Download WW2 Europe

WWII European Theater
1942-1945
Outline
1. US Military
2. Africa
3. Casablanca Conference, 1943
4. Bombing Plans
5. Italy
6. “Operation Overlord”/D-Day
7. Retaking Europe
8. Holocaust
9. Yalta Conference
10. End of Europe
1. US Military
• Draft reinstated in 1940*
– 16 million Americans entered
• Women in service
– 10,000 joined Navy (WAVES)
– 1,100 pilots (WASPs)
– 150,000 served in Army (WAC)
1. US Military
• Top officer = Gen. George C. Marshall
• European commander
– Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Pacific Commander
– Gen. Douglas MacArthur
• Others of importance
– Gen. George S. Patton
– Gen. Omar Bradley
– Audie Murphy
2. Africa
• US wanted to go straight into France
• Africa was the first fight for 2 reasons
1. Only place Allies could win
• Control Mediterranean Sea (Suez Canal)
2. Would pull forces away from Russia
2. Africa
• Nov. 1942, Americans joined fight
– Experienced Germans led by Gen. Rommel
– Destroyed 2/3 of US 1st Division’s tanks
• Took 6 months to defeat Axis soldiers who
surrendered in May, 1943
– ~900,000 German and Italian troops
3. Casablanca Conference, 1943
• FDR and Churchill met to discuss war plans
1. Agreed to focus on bombing Germany
2. Sicily would be next big invasion
• “soft underbelly” of Europe
• Problem = logical move
– Required massive buildup
• 160,000 Men
• 3,000 Vessels
• 3,700 Planes
4. Bombing Plans
• American pilots used “precision bombing”
– High altitude and during the day
• Oil refineries, rail yards, factories, U-boat bases
• British pilots used “saturation bombing”
– Large # of bombs over wide area at night
• Often hit cities to destroy civilian morale
• August 1944, US planes dropped 1,000+ bombs on
oil-production facility in Poland
– Five miles away stood Aushwitz
– Not ONE bomb was used to stop the Holocaust
“Operation Husky”
5. Italy
• US & British attacked Sicily 1943 (July 9)
– 160,000 men, 3,000 vessels, 3,700 planes
– Took 38 days to take the island
• Next step was invasion of Italy (Sept. 1943)
– Second theater of war created (IMPORTANT!)
– Italians arrested Mussolini and began secret
negotiations with Allies
– video
5. Italy
• Allies entered Rome June 4, 1944
– Fighting continued until 1945
– 300,000 U.S. and British casualties
• What happened to Mussolini?
– Captured and killed in 1945
6. Operation Overlord/D-Day
• Germans had created the “Atlantic Wall”
• How could Allies get into France?
– 1.6 million soldiers assembled in England
– Invasion target = Normandy, France
– “Operation Fortitude”
• Fake tanks and airfields
• Double Agents
• Fake radio broadcasts
6. “Operation Overlord”/D-Day
• Invasion occurred June 6, 1944 (6-6-44)
– Airborne jumped at night (13,000+ soldiers)
– Soldiers landed on beaches in the morning
• ~1 million soldiers, 180,000 vehicles
6. “Operation Overlord”/D-Day
• 4,000 Allied troops killed on the first day
– Thousands wounded/missing
• Normandy beaches fully secured by June 11
– Allowed armies to land supplies
– 326,000 troops, +50,000 vehicles, +100,000
tons of equipment
• Northern France liberated by August 1944
D-Day in their Own Words
• Online Link
7. Retaking Europe
• Allies moved slowly through France
– Paris “liberated” on August 25
• By September most of West Europe liberated
– France
– Belgium
– Luxembourg
– Most of the Netherlands
7. Retaking Europe
• Germany was collapsing on both sides
• Hitler decided to counterattack in Belgium Forest
“This battle is to decide whether we shall live or
die… All resistance must be broken in a wave of
terror.” – Adolph Hitler
• Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 1944
– Germans attacked for 2 weeks, ~35,000 killed
– Allies eventually recovered
• Last German forces retreated into Germany
7. Retaking Europe
• Massive bombings of German cities
– Feb. 1
• 1,000 US bombers hit Berlin
– Feb. 16
• 1,400 Allied planes firebomb Dresden
• Allied and Soviet troops moved close to Germany
– Discovered horror of Holocaust
Video clip
8. The Holocaust
• SS tried to hide evidence of death camps
– Cleared camps (60,000 sent back into Germany)
– Marched and executed prisoners
• Nazis aimed to kill ~11 million Jews
– Succeeded in killing ~6 million
– Millions of others murdered
9. Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945
• Churchill, Stalin, and FDR decided 3 BIG things
1. A future United Nations
2. How Europe would be divided among them
3. USSR joining the war against Japan
10. End of Europe
• Roosevelt died from stroke, April 12, 1945
• Harry Truman became President
– Led at end of Europe and Asia
10. End of Europe
• Clear that the “Third Reich” was at its end
– Hitler and staff hid in a bunker
• Hitler committed suicide
• Left generals to surrender
• Germans surrendered May 7, 1945
– to Eisenhower in France
– to Soviets in Berlin
10. End of Europe
• “V-E Day” announced May 8, 1945
– Allies agreed to split Germany and Berlin
• Cold War implications
• Entire focus shifted to the Pacific Theater
– US soldiers in Europe expected to be
transferred