Turning the Tide
German and Japanese mistakes
First, the Axis comes
together
•
Japan, Germany and
Italy sign the Tripartite
Pact in 1940
•
•
every nation shall
“receive the space to
which it is entitled”
will come to one
another’s aid if
attacked
Mistake 1: the Invasion
of the USSR
•
•
•
Operation Barbarossa
Stalin was surprised, after all, there was the NaziSoviet Non-aggression Pact
Barbarossa was a massive blitzkreig attack in
1941
OPERATION
BARBAROSSA
HTTP://WWW.WORLDWAR-2.NET/WORLD-WAR-2-BATTLEPLANS/EASTERN-EUROPE/BARBAROSSA-220641.JPG
NOTE THAT THE BRUNT OF THE NAZI
ATTACK LANDED
ON PEOPLE THAT WEREN’T RUSSIAN,
BUT HAD BEEN
TAKEN OVER BY SOVIET FORCES.
•
In response to the attack, Stalin orders the
scorched-earth policy
German infantry
moves through burnt
town
http://gadabyte.com/ww-ii/images/europe/infantry/scorched_earth.jpg
•
•
•
the Germans do get very close to taking Moscow,
but
the Soviets have a higher morale (after all, they’re the
ones defending)
they are prepared for the Russian winter, and the
Germans are not
GERMAN SOLDIERS IN THE SNOW
HTTP://STATIC.GUIM.CO.UK/SYS-IMAGES/OBSERVER/PIX/
PICTURES/2009/9/4/1252079739928/THREE-GERMAN-SOLDIERS-COV-001.JPG
SOVIET SOLDIERS IN THE
SNOW
HTTP://GADABYTE.COM/WWII/IMAGES/EUROPE/INFANTRY/SCORCHED_EARTH.JPG
Mistake # 2 - Japan
•
the rest of the world is (reasonably) distracted by the
whole European war thing
•
Japanese decide to expand into former British and
French territory in Asia
•
Asia for the Asiatics
•
this means that the Japanese have the right to
conquer other Asian people, because they’re
all Asian, but that Europeans don’t have that
right
JAPANESE EXPANSION IN THE PACIFIC
•
The United States doesn’t trust Japanese expansion
•
US places an embargo on sale of iron to Japan
•
1941 - Roosevelt expands the embargo on goods to
Japan in an attempt to get Japan out of mainland
Asia
•
•
•
Japan doesn’t like this
thinks that the US is standing in the way of its
expansion East
decides to defeat the US, and to do this, has to
destroy the Pacific fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor,
HI
PROJECT
PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED
HTTP://VISIBILITY911.COM/BLOG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2009/12/PEARL-HARBOR.JPG
DATE
DATE
CLIENT
NAME
•
luckily, all the aircraft carriers weren’t there, and half
the planes were gone too
•
US lost 19 ships, 188 planes
•
2400 soldiers were killed, 1100 were wounded
And the US enters the
war
•
Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941
•
•
US declares war on Japan on December 8, 1941
Germany and Italy honor the Tripartite Pact and
declare war on the US on December 11, 1941
Mistake # 3 - Stalingrad
•
In spite of the winter and his inability to get Moscow,
Hitler keeps trying to defeat the USSR
•
he has taken a lot of territory, but the Soviets are
holding ground
Battle of Stalingrad
•
•
•
•
•
Germans launch an assault on Stalingrad in August, 1942
Because it was named after Stalin, there would have been a
big blow to morale had the city been lost
also it’s in an industrialized area, so it was a key point to hold
Russians held on through the winter, even though they were
cut off and freezing
by the time the Germans surrendered in February of 1943
•
180,000 German soldiers were dead, 80,000 were
captured, and huge amounts of Nazi equipment were lost
RUSSIAN SOLDIERS DEFENDING STALINGRAD
HTTP://MEDIA-2.WEB.BRITANNICA.COM/EB-MEDIA/64/127264-050-AAC14C86.JPG
•
Not surprisingly, all of these mistakes start leading
to failures for the Axis.