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As the Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 , the Luftwaffe- the German's air force - had controlled of the air. This invasion was called Blitzkrieg or lightning war. The polish armies were forced to withdraw by Germany.The tactics of Blitzkrieg were designed for tanks, spearheads for quick attack of enemy (Braakhuis, 1999; Parada, 1996). Britain, which was led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and France, followed by India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, declared war on Germany on September 3 when Germany ignored their demands to cease its attack and began the war on Europe.
Before the Germany invasion of Poland, England and France turned to Russia and tried to persuade the Soviet nation to join them and resist Hitler. It was too late. Joseph Stalin, the secretary of Soviet, decided not to follow the allies, and made a deal with Germany. Only Russia could have interfered with the Nazis for attacking Poland. The two countries, Germany and the Soviet Union, signed a non-aggression pact in Moscow on August 23, 1939. There was a secret of treaty that they had agreed to divide Poland between the Soviet Union and Germany. Hitler knew that England and France would eventually turn down, but even if they fought, Hitler was now ready for World War II(Eye Witness, 1997; Lest we forget, 1998). For two weeks later, Russia troops began invading eastern Poland and met German at Brest-Litovsk on September 19, 1939 and began of the bombing in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, with 1,150 bombers. After that ,Poland was surrendered to the Nazis on September 27.
Not only the destruction of the city caused by this invasion, but the fighting also affected many people. One woman in Poland, Marzena (2001), described some effects that impressed her from this situation:
"I'm too young to have impacts of that war. My grandfather went to fight. My mom was born during the war in a colony or something like that. My grandmom says that's why my mom is so nervous. All my uncles and aunts were born in different places, the family was moving from place to place. My grandpa lost his property near Lvov, which used to belong to Poland before the war."
Her family was affected by this event in many ways. In her family's life, although she was too young, she realizes the impacts of this war because she has been surrounded by people who suffered from it.
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According to the article," A short summary of Finland in WWII ", Yrjora (1998) describes this event:
"The first one was the so-called ' Winter War ' from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940 which started after Finland refused to yield to demands made by the Soviet Union concerning areas of Finnish territory along the Finnish south-eastern border. Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939 at 06.50 AM without a declaration of war (land attacks over the border and air bombings of Finnish cities) in order to occupy Finland and replace the Finnish government with a puppet regime(so-called 'Terijoki government')."
Two months later, Soviet troops moved to the north of Europe by starting to invade Finland. Without any declaration on November 30, 1939 but it was surprising that Soviet troops were stalled by Finnish ski troops and the skillful use of clever tactics in the forests. Soviet troops were completely destroyed, and their equipments were captured by Finnish. After first attacking Finland, the Soviet Union changed the leading commanders and used their superiority in air force, artillery, tanks, and the soldiers of the Soviet. Finally, Finland was controlled by Soviet and was forced to accept the rules which dictated by the Soviet Union on March 12, 1940. This war in Finland was called "The Winter War" (See A short Summary of Finland in WWII, 1998; Maddock, 1999).
Close to Finland, Norway and Denmark , were economically important to both Germany and the Allies. Control of Norway's coastline could be benefit to Britain for their blockade or provide Germany with great places for their navy. Thus, both of the Allied and the Germans came to look at Norway as an appropiated area for operations. In addition to controlling Norway, it would be a way to take control of the iron ore in the northern Sweden(Martensson, 1999; Ziemke, 1945). German troops began to invade Norway by sea and air on April 9, 1940. Unable to prevent the invasion from the Nazis, Norway troops surrendered on June 10. This Nazi invasion was called "Operation Weserubung."
In the article," German Victory in Europe " , Braakhuis (1999) said the following:
"Operation 'Gelb': German troops invade the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Holland and Belgium
On 10 May 1940 the Germans unleashed a series of devastating and audacious series of operations against neutral Holland and Belgium. Airborne units supported by the Luftwaffe seized key positions in the Netherlands well in advance of the main columns. Unable to match the force and ingenuity of the invaders, and disconcerted by air raids on civilian targets, the Dutch army capitulated on 15 May. In Belgium a memorable German airborne assault took place on the key fortress of Eban Emael. Although the Belgian army fought for three weeks against overwhelming odds, at midnight on 27 May it surrendered."
German troops invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg next. The great bombs of German caused heavy destruction in Holland. Not for long, the Dutch army gave up on May 15, 1940. Also the Belgian army tried to against the Nazis for a while. Finally, at midnight of May 27, they were forced to surrender to the Germany Blitzkrieg. The Nazis called this operation "Gelb."
After this victory, the Nazis had seized all of the northern area of Europe into its hands; or they got the victory of Scandinavia.
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Although this page provides information from just a small part of the war, it is not difficult to imagine how the whole part of World War II going to be. Many countries have been affected by the war and also many people were suffered by it. These are the things which are difficult to imagine how was it looked like. Anyway, no one want the world return to the period of a World War again, but actually, nowadays, people are fighting in wars, the war that people never realized. It's called the Cold War.
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Braakhuis, W (1999). Assault on Europe 1939. [Online]. Available: http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/1940.htm#top (2001, September 18)
Eye Witness (1997). The Nazi occupation of Poland. [Online]. Available: http://www.ibiscom.com/poland.htm (2001, September 20)
Lest we forget (1998). The high price of freedom in World War II - WW2 Begin. [Online]. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/5433/index1.html (2001, September 20)
Maddock, R. K. (1999). The Finnish Winter War. [Online]. Available: http://www.kaiku.com/winterwar.html (2001, September 22)
Martensson, R. (1999). The history of invasion " Battle for the North". [Online]. Available: http://hem.fyristorg.com/robertm/norge/history_section.htm (2001, September 23)
Marzena ([email protected]) (2001, October 7). Impact of the war. E-mail to ([email protected]).*
Parada, G. (1996). An introduction to "Achtung Panzer". [Online]. Available: http://www.achtungpanzer.com/intro.htm (2001, September 18)
Yrjora (1998). A short summary of Finland in WWII. [Online]. Available : http://www.hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/finland_wwii.html/summary.html (2001, September 22)
Ziemke, E. F. (1945). The German decision to invade Norway and Denmark. [Online]. Available: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/wwii/command.decisions/chap_02/chap_02.txt (2001, September 23)