Kody Salley
4/4/2016
History
Essay 2

World War II was a deadly vicious war, even more deadly than the previous world war. From the moment that Germany had invaded Poland in 1939 until the end in 1945, there was absolutely nothing but chaos, bloodshed, complete annihilation and complete utter destruction.
The first two years of World War II from fall 1939 to the end of 1941 were probably the most brutal as the war continued to develop in Europe between Germany, France, Great Britain & Italy. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland then the Soviet Union invaded Poland later that same month. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany for having invaded Poland and there was also a Winter War that ensued between the Soviet Union and Finland. However in 1940 Germany invaded Denmark & Norway, Germany also invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. There was also the battle of Britain and in 1941 Germany had declared war on the Soviet Union and the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan, and Germany had declared war on the US.
During Germany's invasion of Poland in September of 1939 Germany began using a tactic called Blitzkrieg which was very successful for them it became known as the lightning war. In general Blitzkrieg involved various combination of mechanized spearheads of troops, motorized, artillery tanks, massed in groups by close tactical fighters and dive bombers, with radio controlled signals. What made it so successful was the element of surprise that went with it. By using this tactic German troops could take over and penetrate enemy defenses with overwhelming force easily. This tactic of war lead to many easy victories for Germany between 1939 & 1940. Poland was easily taken over and they surrendered in the same month that Germany had invaded it. Blitzkrieg was not only successful in the Poland invasion. It was also successful in April of 1940 with Germany once again gained victories in Denmark and Norway as well. By May of 1940 Germany quickly defeated The Netherlands, & Belgium. France was yet another victim that also fell victim to the German Blitzkrieg tactics and just like the previous nations to it was defeated by German troops. German armies were able to crush the French armies as they were caught completely caught off guard by German Blitzkrieg assaults, in addition to that the French were also defeated because Germany cut off it's military support from the British. The Fall of France mainly had to with Blitzkrieg but that was not the only reason for it's devastation. The French made costly military mistakes as well for they relied too heavily on defense and were not prepared for this World War. The French relied heavily on their defense and relied on the Maginot line to protect their borders. In general the Blitzkrieg was a very successful tactic because it was quick and led to easy victories however, it did have it's weaknesses and other countries were able to defend successful against it. Great Britain was the first to be able to defend against the Blitzkrieg. German troops attempted to use the Blitzkrieg again to bomb the British into surrender however the British had defended using their air strength as an advantage. During the battle of Britain they responded by using air raid defense systems, and by using their planes to shoot down the German bombers. Due to the fact that German bombers were slow they were easily taken out because they lacked fighter protection. The British used new editions of Hurricane and Spitfire planes and the radar they used helped to. The problem with the Blitzkrieg was that it was sloppy and unorganized and meant for more tactical support not for long bombing assaults. The Blitzkrieg wasn't meant to handle air assaults and because Germany didn't have the air naval strength that Britain did the British could defend. Not only were the British able to defend against Blitzkrieg another opponent that could defend. They weren’t the only opponents that could defend against the Russians and The Soviet Union also defended against the Blitzkrieg. They had learned from previous German battles the flaws of the Blitzkrieg and how to use it against the Germans themselves. By 1943 The Soviet Union had been advancing on all fronts. So they knew that the Blitzkrieg only worked if Germany caught enemies off guard by the element of surprise. By knowing the advantages, and disadvantages of the Germans main attack they were able to defend and counter. Without the element of surprise and the long range distance travelled with the bad weather conditions the Germans were unsuccessful. The Blitzkrieg tactics had been exploited and used against them as well. In conclusion here is a little bit of insight on the first two years of World War II and how the Germans were successful and what opponents were able to defend against them in combat.