2: Britain Alone

Question 1

What was appeasement?

Answer 1

Germany was breaking the Treaty of Versailles by invading Czechoslovakia but Britain and France were lenient on Germany because they didn’t want to start a war.

Question 2

why did the WWII start?

Answer 2

Germany then invaded Poland and it was clear appeasement wasn’t working so British and France declared war on Germany.

Question 3

When did Churchill become Prime Minister?

Answer 3

10th May 1940

Question 4

What was Churchill’s views on appeasement?

Answer 4

He constantly criticised the governments appeasement policy and thought we shouldn’t have been so soft on Germany.

Question 5

Why was Churchill liked during the war?

Answer 5

He inspired people to keep fighting and boosted British morale even when France fell

Question 6

When did Operation Yellow happen and what was it?

Answer 6

10th May 1940

Germany’s invasion of Western Europe

Question 7

What was Blitzkrieg?

Answer 7

German planes bombed the area to be occupied
German tanks moved in and took over the area
German troops moved in and occupied the area, under cover of artillery fire
Planes and tanks moved onto the next target leaving troops to occupy the captured area and put down all resistance.

Question 8

Why was Blitzkrieg successful?

Answer 8

It took the enemies by surprise. It was unexpected, effective and terrifying. Belgian, British and French troops were thrown into confusion. They tried to hold back Germans but had no plan. The BEF and other allied troops were forced to retreat to evacuate from the French port of Dunkirk.

Question 9

What was a disadvantage of blitzkrieg?

Answer 9

The German forces were moving so quick that supplies weren’t able to reach the front line quick enough so lots of soldiers died of hunger. Also they couldn’t make sure the area behind the advancing army was safe.

Question 10

What was operation Dynamo and when was it?

Answer 10

26th May 1940
It was the process of rescuing many troops from Dunkirk before the Germans took it over. The government asked owners of small boats to go to dunkirk to ferry soldiers to the big ships. By 29th may 1940 300 boats were doing this. They did this till the 4th June and 338,000 troops were rescued.

Question 11

Why was Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) important?

Answer 11

Many people saw the evacuation as a success even though Churchill said ears aren’t won through evacuations. It helped British morale. Dunkirk spirit became a phrase used for keeping going in the face of huge obstacles.

Question 12

What was the Battle of Britain?

Answer 12

A battle between the RAF and the Luftwaffe for the control of the air over Britain and it was fought over many months.

Question 13

What was operation sealion?

Answer 13

France surrendered on 22nd June 1940 and Hitler next turned to Britain. He wanted to destroy the RAF so they couldn’t attack invading troops.

Question 14

What happened in the Battle of Britain?

Answer 14

10 July-7 August 1940 ~ Luftwaffe attacks on the British coast, especially RAF radar stations.
8 August - 6 September ~ Luftwaffe attacks on RAF airfields.
7-15 September ~ Luftwaffe, thinking RAF beaten, attack London
15 September ~ Luftwaffe defeated. This is now Battle of Britain day because it convinced the Luftwaffe that the RAF was still a fighting force.
17 September ~ hitler calls off Operation Sealion

Question 15

Why did Britain win the Battle of Britain?

Answer 15

The RAF had radar which were set up on the coasts to detect incoming Luftwaffe.
Even though the Luftwaffe had more bomber planes, the RAF had more fighter planes and more efficient Spitfire planes.
British factories were quicker at replacing broken planes.
Dunkirk spirit kept RAF planes fighting despite terrible losses.

Question 16

When did the government start preparing for war?

Answer 16

1935

Question 17

How did the government prepare for war?

Answer 17

air raid shelters were built (morrison&anderson) and Air Raid Precautions (ARP) service was set up in 1937. By Sep 1939 there were 1.5 million ARP wardens. The wardens put sandbags around buildings. Barrage balloons were also put up to trap incoming Luftwaffe. The government organised ‘blackout’ which meant the enemy couldn’t identify popular cities because there were no lights showing. Even Windows, headlights and streetlights were turned off and covered.

Question 18

What was the LDF?

