Axis Expansionism

Learning Goals

• By the end of this lesson I will recognize the major military campaigns initiated by members of the Axis powers and why they were successful.

• By the end of this lesson I will know how the German blitzkrieg differed from previous military tactics and why it was so successful.

• By the end of this lesson I will learn about the Canadians who were in Hong Kong during the invasion by Japanese forces.

Blitzkrieg

• “Lighting War”

• Four Stage Process

• Amazingly fast and effective strategy

• Relied on cohesive effort by all divisions of the German Army

• Initially seen in Poland, France and the Netherlands

• Allowed for extremely rapid expansion throughout Europe.

Stage One

• The Luftwaffe bombed the target to soften the defensive lines. They would focus their weapons on a particular point in the line. Referred to as the Schwerpunkt.

Stage Two

• The Panzer and other armoured divisions attacked the line at a concentrated point in an attempt to break through. The speed of the attack made it difficult for the allies to defend against it.

Stage Three

• The armed divisions will break through the defensive line and begin to curve back around the engulf the defending army from behind. This prevented them from retreating and also made it difficult to coordinate with members from other divisions.

Stage Four

• The Wermacht would move in behind the armored divisions and attack the small pockets of soldiers that remained in the occupied territory. During this time the armored divisions would continue to push their spearhead forward to continue breaking through the defensive lines.

The tactic

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjrnlMAtQ4

Blitzkrieg in Practice

• March, 1938 – Hitler established Anschluss with Austria-Hungary

Sudetenland

• October, 1938 – Hitler invades part of Czechloslovakia

Hitler Breaks Munich

Germany Invades Poland

• September, 1939 – Nazi invade Poland in violation of their agreement with Britain forcing the world to declare war.

Why We Fight

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGiSMSYFaNk

Weserübung

• April, 1940 – Germany attacks Denmark, Sweden and Norway – extremely important ports and industrial areas.

Headed West

• May, 1940 – Germany focuses West and invades Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and France.

May

June

Growth of an Empire

• http://unimaps.com/nazi_european_occupation_timeline/index.html

Dunkirk

• The British stationed in France were unprepared for how fast the Blitzkrieg was.

• As the German army pushed forward into France they severed the British troops off from the rest of their command and boxed them in between the Germany army and the Atlantic ocean. Over half a million British soldiers are stuck in this shrinking pocket.

• Poised to be one of the greatest British loses of the Second World War.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u0Vsyt2PaM

A miracle

Expansion in the pacific

• While Hitler was busy expanding in Europe, Emperor of Japan Hirohito was engaging in his own military campaign.

• Made significance advances in Chinese mainland and conquered almost all the islands in the South Pacific.

• It was this presence in the Pacific that motivated Japan to attack the U.S. at Pearl Harbor December 7th, 1941

Japan’s Expansion

• http://www.history.com/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive

Invasion of Hong Kong

• In November of 1941 Canada sent almost 1000 troops to Hong Kong (at the time a British colony) to deter any possible aggression from the Japanese.• The Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers

• While they were armed they were not properly equipped and not yet fully trained.• There was equipment headed their way but the attack

on Pearl Harbor in December made it impossible.

• Their presence was assumed to be of symbolic, rather than strategic, importance.

Invasion

• Japanese planes attack Hong Kong and ground forces began to invade.

• After 3 days of fighting the allies were pushed back into the mainland.

• On December 13th and 17th the Japanese army asked the Allied troops composed of mostly Canadian, British and Chinese soldiers to surrender. They declined.

• As Japanese army continued to push inward they acquired increasing numbers of POW’s including a combat hospital whose patients they tortured and killed.

Legacy

• What became increasingly important from this event is Canada’s willingness to defend another country against evil aggression.

• It was acts such as this that became the model for future acts of Canadian peacekeeping.

Canadian Courage

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amubf1LRp-4