Transcript D-day

D-Day
June 6th, 1944
What was the situation in 1944?
• The Russians have
•
defeated the Germans
and they are
advancing in the East
The Allies are
victorious in Africa
and launch an assault
on Italy through Sicily
The Russian Front
• On August 1939, Stalin
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•
and Hitler signed a
“Non-Aggression Pact”
they didn’t want
interfere in each other’s
business
But in June 1941,
Germany invaded the
Soviet Union
Stalin and the Soviets
were not ready for war
The Eastern Front
• In the early days Germans
drove into the Soviet Union
They almost reached Moscow
in October
• The German army besieged
Leningrad for two years. More
than one million civilians died.
• When the severe Russian
winter arrived the Nazi
offensive broke down.
The Tide Turns
• The Nazis needed supplies and
•
•
•
resources to continue the war
From September 1942 to February
1943 Germans and Russians
fought for the strategic city of
Stalingrad on the Volga River
Hitler and the Nazis lost the battle
– 500 000 German and other
troops were killed or taken
prisoner
In 1943 a Germany army of 2.5
million soldiers faced an army of
5.5 million Soviet soldiers
Italy
• From July to August 17th – the Allies
fought and took Sicily from the German
Army
• The Campaign of Italy was designed to
take the pressure off their Russian Allies
• 9th September, 1943 the attack began on
Italy - the Germans refused to give it up
The Italians Surrender
• On the 8th of September,
1943, the Italian
Government surrenders
• It would be a year before
Allied troops entered Rome
• Germans invaded France
in the same period.
The Battle for Italy
• When Italy formally
surrendered on September 8th,
the Italians separated into two
camps, pro-Allied and proGerman factions.
• On September 9, the
Americans landed at Salerno
and the British landed at
Taranto
The German Army took control
of the defence of Germany
The Liberation of Rome
• Rome was declared an open
city by the German army and
the Allies took possession on
June 4th.
The Plan
• Winston Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt
agreed it was time to
open up a new front
in the West through
the beaches of France
Normandy It Is!
• Normandy
•
is a
peninsula
on the
French
Coast
It was
chosen
because
the
Germans
expected
the attack
to be on
the Pas de
Calais
Operation “Overlord”
• There would be five
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
sectors that would
be attacked:
Utah – American
Omaha – American
Gold – British
Juno – Canadian
Sword - British
The Attack – June 6th, 1944
• Operation Overlord Simulation
The Atlantic Wall
• The Atlantic Wall was an
•
•
extensive system of coastal
fortifications built by the
Germans between 1942
and 1944
It was built along the
western coast of Europe to
defend the continent from
Great Britain.
Thousands of forced
laborers were forced to
construct these permanent
fortifications along the
Dutch, Belgian and French
coasts
The Atlantic Wall
• Early in 1944, Field Marshal Erwin
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•
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•
Rommel was assigned to improve
the defenses of the Wall.
Rommel believed the existing coastal
fortifications were entirely
inadequate.
A string of reinforced concrete
pillboxes were built along the
beaches to house machine guns,
antitank guns, and light artillery.
Minefields and antitank obstacles
were planted on the beaches and
underwater obstacles and mines
were planted in the waters just off
shore to destroy incoming craft
By the time of the invasion, the
Germans had laid almost 6 million
mines in northern France.
The Atlantic Wall!
The Time Has Come The D.Day
• On the evening of
•
June 5th In the early
morning the largest
armada of ships left
Britain for the
French coast
Heavy bombers
dropped their
payloads on what
was supposed to be
the beach defences
The Battle for Normandy
• By August 21, the Germans had
either retreated or been
destroyed between the
Canadian-British and American
pincers
The Battle of the Bulge
• The Ardennes Offensive
known to the general public as
the Battle of the Bulge,
started on December 16, 1944
• Three powerful German armies
plunged in the Ardennes
region of eastern Belgium and
northern Luxembourg.
• Their goal was to reach the
sea, trap four allied armies,
and impel a negotiated peace
on the Western front.
The Battle of the Bulge
• American concentrated north
and south of the Ardennes.
• Even though the German
Offensive achieved total
surprise, the American troops
did not give ground without a
fight
• Within three days the
Americans, assisted by the
arrival of powerful
reinforcements
Battle of the Bulge Outcome
• The Luftwaffe had been
broken
• The German Army in the
West was being pushed back.
• Most importantly, the German
Army was unable to halt the
Soviets
The Final Days
• In April 1945, the battle
is coming to a close.
• On the 30th April, Hitler
commits suicide together
with his mistress Eva
Braun hours after they
were married.
• In Italy Mussolini was
murdered.
The Soviets Arrive – Berlin Falls
• By 2 May, the Reichstag,
the old German
parliament falls and Berlin
surrenders to Marshall
Zukhov,
• The battle for Berlin cost
the Soviets over 70,000
dead.
VE-Day
• The major Allied ground
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•
offensive against German
territory began on 8
February 1945
In April, Canadian troops
liberated most of the
Netherlands
The Germans formally
surrendered on 8 May
1945, known as Victoryin-Europe, or ‘V-E’ Day
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Harry Truman becomes
President of the United
States
• Truman decided to use
the bomb on Japan
because he believed that
it was the only way to get
the Japanese to
surrender and save
American lives
Fat Man and Little Boy
• At 8:15am the atomic bomb
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•
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nicknamed “Little Boy” was
dropped on Hiroshima
In few seconds two thirds
of the city was flattened
and thousands were dead
On August 11, a bomb
called “Fat Man” was
dropped on Nagasaki at
11:02 am
At noon, August 15th, 1945
– Emperor Hirohito spoke
directly to his people
to tell them Japan had
surrendered
Why Did the Allies Win?
• Because they had complete material
superiority – weapons etc.
• They had more soldiers a better strategy
and new technology
• They had material and financial resources