Answer 18

The Local Defence Force.
14th May 1940, the war minister, Anthony Eden, asked for volunteers for the LDF.
He was expecting 150,000 people but by August there were about 1 million volunteers. The LDF was then renamed the Home Guard.

Question 19

What did the Home Guard help during the war?

Answer 19

Manned anti-aircraft guns during air raids.
Rescued people after air raids
Cleared up bomb damage
Removed or painted over road and station signs
Put obstacles in large fields
Put barbed wire along beaches
Detonated unexploded bombs
Were trained the fight in a German invasion.

Question 20

Why did the government begin evacuating people?

Answer 20

They were so sure that the Germans would bomb British cities, especially London so they thought it was safer to evacuate. Also as well as safety, evacuation meant parents and caters could focus their time to volunteer in war efforts like the ARP (air raid precautions service) and the WVS (women’s voluntary service).

Question 21

Who were evacuated during WW2?

Answer 21

Children
Pregnant woman
Blind people
Some mothers with children under the age of 5

Question 22

When did evacuation begin and how many people were evacuated?

Answer 22

1st September 1939
In the first four days, 3 million people were evacuated
However by December there had been no bombing so lots of children returned for Christmas.

Question 23

When did the blitz take place?

Answer 23

Overlapped with the Battle of Britain. 7th September - May 1941

Question 24

What was the Blitz and why did Germany do it?

Answer 24

It overlapped with the Battle of Britain - it was the bombing of the Luftwaffe. London was bombed first, most often no heavily. Of the first 76 nights it was bombed on 75 nights. The Luftwaffe also targeted Liverpool as many us ships came in there. The bombs targeted civilians rather than military targets. The Germans wanted to disrupt daily life and wreck British morale so people didn’t support the war.

Question 25

Did the Blitz work?

Answer 25

43,000 civilians were killed
2 million people were made homeless
Water, gas and electricity supplies were effected
In a survey of Londoners in September 1940 it stated that 32% of people got less than 4hours of sleep and 31% of people got none at all.
There were also a second evacuation which broke up families.
However, it didn’t wreck British morale and people didn’t turn against the war.

Question 26

Why did the Luftwaffe bomb Coventry?

Answer 26

On 8th November 1940 the RAF bombed Munich so the Luftwaffe bombed Coventry very heavily in retaliation.

Question 27

When was the bombing of Coventry?

Answer 27

After the blitz. Started at 7:20pm 14th November 1940

Question 28

What are some details of the bombings on Coventry?

Answer 28

Bombs started to drop on the city centre which started fires to guide later bombers. The city was burning so fiercely that it was visible from 150 miles away. 500 bombers dropped thousands of bombs. The all clear didn’t go until 6:15 am.
380-554 people died and thousands were injured. 4000 homes were destroyed as well as factories and the cathedral.
The Luftwaffe returned to Coventry 40 times until the last raid in August 1942.

Question 29

How did the Germans chose what other towns to bomb in Britain? Give some examples.

Answer 29

They used a tourist book to determine which places were most popular to bomb because they wanted to kill as many civilians as possible. The cities they chose included Exeter, Bath, York and Norwich. Canterbury was also bombed after the RAF attacked Cologne. These attacks were called Baedeker raids.

Question 30

Why did Germany develop new bombs and not carry on with big bomb raids?

Answer 30

They had heavy losses in big bomb raids. The last big raid was in January 1943 where they lost a bomber and four trained crew for every five civilians killed.

Question 31

What did German scientists develop and were launched on 12th June 1944?

Answer 31

A flying bomb called Vergeltung (retribution), V1 for short. They were launched from the French coast to Britain and cut out over the target. They didn’t need anyone there to drop it which saved German lives.

Question 32

What effect did V1’s have?

Answer 32

9000 were launched but lots failed to reach the target and some didn’t explode. They killed about 6000 people and did cause panic at first - 1.5 million people left London.

Question 33

When were the V2’s introduced?

Answer 33

September 1944

Question 34

Why did Germany then make v2’s after the V1?

Answer 34

It was faster and could go higher because it was rocket powered. But had the same amount of explosive so caused no more damage than the V1. Over 5000 were launched but only about 1000 reached Britain, killing around 2700 people.