Download D-Day (June 6, 1944)

World War II
14.2: The Early Battles (Appleby 494-499)
14.4 Pushing Back the Axis (Appleby 508-515)
*European War Focus
Today’s Agenda
• 14.2 slide show
• Homework
• Presentations or Paper due
THIS Friday!!!
– Quality must be Excellent
– Must be ontime
– http://interactive.guim.co.uk/
embed/2014/apr/imageopacity-slidermaster/index.html?ww2-dday
–
Normandy Beach, France June 6, 1944
What events led these Americans to end up
in Normandy, France?
Who were the Allies/the Axis Powers?
Allies
• United States
• Great Britain
• Soviet Union
• And many others
Axis Powers
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
World Map with the participants in World War II.
The Allies depicted in green (those in light green
entered after the attack on Pearl Harbor), the Axis
Powers in orange, and neutral countries in grey.
“The Big Three
What was the Allied strategy for fighting WWII?
• Second Front
– Stalin wanted US to invade
Europe
– Help Russia fight Germans
• FDR
– agreed to defeat Germany 1st
– Defensive war in Pacific
• Unconditional surrender
– No separate truces will be
accepted
• “Closing the Ring”
– Allied plan to encircle
Germany
Mr. Reilly
Barbarossa
Axis Powers by September of 1942.
Hitler’s Plan: Operation Barbarossa
Capture the wheat fields of Ukraine
Advance East across North Africa
and South from Russia to capture
the oil fields of the Middle East.
Oil Fields
Describe the importance of Stalingrad.
• Operation Barbarossa began June
1941 (Summer)
• Blitzkrieg extremely effective
• Control of Volga Rv. = control of
Russian resources
– oil of Caspian & wheat of Ukraine
– Stalingrad key to Volga Rv.
• Battle of Stalingrad
– Brutal street fighting
– Germans unprepared for winter
– Soviets stopped Germans
• 300 thousand captured
– Turning point of the war
In spite of these loses, Hitler was firmly entrenched
in western Europe.
Russian Advance
After Stalingrad
Allied Invasion of
N. Africa 11/42
To complete the encirclement of Hitler (Closing the
Ring) the Allies needed to land somewhere in France.
Describe the preparations for the Allied invasion of
Europe.
• Pas-de-Calais
– Port city in France where Hitler believed
Allies would invade
• Allies encouraged Hitler’s belief
– Operation Mincemeat
• Spring ‘44
– 1.5 million US soldiers, thousands or
airplanes, equipment gathered in S.
England
• Chose northern coast of France as invasion
site (Normandy Beach)
• Conditions for invasion only good from
June 5-7 (Tide, Moon would be OK)
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of
the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the
Great Crusade, toward which we
have striven these many months. The
eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving
people everywhere march with you.
…I have full confidence in your
courage and devotion to duty and
skill in battle. We will accept
nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the
blessing of Almighty God upon
this great and noble undertaking.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
What was Operation Overlord?
• Plan for Allied invasion of
W. Europe (D-Day)
• D-Day (June 6, 1944)
• Involved transporting
hundreds of thousands of
troops, equipment across
stormy English Channel
to gain foothold in France
• Atlantic Wall
– Normandy Coast of France
heavily fortified by
Germans
• Omaha beach saw intense
fighting
– Over 2, 500 casualties
• Built man-made harbor
• Huge success
D-Day
What was the Battle of the Bulge?
• Hitler’s last major
offensive (Dec. 1944)
• Caught Allies off guard
• Goal was to capture
Antwerp
• Germans surrounded town
of Bastogne
– Protected by 101st
Airborne
• Germans demanded
surrender
– “Nuts” was the reply
• Weather broke in January
and supplies replenished
Site of assassination attempt on Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg
What was V-E Day?
• After Battle of the Bulge
German spent
• By April ‘45, Soviets
were in Berlin, US was
closing in
• Hitler committed suicide
April 30
• Germany surrendered
unconditionally to the
Allies May 8, 1945
• “Victory in Europe” =
VE Day
• FDR had died April 12
VE Day