Transcript D-Day

• Before 1941
North Africa
– Germany had control under
General Rommel’s (“Desert
Fox”) command
• 1942
– British want to invade N.
Africa and Italy (“soft
underbelly”) – U.S. wants to
invade France – Operation
Torch
– English General Montgomery
pushes Rommel out
– El Alamein (Egypt)
• Montgomery beats Rommel in
surprise attack
North Africa
• Eisenhower
•
(American) chases
Rommel from other
side
Rommel surrounded
– Rommel accused of
plot to assassinate
Hitler
– Takes poison and
commits suicide
Italy - 1943
• Allies attack Italy
• Mussolini out of
power
• Germans come in
and put Mussolini
back in power
• 1944 - Allies take
Italy again (Battle
of Anzio and Monte
Cassino)
D-Day
June 6, 1944
Operation Overlord
• Invasion finally a go
for May 1944 –
Where to attack?
• Weather and plans
push back invasion
• Time to fake out
Germans – fake
army, inflatable
tanks, Patton, decoy
bombing
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord
Inflatable Tanks
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord
Ready for Operation Overlord
• June 5, 1944 chosen
•
•
•
as invasion day
More than 700 Allies
die in rehearsal
Bad weather forces
delay to 6th
Germans waiting for
Allies (though mainly
at Calais)
German Defenses
Allied Plan
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HI
S%20351/Lsn%2018%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Op
eration Overlord
• The Allied plan would involve amphibious landings on
the Normandy beaches supported by airborne assaults
behind the beaches to block German counterattacks
June 6, 1944
• Paratroopers begin landing shortly after
•
•
•
•
•
midnight
Minesweepers led the way
Planes bomb beaches (7500 sorties between
midnight and 8 a.m. – 31,000 airmen)
Landing begins at 6:30 a.m.
Landing at 5 beaches (Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno,
and Sword) - - all secured by end of day
195,000 soldiers/navy (American, British, and
Canadian - - 133,000 go to shore), 7000 ships
with landing crafts, tanks, etc., 11,000 airplanes
http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS
%20351/Lsn%2018%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Ope
ration Overlord
At low tide, the
assaulting troops had to
cross more than 300
meters of completely
exposed beach.
Charles Durning
Aftermath
• Over 10,000 casualties
– Heaviest losses at Omaha
• By June 30th, over
•
•
850,000 men, 148,000
vehicles, and 570,000 tons
of supplies
By Sep. 30, Allies have
freed France, Belgium,
and Luxembourg
Germans make one last
push (Battle of the Bulge
– December 1944) - initially successful but
eventually lose
1945
• Mussolini killed
– Mussolini is found
dressed as German
Soldier
– Shot the next day and
hung from town
square in Milan
Germans close to surrender
• Hitler marries Eva
•
Braun
Writes final note to
Germans
– Blames Jews for
starting war
– Blames his generals
for losing war
• April 30, 1945
– Takes poison and then
shoots himself; Eva
swallows poison
April and May 1945
• Roosevelt dies
• Germany surrenders
•
unconditionally
May 8, V-E Day
(victory of Europe)
– Truman (new U.S.
president) accepts
surrender