Transcript Last Years of WWII and the Holocaust

Last Years of WWII and
the Holocaust
Chapter 26 Sec 2 and 3
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By the start of 1943 the tide of the war had
turned against the Axis powers
Allied forces had won the battles in North Africa
and crossed the Mediterranean Sea onto
mainland Italy in September 1943
After Sicily fell, Mussolini was arrested by King
Victor Emmanuel II but was rescued by German
forces to be put as head of German forces in
Northern Italy.
The Allies took Rome on June 4th, 1944. Italian
was secondary because Allies were preparing for
“second front” opening in western Europe.
The European Theater
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Since the Fall of 1943, the Allies had planned an
invasion of France from Great Britain.
On June 6, 1944,(D-Day) Allied forces under U.S.
general Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the
Normandy beaches.
Believing this invasion was just diversion and the
real one would occur elsewhere, the Germans
responded slowly. Gave Allied troops time to set
up the beachhead.
Within three months the Allies would land 2
million troops and 500,000 vehicles. Allied
forces began moving inland and breaking
through German lines.
D-Day
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Allied Forces
◦ 156,000 troops , 5000 ships and landing crafts,
600 warships, 2500 heavy bombers, 7000
fighters
◦ Casualties- 3000 killed and 7000 wounded
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German Forces
◦ 850,000 troops, 1552 tanks, 800 aircraft
◦ Casualties- 9000 killed and wounded
D-Day Numbers
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Invasion almost cancelled due to bad weather
Minesweepers work at night to clear
obstacles for ships.
Paratroopers jump at night, land behind
enemy lines and destroy key targets and
capture bridges, use dummies to draw fire
Planes drop bombs on German defenses
War ships bomb beaches from water
Utah successful, Omaha fierce battle- many
U.S. casualties
D-Day Invasion
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Allied troops liberated Paris by August 1944
Allied troops crossed the Rhine river by March
1945.
By the end of April 1945, Allied troops meet up
with Soviet troops by the Elbe river in Northern
Germany
After the battle of Stalingrad, the Soviets had
started a march West. Defeat Germans at battle
of Kursk(greatest tank battle of war), then took
control of Ukraine, then Baltic States, then
Warsaw and entered Berlin in April of 1945.
Southern Soviet troops swept through Hungary,
Romania, and Bulgaria
Moving toward Germany
By January 1945, Hitler had moved into a
bunker under the city of Berlin.
 Hitler committed suicide on April 30th
 Two days later Italian resistance fighters
shot Mussolini
 On May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered
and the war was over in Europe. VE day
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Beginning in 1943, the U.S. is on the offensive and
advancing in the Pacific. It is hopping from island to
island taking control.
In early 1945, the Allies had drawn close to mainland
Japan. New U.S. President Harry S. Truman had a
decision on his hands. Does he drop the new Atomic
weapon to end the war or not?
First bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th
1945
Second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th
1945.
Both cities were leveled, thousands died later from
radiation
Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945, VJ day
End of the War in the Pacific
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Bomb shadows
17 million died in battle
 Around 20 million civilians died
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WWII total Numbers
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Called their Final Solution to the Jewish
Problem - Genocide of the Jewish people
Round up Jews into Ghettos and try to starve
them and live under horrible conditions
SS death squads would follow army, round up
Jews, have them dig huge pits, execute the
Jews and bury them in the mass graves
Killed over one million Jews this way,
Germans thought it was too slow
The Holocaust
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Decided to kill Jews in specially designed
death camps
6 camps were built in Poland- Jews rounded
up and packed on freight trains for travel to
camps
Labor camp- starved or worked to death,
most went to the gas chambers, some were
subjected to medical experiments.
The Germans killed over 6 million Jews,
responsible for 2 out of 3 European Jews
deaths.
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D-day invasion
http://youtu.be/QzgKMDydr5Y
Hiroshima
http://youtu.be/NF4LQaWJRDg
Nagasaki
http://youtu.be/ncq_Wye43TM