Transcript battle of the bulge

IMPORTANT TERMS
• DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
• D-DAY
• GEORGE S. PATTON
• HARRY S. TRUMAN
• BATTLE OF THE BULGE
• V-E DAY
DATES
NOV., 1942:
-OPERATION TORCH / ALLIES INVADE NORTH
AFRICA
-BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN
AUG.,’42-FEB., ’43: BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
MAY, 1943: AXIS SURRENDER NORTH AFRICA
JUNE 6, 1944: D-DAY / NORMANDY INVASION
DEC., ’44: BATTLE OF THE BULGE
APRIL-MAY, 1945: BATTLE OF BERLIN
MAY 8, 1945: V-E DAY
THE WAR IN EUROPE
• DEFEAT OF GERMANY IS TOP PRIORITY
• WHY GERMANY 1st?
– BRITAIN NEEDED HELP AGAINST GERMANS MORE
THAN AGAINST JAPAN
– RUSSIA ALSO
– U.S. WOULD EVENTUALLY NEED THEIR HELP TO
DEFEAT JAPAN
– GERMANS SEEMED TO BE ON THE VERGE OF
CONQUERING ALL EUROPE
– SIZE OF PACIFIC GAVE U.S. MORE TIME TO
REGROUP
• ALLIES AGREE ONLY TO ACCEPT
UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER (DEFINE)
•
OF AXIS NATIONS
WHY ONLY UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER?
THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
• WHEN? 1942-43
• WHERE? N. ATLANTIC SEA LANES
• WHO?
– GERMAN U-BOAT FORCE (WOLFPACKS)
– U.S. / BRITISH NAVIES & MERCHANT SHIPS
• WHAT?
– GERMANS ATTEMPT TO CUT OFF FLOW OF SUPPLIES FROM
U.S. TO BRITIAN
– ATTACKS START CLOSE TO U.S. SHORE
– COMBAT EVENTAULLY MOVES FURTHER INTO THE ATLANTIC
– U.S. USES SONAR & RADAR TO HINDER GERMANS
• RESULTS?
– HEAVY LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES
– BY MID-1943, ALLIES HAVE WON CONTROL OF THE ATLANTIC
WW II GERMAN U-BOAT
THE EASTERN FRONT
• June, 1941:
– Operation Barbarossa / Germany invades Russia
– Why?
• Lebensraum: Definition – Living Space for Germans
• Nazi Racial Theories
– Slavic (Russians, Poles, etc.) considered inferior to Germans
– Russia’s Jews needed to be eliminated
• Resources:
– Land
– Food
– Oil
• Communist “threat” / desire to destroy “Bolshevism”
• Hitler’s mistrust of Stalin
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
THE EASTERN FRONT (Cont’d.)
• What happens?
–
–
–
–
Initial German successes
Heavy Russian casualties
Germans conquer large areas of Russia
Russians use “scorched earth” policy to hinder
German advance
• Germans advance reaches deep inside Russia
– Moscow
– Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)
• Nazis extend Holocaust into Russia
• By 1942, Russia is desperate to survive
STALINGRAD
• When? 1942-43
• Where? Stalingrad (Southern Russia)
• Why?
– German attempt to capture / occupy oil fields in S.
Russia
– Then Germans can control important Volga River
supply route
• What happens?
–
–
–
–
–
Aug.-Oct.: German 6th Army seizes Stalingrad
Oct.-Nov.: Russians surround / cut off Germans
Nov.-Feb.: German Army starved / casualties high
Feb: German 6th Army surrenders 91,000 prisoners
***Russian casualties (military & civilian):
1,250,000
• STALINGRAD: Turning point in European
Theatre
PLANNING FOR “D-DAY”
• LATE 1943-EARLY ‘44:
– ALLIED LEADERS HAVE DECIDED TO BEGIN PREPARATIONS
FOR AN INVASION OF N.W. EUROPE
– ALLIED LAND, AIR, & NAVAL UNITS ARE MOVED TO ENGLAND
FOR TRAINING
– SO WHAT?
• UNITS ARE WITHDRAWN FROM OTHER OPERATIONAL
AREAS
• EX: ITALY & N. AFRICA
– WHY?
• MANY OF THEM HAVE COMBAT EXPERIENCE AGAINST
GERMANS
• MANY ARE FAMILIAR W/ AMPHIBIOUS TACTICS
• RESULT?
– MASSIVE TROOP INCREASE IN ENGLAND
– GERMANS ARE ALERTED TO COMING INVASION
PLANNING FOR D-DAY
• PROBLEM:
•
•
– GERMANS KNOW ALLIED INVASION WILL BE
ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
– QUESTION? WHERE WILL THE INVASION LAND
HITLER: CONVINCED INVASION WILL BE AT
NARROWEST POINT ACROSS THE CHANNEL (the “Pas
de Calais”)
RESULT?
