Transcript WWII American Perspectivex

• Hitler betrays the non-aggression pact with Stalin and invades S.U. in the
summer of 1941
• Hitler wants Germany to invade S.U. to acquire oil and Stalingrad (a major
industrial center)
• Germany was very close to taking Stalingrad by 1942 and some leaders in
the S.U. military wanted to blow up the infrastructure in the city and leave it
a wasteland
• Stalin demanded that they protect the city that has his namesake and fight
to the last man so S.U. launched a counter attack that slowed the German
advance
• Hitler’s Generals begged him to retreat past the Volga River to resupply
during the winter but Hitler every bit as stubborn as Stalin said his men
would fight to the death and stayed in the city of Stalingrad
• The German Sixth Army was surrounded and trapped inside the city of
Stalingrad for the winter of 1942-43 where they starved and froze to death
and eventually 91,000 troops that are still alive surrender from a army that
once totaled 330,000 most of the German soldiers were sent to the Gulags
where almost all of them die
Allies
USA
Soviet
Union
Italy
Germany
Great
Britain
Japan
Axis
• By November of 1942 mostly American along with some British troops
invaded North Africa looking to invade Italy next this was lead by Dwight
D. Eisenhower
• Stalin was getting restless (Stalingrad was ready to fall) and was insisting
the U.S. and G.B. forces invade somewhere from the Atlantic to force
Germany into a war on two fronts
• The Americans squared off against legendary German military general
Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)
• The mainly American forces defeated Germany in North Africa in may
1943
• The Allied forces then invade Italy from the south and also begin to plan
the mass D-Day invasion
• Italy is a house of cards and the Italian King Victor Emanuel the III called
in Mussolini into a meeting to strip him of all powers and said he was the
most hated man of Italy
• Mussolini was then temporarily saved by Hitler; Germany seized control
of Italy and disposed of the king and put Il Duce (The Leader) Mussolini
(Name was created by him like Hitler’s Furher) The reinstated power was short
lived and over by April 1943
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5 beaches attacked in Normandy, France
Lead by American, British, and Canadian forces
Largest American land, air, and sea invasion in history
Planned for two years
Building a landing force with ships, landing craft, and
nearly 3 million troops
• Normandy was lightly fortified
• Despite heavy casualties they landed 1 million troops,
567,000 tons of supplies, and 170,000 vehicles
• They had liberated Paris from 4 years of German
occupation on August 25, 1944
• Oct. 1944
• Americans capture their first German town, Aachen.
• Hitler counter attacks with a desperate massive assault with 8
German panzer tank divisions
• Germans swept through Allied lines and captured 150
American GIs near Malmedy where SS troopers gunned them
down with machine guns and pistols
• 101st Airborne regiment holds down the small Belgium town
of Bastogne
• Battle raged for one month where not a lot of land seems to
change hands
• However, Hitler had lost 120,000 troops 600 tanks and assault
guns, and 1,600 planes
• Nazis basically can do nothing from this point, but retreat to
Berlin
What the Hell is this place?
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April 25, 1945 Soviets storm Berlin
Hitler commits suicide April 30, 1945
V-E Day on May 8, 1945 victory in Europe day
Germans give an unconditional surrender
On October 18, 1945, twenty-two of Nazi Germany’s political,
military, and economic leaders were brought to trial in
Nuremberg for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity.
• The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its
judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and
October 1, 1946. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to
death, three to life imprisonment, four to imprisonment ranging
from 10 to 20 years, and three were acquitted.
Nuremburg Trials
• Churchill wants to have show trials with the
leadership of Nazi Germany (read them what
they are accused of and then shoot them)
• Stalin wants to kill 100,000 Nazi leaders and
soldiers
• FDR is somewhere in between, but dies in
office
• Secretary of War Henry Stimson
recommended trials that would be held only
for the Nazi Leadership
• Potsdam Conference