Download The Allies Liberate Europe

America Prepares For War
• After Pearl Harbor
5 million young
men volunteered
for military service.
• Another 10 million
were drafted in
order to meet the
war need.
A Production Miracle
• In Early February 1942, the last
car rolled off the assembly line.
• Automobile plants retooled and
began
producing tanks,
planes, boats,
and command
cars.
A Production Miracle
• A mechanical pencil plant turned
out bomb parts.
• A soft-drink company filled shells
with explosives.
War Production Board (WPB
• The government needed to ensure
that the armed forces and war
industries received the resources
they needed to win the war
• The WPB organized nationwide
drives to collect scrap iron, tin
cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat
for recycling into war goods.
War Production Board (WPB
• In addition, a system for
rationing, or establishing fixed
allotments of goods deemed
essential for the military.
War Production Board (WPB
• Under this system,
households received
ration books with
coupons to be used
for buying such
scarce goods as
meat, shoes, sugar,
coffee, and gasoline.
The U.S. Enters the War
Franklin
& Winston
Roosevelt
Churchill
The two
leaders joined
forces to 1st
deal with
Germany &
Italy
The Battle Of The Atlantic
•After Pearl Harbor Hitler ordered
submarine raids on ships along
America’s east coast.
•The German goal was to prevent
food & war materials from reaching
Britain & Russia.
The Battle Of The Atlantic
•In the first four months of 1942
subs sank 87 ships off the Atlantic
coast, after seven months 681 ships
lost.
•The Allies responded by using a
tactic from WWI.
•They grouped ships together in
convoys. By mid 1943, Germany
was loosing more U-boats than they
could build.
The North African Front
•The USSR called
for the U.S. to lead
an invasion into
Europe.
•Instead Gen.
Eisenhower was
sent to Africa to
defeat Rommel.
Sherman Tank
German Panzer Tank
The North African Front
• Operation Torch
was launched to
force Erwin Rommel
“The Desert Fox” &
the Axis powers out
of N. Africa.
The North African Front
• In November 1942 107,000 troops
landed in Casablanca, Oran, and
Algiers.
The North African Front
• U.S. and British
forces suffered
several major
defeats to
Rommel’s tactics
and superior
tanks.
The North African Front
• Hitler recalled Rommel back to
Germany just prior to their
surrender at Tunis, in May 1943.
The North African Front
• Germans, Rommel, 100K men, 500 Tanks
• British, montgomery, 200K men, 1000
tanks
• Battle of El Alamein- Allied victory
• Germans outnumbered, low on supplies,
forced to surrender
• This ended German occupation of North
Africa
The Italian Campaign
• Roosevelt wanted us to mass forces
and attack
Europe by
crossing the
English
Channel.
The Italian Campaign
• Churchill thought it smarter to
attack Italy first.
The Italian Campaign
• Sicily fell first and the
Italian people called
for the removal of
Mussolini.
• Mussolini was
stripped of power
and arrested on July
25, 1943.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• The Germans had
been fighting in the
Soviet Union since
June 1941.
• Winter stopped the
Germans outside
of Moscow &
Leningrad.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• In the summer of 1942 the
Germans went back on the
offensive in southern USSR.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• Hitler wanted to destroy Stalingrad as
it was a major industrial city.
• In August 1942
Germany began
an all out attack
on the city.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• The Luftwaffe bombed the city
night and day until every wooden
building burned. Things were so
bad the Soviet officers wanted to
blow up the factories & abandon
the city.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• Stalin ordered the
city, that carried his
name, be defended
at all costs.
• The Germans were
capturing the city
house by house
until winter arrived.
The Battle of Stalingrad
• Stalin used the winter
to roll in fresh tanks
over the frozen ground.
• They surrounded the
city & cut off German
supply lines. The war
had turned & the
Soviets headed west.
Turning Point Of The War
• At Stalingrad the Soviets lost 1.1
million soldiers.
• This was more than all American
deaths in the entire war.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• Operation Overlord was the plan
to attack the German forces in
France.
Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower
was put in
charge of the
invasion.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• In England Eisenhower gathered
together a force of 3 million troops.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• Eisenhower
planned to
attack at
Normandy
in northern
France.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• Eisenhower also established a
phantom army and headquarters.
• Messages were sent ordering the
phantom army to attack at the port
of Calais, 150 miles away.
• The messages were designed to
be intercepted by the Germans.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• Hitler
ordered a
large army
to defend
Calais.
• The Allied invasion, code named
D-Day was scheduled for June 5,
but bad
weather
delayed
the
invasion.
The Allies Liberate Europe
• The next day saw the largest landsea-air attack in army history.
• Even with massive numbers, the
German retaliation was brutal.
• Omaha Beach saw thousands die.
B-17 Flying Fortress
The Allies Gain Ground
• Despite heavy casualties the Allies
held the beachheads.
The Allies Gain Ground
• After 7 days of fighting the Allies
held an 80-mile strip of France.
• Within a month they landed:
• 1 million troops
• 567,000 tons of supplies
• 170,000 vehicles
The Allies Gain Ground
On July 25, Gen.
Omar Bradley
through land & air
raids at St. Lo,
opened a hole in the
German defenses &
Gen. Patton moved
right through.
The Allies Gain Ground
•Gen. George S.
Patton led the third
army into France to
the Seine River.
•2 days later the
Allies liberated
Paris.
The Allies Gain Ground
•By September 1944,
France, Belgium, and
Luxembourg were
free.
•FDR was elected to
a 4th term.
Battle Of The Bulge
• This was a last
desperate effort
by Hitler to
break through
the Allied lines
at Antwerp,
Belgium.
Battle Of The Bulge
• Germany's goal for these
operations was to split the British
and American
Allied line in
half, capturing
Antwerp,
Belgium.
Battle Of The Bulge
• Then proceed to encircle and
destroy four Allied armies, forcing
the Western Allies to negotiate a
peace treaty in the Axis Powers'
favor.
• This goal would fail.
Battle Of The Bulge
• In Dec. 1944, 8 German tank
divisions broke through American
defenses along an 80-mile front.
• This bulge in the defenses is
where the name came from.
Battle Of The Bulge
• In early February, the Allies
launched an attack all along the
Western front: In the north, under
Montgomery; in the center, under
Courtney Hodges; and in the
south, under Patton.
Battle Of The Bulge
• The last of the German reserves
were now gone; the Luftwaffe had
been broken; and the German
army in the West was being
pushed back.
Liberation Of Death Camps
• The Soviets
were the
first to arrive
at the death
camp at
Majdanek.
Majdanek Front Gate
Liberation Of Death Camps
• The SS guards tried to destroy the
evidence
of their
crimes,
but they
were too
late.
Liberation Of Death Camps
• Hitler in his underground bunker
married Eva Braun, then shot
himself as she took poison.
V-E Day
• Victory in Europe was declared on
May 8, 1945.
• Gen. Eisenhower accepted the
unconditional surrender of the
Third Reich.
V-E Day
• On April 12,
1945, FDR died
of a stroke
• Harry S. Truman
became the 33rd
President of the
United States.