Transcript Liberation of Paris

The Liberation of Europe and
End of the War
Map of Allied Advance: 1944-1945
German Resistance
 Following the D-Day
invasion of France in
June of 1944, Germany
mounted a determined
resistance
 12th S.S. Hitler Jugend –
fanatics who refused to
surrender
 New German weapons
– VI and V2 rockets
Meanwhile in Germany…
 Allied strategic
bombing weakens
Germany
 German army
officers attempted
to assassinate Hitler
(failed)
 Poor German
morale, but Hitler
refused to surrender
German cities, such as
Dresden (above) were
bombed by Allied
forces, 1944-1945.
Was this ethical?
Liberation
 D-Day forces secured
coastal towns and fought
their way through France
 July 9, 1944 –Canadians
fought and captured
Caen –cost nearly 1200
men
 August 1944 Liberation of Paris by
American troops
1945
 Discovery of Nazi Death
Camps - Holocaust
discovered
Liberation of the Netherlands
 April 1945 - Canadians
given task to liberate
Netherlands
 1944-45 called “Hunger
Winter” for the Dutch,
who were starving
A Joyous
Welcome
Dutch Teen: "As the
(Canadian) tank came
nearer ... there was a big
hush over all the people,
and it was suddenly
broken by a big scream,
as if it was out of the
earth. And the people
climbed on the tank ...
and they were crying.
And we were running
with the tanks and the
jeeps all the way into
the city."
Berlin falls
 Soviets entered Berlin
(German capital) and
met up with Americans –
captured city
 April 30, 1945 –Adolf
Hitler and Eva Braun
committed suicide
Hitler’s last public appearance
Soviet (Red) Flag waving over Berlin as it
burns, 1945
May 8, 1945
 VE Day (“Victory in
Europe” Day) Germany surrendered
Atomic Bombs
 After Germany fell, the
Allies were still at war with
Japan
 August 6, 1945 - atomic
bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, Japan (killed
70000 people)
 August 9, 1945 - atomic
bomb dropped on
Nagasaki, Japan
VJ DAY – WWII officially ends
 August 10, 1945 - VJ Day
(“Victory in Japan” Day) Japan surrendered