Unit 3- War in Europe Flashcards
(German: “lightning war”) military tactic calculated to create psychological shock and resultant disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in matériel or firepower.
Blitzkrieg
The term was coined by journalists to derisively describe the six-month period (October 1939–March 1940) during which no land operations were undertaken by the Allies or the Germans after the German conquest of Poland in September 1939
Phony War
military acts against civilian people and communities that utilized the entire strength of the military and the use of absolutely all resources available to the state.
Total War
the longest continuous battle of the Second World War. Canada played a key role in the Allied struggle for control of the North Atlantic, as German submarines worked furiously to cripple the convoys shipping crucial supplies to Europe
Battle of the Atlantic
the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed 10 May 1940, which ended the Phony War. German armored units pushed through the Ardennes, outflanking the Maginot Line and unhinging the Allied defenders.
Battle of France
codenamed Operation Dynamo, was the last minute evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of ______, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
“Miracle at Dunkirk”
codename for the amphibious evacuation of troops at Dunkirk
Operation Dynamo
the successful defense of Great Britain against the air raids conducted by the German air force in 1940 after the fall of France during World War II
Battle of Britain
was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941.
Blitz
The use of radio waves to detect objects beyond the range of sight was first developed into a practical technology by British scientists and engineers in the 1930s.
RADAR
the code name for Nazi Germany’s planned invasion of Britain. It was supposed to take place in September 1940 and, had it been successful, would have completed Adolf Hitler’s domination of western Europe.
Operation Sea Lion
the code name for the Axis invasion of the USSR on Sunday 22nd June 1941. The operation stemmed from Nazi Germany’s ideological aim to conquer eastern Europe, destroy the undesirables and repopulate the region with the German people
Operation Barbarossa
living space
lebensraum
a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of ____________ (present-day Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front of World War II.
leningrad
capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the largest Soviet city, to be the primary military and political objective for Axis forces in their invasion of the Soviet Union
moscow
A major battle between German and Soviet troops in World War II. The battle was fought in the winter of 1942–1943 and ended with the surrender of an entire German army.
stalingrad
a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy
“scorched earth”
most important and most successful Russian general in World War II. No other military leader played so central a role in so many battles that determined the war’s outcome, from the defense of Leningrad and Stalingrad to the conquest of Germany.
Georgy Zhukov
a term used in Russia and some other former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World
Great Patriotic War
a German army officer who rose to the rank of field marshal and earned fame at home and abroad for his leadership of Germany’s Afrika Korps in North Africa during World War II. Nicknamed “the Desert Fox,” he also commanded German defenses against the Allied invasion of northern France
Erwin Rommel
one of the most prominent and successful British commanders of the Second World War (1939-45). Affectionately known as ‘Monty’, he commanded the Allies in North Africa and in the subsequent invasions of Italy and Normandy.
Bernard Montgomery
Fought near the western frontier of Egypt between 23 October and 4 November 1942, it was the climax and turning point of the North African campaign in the Second World War (1939-45). The Axis army of Italy and Germany suffered a decisive defeat by the British Eighth Army.
Battles of El Alamein
The Anglo-American invasion of French Morocco and Algeria during the North African Campaign of World War II. A compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale
Operation Torch
A hesitant and indecisive ruler, his reign was plagued by political violence and instability. His inaction allowed for the rise of Italian Fascism and his support for Benito Mussolini tainted the image of the Italian monarchy to the point that it led to its eventual abolishment.
Victor Emmanuel
a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany).
Battle for Sicily
U.S. Army officer who was an outstanding practitioner of mobile tank warfare in the European and Mediterranean theatres during World War II.
George Patton
battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The operation was opposed by German forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno.
Battle of Anzio
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history. The operation delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France.
Operation Overlord
I, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank of General of the Army. He planned and supervised the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–1943 as well as the invasion of Normandy (D-Day) from the Western Front in 1944–1945.
Dwight Eisenhower
a series of fortifications Hitler ordered built to guard Europe’s west coast from Allied assault.
Atlantic Wall
the code name for a World War II military deception by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy (codenamed Bodyguard) during the buildup to the 1944 Normandy landings.
Operation Fortitude
Allied code names for the beaches along the 50- mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for landing
Gold, Juno, Sword, Omaha, Utah
a landing craft used extensively by the Allied forces in amphibious landings in World War II.
Higgins Landing Craft
a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of ___________, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II.
Dresden
component of the German armed forces tasked with the air defense of Germany and fulfillment of the country’s airpower commitments abroad
Luftwaffe
the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II—an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory
Battle of the Bulge
one of the last major offensives of the European theater of World War II. On April 16th, 1945 massive Soviet forces attacked from the north, east and south. It led to the eventual surrender of the German army.
Battle for Berlin
the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front, with the last shots fired on the 11th.
VE Day
France under the regime of Marshal Philippe Pétain from the Nazi German defeat of France to the Allied liberation in World War II. The government was essentially a puppet of the Germans.
Vichy France
the French movement, organized in London under the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle, that repudiated the 1940 armistice with the Nazis and the government established at Vichy and fought for the liberation of France and the restoration of the republic.
Free France
he served as head of the collaborationist regime of Vichy France
Phillippe Petain
led the Free French forces in resisting capitulation to Germany while he was in exile in Britian during World War II
Charles De Gaulle
a collection of organizations that fought the Nazi occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War.
French Resistance
rural guerrilla bands of French Resistance fighters during the Occupation of France in World War II. Initially, they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France’s Service du travail obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labor for Germany. To avert capture and deportation to Germany, and to remain free, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups.
Maquis
a federal agency established by President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9182 of June 13, 1942, to conduct the government’s wartime information and propaganda programs
Office of War Information
place a ceiling on prices of most goods, and to limit consumption by rationing
Office of Price Administration
commandeer materials and prioritize their use, force the conversion and expansion of factories, and ban the production of “nonessential” goods
War Production Board
a debt instrument issued by a government as a means of borrowing money to finance its defense initiatives and military efforts during times of war
War bonds
provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing.
GI Bill of Rights
