Transcript Victory in Europe

D-Day, Battle of the Bulge
& V-E Day
 Stalin & FDR insist that 2nd Front be created
 “Fortress Europe” – Hitler reinforces France
 Goals
 Create 2nd Front, liberate France, move on to Germany
 Planning
 Supreme Allied Commander – Dwight Eisenhower
 Oversaw planning & execution of operation
 Largest amphibious invasion ever
 Deception
 2/3 of bombs dropped outside landing area
 Patton’s Phantom Army
 Result – German’s expected invasion where English
Channel was narrowest (Calais)
 Postponement
 Difficulties in assembling landing craft
 Bad Weather
 “The Longest Day”
 Paratroopers – capture key
bridges
 British & Canadian landing
sites
 Gold, Juno, Sword
 American landing sites
 Utah and Omaha
 Landings begin @ 6:30AM
 Gold, Sword, Juno, & Utah
beaches taken
 light resistance
 BBC D-Day Movie
 US encounters best of German Army
 Waters & Beach heavily mined
 12 strong points
 Widerstandnester = “resistance nests”
 Extensive trench system
 “DD” tanks – amphibious tanks – many sank in choppy
waters
 Only 1 unit lands where it is planned
 Due to strong winds, tidal currents
 8:30 Am – all landing stops
 Men slowly scaled cliffs to German defensive positions
 Navy destroyers move in, blast German fortifications
 2,400 Am casualties, landed 34,000 successfully
 Almost 5,000 Ams. Dead  Germans halt Canadian
 Allies secure Normandy
 Keys
 Air Superiority
 Hitler’s hesitation
 After 1st week
 Over 300,000
 In the coming months
 Millions of soldiers will
move into France
 Result
 Germany now locked in
hopeless 2 front War
offensive
 But this leaves the door
open for US forces
 Operation Cobra
 U.S. led break out from
the peninsula
 Meanwhile in Germany
 Rommel & other leaders
fail in plot to overthrow
& kill Hitler (“Valkyrie”)
 Rommel commits suicide
 Hitler refuses to give up
 Paris Liberated (Aug 1944)
 Animation
 See webpage for video
 Allies have Germany in “Vice”
 From the West – US & GB
 From the East – Soviets
 From the South – GB & US
 Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 44 – Jan. 45)
 Germany’s last major offensive
 Germans hope to cut Allied forces in half
 Force a negotiated peace
 Battle is deadliest of war for US
 Results
 Allied Lines Hold
 Germans will be retreating through rest of the war
 “Race to Berlin”
 Soviets get there first
 April 30, 1945
 Hitler commits suicide in
his bunker in Berlin
 May 8, 1945 (V-E Day)
 Germany surrenders
 War in Europe over after 5
½ years
 Americans soldiers &
civilians celebrated BUT
 Still had to defeat Japan
 See webpage for video