Transcript World War Two - Cloudfront.net

World War Two
Part 8
The End
An Attempt on Hitler’s Life
By July 1944 a group German officer including Colonels
and Generals decide that the War cannot be won…
that a peace should be negotiated while they still control
parts of France and thus can get the best deal.
The Problem is Hitler
A plot to kill him is made,
Rommel is chosen to replace Hitler
On July 20 a bomb is planted under a table
But Hitler moves to the other side and survives.
The conspirators are excuted
Rommel is allowed an “honorable suicide.”
The “Battle of the Bulge”
In the Winter of 1944-45 the Germans planned
an offensive to spilt the Allies by attacking
through the Ardennes Forest
Dec. 16 1944 they attacked and drove deep into
the Allied Line. The 101st Airborne was
surrounded in Bastogne but did not surrender,
The line Bulged but didn’t break
On January 10th 1945 Units of Patton’s 3rd Army
reached the 101st
By January 16th the bulge was pushed back.
Germany Falls
From then on the Allies continued to attack.
• The Russians pressed on into Poland and
Eastern Germany
• In March of 1945 the Allies crossed the Rhine
into Germany encircling an Army Group
Hitler Refused to surrender.. The allies had to
take every inch right into Berlin itself…on
April 30 Hitler committed Suicide
Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945
Japan Falls
In 1944-5 the US and the British made progress
against the Japanese… the Philippines and
Burma were retaken.
In the Spring of 1945 The US took: Iwo Jima
(March) and Okinawa (June) in spite of
intense Japanese Resistance including
Kamikazes.
From there and from Aircraft Carriers the US
launched a heavy bombing campaign on Japan
itself.
Plans were made to invade…Operation Olympic
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Harry Truman decides he can save the lives an
invasion would cost by scaring Japan into
surrender
It was decided to drop Atomic Bombs on two
Japanese Cities.
August 6th 1945 Hiroshima is bombed
80,000 die, another 70,000 injured
August 9th 1945 Nagasaki is bombed, and
another 50,000 die
Japan offers surrenders on August 10th 1945
Official Surrender is on September 2nd.