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The Battle of FranceDuring May of 1940, Luftwaffe bombers destroyed French aircrafts. At the same time, German tanks traveled through the Ardennes regions in northern Luxembourg and southern Belgium towards France. (Constable) The Allies, who were waiting behind a line of fortifications called the Maginot line, were caught of guard (Class notes). The Luftwaffe bombed French military strong points, destroying artillery and killing soldiers. This created a gap, allowing the tanks to go through. The Allies retreated to Dunkirk, a city on the coast of France. On May 27, the Allies began evacuating to Britain. Luftwaffe planes attacked the troops on the beach, but they were gunned down by British spitfires. About 338,000 French and British soldiers evacuated to Britain. However, on 6/21, France officially surrendered. (Constable) The Germans occupied 3/5 of France, while the rest was becames a puppet state called Vichy France. (Class notes)
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Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece
On April 6, 1941, Hitler invaded Yugoslavia. The Luftwaffe bombed the capital, killing 17,000 people. On April 13, Yugoslavia surrendered. In Greece, Italy was being beaten by the Greek and British. Hitler came to help his ally, Mussolini. On April 6, the Luftwaffe bombed the Greek and British front line and destroyed their supply lines. They also bombed Greek ports. The German army pushed back the advancing Greek and British soldiers. The British evacuated to Crete and Germany took over Greece. The Luftwaffe bombed Crete’s harbors and airfields. The Germans used paratroopers, but many were shot down by the British. Germany took over Crete on May 29. Many British soldiers were killed during this invasion. This was one of the last times the Luftwaffe used paratroopers. (Constable).
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Operation BarbarossaIn June of 1941, the invasion of the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa, began. Hitler thought that if he could take the Soviet Union out of the war, then Britain would surrender. Also, he wanted to crush Communism and achieve his goal of lebensraum. On June 22, 1941 the Luftwaffe used their Blitzkrieg tactics against the Soviet Union, bombing their supply lines and military strong points. The Germans rapidly advanced, laying siege to Leningrad and the Ukraine. However, winter came early and forced the unprepared Germans to retreat on January 15, 1942. This was the first time that Hitler ordered a retreat. (Class notes)
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