Dunkirk-Holocaust Flashcards
What was the miracle at Dunkirk?
An amphibious operation that miraculously rescued the British and French armies
The French government was in exiled and led by?
Charles de Gaulle
By the summer of 1940 Germany had conquered all of Europe except for….?
Great Britain (island)
What happened in the Battle of Britain?
Hitler plans to invade and conquer Britain
But he must control the sky first
What was the Luftwaffe?
German Air Force bombers that attacked Britain day and night
What was Hitlers target in Battle of Britain or Operation Sea Lion
The communication centers and airfields and the RAF
What was the RAF
The British Royal Air Force
Who were the British led by?
Prime minister Winston Churchill
What was Winston Churchill’s quote?
We shall never surrender
What was Hitlers huge mistake? And what did it do?
He changed his target to attacking civilian population (cities).
It gave RAF time to recover
What was the Blitz? And what was it’s purpose? What happened as a result of that?
London attacked for 57 consecutive days/nights
The purpose was to destroy the people’s will to fight motivational posters
It backfired and made them even more determined to resist
What new British invention turns the tide of the war?
RADAR
What were the results of the radar and Britain win?
Early turning point of the war and it’s the first time Hitler lost
People of Europe realize that Hitler is not unbeatable and it boosted morale
What was the battle of the Atlantic known as?
The lifeline of Great Britain
Who was the Battle of the Atlantic between?
USA and Great Britain
What was vital for Great Britain’s survival (supplies/equipment)
The Atlantic Ocean
What were the two sides in the war?
Allied Powers- GB,France and the Soviet Union
Axis Powers- Germany, Italy and Japan
The USA helps the allied powers and they were neutral
They stayed out of European affairs due to isolationism
What was the cash and carry program?
1939-1940 USA assisted GB by giving them supplies
What was the lend lease program of 1941?
The USA could lend or lease arms or other supplies to any country and it was “vital to the defense of the USA”
What 3 countries got aid through the lend lease program?
Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union
What was Operation Barbarossa?
Invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 on the Eastern front
Why did Hitler want the Soviet Union?
- Lebensraum (living species) for German people
- Largest population of Jews
- Natural resources- Oil, etc
- He hated communism
What was the red army?
The Russians were not prepared
What happened in the Battle of Leningrad in 1941?
900 day siege of the 2.5million residents and over one million died
What happened in the Battle of Stalingrad?
Hitler fights for control of the Russian oil fields
What were the Russians ordered to do?
To fight to the death
No surrender
How long did the Battle of Stalingrad? ALSO IT WAS THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR FOR THE EASTERN FRONT
Five months and neither city surrender
How many people did the Russians lose in the war?
20 million people
Why was the Russian campaign Hitlers greatest mistake?
It drained his manpower he lost over one-third and lost his military resources
Gets himself another two front War
What exhausted Japan’s resources?
The war in China
When did the USA stop oil trade with Japan? And what is it called?
1940
An embargo
What does Japan realize about the USA? What do they do?
The USA is the only country that can stop them from taking over Asia (pacific)
So they plan a secret attack and send spies
What is Pearl Harbor?
USA naval base in the Pacific (Hawaii)
Who is the admiral of the Japanese navy who plans the attack?
Isoroku Yamamoto
What was the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Sunday December 7, 1941 at sunrise
What two warning signs of the attack in Pearl Harbor did the USA ignore?
- Midget submarines were discovered at 4:00 am
2. Radar sighting at 7:05 am
When was the first wave of the attack of Pearl Harbor, and what happened?
7:55 a.m
Two bombers/torpedo planes
What were the three targets of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Aircraft carriers (flat tops), Battle ships and airfields
What was the big ship taken down in the attack on Pearl Harbor?
The USS Arizona
What did the Japanese destroy on the attack on Pearl Harbor?
18 ships, 8 battleships, 188 airplanes and killed 2403 men
Why was the attack not a complete success?
The Japanese failed to destroy repair facilities, destroy the fuel depots and the US Aircraft carriers
What does FDR call the attack of Pearl Harbor?
A day that will live in infamy
What were the results of Pearl Harbor?
- The USA enters World War ll
- Unites the people of the USA, Americans wanted revenge
- Internment camps, 110,000 Japanese Americans (Nisel) were forced into prison camps by the American government in the USA, they lost everything they had
What was the reason for the Japanese Internment camps?
National security
But the real reason was fear and prejudice
During the first six months who wins the battles of the war?
Japan
What happens when the Philippine Islands Fall?
Results in the Bataan Death March
What happens in the Bataan Death March?
It was 66miles/10 days 70,000 American Filipino prisoners were forced to march 50 miles from Corregidor Island -27,000 died
What does General Douglas MacArthur promise his men?
I shall return
What happens when the allies strike back in the Doolittle Raid in April of 1942?
Colonel James Doolittle and eighty volunteers
16 B-25 bombers strike Tokyo
No military significance but it boosted American morale
What were the two major naval/air battles?
1.Battle of the Coral Sea- May 1942
The US fleet stops the invasion of Australia
2. Battle of Midway- June 1942
US defeats the Japanese and stops their planned invasion of Hawaii
TURNING POINT OF THE BATTLE IN THE PACIFIC
What was the American strategy to win the pacific theater?
Island Hopping - purpose was to get close enough to launch it was a bombing march on Japan
What was the battle of Guadalcanal “ Island of Death”
A six month bloody battle to control the airfield
It was the first major island taken from the Japanese
When was the Holocaust?
1939-1945
What was the Holocaust?
The systematic mass slaughter of the Jews and other undesirables
Who was the Head of the SS (Black shirts) and was in charge of the Holocaust?
Henrich Himmler
What does it mean by Hitlers Final solution?
A code word as to what to do with Europe’s 12 million Jews
What was Hitlers four part final solution?
1.Immigration- make life so bad in Germany that they flee the country
Didn’t work because of the Great Depression
2.Mobile Death squads ( Soviet Union (Einsatzgruppen)- dug trenches and machined gunned people to death
It failed because it destroyed the German soldiers morale
- Ghettos- Jews rounded up in the cities (Poland) and put behind barbed wire and forced to work with little food and starve to death
It failed because it was too slow
Holding tanks were shipped to death camps - Death Camps/ Gas chambers- Jews gassed in showers and cremated in ovens
How many people died in the death camps?
6 million Jews and 5 million other undesirables were killed mostly through this method
1.5million were children
What was the Peak in the death camps?
Up to 15,000 were killed
Who were some people who experienced/helped and spoke out against the evils?
- Corrie ten Boom- Dutch Christian who hid Jews wrote “ Hiding Place”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer- German Protestant pastor who gave his life The Cost of Discipleship
- Oskar Schindler- businessman who gave his life to saving Jews “Schindler’s List”
- Anne Frank- Jewish girl who wrote a diary called “The Diary of Anne Frank”
What country was formed as repayment to the Jews for the Holocaust?
Israel
What were the three types of concentration camps?
1.POW Camps (Stalags) held prisoners of war mostly in Germany and most prisoners survived
2.Work Camps-used slave labor to help the German war effort-factories mines etc many worked to death, mostly in Germany
Dachau was the most infamous one
3. Death Camps- used to exterminate people
All six were located in Poland
Auschwitz was the most infamous one (1.1mil died)
