt.
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Germans 3 million men, 3,400 tanks.
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October 1941 – German troops 15 miles from Moscow.
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100,000’s of T34 tanks were produced by Russians. Wider tracks, successful in Winter weather.
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1942 – Russian army outnumbers German.
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Stalingrad – fierce street fighting – huge casualties
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Paulus ordered not to retreat. Russian winter. 70 tons a day Luftwaffe dropped; needed 300 a day.
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150,000 German soldiers killed during campaign.
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Germans stopped and pushed back by sheer Russian numbers
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Hitler doesn’t help – by issuing an order not to give up any ground – commanders could not regroup or choose the battleground!
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America enters War 1941 → war budget raised from $9 billion to $166 billion.
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1st action is in the desert but real focus is on D Day
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Lessons learnt from Sicily/Italian and Failed Dieppe raid
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Practice exercise accident Slapton Sands, 700 killed by raiding german E-boats – problem with Radio codes
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Operation Overlord → D-Day 6th June 1944, 156,000 troops landed. U.S. 88,000. British (& Canadian) 91,000. Free French troops also used. Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno Sword – Eisenhower (USA) in charge but had British commanders underneath – Montgomery (land) Leigh- Mallory (Air) Ramsey (Sea)
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Omaha beaches, biggest casualties; 6,603 deaths – overall 10,000.
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End of July → 100,000 German casualties.
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The Break out: Operation Epsom = capture of Caen then Operation Goodwood (Brit) and Operation Cobra (USA), hard going and high casualties- WW1 levels.18th July; 5 Sherman tanks lost to every Tiger. Allies lost 41 tanks, attack stalls. Bocage – hedgerow fighting.
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Falaise pocket – remaining German army squashed between Brits and Americans and destroyed.
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Push up to Holland and Germany
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Eindhoven – Nijmegen – Arnhem and into Germany
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Nine leading vehicles hit on “Hell’s Highway”; takes 40 minutes to go again.
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End of 1st day, British advanced only 7 miles from start line. 2nd day→ 20 miles in a few hours.
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1,500 dead 6,500 POWs.
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Couldn’t quite get to Arnhem! – a series of incidents stopped the plan working - a unit of tanks resting up in the Arnhem area – problems with supplies and drop zones and the relief tank column getting delayed.
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Last ditch attempt to win the war – big surprise to allies! Germans had scraped all their reserves into one last offensive – lots of new King Tiger tanks etc – attack was over Xmas – snow – poor flying conditions – so no allied air cover. Americans were thinly spread and had some new inexperienced troops in the area – hit hard – Germans felt like 1940 Blitzkrieg all over again. Plan was to drive apart the 2 allies and capture Antwerp –port on the coast – make the Brits have another Dunkirk.
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17th December – Malmédy massacre 72 American POWs murdered.
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As soon as the allies realised they attacked the bulges’ flanks and waited for air support – once the planes could fly the Germans had no chance.
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It held the allies up and shocked them – but it was the Germans last chance.
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60 bridges were blown up by Germans
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Ludendorff Railway bridge at Remagen was blown up but not completely – lasted several days before collapse
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Use of Parachutists and Gliders to hold bridgeheads for troops to cross – the Rhine is big and it was like D Day all over again. There was also a massive artillery barrage beforehand.
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Russians pushing from east → ‘Operation Bagration’
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Russians 1.5 million men, 4000 tanks. – sheer numbers overwhelming Germans and the size is always growing
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Germans 500,000 men, 600 tanks.
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Allied armies meet on The Elbe – Torgau
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Allies agree to the Russians taking Berlin – already an agreement to carve up Germany and Berlin into sectors.
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Fall of Berlin – Russians attack with 2.5 million troops, 6000 tanks and 40,000 artillery guns.
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Germany try to get ready, fire 1 million shells against Soviets. - 30,000 Soviets die.
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100,000 Germans captured → marched to labour camps.
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250,000 people died in last three weeks of World War Two.
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The Rape of Berlin – revenge
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Hitler himself making poor tactical decisions
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Might of the USA – industrial output and man power
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Strategic Bombing – effect on industry (and morale?)
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Successes on land since D Day
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Russian sheer manpower
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Winning the air war to get control of the skies
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Winning the war at sea.
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Germans stretching themselves too far.
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Knocking Italy out of the war
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Development of new Technologies