History of Germany during World War II

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When in 1933 Hitler gained power, the world was little, if at all, aware of the intensity and duration of the armed conflict that would follow in just a few short years. When conditions reached their climax and the Second World War came in 1939, the Western democracies were shocked at the speed at which Poland fell, given that they had seen the Polish army defeat the vast Soviet Union less than a generation before at the Battle of Warsaw (1920).

The democracies were even more shocked some months later when France also fell despite its superior tanks and its Maginot Line. Many of the German army tactics and techniques were untried but the officer corps and the general staff were vigilant and speedy in their adaptations. The officers and men were young and full of enthusiasm, with considerable numbers of veterans of World War I beside them to supply experience and wisdom. However, after over five and a half years of conflict, the German Army was a shadow of its former self. Overwhelmed on all sides and suffering from severe shortages, the casualty had grown tremendously. In the final years of the war, the Nazi forces had to resort to old men and boys.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland (see Invasion of Poland). The invasion led the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany, in accordance with the agreement that they had with Poland. Following the United Kingdom Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa also declared war on Germany. After the end of the campaign in Poland the war entered a period of relative inactivity known as the Phony War. This ended when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April of 1940 (see Operation Weserübung) and the Netherlands, Belgium and France in May (see Battle of France). All of the invaded countries swiftly capitulated and the forces of the United Kingdom and its allies suffered a humiliating defeat in Norway (see British campaign in Norway) and a near-disastrous retreat from France (see Battle of Dunkirk). The United Kingdom was threatened with an amphibious invasion (see Operation Sealion) but during the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe failed to achieve air superiority and the invasion was postponed indefinitely.

Contents 1 North Africa 2 South Eastern Europe 3 Soviet Union 4 Italian armistice 5 Defeat in the East, the invasion of Normandy and final defeat 6 Sources

[edit] North Africa

After Italy's declaration of War on the United Kingdom and France in June of 1940 Italian forces soon took the initiative in Africa by occupying British Somaliland in August and invading Egypt in September. The British and Commonwealth forces, despite being outnumbered by 500,000 available troops to 35,000 (of whom 17,000 were non-combatants), made a fighting withdrawal and after reinforcements were sent to the region in December, counterattacked, dealing out several humiliating defeats to the Italians and capturing over 130,000 prisoners in a two-month campaign in eastern Libya. In January of 1941 the Afrika Korps were sent to Libya to reinforce their Italian allies and a hard fought campaign ensued. This theatre of war is known as the North African Campaign.

[edit] South Eastern Europe

The Italian invasion of Greece in November of 1940 was a disaster and Italian forces were driven back into Albania which Italy had occupied in 1939. Nazi Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece in April of 1941 to assist their allies and prevent any possibility of disruption to the production of oil from their oilfields by hostile forces.

[edit] Soviet Union

The Soviet Union had in 1939 invaded Poland together with Nazi Germany in accordance with the secret part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and remained outside the main conflict for two years, Stalin assuming that he was safe from an attack from Hitler, not wishing to fight a war on two fronts.

For the Germans, however, the war in the West was seen as only the overture to the great operations against Communist Russia. The successful campaigns against Poland, Scandinavia and France, and the bad standing of the Red Army after the Great Purge in the 1930s, as indicated by the fiasco of the Winter War, made Hitler believe the power relations between Nazi Germany and Russia would not again become as favorable. The crusade against Bolshevism, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, was to be launched sooner rather than later. It was planned to unite Western Europe behind Nazi Germany's leadership for the common goal to fight Communism.

The German campaigns in Greece and North Africa delayed the planned invasion by several weeks, and a great deal of the good summer weather was already lost by the time the invasion was launched on June 22, 1941. The massive attack still turned out to be an initial success, conquering whole areas of the Soviet Union's western region. Their only significant strategic failure was the advance on Moscow, which was halted by stiff resistance, and subsequently driven back by a Russian counter-attack. The following years, however, were less successful on the Eastern Front.

[edit] Italian armistice

The German and Italian defeat in North Africa allowed the Allied forces to contemplate opening up a new theatre of war in the south. Sicily was invaded in July of 1943 leading to the overthrow and imprisonment of Mussolini. In September the Italian mainland was invaded. Shortly afterwards an armistice was signed and Italian troops found themselves arrested and imprisoned by the Germans. The Germans fought on in Italy and in October the new Italian government declared war on Germany. The campaign in Italy eventually bogged down as the focus of attention for the Western allied was drawn to opening up a new front.

[edit] Defeat in the East, the invasion of Normandy and final defeat

In the east the Germans had been steadily withdrawing in the face of increasingly capable Red Army offensives. After the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 (which was an important strategic victory for the Soviets despite sustaining far greater losses in men and tanks) the Germans arsenal was depleted of much needed armoured vehicles and Germany was unable to launch another serious offensive in the east. By the time of D-Day invasion on 6 June 1944, German forces were thinly stretched across three fronts. By August, Soviet forces had crossed into parts of eastern Germany. Allied forces reached the Rhine a month later. In December of 1944 a last ditch effort to strike a blow to the western allies (the Ardennes Offensive) ground to a halt due to lack of supplies and bitter allied opposition. By the beginning of 1945 the regime was beginning to disintegrate, and a feared last-ditch defense from a "National Redoubt" never happened. In April, Hitler committed suicide and Germany finally surrendered in the first week of May.

[edit] Sources

• WAR DEPARTMENT TECHNICAL MANUAL TM-E 30-451, Handbook on German Military Forces, US WAR DEPARTMENT, 15 MARCH 1945.
• Calvocoressi, Peter and Guy Wint. Total War New York, New York Penguin press, 2001
• Keegan, John. The Second World War. New York Penguin press, 1990
• Lubbeck, William and David B. Hurt. "At Leningrad's Gates: The Story of a Soldier with Army Group North.", Philadelphia, PA: Casemate, 2006 (ISBN 1-932033-55-6).