DK - World War II Map by Map

176 TURNING THE TIDE 1943–1944

May 27, 1942

SOE-trained Czech

resistance fighters

assassinate Nazi

Reichsprotektor

Reinhard Heydrich,

triggering reprisals.

Aug 29, 1944 Slovak

resistance forces launch an

armed uprising against Nazi

troops occupying the country.

Mar 26, 1943

Polish resistance

fighters free 25

captives from a

Nazi prison van.

Jul 20, 1944 An

attempt by Claus von

Stauffenberg and other

German officers to

assassinate Hitler fails.

May 9, 1944

Norwegian saboteurs

blow up a train carrying

mineral supplies for

export to Germany.

Mar 6, 1943 Yugoslav Partisans

under Marshal Tito evade Axis

forces by a strategic retreat in the

Battle of the Neretva River.

Sep 27–30, 1943

Townspeople and resistance

fighters join to drive out the

occupying forces.

Feb 18, 1943 Nazi

authorities break up

the White Rose group.

Jun 10, 1944 In retaliation for resistance activity in

central France, Waffen-SS troops wipe out the entire

population of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane.

△ Fighting in the streets

In August 1944, resistance members on the streets of Paris take

aim from their makeshift barracks. At this time there were an

estimated 100,000 members of the resistance across France.

6 7

Jul 3, 1944 The

Resistance declares

a Free Republic of

Vercors; the

insurrection is

viciously suppressed

by the Germans.

POLISH RESISTANCE

NOVEMBER 1939–MAY 1945

Poland suffered more under Nazi occupation

than any other country (see pp.38–39). Resistance

centered on the Polish Home Army, loyal to the

government in exile in London, and the pro-

Communist People’s Army. In August 1944 the

Home Army launched an uprising in Warsaw

(see pp.184–185) that was brutally crushed by

Waffen-SS units, while the approaching Red Army

was unable to assist. When it was over, the city

was in ruins, and over 150,000 people were dead.

5

Pre-war Poland

Principal Polish

Partisan areas

Armed uprisings

in Jewish ghettos

Clashes between Partisans and

German forces 1941–1942

Clashes between Germans and Partisan forces

Pre-war Netherlands

Major reprisal

Main escape routes

NATIONAL LIBERATION FOR GREECE

MAY 1941–OCTOBER 1944

The Greek resistance movement was fractured

between many different groups, who often fought

among themselves and resisted attempts by the Allies

to bring them together (see pp.202–203). The most

successful was the Communist-inspired National

Liberation Front (EAM), whose guerrilla forces won

control of much of the mountainous interior of

Greece. In March 1944, EAM set up the Political

Committee of National Liberation, which became

the de facto government of the liberated areas.

4

Initial centers

of resistance

Pre-war Greece

THE ITALIAN PARTISAN WAR

SEPTEMBER 1943–MAY 1945

The Italian resistance had its roots in anti-Fascist

groups opposed to Mussolini before the war, but its

activities expanded hugely after the Allied invasion

in 1943 and the German occupation of the country.

Nationalist, Communist, and Catholic groups combined

to resist the invaders, often under the leadership

of Italian former officers. In September 1943, the

National Liberation Committee was founded to

coordinate opposition to the Nazi forces.

THE DUTCH HUNGER WINTER

SEPTEMBER 1944–MAY 1945

In the Netherlands, underground fighters helped

the Allies with intelligence and acts of sabotage. In

1944, with the southern half of the country already

liberated, railroad workers went on strike, leading the

Nazi authorities to retaliate by cutting off supply lines.

The result was the Hunger Winter of 1944–1945,

during which up to 20,000 people starved to death.

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Kladno Będzin

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Šabac

Čačak

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Salonika

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Luxembourg

Rome

Naples

Piombino

Brest

Oradour-sur-Glane

Beyssenac

Grenoble

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Toulouse Vercors

Madrid

Barcelona

Lisbon

London

Copenhagen

Bialystok

Krynks

Petrovgrad

Petrila

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Lupeni

Rastenburg

Athens

Patras

Sofia

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