Transcript WW2 Retaking Europe

World War II
Retaking Europe
World War II
• ALLIES:
– Great Britain (and
commonwealths of the British
empire)
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Australia
Canada
India
South Africa
– Soviet Union (Russia)
– United States of America
– France (Free France)
• [The French government had
fallen to Nazi Germany in the
spring of 1940 and was called
‘Vichy France’]
• AXIS:
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–
–
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Germany
Italy
Japan
Miscellaneous
conquered countries
The Atlantic Charter
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August 1941
British Prime Minister: Winston Churchill
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
Declaration of Principles to guide the United
States and Great Britain during the course of the
war.
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No territorial gain for US and Britain
No territorial changes without peoples consent
Territorial self-determination
Safe boundaries in Europe
Formation of an organization of world nations
Americans enter
the War
• Battle of Britain (1940)
German bombing of
England
• Nazi Germany controlled
nearly all of western
Europe
• Nazi Germany had
invaded the Soviet Union
(USSR or Russia)
• Japan attacked US naval
base at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaiian Islands
Battle of the Atlantic
• Food and supplies from
U.S. to Britain destroyed
by Nazi submarines =
“wolf packs”
• U.S. established convoy
system
• Development of “SONAR”
to locate vessels
underwater
• Essentially victory for the
Allies by 1942
Map 26.1 World War II in the North Atlantic, 1939–1943 (p. 752)
North Africa Campaign
• Germans invaded North Africa with
goal of reaching oil fields of the
Arabian peninsula
• German General Erwin Rommel
(“the Desert Fox”)
• November 1942, Battle of El
Alamein (Egypt) - British victory
• Americans came in June of 1942
• Allies defeated Axis in North
Africa by May,1943.
• Casablanca (Morocco) Conference
in January 1943 - Allies planned to
deal with Europe first
Allied victories - 1942
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Allied Invasion of Italy
• Allies invaded Sicily, July,
1943
• Mussolini removed as fascist
leader of Italy (1943)
• Brutal fighting
• Heavy American losses
• Famous battles:
– Anzio
– Monte Cassino
• Allies captured Rome, May
1944
• Nazis surrendered in N. Italy,
April 1945
War in the Soviet Union (USSR, Russia)
• Nazis invaded USSR in June 1941
• Needed oil and food
• Germans at first welcomed as
liberators, later hated - executed
Russian citizens
• Germans almost captured Moscow,
never did
• Germans besieged Leningrad for 3
years
• Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the
Gates - movie)
– USSR victorious
– German casualties - 300,000+
– Russian casualties - est. 1.1
million
Stalingrad
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
B-29 Bomber
Allied Air War
• Long-range bombing
missions
• Pinpoint bombing of
factories and war
related industries,
railroads, etc.
• Some ‘saturation’or
carpet bombing later
in the war to destroy
enemy morale
Invasion of Western Europe
• Planned for spring of
1944
• Code named:
OPERATION
OVERLORD
• More famously known
as D-Day
• June 6, 1944
D-Day, June 6, 1944
• Supreme Commander:
General Dwight D.
Eisenhower
• 150,000 Allied troops invaded
the French coast of Normandy
• Heavily defended by Nazi
soldiers and defenses (the
Atlantic Wall)
• Famous places:
– Omaha Beach, Caen (France),
Ste. Mere Eglise
• Movies:
– Saving Private Ryan
– The Longest Day
Hitting the Beach at Normandy (p. 771)
D-Day, June 6, 1944
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Liberation of France
• French Resistance (to
the Nazis) helped
• August 25, 1944 Paris liberated
• Most of Western
Europe liberated by
late 1944
Battle of the Bulge:
(the Ardennes Forest)
• December 1944
• Last desperate German
counter-offensive
• Temporarily isolated small
units of the American
Army
• Largest battle in Western
Europe
• Casualties:
– US - 80,000
– German - 100,000
Map 26.4 World War II in Europe, 1944–1945 (p. 769)
End of World War II in Europe
• March 1945 - Allies
crossed Rhine River
• Soviet troops advanced
from the east, captured
Berlin
• USSR - lost 11,000,000
troops
• Germany - lost 3,000,000
troops
• April 25, 1945 - Russian
and American troops met
at the Elbe River in
Germany
Germany Surrenders
• Hitler commited suicide,
April 30, 1945
• German surrender, May 8,
1945 - Victory in Europe
(V-E Day
• Yalta Conference - Feb.
1945
• FDR died in April 1945 Vice-President - Harry
Truman became president
German Surrender (Victory in Europe) V-E Day
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
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The Big Three at Yalta (p. 775)
Yalta Conference
(in the Soviet Union)
• February, 1945
• FDR, Churchill, Stalin
• Divided defeated
Germany, divided
Berlin into 4 zones
• Stalin broke all his
promises from Yalta:
– dominated Eastern
Europe (not free)
– No free elections
– Not enter war against
Japan in the Pacific