Transcript Slideshow

Allied Victory in Europe
The beginning of the end
• By the end of 1942 the war had begun to turn
in favor of the Allies
• 1943 – Allied forces secretly build a force in
Great Britain.
– Their plan was to attack the Germans across the
English Channel
– May 1944 thousands of planes, ships, tanks,
landing craft, and 3.5 million troops awaited
orders to attack
D-Day
• June 6, 1944 is known as “D-Day”
– Designated Day (D-Day) was originally planned for June 5 but was
pushed back due to bad weather
– Led by U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
– The largest sea and ground attack in history
– Code named “operation overload”
– The start of a battle that lasted over 2 months
– August 25, 1944 the battle ends, and allied troops march triumphantly
into Paris
– By September 1944, allied forces liberated France, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and much of the Netherlands.
– They then set their sights on Germany
General Dwight Eisenhower
1890-1969
• Eisenhower was wildly popular
with the troops
• Was affectionately called “Uncle
Ike”
• December 1943, Eisenhower
named the chief commander of
the Allied forces in Europe
• Outstanding people skills that
enabled him to join American and
British forces to end Nazi
aggression
Omaha Beach – Aerial view of the D-Day landing site
D-Day attack at Omaha Beach in Normandy - June 6, 1944
Troops race to battle on Omaha Beach – June 6, 1944
The Battle of the Bulge
• December 16, 1944
– German tanks broke through a weak American
defense along the 85-mile front in the Ardennes
(wooded plateau region NE France)
– The allied troops were caught off guard, but
battled back and defeated the German forces
– Following the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans
had little choice but to retreat and surrender since
they had lost so many soldiers that they could no
longer replace
German tank drudges through the snow to the Battle of the Bulge
Destroyed German tank after the Battle of the Bulge
After Battle of the Bulge
• Allies rolled across the Rhine River into
Germany in late March 1945
– 3 million Allied soldiers approached Berlin from
the southwest
– 6 million Soviet soldiers approached Berlin form
the east
– April 25th the capitol city of Berlin is surrounded
Map of the Rhine River
Where does Hitler go?
• Hitler retreats to an underground hideout
underneath the crumbling city of Berlin where
he would stay for the remaining week of the
war and his life.
Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun
Hitler underground
• Hitler gets married to long time love, Eva
Braun
• Writes his final address to the German people
– blamed the Jews for starting the war, and his own
generals for losing it
– “I myself and my wife choose to die in order to
escape the disgrace of… capitulation”
– Two days later, Hitler and Braun take their own
lives
Germany’s Unconditional Surrender
• May 7, 1945 General Eisenhower accepted the
unconditional surrender of the Third Reich
from the German Military
– President Franklin D. Roosevelt spent almost the
entirety of his third term fighting WWII died on
April 12, 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage less than
one month before the surrender and the end of
the war in Europe
Victory in Europe Day
(V-E Day)
• V-E Day, May 8, 1944
– Roosevelt’s successor, Harry Truman received the
news of the Nazi Surrender
– The surrender was officially signed on May 8,
1944 in Berlin.
– The United States and the Allied powers
celebrated V-E Day, as the war in Europe had
ended at last