Transcript War in Africa and Europe

WAR IN AFRICA AND
EUROPE
1942-1945
VOCAB
818-824
• General Erwin Rommel
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Stalingrad
• D-Day
• Battle of the Bulge
• Yalta Conference
1942-1943
• British forces stop German advance at El Alamein (Egypt); Americans under
Eisenhower join in November 1942
• Axis powers in northern Africa surrender in May 1943
• Allies now able to set up bases to attack southern Europe
• Allies invade Sicily July 1943; force German forces out
• Allies begin fighting in Italy; Mussolini captured (by own people) and then escapes;
new Italian government surrenders to Allies in September 1943 (captured in 1945 by
Italians and executed)
1942-1943
• September 1942 – German forces attack the city of Stalingrad; Fighting continued
through the winter
• German troops trapped and cut-off from supplies; thousands starved or froze to
death; February 1943 remaining German troops surrendered
BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Stalingrad
JUNE 6, 1944
• Code-named Operation Overlord
• General Rommel was ordered by Hitler to complete the Atlantic Wall – a 2,400-mile
fortification made up of concrete bunkers, barbed wire, tank ditches, landmines,
fixed gun emplacements, and beach and underwater obstacles.
• Hitler believed the Allies would try to invade at Calais, the shortest distance across
the English Channel.
• Supposed to originally invade on June 5th, but a strong storm (raining sideways)
postponed it to the 6th
JUNE 6, 1944
• After midnight, thousands of Allied paratroopers and glider troops landed silently
behind enemy lines, securing roads and bridges.
• In the early morning, more than 5,000 ships carrying over 175,000 American, British,
and Canadian soldiers, crossed the English Channel to Normandy, France.
• By nightfall, nearly all Allied soldiers were ashore at a cost of 10,000 casualties
• Beaches were secure in less than one day, but it would take weeks before the Allies
could fight their way out of Normandy
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/d-day-fast-facts/
http://www.national
ww2museum.org/le
arn/education/forteachers/lessonplans/where-in-theworld-war.html
1944
• By end of June 850,000 Allied soldiers were in France
• August 25th, Paris was liberated
• Allied forces were pushing German forces back from the west while Soviet forces
were pushing them back from the east.
• December 1944 – Hitler’s final assault – Battle of the Bulge
• German troops pushed Allied forces (led by American General George S. Patton)
back into the Ardennes (Belgium and Luxembourg)
https://en.wikipe
dia.org/wiki/Libe
ration_of_Paris#/
media/File:Crow
ds_of_French_pat
riots_line_the_Ch
amps_Elyseesedit2.jpg
https://www.reference.com/history/m
any-people-died-battle-bulge356287abb354f073
http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/
sherman-tanks-tiger-tanks-the-battle-of-thebulge/
1944
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
• Allied forces regrouped and defeated them
• Costly battle – about 120,000 German casualties and 80,000 American casualties
• Turning point in war – Hitler’s final assault – Germans retreating everywhere
1945
• German forces retreating quickly – American and British forces advancing from the
west and Soviet forces racing toward Berlin from the east
• “Big Three” – Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt meet in Yalta to discuss post-war Europe
• Stalin would declare war on Japan after Germany surrendered.
• All three agreed to establish an international peace-keeping organization
• Also discussed types of governments to be set up in Eastern Europe after the war
• April 12, 1945 – President Franklin Roosevelt died; VP Harry Truman becomes
President for remainder of war
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history/pictures/world-war-ii-political-leaders/world-leaders-atthe-yalta-conference-1945
1945
• Late April, Soviets reached Berlin
• Adolf Hitler was in underground bunker and knew the end was near
• April 30th, Hitler commits suicide
• May 2nd, Soviets capture Berlin
• May 7th, German leaders officially surrender to in France
• May 8th declared V-E Day – Victory in Europe Day
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/ve-day-70th-anniversary
http://www.historyay.com/single-post/2016/05/08/OnThisDay-May8-1945-Victory-in-Europe