Transcript Battle in the West - D Day & Beyond

Battle in the West - D Day
& Beyond
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• From the Battle of Britain to the invasion of Italy…
- increased resistance to Nazi occupation
- build up of Bomber Command & USAAF in Britain leads to
night & then day bombing of mainland
- Casablanca Conference (Jan 1943)
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‘Germany first’ reaffirmed
unconditional surrender
Sicily invaded in July
France to be invaded in August, later postponed
Deutsches Afrika Korps defeated
- Battle of the Atlantic on the improve for the Allies
- Deutsches Afrika Korps defeated
- Operation ’Husky’: Sicily (July 10)
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• The ‘soft underbelly of Europe’ – NOT
- July 10 to Aug 17 1943: conquest of Sicily
- July 25: Mussolini overthrown by Fascist Grand
Council, Italians make secret peace overtures
- August 13 - 23: Quebec Conference
• ‘Overlord’ set for May 1944
- Sept 8 - 10: Italy surrenders, Italian mainland is invaded,
Germans move in
- end of Sept: Germans defending Gustav Line = stalemate
- Nov 28 - Dec 1: Tehran Conference
- Monte Cassino: fierce fighting
- Jan 22, 1944: Anzio landings
- June 5: Allies enter Rome
- front remained fairly static until end of war.
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• Planning for ‘Overlord’
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begins April 1943
Dieppe Raid (Aug 1942)
Gen Eisenhower appointed Allied C-in-C
where to attack
specialised equipment
combined arms
deception
Russian offensive timed to coincide
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• The Normandy Landings
- night of June 5/6: airborne attacks to create confusion,
capture/destroy bridges, etc
- French Resistance join in
- 3400 ships, 2500 landing craft
- landings at 5 beaches:
• Utah (US) - light casualties, Omaha (US) - almost 10% casualties
• Gold, Sword (Br) & Juno (Can) - light casualties
- German resistance was heavy
but confused
- Hitler believed real invasion was
still to come & refused to release
the German reserves
- landed 155,000 troops but not all
objectives were achieved
- logistics & supply vital
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• Breakout
- By June 30, Allies had only secured the Normandy coast &
port of Cherbourg (damaged by the German occupiers)
- July: desperate British attacks in eastern Normandy wear
down German resistance & allow American attack in the
west to succeed (Operation Cobra)
- Aug 15: Allies land on coast of southern France
- Aug 25: Paris liberated
- Sept 3: Brussels liberated
- Sept 11: Allied troops reach the Franco-German border.
- Sept 17 to 26: Operation Market Garden, Montgomery’s
gamble fails
- end of Sept: almost all of France, Belgium & Luxemburg
have been liberated, Normandy & S. French forces linked up
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• Closing the noose…
- Oct & Nov: spent consolidating supply lines, conquering
Alsace-Lorraine & opening Antwerp as a supply port
- autumn/winter brings a halt to the advance
- Dec 16 to Jan 1: ‘Battle of the Bulge’
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German counterattack through the Ardennes
Aimed to capture Antwerp
False hopes that the Allies would retreat/split(!)
Allied resistance strong after initial surprise
American resistance at Bastogne
Germans had little in the way of supplies
Results: no German reserves, loss of experienced troops, held up
Allies for six weeks
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• The End - ‘Twilight of the Gods’
- Feb 1945: Allies advance to the Rhine River
- March: Allies cross the Rhine in several places
- March 19: Hitler orders ‘scorched earth’ policy, but it is not
carried out
- Allied advance speeds up: Germans have few units of
quality, little in the way of supplies, morale has collapsed
- April 25: Western Allies & Russians meet on the River Elbe
- April 28: Himmler discredited, April 29: Adm Doenitz
appointed Hitler’s successor
- April 30: Hitler commits suicide in Berlin
- May 2: Berlin surrenders to the Russians
- May 7: Germany surrenders unconditionally (after trying to
arrange a separate peace with the West, but failing)
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
• Aftermath
- carving up of Europe: Democracy -v- Communism
- distrust of the Allies for each other
- Nuremburg Trials
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond
Battle in the West – D Day & Beyond