Transcript WWII_Victory - Loudon High School

“Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions
that can change your life forever.”
- Keri Russell
Wolves can smell other animals more
than one mile away.
World War II
Victory!
Tehran Conference
Tehran Conference
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Nov. 28 – Dec. 1, 1943: Meeting among the Big
3: FDR, Stalin, and Churchill.
This conference organized the final strategy
against Nazi Germ. and its Allies (Axis).
The major decisions:
Second front in Western Europe: Operation
Overlord + an invasion of S. Fr.
A UN Organization was agreed upon.
The S.U. would attack Jap. once Germ. was
defeated.
Operation Overlord:
D-Day June 6, 1944
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Operation Overlord was the Allied invasion of
Normandy and was part of the Normandy campaign.
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It began on June 6 (D-Day) and ended June 30
(Operation Cobra)
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The purpose of this battle was to gain an Allied
foothold in Europe from which the Allies could begin
to advance into Germ.
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This was the first major offensive attack by the Allies
against Nazi Germ. and remains the largest seaborne
invasion in history.
Operation Overlord:
D-Day June 6, 1944
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General Eisenhower
assembled:
176,000 soldiers
600 war ships
10,000 aircraft
All would cross the
English Channel to
the beaches of
Normandy.
Operation Overlord:
D-Day June 6, 1944
Operation Overlord:
D-Day June 6, 1944
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The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute
and glider landings, massive air attacks, naval
bombardments, and an early morning amphibious
phase began on June 6.
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Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on DDay itself came from: Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.
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Substantial Free French and Polish forces also
participated in the battle after the assault phase, and
there were also contingents from Belgium, Czech,
Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. Other Allied
nations participated in the naval and air forces.
British troops take cover after landing on Sword Beach.
Personnel of Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando "W" landing on Mike Beach,
Juno sector of the Normandy beachhead. June 6, 1944.
American troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Omaha Beach June 6, 1944.
Operation Overlord:
D-Day June 6, 1944
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The Allied forces stormed the beaches of
Normandy against heavy Germ. resistance
including machine guns and artillery.
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Despite Germ. resistance:
June 9: The beaches are secured and linked by the
allies.
June 19: Brit. landed 314,547 men, 54,000
vehicles, and 102,000 tons of supplies; Am. landed
314,504 men, 41,000 vehicles, and 116,000 tons of
supplies.
July 24: Operation Cobra
July 28: Penetration through Germ. lines.
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Landing supplies at Normandy
The build-up of Omaha Beach: reinforcements of men and equipment moving inland
After D-Day
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U.S.: 29,000 dead, 106,000 wounded or
missing.
U.K.: 11,000 dead, 54,000 wounded or
missing.
Can.: 5,000 dead; 13,000 wounded or
missing.
Fr.: 12,200 civilians dead or missing.
Germ.: 23,019 dead, 67,060 wounded,
198,616 missing or captured.
After D-Day
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The Normandy Campaign led to the loss of the
Germ. position in most of Fr., and the secure
establishment of a new major front from which the
Allies launched their offensive against Germ.
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Early Aug.: Gen. George Patton moved across N.
Fr.
At the same time, in Paris, Fr. resistance fighters
rose up against the occupying Germs.
Aug. 25: Allied troops led by the Free Fr. forces
enter and liberate Paris.
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D-Day - June 6, 1944 (02:40)
Crowds of French line the Champs Elysees to view Free French 2e DB tanks and half
tracks pass before the Arc de Triomphe on 25 August 1944.
U.S. 28th Infantry Division parading after the battle on 29 August
Eisenhower and de Gaulle in a liberated Paris
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Liberation of Paris - August 25, 1944
(02:57)
The End for Germany
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Before D-Day, the Soviets were advancing
from the E. and by the summer of 1944,
they had pushed Germ. out of Soviet
territory.
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Dec. 15-26 1944: The Battle of the Bulge –
the unsuccessful Germ. attempt to break
through the Allied lines on the W. Front.
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Jan. 12 1945: Soviets invade E. Prussia.
The End for Germany
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Jan. 15: Hitler and Eva Braun secured in Berlin
bunker.
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Jan. 17: Auschwitz concentration camp is
liberated by Soviet troops.
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Jan. 31: Soviets cross the Oder River into
Germany and are now less than 50 miles from
Berlin.
