Transcript WWII European Theater Lecture

“Yeah, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Lord, I’m gonna fade away
War, children, yeah, it’s just a
shot away”
The European Theater
10th Grade World History
Mr. Munoz
The Two Sides of the War

Axis
– Germany
 Adolph Hitler
– Italy
 Benito Mussolini

In the East
– Japan
 Emperor Hirohito

Allies
– England
 Winston Churchill
 Soviet Union
– Joseph Stalin
 United States
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
1939

September 1 - Germany attacks Poland
 September 3 – France and Britain declare
war on Germany
 September 17 – Russia invades Poland after
signing a cease-fire with Japan.
 Poland is divided between Germany and
Russia.

August 1939: Germany and Soviet Union
declare 10 year (nonaggression pact)
1940

Germany conquers Denmark and Norway.
 Germany conquers the Netherlands,
Belgium and Luxembourg.
 Italy enters the war as Germany's ally.
 Germany invades France, France
surrenders, Nazi Controlled Vichy France
Government created, French Resistance
begins
 The Battle of Britain begins: All Air War
 Italy invades Egypt and Greece
1941

January: US begins the Lend-Lease Program:
Loaning Materials to England for War
 April: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
 Heavy German Bombing of London
 Spring 1941: Battle of Britain ends, First German
Loss: Radar and Code breaking beat the Germans
May: England begins Air Counter attack against
Germany
London
During German Bombing
North African Tank Battles
1941

German Forces
 Led by General Erwin
Rommel

English Forces
 Led first by General
Wavell and then
General Montgomery
Both Sides fought in Northern Africa using Armored Equipment.
From 1941 until October 1942: Lieut. General Bernard Montgomery
began an assault of the 8th British Army against German positions
outside of El Alamein.
General Erwin Rommel
Rommel was respected by both sides during the
war for his battle tactics. He lost favor with Hitler
when he became involved in an assassination
attempt against him.
German Panzer(Tank)Troops
Losses from the beginning of the British offensive on 11-18-1941:




Country
Germany
Italy
Great-Britain
Men losses
13,000
20,000
17,000
Operation Barbarossa


June 22, 1941: Hitler launches Operation
Barbarossa: Invasion of Soviet Union
3 million German soldiers, 600,000 vehicles
and 3350 tanks. 2000km front stretching from
the Baltic to the Black Sea.
 Russia’s Scorched Earth Policy: Destroy
everything the German’s would pass through
 Hitler’s largest Mistake of the War.
Summer/Fall 1941
July 31: Hitler’s Final Solution Plan
announced.
 August 9: FDR and Churchill meet to sign
the Atlantic Charter, outlining Allied war
aims. Creates the Origin of the "United
Nations“
 September: German forces surround
Leningrad, 90 day long siege.

December 1941

December 7: Japanese forces attack the US
Naval Base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii.

December 8: United States declare war on
Japan and Germany.
1942

January: 26 nations sign the United Nations
agreement
 Operation "Paukenschlag: German U-boats start
sinking American ships
 September 15: Beginning of the Battle of
Stalingrad.
 November: Operation Torch: Allied forces
(110.000 men) under Dwight D. Eisenhower land
in North Africa.
Battle of Stalingrad

On April 5, 1942, Hitler ordered Army Group A
and B to sweep east to Stalingrad, Soviet forces
would be completely cut off from their own oil
supply.
 Operation Uranus: Russian Attack Plan The Red
Army secretly began to mobilize one million
troops, 14,000 heavy guns, 979 tanks, and 1,350
aircraft to attack German flanks

The German Blitzkrieg stalled in Stalingrad
 German troops were prepared for Summer
fighting, not the harsh Russian winters
 The Germans lost 147,000 men and 91,000 were
taken prisoner. The Red Army paid a huge price
for victory, some half million men were killed in
the battle.
 Stalingrad was the first battle where the Germans
surrendered.
Russian Winter Offensive
Russians Advance in
Stalingrad
1943

January: Battle of Stalingrad ends, Germans
start retreat back to Germany.
 January 14: Casablanca Conference: FDR
and Churchill announce they will accept
nothing less than an unconditional surrender
from the Axis powers,
 May: German forces in Africa defeated,
Rommel moved to European front.

July 9/10 till 7 August: Operation "Husky": Allied
forces invade Sicily, Italy. The greatest AirborneAmphibious Operation of W.W.II; 3,000 ships and
landing-craft with 8 Divisions.
 November: Teheran Conference: First "Big
Three" conference to discuss the upcoming Allied
invasion of western Europe


December 24: General Eisenhower chosen
Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in
Europe.
The Big Three
1944

Jan/Feb: Yalta Conference: FDR, Churchill
and Stalin meet to discuss the future of
Europe, Asia and the United Nations
 January: Leningrad freed from Germans

June 4: Allied Forces capture Rome
 June 6: D-day
D-day: Normandy Invasion
D-Day does not stand for Doomsday, it was a code word
for the specific operation
The Allied Sea-Operation "Neptune":
June 6: 5.000 ships and landings-crafts carried 5 Allied
divisions to the French coast.At the first 48 hours,
107.000 men landed.
D-day
June 12: In total 326.000 men, 104.000 ton material and
54.000 vehicles were carried to the French coast
June 17: 587.000 landed
July 2: In total 929.000 men, 586.000 ton material and
177.000 vehicles landed
August 15: About 2.000.000 men landed
The Battle Of the Bulge

December, 1944:
 Was the last major offensive by the German
Army. The battle got its name because the
German counter achieved only a bulge in
the Allied lines before being repulsed.
 Battle was primarily Ground infantry,
Armored vehicles and planes.
Bulge Facts

Over a million men, 500,000 Germans,
600,000 Americans and 55,000 British.
 100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded
or captured. 81,000 American casualties,
including 23,554 captured and 19,000
killed. 1,400 British casualties 200 killed.
 800 tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German
aircraft.
1945

Through the late winter/spring Allied
Forces pushed Axis forces back into
Germany.
 The Big Three meet at Yalta to discuss
Post-War Europe, beginning of
disagreements between USSR and Allies:
Possible start of Cold War
FDR and Truman

April 16: FDR dies, Vice-President Truman
becomes President
 April 30, 1945 Hitler, trapped in his Berlin
Bunker, shoots himself
 May 8 1945: Germany formally surrenders

July: Potsdam Conference: Splitting of Germany
into Four Allied Zones, Discussion of Japanese
surrender.