Download Major Fronts of the war

Major Battles and Events
EUROPEAN FRONT: Before U.S. Enters the War
 BATTLE OF BRITAIN 1940
 Hitler knew he couldn’t defeat the British Navy
 Began this battle as an air war (Luftwaffe)
 Worked well at first…
 British develop superior aircraft
 Begin bombing German cities while Germany
bombed England at night.
WHERE DO WE START?
 EUROPE
 NORTH AFRICA
 ASIA (PACIFIC)
Hitler Was Everywhere!
FRONTS
 EUROPE:
 ALLIES TAKE ON GERMANY:
 GOAL: TO DEFEAT THEM
 PACIFIC:
 DEFENSIVE
 DEFEAT NAZIS FIRST
EUROPEAN FRONT: U.S. Enter the War
 MAJOR BATTLES: Battle of Stalingrad
SOVIETS BATTLE GERMANS AT
STALINGRAD- AUGUST 1942-1943
 Bloodiest standoff on the war
 Over one million casualties: 199 days
 Allies decided to let Russia fight on their own
THIS DECISION WILL COST THE U.S. FUTURE
RELATIONS WITH SOVIETS.
NORTH AFRICAN FRONTS
 OFFENSIVE FIGHT
 ROOSEVELT AND
CHURCHILL MEET IN
MOROCCO: 1943
 DECIDE NOT TO HELP
SOVIETS INSTEAD STICK
TO PLAN TO ATTACK
FROM NORTH AFRICA
INTO SICILY
NORTH AFRICAN BATTLES
 OPERATION TORCH
 NOVEMBER 1942
 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
 MOROCCO & ALGERIA FIRST FALL AS THEY HAVE
GERMAN PUPPET GOVT
 TUNISIA: ROMMEL(THE DESERT FOX) AND HIS AFRIKA
CORPS
 MAY
1943: AXIS TROOPS
SURRENDER AFRICA
European Battles
 Eisenhower
plans attacks on Italy after
success in N. Africa with help of British
 Campaign begins June 1943
-Sicily
-Anzio
-Rome
 Mussolini forced to resign in August 1943
European
Front
April 29, 1945
Mussolini and
15 other fascist
leaders are
executed and
hanged in the
Piazzale Loreto
in Milan.
EUROPEAN FRONT AND BATTLES
 OPERATION OVERLORD (D-DAY)



FDR
STALIN
CHURCHILL
MEET
TO PLAN INVASION ACROSS
ENGLISH CHANNEL
NORMANDY
GERMANS EXPECTED THEM TO
ATTACK ELSEWHERE AT CALAIS
EUROPEAN BATTLES
 NORMANDY, FRANCE (D-DAY)
 LARGEST AMPHIBIOUS INVASION
 JUNE 6, 1944
*Code Breakers intercept Axis correspondence*





150,000 ALLIED SOLDIERS
600 WARSHIPS
GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER/Rommel for Germans
BY JULY: ALLIED FORCES IN FRANCE WAS OVER 1
MILLION
HITLER HESITATES TO FIGHT BACK
World War II
D-DAY
INVASION
OF NORMANDY
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?
 NAZIS CONTINUE TO FIGHT THROUGH AIR
ATTACKS 1943 & 1944
 OPERATION OVERLORD: DRIVE THE NAZIS
OUT OF FRANCE AND HEAD THEM TOWARDS
DEFEAT AT HOME
 JUNE 6, 1944
 LARGEST AMPHIBIOUS INVASION

(INVASION BY SEA)
WHERE DID THIS TAKE PLACE?
 60 MILE STRETCH OF NORMANDY COAST
(NORTHERN FRENCH COAST)
 HITLER CAUGHT UNAWARE: THOUGHT
ATTACK WOULD BE FURTHER UP THE COAST
AT CALAIS
 326,000 SOLDIERS LAND THE FIRST WEEK,
50,000 VEHICLES, 100,000 TONS OF SUPPLIES
THE BEACHES
 CODE NAMES:
 JUNO
 GOLD
 OMAHA
 UTAH
 SWORD
WHO WAS INVOLVED?
 AMERICAN LEADER: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
 GERMAN LEADER: ROMMEL
 SOLDIERS
 AMERICAN
 CANADIAN
 BRITISH
 GERMAN
D-Day
American
soldiers
wading
through water
into Nazi
machine-gun
fire on the
coast of
France.
European Front
 Battle of the Bulge
 When? – December 16, 1944

Where? – border areas near
Luxembourg, France and Germany
 Results? – The Germans began a
counterattack against the Allies as
the Allies attempted to drive the
Germans completely out of
France.
 Importance? – Germans begin
retreat signaling their defeat.


First time allies will enter Germany
since war started
First time allies will see
concentration camps
· V-E Day (Victory in Europe)May 8, 1945
 BATTLE OF THE BULGE (BELGIUM)
 LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF WWII
 DECEBMER 1944
 CLEARED WAY TO GERMANY
 SOVIETS ATTACK FROM THE EAST
 AMERICANS FROM THE WEST
 TIED DOWN HUGE AMOUNTS OF ALLIED RESOURCES
TAKE GERMANY
Red army soldiers raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the
Reichstag (German Parliament) in Berlin, Germany.
Churchill
waves to
crowds in
Britain after
broadcasting
to the nation
that the war
with Germany
had been won,
V-E Day Celebrations in New York City, May 8, 1945.
V-E Day celebrations, Bay Street, Toronto, Canada
May 7, 1945
VE-Day Parade, Red Square, Moscow, Russis
ASIAN FRONT
 DEFENSIVE
FRONT
AGAINST
JAPAN
 JAPAN HAD
TAKEN OVER
GUAM, WAKE,
SINGAPORE
AND
PHILIPPINES
 How do we get
them back?
Island Hopping
• The two main goals of
the U.S. in the Pacific
were:
•
I. to regain the Philippines.
II. to invade Japan.
 The U.S. began a policy
of island hopping, using
islands as steppingstones towards Japan.
•
ASIAN FRONT
 February of 1945

The U.S. recaptured the
Philippines, Iwo Jima and
Okinawa.
 Raising the Flag on Iwo
Jima: depicts five United
States Marines and a U.S.
Navy corpsman raising
the flag of the United
States atop Mount
Suribachi during the
Battle of Iwo Jima.
ASIAN FRONT: THE TIDE TURNS
 BATTLE OF THE
CORAL SEA
-JAPAN WANTS
TO TAKE
AUSTRALIA
-May 1942
-Japan loses
-Japanese naval
aviation begins to
decline.
ASIAN FRONT CONTINUED
 MIDWAY ISLAND
-CODE BREAKERS
READY AMERICANS
FOR THE ATTACK.

TAKE OUT FOUR OF
FIVE JAPANESE
CARRIERS

It limited Japan's ability to
attack Hawaii again or
other Allied positions.
OTHER ASIAN BATTLES
 MORE BLOODY BATTLES:
-GUADALCANAL



SOLOMON ISLANDS
AMERICANS CUT OFF JAPANESE SUPPLY LINES
Became military base from which to counterattack the Japanese
 IWO JIMA
 OKINAWA
 HEAVY CASUALTIES ON BOTH SIDES IN THESE
BATTLES
VICTORY IN THESE ISLANDS WIL BE
KEY TO ALLIED VICTORY IN JAPAN