Year 9 Topic 3

1. Year 9 Topic 3 What was the most significant turning point in WWII?

2. Significance in history (the 5 Rs) 1. Revealing (does it tell you a lot about history?) How much have you learned about <the topic/issue/person> by studying it? 2. Results (did it have a big effect on history?) Search back looking for consequences of <the topic/issue/person>. 3. Remarkable (was it important at the time?) Looking first at the primary evidence from the time, 4. Remembered (do people still remember it today?) The fact that you are studying it now proves they do! But how remembered is the <topic/issue/person>? 5. Resonant (are the issues it raises still important for us today?) Did the <topic/issue/person> raise any thoughts/issues/debates in your mind.

3. Dunkirk • Dunkirk, and the evacuation associated with the troops trapped on Dunkirk, was called a “miracle” by Winston Churchill. As the Wehrmacht swept through western Europe in the spring of 1940, using Blitzkrieg, both the French and British armies could not stop the onslaught. For the people in western Europe, World War Two was about to start for real. The “Phoney War” was now over. • The advancing German Army trapped the British and French armies on the beaches around Dunkirk. 330,000 men were trapped here and they were a sitting target for the Germans. Admiral Ramsey, based in Dover, formulated Operation Dynamo to get off of the beaches as many men as was possible. The British troops, led by Lord John Gort, were professional soldiers from the British Expeditionary Force; trained men that we could not afford to lose. From May 26th 1940, small ships transferred soldiers to larger ones which then brought them back to a port in southern Britain. • The beach at Dunkirk was on a shallow slope so no large boat could get near to the actual beaches where the men were. Therefore, smaller boats were needed to take on board men who would then be transferred to a larger boat based further off shore. 800 of these legendary “little ships” were used. It is thought that the smallest boat to make the journey across the Channel was the Tamzine – an 18 feet open topped fishing boat now on display at the Imperial War Museum, London. • Tamzine – one of the ‘little ships’ • Despite attacks from German fighter and bomber planes, the Wehrmacht never launched a full-scale attack on the beaches of Dunkirk. Panzer tank crews awaited the order from Hitler but it never came. In his memoirs, Field Marshall Rundstadt, the German commander-in-chief in France during the 1940 campaign, called Hitler’s failure to order a full-scale attack on the troops on Dunkirk his first fatal mistake of the war. That 338,000 soldiers were evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk would seem to uphold this view. • Their job done, the ‘little boats’ are towed up the Thames • One of the reasons put forward for Hitler not ordering an attack was that he believed that Britain had suffered from the might of the Wehrmacht once and that this experience would be sufficient for Britain to come to peace terms with Hitler. The total destruction of the British Expeditionary Force might have created such a climate of revenge in Britain that our involvement would be prolonged. That is one idea put forward for why Hitler did not order a full-scale attack on the beaches of Dunkirk – however, we will never know the true reason.

4. Battle of Britain • The Channel Battle • The German code name for its plan to conquer the United Kingdom was Operation Sea Lion. The operation began tentatively, as a series of probing bomber attacks against British ships in the English Channel and ports in southern England in early July 1940. In fact, Hitler was still debating whether to invade Britain or Russia first. • The first German bomber attack over the Channel came on July 10, 1940. Yet even as late as July 19, Hitler made a last-minute speech advocating peace with Britain, presumably trying to buy time. Britain ignored the appeal. Skirmishes over the Channel and coastal southern England continued into August, but the Royal Air Force only rarely came out to defend the ships in the channel, preferring to hold off until the German planes got closer to the mainland, nearer to the limit of their range. As a result, British shipping in the Channel suffered heavy damage, but the RAF was able to conserve pilots and planes for the coming battle. • The London Blitz • In early September 1940, Hitler directed the Luftwaffe to shift its focus to the major British cities, including London. The attacks began on September 7 and continued into May of the following year. At times, they continued day and night for weeks at a time without letup. Tens of thousands of Londoners lost their lives during this time, along with thousands of residents of other British cities. In the meantime, however, British bombers were also conducting nightly air raids on central Berlin. • Although this London Blitz continued, Hitler decided on September 17, 1940, to put his plan for an invasion of Britain on hold indefinitely. It was clear that air superiority over England would be difficult to attain. Instead, Hitler turned his attention to Russia. .

5. Barbarossa • Operation Barbarossa was the name given to Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia on June 22nd 1941. Barbarossa the largest military attack of World War Two and was to have appalling consequences for the Russian people. • In total, Germany amassed 117 army divisions for the attack excluding Rumanian and Hungarian units. • In total, Russia amassed 132 army divisions for the defence of the ‘motherland’, including 34 armoured divisions. • Plans for the attack on Russia had been around since 1940. It is now thought that Hitler lost interest in theBattle of Britain as he was far too focussed on his desired attack on Russia. • Germany initially made large gains in terms of land, and took millions of Russian prisoners. However, due largely to poor military planning/timing on the part of Hitler, German troops ended up facing the bitter Russian winter and were completely ill-equipped for the ‘war of attrition’ Russia had pushed them in to.

6. Pearl Harbour • The Attack on Pearl Harbour was a surprise attack by Japan against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. • It is what led the United States into World War II. • Japan carried out the attack so that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which was a collection of ships that the United States could use in a war, would not enter the war that Japan was planning in Southeast Asia, against Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. in the Philippines. • The attack was made up of two aerial attack waves totalling 353 aircrafts, launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers. 2,390 people died in the attack. • Japan declared war on the United States the same day.

7. D-Day • D-Day took place on June 6, 1944 • It was the biggest sea to land attack in military history took place in Normandy during World War II when the allied forces crossed over the sea from England and landed on the beach. • This attack was named Operation Overlord, led by American General Dwight Eisenhower. • The Allies (Britain, Canada, and America) invaded France, which was occupied by Germany. • The allied forces won the battle, which was important in the long term of ending World War II, though over 3,500 men were lost while attacking the beaches. • Germany would eventually surrender, and the Allies would go on to free France from the Germans.

8. Websites • http://www.2worldwar2.com/turning-points-in-world-war-2.htm • http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff2_dunkirk.shtml • http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zgs34j6 • http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa