Der Zweite Weltkrieg

The Nazis only occasionally used the name Der Zweite Weltkrieg (Second World War) in official documents and communications.  In public propaganda they called it Der Verteidigungskrieg (The Defensive War), Der Befreiungskrieg (The War of Liberation) and Der Krieg gegen den Bolschewismus (The War Against Bolshevism). 

The following tells the story of the war from Germany’s PoV:

Going Deeper

The following links will help you widen your knowledge:

Basic accounts from BBC Bitesize

YouTube

Animated map

Stalingrad - World at War: awesome

Early Triumphs (1939–1941)

Crowds cheer Hitler on his victory parade following the fall of France, 6 July 1940.

Invasion of Poland (September 1939): Hitler was surprised when Britain declared war – his foreign minister Ribbentrop had assured him that Britain and France would back down.  But the military success of Blitzkrieg bolstered confidence. 

Fall of France (June 1940): A major triumph and vindication of Nazi ideology, and the humiliating defeat of the French.  Hitler held a victory parade in Paris and publicly overturned the Treaty of Versailles. 

Battle of Britain (July–October 1940): A disappointment; plans for an invasion were thwarted, and the Blitz failed to force Britain into surrender.  Britain, however, was on its knees, and the Nazis were clearly still winning the war. 

Invasion of Denmark and Norway (April 1940): Secured strategic resources (iron ore) and access to the North Atlantic. 

Tripartite Pact (September 1940): Formalized the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan, making Nazi Germany part of a global super-bloc. 

Invasion of the Balkans and Greece (April 1941): To support the Italian invasion of Greece, which was failing.  The Nazi invasion was a sweeping success, but Hitler was now fighting a war on two fronts. 

Capture of Tobruk (June 1942): To support the Italian war in North Africa, which was failing.  The Nazis secured a major victory, but at the cost of further extending their war. 

Turning Points (1941–1943)

Invasion of Russia: At its time, the largest military operation in history and the enactment of Hitler’s Lebensraum vision.  But ‘the Eastern Front’ turned out to be a disastrous failure and a thing of horror that destroyed civilian confidence. 

• Operation Barbarossa (June 1941): At first the Nazis advanced easily to within 100 miles of Moscow but they had underestimated Soviet resistance. 

• Siege of Leningrad (September 1941-January 1944): Strategic attempt to starve the city; its survival had significant symbolic importance. 

• Battle of Moscow (October 1941-January 1942): Stopped the Nazi advance – the first major failure of the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union. 

• Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942-February 1943): Catastrophic defeat, resulting marking the turning of the tide on the Eastern Front.  The entire 6th Army was destroyed; in all the Axis powers lost 1 million casualties in the attack. 

Pearl Harbor (December 1941): Hitler was not told about the attack, which forced him (as art of the Tripartite Agreement) to declare war on America.  At the time, he hoped the war in the Pacific would prevent America intervening in Europe.  He was wrong; Pearl Habor brought the full might of the US into the war, expanding the war into a global conflict Germany was too small to win. 

Wannsee Conference (January 1942): Decision to implement the ‘Final Solution’, leading to the Holocaust.  Significant military resources were diverted to exterminate the Jews; the Nazis argued that they were a ‘fifth column’, ‘useless eaters’ consuming resources without helping the war effort, and that a world free of Jews was what they were fighting for. 

Fall of Tunisia (May 1943): Defeat at El Alamein (November 1942), was followed in May 1943 by the surrender of 250,000 Axis soldiers, and the loss not only of North Africa, but of control of the Mediterranean. 

Collapse and Defeat (1943–1945)

Defeat at Kursk (July–August 1943): The largest tank battle in history; ended the Nazis attempt to regain the initiative in the East. 

Allied Bombing Campaign (1943 onwards): devastated German cities, killed 3.5 million German civilians, destroyed civilian morale, and removed Germany’s industrial capacity. 

Italian Armistice (September 1943): Collapse of Mussolini’s; the Allies gained control of Italy and invaded from southern Europe. 

D-Day Invasion (June 1944): Opening of the long-feared Western Front. 

Failure of the Ardennes Offensive: Last major Nazi counteroffensive ended at the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944. 

Hitler’s Suicide and Fall of Berlin (April–May 1945): total collapse of the Nazi regime. 

Germans fleeing Berlin as the Soviet forces advance in 1945.