Transcript SECTION 2: THE WAR FOR EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA

Prior to 1942
Invasion of Austria 1938
 Sept 1, 1939: Hitler invades Poland;
France / England declare war
 Hitler and Stalin take over a bunch of
little countries
 1940 France falls to Hitler
 1940 Battle of Britain
 Dec 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor bombed;
U.S. enters war
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War Plans
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December 22, 1941:
Churchill and
Roosevelt met for
three weeks to work
out war plan
Decision to strike
against Hitler first
because Germany
and Italy were seen
as a greater threat
The Battle of the Atlantic
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Allies depended on supplies from U.S.; After
America’s entry into the war, Hitler was
determined to prevent food and war supplies
from reaching Britain and the USSR
Hitler ordered submarine attacks against
supply ships (wolf packs) while the Allies
organized convoys of cargo ships with
destroyer and airplane escorts
In the first seven months of 1942, German
U-boats sank 681 Allied ships in the Atlantic
Only in 1943 do the Allies make gains
because of the increased effort in ship
building
Game at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_gms_b
attle_atlantic.shtml
ALLIES ATTACK U-BOATS
U-426 sinks after attack from the air, January 1944. Almost two-thirds of all Uboat sailors died during the Battle of the Atlantic.
THE EASTERN FRONT
Turning point of the war: Battle of Stalingrad
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Russia at war against Germany since 1941
Stalingrad: a major industrial center in Russia
• Hitler wanted to capture Caucasus oil fields
and destroy Stalingrad
August 1942: series of bombing raids sets much
of the city on fire; this was followed by weeks
of hand-to-hand combat in the city
Then winter set in:
• Germans unprepared: wearing summer
uniforms / short on food
• Soviet army brings in fresh supplies and
surrounds the city cutting off German supply
lines
• Germans now were on the defensive
The Germans surrendered in January 1943
Soviets begin to move west on the offense
BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
•The Soviets lost more than 1 million men in the battle
(more than twice the number of deaths the U.S. suffered
in all the war)
•Stalin never forgave Roosevelt and Churchill for not
helping out
•
THE NORTH AFRICAN FRONT
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“Operation Torch”
Invasion of Axiscontrolled North Africa in
1942
Led by American General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Allied troops land in
Casablanca, Oran and the
Algiers in Algeria
Fought Afrika Korps led by
German General Edwin
Rommel (“the Desert
Fox”) into Egypt
Germans surrender in May
1943
Map at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldw
ars/wwtwo/launch_ani_el_alamein.sht
ml
CASABLANCA MEETING
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FDR and Churchill met in Casablanca
• 1) Plan amphibious invasions of France
and Italy
• 2) Only unconditional surrender would be
accepted
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
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Allies easily took Sicily in 1943
King Emmanuel III stripped Mussolini
of his power and had him arrested
• Germans rescued him by dropping 100
parachutists at his mountain prison and flying
him to Munich.
• Mussolini is captured April 28,1945 by Italian
partisans.
• They shot him and hung his body upside down
in Milan Square.
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Hitler’s forces continued to resist the
Allies in Italy; Hitler’s strategy: he
would rather fight in Italy than on
German soil
Not until 1945 and the collapse of
Germany was Italy secured by the
Allies
ALLIES LIBERATE EUROPE
the Allies left
fake clues, set
up phantom
army, and sent
fake radio
messages to
make it look
like the
invasion would
take place
near Calais
D-DAY JUNE 6, 1944
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D-Day was an amphibious landing – soldiers going
from sea to land
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“Operation
Overlord”
Commander
General Dwight
D. Eisenhower
Also called “DDay,”
June 6, 1944
Largest landsea-air operation
in military
history
Established a
second front for
the war
D-Day (Operation Overlord)
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Allied forces landed at Normandy in
Northern France
• 3 divisions land via parachute behind
German lines
• Remaining British, American, and Canadian
forces landed at beaches named Gold, Juno,
Sword, Utah, and Omaha
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Despite heavy losses, Allies hold
the beach
Within a month, the Allies had landed 1
million troops, 567,000 tons of supplies
and 170,000 vehicles
Map at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_overl
ord_campaign.shtml
OMAHA BEACH 6/6/44
Landing at Normandy
Planes drop paratroopers behind enemy lines at Normandy, France
FRANCE FREED
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After bombing roads,
bridges, and German troops
there was a gap in enemy
defense line
General George Patton led
Third Army through the gap
and liberated Paris on
August 25, 1944
By September 1944, the
Allies had freed France,
Belgium and Luxembourg
That good news and the
American’s people’s desire
not to “change horses in
midstream” helped elect FDR
to an unprecedented 4th term
General George Patton (right) was
instrumental in Allies freeing
France
The Battle of the Bulge
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October 1944, Allies captured
first German town, Aachen
Battle of the Bulge - Germans
final counter attack on the
western front
• Hitler hoped breaking through
the Allied line would break up
Allied supply lines
• December, German tank
divisions and 200,000 German
troops attacked Allies
• The Germans drove 60 miles
into Allied area creating a
“bulge” in the line
• reinforcements arrived and
the allies were able to push
the Germans back
• Battle a turning point: Germans
were now on the defensive in the
Eastern Front too
American soldiers photographed in the
Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge.
Battle of the Bulge
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Before the attack started, English speaking
German soldiers dressed in American
uniforms went behind the lines of the Allies
and caused havoc by spreading
misinformation, changing road signs and
cutting telephone lines. Those who were
caught were shot after a court martial
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest
battle fought by the Americans in World
War Two. 600,000 American troops
were involved in the battle. The
Americans lost 81,000 men while the
Germans lost 100,000 killed, wounded
and captured.
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
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Little seemed to
have changed, but
in fact the Germans
had sustained
heavy losses:
120,000 troops,
600 tanks and
1,600 planes
Battle a turning
point: Germans
were now on the
defensive in the
Eastern Front too
LIBERATION OF DEATH CAMPS
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While the British and
Americans moved westward
into Germany, the Soviets
moved eastward into
German-controlled Poland
The Soviets discovered
many death camps that the
Germans had set up within
Poland
• Find thousands of starving
prisoners and extensive
evidence of the murders
• Stunned Soviets call it a
“murder camp”
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The Americans also
liberated Nazi death camps
within Germany
Liberation of the Death Camps
General (later US President)
Dwight Eisenhower
inspecting prisoners' corpses
at a liberated concentration
camp, 1945
FDR DIES; TRUMAN PRESIDENT
•On April 12,
1945, FDR
suffered a stroke
and died– his VP
Harry S Truman
became president
ALLIES TAKE BERLIN; HITLER
COMMITS SUICIDE
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By April 25, 1945, the Soviet army
had stormed Berlin
Hitler hid in his underground
headquarters in Berlin
On April 29, he married his longtime
girlfriend Eva Braun then wrote a last
note in which he blamed the Jews for
starting the war and his generals for
losing it
The next day he gave poison to his
wife and shot himself; bodies were
then burned
V-E DAY
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General Eisenhower
accepted the unconditional
surrender of the Third Reich
On May 8, 1945, the Allies
celebrated V-E Day – victory in
Europe Day
The war in Europe was finally
over
American
soldier
celebrating
the end of
the war
Unconditional Surrender
V-E celebration in New York City