The Sitzkrieg, The Winter War, and the War At Sea.

The Sitzkrieg, The Winter War, and the

War At Sea

The Sitzkrieg

• After fury of the blitzkrieg came the sitzkrieg on the Western Front– Sit down war– Also called the phony war– Was a six month lull between the fall

of Poland and the German attack on Norway and Denmark

The Sitzkrieg

• British and French were behind the Maginot line

• Germans gathered behind the Siegfried Line

• Almost no combat• Ended when Germany attacks

Norway and Denmark in April, 1940

Russia Invades Finland

• Russia was still very active during the “phony war”

• Force Estonia to give them bases on Estonian soil

• Latvia and Lithuania bullied into the same thing


• Finland refused to give in to Russia• Nov. 30, 1939- Soviet army struck at

Finland – Soldiers carried propaganda leaflets– Expected to be welcomed as liberators– Thought it would be quick and only had light

clothing– Not equipped or trained for harsh Finnish

winter

The Winter War

A Finnish soldier Frozen Russian soldier


• Finns fall back and draw the Germans into the forest and then they strike

• Would hit and hold the Russian front while other Finns moved to the Russian flank– Cut off routes of retreat– Separated Russian units from each other– Russians fell by the thousands


• World was amazed at Finnish resistance• France and Britain begin to consider

aiding Finland• Stalin realizes Hitler is watching

– Is Russia weak enough for Germany to take?

• Russia must take action against the Finnish Mannerheim Line


• Stalin brings all five of his forces together• In two weeks, they break through the

Mannerheim Line and after 42 days, Finland is lost

• Russia gets everything they demand– Their second largest city– Their biggest Artic Ocean port– Karelian Isthmus

The Struggle At Sea

• Never was a sitzkrieg at sea• Began Sept. 3, 1939, 250 miles off the

coast of Ireland• Germans sink British passenger liner

Athenia• Was a violation of international

agreement

The Struggle At Sea

• By the end of September, British losses were staggering.

• Resorted to the convoy system– Ships gather in groups and were escorted by

destroyers who circled around the convoy, hunting for submarines

• Was offense and defensive system– The freighters and tankers acted as bait

The Struggle At Sea

• Churchill improved the convoy system by adding aircraft protection at either end of the voyage.

The Struggle At Sea

• British ships began to blow up and sink as they entered or left port

• Germans were dropping a new type of mine, a magnetic mine, at harbor mouths– Was drawn to a ships hull as the

vessel passed over it

The Struggle At Sea

• Late November, a German airplane was seen dropping a magnetic mine– It was captured by two skillful and brave

naval officers and brought to Portsmouth Naval Base to be analyzed

• They could then combat it by encircling British ships with an electric cable– Called degaussing

The Struggle At Sea

• Germany had three pocket battleships– Deutschland and Graf Spee left Germany

between Aug. 21 and Aug. 24 and were loose in the ocean

• By Dec. 13th the Graf Spee had sunk 3 British merchant ships in five days– Was tracked down by 3 British cruisers,

Achilles, Ajax, and Exeter

The Struggle At Sea

• Battle enrages• The Spee leaves under smoke cover and

enters Montevideo, Uruguay with Ajax and Achilles outside– Uruguay is neutral

• Captain Langsdorff telephones the German Admiral that escape is hopeless

• Spee leaves harbor with British ships waiting hungrily

The Struggle At Sea

• Graf Spee is scuttled, sunk itself– Fear if ship is captured secret equipment

will fall into enemy hands

• Langsdorff was so brokenhearted by the loss of the ship that he wrapped himself in an old Imperial flag, an insult to Hitler, and shot himself.

• This ends the first phase of the Battle of the Atlantic

The War At Sea

The Sitzkrieg, The Winter War, and the War At Sea.

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Transcript of The Sitzkrieg, The Winter War, and the War At Sea.