U.S. Research: World War II European/African Theater

Directions: Use 3-5 minutes to double check this subject’s Power School for your class grade and work listings verifying that all work is caught up. Read and heed embedded messages. Next, research your part of the following topics and figure out answers to the questions. Write your questions and detailed answers on lined paper or your notebook paper. These questions and related answers are required to be handed in, once the class discussion is completed. You are expected to use the time completely, be through and become knowledgeable. Write down any puzzles you have related to the material on your paper and bring them up during the class discussion. Warning: If you are found to be using your research time for other things, it will hurt your learning and grade. If you think or claim to be done, you are not! Once your assigned part is ready, then help others on your team or study the test resources from Mr. Spitzer’s web page for the upcoming test. No games, non-topic talk or other activities allowed during research time. The class will research as much as time allows before team sharing and whole class discussion. Since there is always more to learn, Mr. Spitzer encourages you to look into this topic more on your own time. Your class work grade includes: 1. Entire use of time while researching. 2. Answer questions & pay attention during team sharing. 3. Paying attention & participate during class discussion. 4. Turning in your readable questions & notes. Team members who do not do their share, provide hasty sloppy answers, disrupt others and use time ineffectively in the four grade aspects will be removed from the team and required to write out and turn in all answers on their own for the grade.

Topics to Research

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

German Invasion of Poland and Soviet Annexations

Phony War

April 1941 Scandinavia Invasions

May 10th Churchill become PM and Germany’s Invasion of Low Countries & France

Battle of Britain

Tripartite Pact

U.S. Neutralityand amendments

Battle of the Atlantic

Mediterranean and North African warfare + Nazi assistance to Italy

Conquest of Southern Europe

Operation Barbarossa and Atlantic Charter

Fighting in USSR in 1941

Declaration by United Nations and their Grand Strategy

Axis Advance Stalls and Casablanca Conference

Battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Leningrad

Battle of El Alamein

Combined Bomber Offensive

Driving Axis out of North Africa

1943 Fighting in USSR and Battle of Kursk

Invasion of Sicily and Italy

Tehran Conference

Invasions of France

Operation Bagration and other Soviet Offenses on Eastern Front

Operation Market Garden

Battle of the Bulge

Yalta Conference

The Fatherland is overrun by the Allies in 1945

Suicide of Hitler, other deaths and Ending of European War

Questions to be able to discuss

  1. What are the provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact)signed in August 1939? What were the secret protocols? How did this Pact assure Hitler he could avoid a two-front war, like during World War I, once he defeated Poland?
  2. What accusations and demands did Hitler make of Poland in late August 1939? How supportive were Britain and France of Poland’s refusal to comply with Adolf Hitler’s demands?
  3. What did the Nazi’s do September 1, 1939 related to Poland and what was their immediate excuse for doing so? What were the responses from France, Britain and it’s Common Wealth? When did the Soviets take their part of Poland and why did they delay? How quickly was Poland overrun and what did surviving Polish do next?
  4. What was the German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation? What next did the Soviet’s impose on their Baltic neighbors Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? What was Finland’s response to similar Soviet demands and results? What other lands did the Soviets annex in 1940?
  5. What was the Phoney War and when was this? What were the World War II belligerents really doing during this time period?
  6. When and why did Hitler invade Denmark and Norway? Describe this warfare. How did the British react to this failure in the North on May 10, 1940?
  7. Describe the invasion of France by Germany? How did Hitler catch France by surprise and what happened to the Low Countries? Describe the conquest of France and defeat of the French and British armies. What miracle did the British achieve at Dunkirk? What was the cost? What was Vichy France?
  8. What did Hitler offer Britain on July 19, 1940? How did the British respond? What did the Nazi’s do next? Describe the Battle of Britain including the Nazi plans, British responses and actual phases of the battle. How did the British manage to hold up under the Blitz?
  9. What was the Tripartite Pact? What was it’s real purpose?
  10. What happened to U.S. neutrality when the law was amended to allow “cash and carry,” “destroyers for bases” and Lend-Lease? Explain how each of these helped the Allies in the war.