– HITLER WON’T ALLOW REINFORCEMENTS MOVED
INTO NORMANDY
– ANY TROOP MOVEMENT MUST HAVE HIS PERSONAL
APPROVAL
– NORMANDY TROOP NUMBERS ARE NOT AS STRONG
AS POSSIBLE
THE NORTH AFRICAN &
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
• WHEN? Nov.’42-1944
• WHO? ALLIES:
– U.S. FORCES: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
– BRITISH: BERNARD MONTGOMERY
– GERMAN AFRIKA KORPS: ERWIN ROMMEL
• ***ROMMEL: “THE DESERT FOX”
• WHY IMPORTANT?
– CONTROL OF MEDITERRANEAN SEA
– ALLIES THOUGHT IT WAS “SOFT UNDERBELLY” OF EUROPE
• BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN:
– TURNING POINT IN NORTH AFRICA
– BRITISH VICTORY
• RESULTS?
– ALLIES FORCE AXIS TO USE UP VALUABLE RESOURCES
– MUSSOLINI LOSES POWER IN ITALY ; LATER KILLED
– ALLIES CONTROL MEDITERRANEAN
OPERATION OVERLORD
• JUNE 6, 1944
• GOAL:
– ALLIED INVASION OF NORTHERN EUROPE
– MASSIVE AMPHIBIOUS & AIRBORNE INVASION
– TO ESTABLISH AN ALLIED ”BEACHHEAD” IN N. FRANCE
• WHO? ALLIES (156,000 TROOPS, 4,000 LANDING CRAFT, 6000
SHIPS, 11,000 PLANES)
– U.S.:
• ARMY AIRBORNE, AIR CORPS, INFANTRY, RANGERS
• U.S. NAVY, U.S. COAST GUARD
– BRITS.:
• ARIBORNE, R.A.F., INFANTRY
• NAVY
– CANADIANS: INFANTRY
– FREE FRENCH: INFANTRY, NAVY
• WHERE? NORMANDY BEACHES, FRANCE
• GERMANS EXPECTED ATTACK TO ARRIVE IN DIFFERENT PART OF
FRANCE
• WHY? GEORGE S. PATTON USED AS “DECOY”
• HITLER WOULD NOT ALLOW REINFORCEMENTS MOVED TO
NORMANDY
HITLER’s
ATLANTIC WALL,
1944
OPERATION OVERLORD
U.S. WAR
DEPARTMENT
PULBIC SERVICE
POSTER, 1944
U.S. ARMY RANGER
TRAINING ON CLIFFSCALING LADDER,
1944
U.S.
INFANTRY
APPROACH
OMAHA
BEACH,
NORMANDY
JUNE 6,
1944
OPERATION OVERLORD
• ATTACK BEGINS:
– NIGHT, JUNE 5-6: ALLIED AIRBORNE ASSAULT
– 0600, JUNE 6: ALLIED AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT ON
NORMANDY BEACHES
– HEAVY CASUALTIES ON BOTH SIDES – OVER 2000
U.S. KIA
– EISENHOWER ALMOST CANCELS ATTACK
– ALLIES TAKE BEACHES – MOVE INLAND
• AUGUST, ‘44: ALLIES LIBERATE PARIS
• SEPT. ‘44: FRANCE, BELGIUM, HOLLAND,
•
LUXEMBOURG LIBERATED
OCT. ‘44: U.S. ARMY ENTERS GERMANY
THE FALL OF GERMANY
• LATE 1944: GERMANY IS ON VERGE OF DEFEAT
• WHY?
–
–
–
–
–
RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN EAST
U.S./BRIT. ADVANCE IN WEST
MASSIVE GERMAN CASAULTIES
ALLIED BOMBING CAMPAIGN
GERMAN ECONOMY RUINED
• DEC., 1944: GERMANS TRY ONE LAST GAMBLE TO WIN WAR:
– ARMORED / INFANTRY OFFENSIVE IN WEST
– BATTLE OF THE BULGE
– GERMANS LOSE
•
•
• CAN’T REPLACE LOSSES
• 120,000 KIA/MIA, 600 TANKS, 1600 PLANES
APRIL, 1945: SOVIETS SEIGE BERLIN
BATTLE OF BERLIN:
– HITLER COMMITS SUICIDE
– UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
– THIRD REICH HAS ENDED
• MAY 8, 1945: V-E DAY
V-2 ROCKET LAUNCH SITES
ADOLF HITLER’s
“CORPSE”, PHOTO
TAKEN BY SOVIET
TROOPS, BERLIN,
1945
U.S. MILITARY
NEWSPAPER,
STARS AND
STRIPES,
HEADLINE, MAY,
1945
BATTLE OF BERLIN, MAY 1945
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REICHSTAG
BUILDING
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