Download Fighting in Russia

Fighting in Russia
Germany breaks pact with Russia
Operation Barbarossa
 Germany’s plan to conquer
Russia
 He removes troops from the
west (moron)
 Continued pressure on the west
was about to Break them
 Hitler wants to rid Russia of
Jews and Slavs and repopulate
with Germans
 Advances quickly deep into
soviet territory
 Eventually slowed by cold
weather and Russian mud
Germany breaks pact with Russia
Unannounced charge
into Soviet Union
 Soviets practice scorched
earth
 Also guerilla warfare
 Ticks off Stalin
Opens a two front war
 Expects Russia to fall
quickly
 Severely underestimates
the Russians
Germany breaks pact with Russia
 Allies cannot help Russia
quickly
 Cant get through Med. or
Baltic seas
 Means Russia is fighting
almost alone
Siege of Leningrad
Germany cuts off supplies in
September 1941
 Expected to take it quickly and
use it for shelter
 Hitler moves a Panzer division
to Moscow
 Forces them to lay siege to it
All lines of communication and
supplies are cut
 The city starves alone until
November
 The lake freezes and supplies
can be brought in
 Civilians had already set up a
defensive perimeter
Siege of Leningrad
Destruction of Leningrad
 Sac and destroy the palaces
outside defensive perimeter
 Most lethal siege in history
 The first winter was the worst
 Cold temperatures and no food
 1.5 million people die of
starvation
 1.4 million evacuated, many
dying en route
 Citizens resort to cannibalism
 All other animals had been eaten
 Gangs attack and eat people
Siege of Leningrad
Leningrad never falls
 The German army very
unprepared for Russian winter
 Still in summer gear for first
year
 Constant supply of meager
goods across the lake
 The road of life
 City is finally freed January
1944
 872 days later
Written Response
Explain the shift in Geopolitical
attitude between Germany, Russia,
and all of Europe after WWII. What
is the cause and what are the
ramifications for Germany today.
Battle of Stalingrad
Bloodiest battle in history of warfare
 Casualties reach near 2 million
 Close combat fighting and lack
for any casualties
 Military or civilian
 Stalin really doesn’t care
Germany approaches western edge
of the city
 Want oil fields in Southwest
Russia
 Want to capture the city of Stalin
 Begin massive bombing
campaign
 Destroys much of the city
Battle of Stalingrad
Stalin brings
reinforcements from
everywhere
 Stations them on the
east side of the Volga
 Defend Stalingrad at all
costs
 Keeps civilians in the
city
 Will encourage defense
of the city
Battle of Stalingrad
German army enters the city and
attempts to take it
 Hand to hand combat in the
streets
 Germany wins streets in the
day
 Retaken by Russians at night
 Slowly make it across the city
to the Volga
 Civilians and military woefully
undersupplied
 Here’s a gun and some
bullets, survive
 Weather and sheer numbers
of Russians force out the
Germans
Battle of Stalingrad
Operation Uranus
 The Russian counteroffensive
 Russians encircle the German
6th Army
 Escapees run toward
Stalingrad
 Cuts them from the rest of
the German army
 Keeps the away from the oil
fields
 German troops ordered not to
give up
 They do anyway
Battle of Stalingrad
Results
 Russian victory
 Turning point in the allied war
effort
 Germany stops all advances
and begins retreat
 Casualties
 Germany ~750,000 killed,
missing, or captured
 Army only
 Russia ~1,133,619 killed,
missing, or wounded
 Includes 40,000 civilians
U.S. Involvement
Japan in The Pacific
Already in Southeast Asia
 Second Sino-Japanese war
 Conquer islands off French
Indochina
 Want to cut trade route with
Singapore
 Eventually make it a
Japanese “protectorate”
 Conquer the Dutch East
Indies
 European nations quickly
give up
Japan in the Pacific
Japan forms an alliance with
Germany and Italy
 The Axis powers are
formed
 Sign a 5 year nonaggression pact with Soviet
Union
 U.S. Places an embargo of
oil and iron to Japan
 Only Philippines and Hawaii
threaten Japanese in
Pacific
 U.S. moves most of Naval
fleet to Hawaii
Japan in the Pacific
New Japanese Leadership
 Hideki Tojo
 New leader of Japanese militarism
 Wanted to attack U.S. Fleet
 Saw it as the best way to conquer
Pacific
 Isokoru Yamamoto
 Japanese General who studied at
Harvard
 Did not want to attack U.S. but went
along with it
 Did not think they could win a long
war with the U.S.
