Download 16.4 The Allied Victory

Part I: 16.4
Allied Victory in
Europe
Ms. Bielefeld
Spring 2012
Tide Turns on Two Fronts
 Russians want Allies to open a 2nd front in France, but they
strike first in North Africa
 North African Campaign
 General Bernard Montgomery—will take control of British
troops
 Fighting against Rommel in the Battle of El Alamein
 Rommel’s army will fall back
 Operation Torch—led by General Eisenhower, will catch
Rommel while he is fleeing from Montgomery
 Rommel will be crushed for good
Battle of Stalingrad
(August 23, 1942)
 Hitler sends army in to capture Stalingrad
 Luftwaffe will night bomb the city
 Russians trap Germans within the city & cut
off supplies
 In February, German troops surrender to
Soviets
 Germans were on the defensive & being
pushed back (turning point!)
Invasion of Italy
(July 10, 1943)
 Roosevelt & Churchill Choose to invade Italy
 Allied forces took Southern Italy
 Germans seized Northern Italy
 Fighting continues until Germany fell in May 1945
 Mussolini found in back of a truck disguised as a German
soldier
 Shot him the next day & hung his body in downtown Milan
for all to see
This official Coast Guard photo, taken at Salerno, is the first picture of an LST (Landing
Ship, Tanks) in the process of unloading to be released. Like giant monsters, they swing
open their great jaws and belch out tanks and motorized equipment after Coast Guard
and Navy crews drive them right onto the enemy beach.
The Allied Home Front
 WWII became total war
 Mobilizing for War
 American factories were converted to make war
supplies
 17-19 million Americans, many of them women,
became workers in these factories
 Shortage of consumer goods  rationing
 Propaganda used gain support
War Limits Civil Rights
 Prejudice becomes a problem
 February 19, 1942—Executive Order 9066
 Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps
in the middle of the U.S.
 Suspected of being spies, but none were
convicted
 2/3 were Nisei, native-born American citizens
 Many volunteered for military service
Kicked out of
their homes
Put on trains…
Taken to
camps
Held in
behind
barbed-wire
Does this sound familiar?
Victory in Europe: D-Day
 D-Day or Operation Overlord: June 6, 1944
 The invasion of Normandy, France
 Largest land and sea attack in history landed on Omaha
Beach
 Heavy casualties
 July 25—Allies broke through German defenses & led by
General Patton, were able to take Paris
 Will eventually liberate France, Belgium, Luxembourg
Victory in Europe: The
Battle of the Bulge
 Hitler’s plan to split American & British armies &
break up Allied supply line
 December 16, 1944—German tanks broke
through American defenses in the Ardennes
 Allies caught off guard & during the coldest
winter on record
 Allies eventually pushed Germans back
Germany’s
Unconditional Surrender
 March 1945—Allies cross into Germany
 April 12, 1945—FDR dies; Harry Truman takes over as
President
 April 25, 1945—Soviets surrounded Berlin
 April 29, 1945—Hitler married Eva Braun
 April 30, 1945—Hitler and Eva kill themselves & were
cremated
 May 7, 1945—Gen. Eisenhower accepts the unconditional
surrender of the Third Reich;
 May 9, 1945—V-E Day: Surrender officially signed in Berlin