A-Z of the Second World War

B

Operation Barbarossa. When the plan to invade England had failed Hitler turned his attention on Russia. In June 1941 Hitler went back on his pact with Russia and invaded. He believed the lack of equipment and the superiority of his men would very quickly destroy the Russians. He was totally wrong and even the 3 million men he sent in were not enough. He failed due to a combination of things. One, he underestimated the fighting spirit of the Russians. Two, he had too many objectives. Three, he interfered with his generals and would not allow them to use their own ideas. Four, he did not expect the time needed to be as long as it was and the Russian winter took a massive toll on his men.

A map which shows Hitler's objectives in Russia.

Battle of Britain. In 1940 Hitler realised that if he was to invade Britain he would have to destroy the RAF (Royal Air Force). This he thought would be a fairly simple thing to do as the German air-force (Luftwaffe)  was much bigger. In fact due to a combination of bravery, RADAR, the more maneuverable Spitfire plane and Hitler's lack of patients he had to call this plan off.

It was the maneuverability and speed (365mph) of the Spitfire that made it outclass the Messershmitt. 

Blitz. Once Hitler had realised that the Battle of Britain was not going to be successful he turned his attention on bombing major cities. This was known as the Blitz. The intention was to cause so much suffering to ordinary people that they would put pressure on the government to start peace talks with Germany. Manchester, London, Shefield, Coventry and Liverpool were picked on as particular targets. The idea backfired and spirits raised and the public view hardened against Germany.

Piccadilly Manchester 1941

Blitzkrieg. Lightening war. Hitler believed it was possible to use his airforce as an effective way of destroying the enemies vital war resources and their morale enough to win war with minimal ground fighting.

Blackout. To stop enemy planes being able to locate British cities were kept in total darkness. It was illegal to show a light. The Air Raid Warden would go and check for light coming from houses. They could be fined considerable amounts for this. Blackouts were in force in Germany as well.

The German poster on the left is a very different way from the one on the right for the London transport.

Burma. When the war began Britain had lots of interests in the far east. Burma, Hong Kong, India, were all parts of the British empire that the Japanese wanted to challenge for. By 1942 Hong Kong and Malaya had fallen to the Japanese. It seemed that they would take Burma and then be able to India. For two years the British Army were able to keep the Japanese at bay. They believed that the rest of the World had simply given up on them and they called themselves the 'Forgotten Army'. However, what they did at battles such as Imphal and Kohima was essential and finally the British advanced and caused the surrender of the Japanese army in 1945.