Chapter 6: End of WWII in Europe Flashcards
How did the Battle of Britain led to the defeat of Germany?
From France, Hitler Launched large scale attacks against Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) in order to achieve air superiority. Hitler changed the focus of Luftwaffe attacks to bombing of British cities, known as The Blitz, lasting from Sept 1940 - May 1941. The Blitz caused huge amount of deaths and great damage to houses, docks, warehouses and factories. Despite the losses, the British kept a grim willingness to carry on with the war effort and did not surrender to the Germans. (Ex)
German Luftwaffe failed to achieve air superiority over England and thus was not able to carry out an invasion of England. The survival of the RAF helped Britain in the war which led to a boost in British morale. In the time, Hitler diverted his attention to the Blitz, the RAF was able to recover and repair their airfields and radar systems. Britain was not occupied by Germany and could continue to fight against Germany. (A)
How did Operation Barbarossa led to the defeat of Germany?
Hiter and Stalin had signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
Hitler eventually invaded USSR because Hitler wanted to destroy Communism.
Hitler was interested in wanting to expand Germany’s territory into Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Hitler wanted access to the USSR’s vast resources such as oil.
In June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa. Germany was initially successful as Stalin was on the verge of abandoning Moscow. The Germans, however, were not able to overwhelm USSR fast enough and the harsh winter halted the German advance. Stalin took that time to reorganise the Soviet war effort by giving competent generals control over the Red Army. He also eliminated incompetent generals and retreating / fleeing soldiers. Coupled with resources under USA’s Lend-Lease Scheme, it enabled USSR to turn
around and put up a strong resistance. 90% of German casualties in WWIl were on the Eastern Front against the USSR. (Ex) The reorganisation of the Soviet army led to better strategies from Soviet generals and fierce resistance from the soldiers led to decisive Soviet victory and destruction of German forces in Stalingrad. The resources from USA also kept USSR in the war to eventually sustain a long war to defeat Germany. (A)
