Transcript Date____ Page____ Title: Victory in Europe

Date____
Page____
Title: Victory in Europe
Warmup:
1. Write down five facts about the events and results of the
North African campaign and Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet
Union/Battle of Stalingrad.
2. What factors do you think are going to lead to Allied
victory in Europe?
Recap: The North African Campaign
(no need to write this… you should have video notes
on it…)
•After Rommel took port city of Tobruk,
British Gen. Bernard Montgomery sent to
take over at Egyptian village of El Alamein
•Launched massive frontal attack (couldn’t
go around them) on Oct. 23, 1942 – took
Rommel by surprise, he fell back by Nov. 4
•Allies launched Operation Torch as
Rommel retreated west. Nov. 8 – 100,000
Allied troops (mostly Americans) landed in
Morocco and Algeria
•Dwight Eisenhower led the force that
crushed Rommel’s Afrika Korps in May
1943
Operation Torch
Recap: Battle for Stalingrad
(no need to write this… you should have video
notes on it…)
•German advance stalled at Leningrad &
Moscow late in 1941
•Summer 1942 – Hitler sent 6th Army,
under command of General Friedrich
Paulus, to seize oil fields in Caucasus
Mountains – army was to capture
Stalingrad, a major industrial center on
the Volga River
•Battle of Stalingrad began August 23,
1942 – Luftwaffe went on nightly
bombing raids – situation seemed
desperate, yet Stalin already told his
commanders to defend the city to the
death
Recap: Battle for Stalingrad
(no need to write this… you should have video notes
on it…)
•Early Nov. 1942 – Germans controlled 90% of
the city
Russian winter set in  Germans unprepared
•Who else had the same problem over a
century prior?
•Nov. 19 – Soviet troops outside the city
launched counterattack – closed in around
Stalingrad and trapped Germans and cut off
supplies
•Paulus begged for retreat – Hitler refused,
saying the city was “to be held at all costs”
•Feb. 2, 1943 – 90,000 (of an original 330,000)
Germans surrendered
•Over 1,000,000 Soviet soldiers died; 99% of
the city was destroyed
•However, Germans now on defensive w/
Soviets pushing them westward
The Invasion of Italy
•Stalin wanted the British and
Americans to invade France – FDR and
Churchill decide to go to Italy first
•July 10, 1943 – Allied forces land on
Sicily, capture it from Italian and
German troops a month later
•Mussolini toppled from power and
Italy surrendered; Germans seize
control of N. Italy and put Mussolini
back in control
•Allies enter Rome on June 4, 1944 –
fighting continues until Germany fell
in May 1945
•April 27, 1945 – Italian
resistance fighters ambushed
some German trucks near
northern Italian city of Milan
•Inside one of the trucks, they
found Mussolini disguised as
a German soldier – they shot
him the next day and hung
his body in downtown Milan
Decisive Conflicts of WWII in Europe
D-Day
•June 6, 1944 – invasion of Normandy
•July 25 – Allies punched a hole in the
German defenses near Saint-Lo
•By September, the Allies had liberated
France, Belgium, and Luxembourg
Battle of the Bulge
•Allied forces moved toward Germany
from the west, Soviet army advanced
from the east
•Dec. 16, 1944 – German tanks broke
through weak American defenses along a
75-mile from in the Ardennes
Disc 3, Episode 4
•8:45-11:45 (explanation of
invasion)
•28:45-39:00 (invasion of
Omaha Beach)
•1:16:00-1:17:30 (map –
explanation of Allied
progress)
Disc 5, Episode 6
•6:30-8:00 (explanation of the
war by Dec. 1944)
•9:30-11:00 (Hitler’s counter
attack)
•35:17-50:05 (Battle of the
Bulge)
•1:38-1:45:50 (Germany
surrounded)
Germany’s Unconditional Surrender
and V-E Day
Disc 6, Episode 7
•51:00-55:00 (Germany’s
surrender; V-E Day)