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Feb. 4-11, 1945: Yalta Conference.
The Yalta Conference
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The Big 3 (FDR, Churchill, and Stalin) met to discuss post-war
concerns:
Fr. and China would join in forming the UN (permanent intl. org.
to maintain peace after WWII).
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Germ. and Berlin would be divided into 4 zones: Brit., Fr., U.S.,
and S.U.
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Stalin promised free elections in E. Euro; gets E. part of Poland
in return.
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Stalin promised to declare war on Jap. to help end the war in
the Pacific; Stalin gains Kuril Islands.
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Yalta Conference - February 12, 1945
(02:42)
The End for
Germany: Part II
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Feb. 24, 1945: Massive bombing of Germany by
approximately 9,000 bombers.
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March 7: Am. crosses the Rhine into Germ.
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March 29: Soviets capture Danzig.
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March 30: Soviets enter Austria.
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March 31: General Eisenhower broadcasts a demand
for the Germans to surrender.
The End for
Germany: Part II
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April 12: President Roosevelt dies suddenly. Harry
Truman becomes president of the United States.
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April 19: The Soviet advance towards the city of
Berlin continues and soon reaches the suburbs.
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April 20: Hitler celebrates his 56th birthday in the
bunker in Berlin.
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April 21: Soviet forces launch assaults on the
Germ. forces in and around the city of Berlin as
the opening stages of the Battle of Berlin.
The Battle of Berlin:
April 21-May 2, 1945
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2 massive Soviet army groups
attacked Berlin from the E.
and S., while a 3rd overran
Germ. forces positioned N. of
Berlin.
April 25: Elbe Day: First
contact between Soviet and
American troops at the river
Elbe.
April 27: The encirclement of
Germ. forces in Berlin is
completed by the Soviets.
The Battle of Berlin:
April 21-May 2, 1945
April 20, 1945, photo of Adolf Hitler with his child soldiers in Berlin.
The Battle of Berlin:
April 21-May 2, 1945
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April 29: Hitler marries his long-time companion
Eva Braun.
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April 30: Hitler and his wife commit suicide, he by
a combination of poison and a gunshot. Before he
dies Adolf Hitler dictates his last will and
testament. In it Joseph Goebbels is appointed
Reich Chancellor and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
is appointed Reich President.
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April 30: While Donitz ascends to his high office,
Goebbels and his wife kill their six children and
then take poison in the bunker.
www.answers.com/topic/evabraun
Goebbels and Dönitz
The Battle of Berlin:
April 21-May 2, 1945
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May 2: The Battle of Berlin ended when Germ.
General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the
Berlin Defense Area, unconditionally surrenders
the city of Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov.
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May 7: Germ. unconditionally surrenders to the
Allies.
May 8: V-E Day (Victory in Europe) in the Allied
Demos.
May 9: V-E Day celebrated by the Soviets
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Weidling and Chuikov
www.porthalcyon.com/.../starsandstripes.shtml
www.britannica.com/eb/art-82296/Ecstatic-crow...
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Signing of Surrender Documents - May
4, 1945 (03:36)
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V-E Day - May 13, 1945 (03:02)
“Everyone’s a pacifist between wars. It’s
like being a vegetarian between meals.
- Colman McCarthy
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Coffee beans aren’t beans, they are fruit pits.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific
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Feb.19-March 26, 1945: The Battle of Iwo Jima.
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The U.S. invasion known as Operation Detachment was
charged with the mission of capturing the airfields on Iwo
Jima.2
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This battle was the first Am. attack on the Jap. home
islands.
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This invasion was a success for Am., however, the story is
different for the Jap.: Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers
present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,000 were
killed and only 216 taken prisoner.
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Remembering the Battle of Iwo Jima
(1945) (01:48)
Meanwhile, in the Pacific
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April 1-June 21, 1945: The Battle of Okinawa.
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This battle was fought on the Jap. island of Okinawa, and
was the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific
campaigns of WWII resulting in an Am. victory.
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The Allies were planning to use Okinawa as a staging
ground for Operation Downfall, the invasion of the Jap.
mainland; however, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in August 1945 and the S.U.'s declaration of
war on Jap., Jap. surrendered and WWII ended.
