WWII Stations--Station 3: Eastern European Theatre

Location: same place

Directions

  1. Take notes of the following events.

 

Invasion of Poland

A sudden and rapid invasion of Poland by Nazi forces on September 1, 1939, the Polish invasion represented the first military engagement in the European theater during World War II. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) that settled World War I had left Germany without the Polish Corridor as payment for initiating World War I. Despite pockets of resistance, Poland fell to the Germans on October 6, 1939. The Nazi regime then used Poland for its war machine until 1945.

 

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was launched on June 22, 1941. Hitler thought if his troops could control the massive Soviet landmass and its enormous supplies of natural resources, Great Britain would be forced to negotiate a peace. The Nazi attack on the Soviets turned into the greatest battle of World War II. Operation Barbarossa failed to achieve a rapid victory, and Germany was bogged down in a costly, two-front war that would eventually end with a victory by the Allies in 1945.

 

Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most decisive victories against German troops during World War II, Soviet troops pushed German units into a full-scale retreat from the Eastern Front. German losses at Stalingrad revealed the fundamental mistake of the Third Reich in attempting to fight a two-front war against Russia in the east and Allied forces in the west. 

Trapped within a circle 25 miles outside Stalingrad, the German troops slowly began to starve as they attempted more counteroffensives to little avail. The cold Russian winter led to further deaths. The German retreat would culminate in the capture of Berlin by the Allies in 1945.

 

Works Cited

  • Newman, Jason. "Battle of Stalingrad." World History: The Modern Era, ABC-CLIO, 2020, worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/309548. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.
  • "Operation Barbarossa." World History: The Modern Era, ABC-CLIO, 2020, worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/309859. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.
  • "Polish Invasion." World History: The Modern Era, ABC-CLIO, 2020, worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/309899. Accessed 27 Feb. 2020.