  11. What was the Battle of the Atlantic? Describe the phases of this warfare, types of actions and how the Allies in the end succeeded.
  12. Where, in 1940, did the Italians attack the British in Africa and the Mediterranean? How successful was Italy? Why and where did the Germans get involved? Who was Erwin Rommel and what did he do in Africa? Describe the back and forth desert warfare between the British and Germans.
  13. When, where and how did the Nazi’s conquer Southern Europe? Describe the partisan warfare in Yugoslavia for the rest of the war.
  14. What was the plan for Operation Barbarossa? When did the invasion start and why so late? Describe the 1941 warfare in the Soviet Union. Show on the wall map the Nazi Soviet holdings by December 1941. What did the Soviets do in December 1941? Why did they use their troops from East Asia to help?
  15. What was the purpose of the Atlantic Charter in August 1941? What were the goals set by this agreement?
  16. Describe the purpose and goals of the January 1942 Declaration by United Nations. What was the Grand Strategy of the Allies in World War II?
  17. What was the agreement made at the Casablanca Conference in early 1943?
  18. Locate on the map Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Describe the Battle of Stalingrad including Nazi purposes, Soviet response, the warfare itself, phases of the battle and the eventual outcome.
  19. Locate on the map Leningrad in the Soviet Union. Describe the Battle of Leningrad including Nazi purposes, Soviet response, the warfare itself, phases of the battle and the eventual outcome.
  20. Locate on the map El Alamein in the North Africa. Describe the Battle of El Alamein including Nazi purposes, Allied response, weapons,the warfare itself, phases of the battle and the eventual outcome. Describe the Allied advance afterwards across North Africa from both top ends of the continent. Describe the ending of the warfare in North Africa. What was Rommel ordered to do?
  21. Why were the Allies unable to invade France in 1943? Describe the Dieppe Raid including goals, objectives, failures and lesson learned.
  22. What was the 1943 Combined Bomber Offensive by the British and Americans in 1943? Give the purposes, strategy, and hazards of the raids over the continent. Describe what happened to Hamburg, Germany from British bombing in July 1943.
  23. What happened in the fighting around the Kursk Bulge in 1943? Why did the Nazi’s fail? What happened in Eastern Europe because of this failure? Where was the Soviet advance in May 1944?
  24. Describe the invasion of Sicily in 1943. What was the role of U.S. general Patton? How were the Allies successful? What was the Armistice of Cassibile?
  25. Why was Italy invaded in September 1943? Who carried the fight in Italy and how did German special forces rescue Mussolini? Describe the warfare in Italy during the slow grind up the peninsula, including the attacks on the line at Monte Casssino and the landings at Anzio.
  26. When was the Tehran Conference, who attended and what was decided?
  27. Describe the build up and then D-Day June 6, 1944. Describe the fight in France from the landings to the liberation of Paris. What was the role of the Free French Forces and who was their leader?
  28. What was Operation Bagration and other Soviet offenses in the summer of 1944? What did the Germans do to Warsaw after the uprisings there and in Poland?
  29. Why did the Soviets and Finnish resistance sign an armistice in 1944?
  30. Describe Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944. What were the goals? Describe what really happened.
  31. Describe the Battle of the Bulge including Hitler’s plans, the phases of the battle and eventual outcome. Why were the Nazi’s successful at first but then they lost?
  32. What agreement did the Allies arrive at, during Yalta Conference? Describe the various aspects and implications of this agreement.
  33. Describe the rest of the overrunning of Germany from the east and west in 1945. Where did the U.S. and Soviet forces met?
  34. Describe the dates, circumstances and deaths of Franklin Roosevelt, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
  35. Describe Germany’s surrender and the ending of the war. What were the costs of the war? Detail overall figures then break them down and give the figures for the major war participants.

Critical Thinking

  1. Why was Allied cooperation so decisive a factor in winning the war? Support with examples.
  2. Why was it vital for the Allies to win the Battle of the Atlantic? Justify your answer.
  3. What were Hitler and Mussolini’s mistakes during the World War II. How did the Allies take advantage of these mistakes and eventually win?
  4. What were the most important reasons for the Allied victory in Europe?
  5. Could the Soviets have won in Europe without U.S. help? Justify your answer and the timeframe you imagine.
  6. Evaluate current American efforts to prevent international conflicts. Do you believe America’s foreign policy has overcommitted the nation? Is the U.S. too isolationist? Explain.
  7. What would the world be like in the years following, IF the Nazi’s had won World War II?