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The Jap. General Mitsuru Ushijima knew that the Allies
could not be stopped, but he decided that they would pay for
every yard they gained: 1,900 kamikaze missions
 USS Bunker Hill burns after being hit by two kamikaze in 30 seconds.
In the two month battle for Okinawa, the Japanese flew 1,900 kamikaze
missions, sinking dozens of Allied ships and killing more than 5,000 U.S.
sailors.
The Potsdam Conference
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The Potsdam Conference was held Potsdam, Germany, from July
17-August 2, 1945.
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The participants were the S.U., the U.K., and the U.S.: Stalin,
Churchill (then Clement Attlee), and President Harry S. Truman.
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Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—as well as Attlee (replaced
Churchill after the Labour Party's defeat of the Conservatives in
the 1945 general election)—had gathered to decide how to
administer the defeated Nazi Germany; they also called for the
unconditional surrender of Jap.
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The goals of the conference also included the establishment of
post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects
of war.
The Potsdam Conference
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The 4 D’s: demilitarization, denazification, democratization and
decartelization.
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Division of Germ. and Austria into 4 occupation zones, including their
capitals.
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Prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
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Reversion of all German annexations in Europe, including Sudetenland,
Alsace-Lorraine, Austria and the westernmost parts of Poland.
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Germ. size reduced approximately 25% compared to her 1937 borders.
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Expulsion of the Germ. populations remaining beyond the new eastern
borders of Germ.
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Agreement on war reparations to the S.U. from their zone of occupation in
Germ.
The Potsdam Conference
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Destruction of Germ. industrial war-potential: all civilian shipyards
and aircraft factories were to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed.
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All production capacity associated with war-potential, such as metals,
chemical, machinery etc were to be reduced to a minimum level.
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Manufacturing surplus was to be dismantled as reparations or
otherwise destroyed.
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All research and international trade was to be controlled.
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The economy was to be decentralized (decartelization).
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The economy was also to be reorganized with primary emphasis on
agri. and peaceful domestic industries.
Japan and the A-Bomb
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Although the War was over in Euro., fighting still continued in
the Pacific with Jap.
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July 1945: Jap. rejects Am. ultimatum to surrender; Truman
decides to use new secret weapon – the atomic bomb.
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His stated reason for using the bomb against Jap. was to
end the war swiftly and to avoid the enormous loss of life
that would have resulted from an Am. invasion of the Jap.
home islands.
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Truman may have also wanted to impress the Soviets
(Soviet-Am. rivalry).
Hiroshima
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Aug. 6, 1945: The first
nuclear weapon ever
used in war, "Little Boy",
is dropped on Hiroshima
by the B-29 Enola Gay.
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As much as 140,000
people died in the blast;
thousands more died
later due to injuries or
illness from radiation.
“Little Boy”
Colonel Paul Tibbets waving from
Enola Gay's cockpit before the
bombing of Hiroshima.
Nagasaki
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After 3 days of hearing no
response after the bombing of
Hiroshima, Truman orders the
dropping of a 2nd A-bomb.
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Aug. 9, 1945: A second atomic
bomb, "Fat Man", is dropped on
Nagasaki by Bocks Car.
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As much as 80,000 people died in
the blast; thousands more died
later due to injuries or illness from
radiation.
“Fat Man”
Bocks Car
www.concentric.net/~ma
rlowe/hiroshima.shtml
www.gensuikin.org/english/photo.html
www.underthesam
esun.org/.../08/naga
saki.html
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Atomic Bomb - August 6, 1945
(02:41)
The End of the War
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After the loss of about 200,000 people due to the atomic
bombs, Jap. was ready to surrender.
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Aug. 14, 1945: Jap. surrenders to the Allied powers.
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Aug. 31: General MacArthur takes over command of the
Japanese government in Tokyo.
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Sept. 2: V-J (Victory over Jap.) – Jap. officials sign the
official surrender document on board the Am. battleship
Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay.
World War II is over.
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The Final Numbers
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More than 70 million people fought.
55 million died.
S.U.: 22 million deaths
Germ.: 8 million deaths.
Jap.: 2 million deaths.
U.S.: 300,000
Millions more died in Euro. and Asia in campaigns
of genocide.
Nuremburg Trials: Nazi leaders brought to justice
for war crimes (It. and Jap. too).
12 million people homeless.