 The one who created the Pearl
Harbor attack
 Believed that many quick blows
would lead to a short war
Japan in the Pacific
The Attack at Pearl Harbor
 December 7th 1941, a date that
will live in infamy
 Japan planned to break
diplomatic ties with the United
States and declare war
 The message arrived late,
making it a sneak attack
 First wave and Second Wave
 354 planes fly over the island
first, attacking small spots on the
way
 Targeted battleships and aircraft
carriers, Ford Island, Hickam
Airfield
 Aircraft carriers out of harbor
Japan in the Pacific
The Attack at Pearl Harbor
Sank 5 Battleships
 One was beached to avoid
blocking the harbor
 Arizona was hit in the forward
magazine
 Exploded, sinking too fast to be
cleared
Light cruisers and destroyers also
hit
 U.S. lost 18 ships
 2,386 people killed, 1,139
wounded
 188 planes lost
U.S. back and fighting strong
within 6 months
 Declare war on Japan December
8th
 Defeat Japanese at battle of
Midway
Operation Overlord
Invasion of Normandy
 Chosen over alternative site
because less heavily
defended
 Less likely in the minds of
Germans (farther away)
 Began by deception
 Attacks and fortifications to
lead the Germans to expect
at alternative site
 Fake landing craft, tanks,
and camps set up across the
channel
Operation Overlord
Operation Neptune (D-Day)
 June 6 1944
 Delayed due to weather
 Begins with allied air born
campaign
 Started overnight by the
light of full moon
 Paratroopers land behind
enemy lines
 Secure strategic points
 Will meet with the invasion
force and spread from
beachhead
Operation Overlord
Operation Neptune
 Beach landings
 Began in early morning with aerial
and naval bombardments
 Attempt to break the German
Defense Atlantic wall
 British land on Gold, Sword, and
Juno
 Gold beach second most fortified
 U.S. Land on Utah and Omaha
 Omaha most fortified
 Weather causes the channel to be
choppy and boats to miss their
targets
 Omaha beach is the most fortified
Operation Overlord
 Have to take the beach fighting
numerous obstacles
 Panzer guns mounted to bunkers
 German Pill boxes; strong
concrete bunkers
 Belgian Gates; heavy metal gates
sunk in the beach to stop craft
 Rommel’s asparagus; poles with
mines attached
 Czech hedgehogs; angle iron
riveted together
 Barbed wire and machine guns
 All beaches were taken
 Most had to fight for numerous
hours
 Not everyone reached their
intended target right away
Operation Overlord
Battle of Normandy
carries on until
August
 Forcing the
Germans back
 Securing targets
and regrouping
End of the War
Europe
Allies ride the momentum
 Germans beat a fast retreat
from Russia
 Western front advances from
Normandy
 After success of El Alemain
allies quickly control north
Africa
 Attack the “soft underbelly”
of Europe
 Come up through Italy
opening a 3rd front
Europe
Mussolini Resigns
 Attempts an escape to Spain via
Switzerland
 Was traveling with retreating
Germans
 Captured by Italian Communists
 Shot by firing squad in a small
town in Northern Italy
 Later taken to Milan in Southern
Italy
 His body was hung upside down
on meat hooks
 Only after being shot again, kicked
and spat on
 Body was stone by civilians from
below
 His body is eventually buried in the
family crypt
Europe
Battle of the Bulge (44-45)
 Last great German push against
the Allies
 Would be easier to defeat the
western front than the eastern
 Largest and bloodiest of the
western front
 A surprise attack on a weakly
defended Allied line
 Creates a bulge in the Allied
defense
 Kill POWs as they advance
westward
 Resolves the allies against them
 Push about 30 miles into France
Europe
Battle of the Bulge
 U.S. air force reinforcements
arrive after days of fighting
 Weather too bad to aid sooner
 Disrupt supply lines force the
Germans back
 British Attack from the north,
Americans from the south
 Slowly but surely American
forces push the Germans back
 Troops are hampered by heavy
snows and cold weather
 “…be regarded as an everfamous American victory”
 Proceed quickly through
Germany after this point
Europe
V-E Day
 Russians push quickly
through the eastern front
 Take the Baltic nations,
Finland, and Baltic states
 Poles begin uprisings
against Germany
 Russia enters Poland 1944
 They are the first to see the
Death Camps in Poland
 U.S. gets the reports but
doesn’t really believe them
Europe
V-E Day
 U.S. and Britain liberate
Concentration camps in
Germany
 Meet the Red army in Eastern
Germany in April 1945
 Soviets will take Berlin
 Hitler commits suicide as the
Red army approaches
 German High Command
surrenders May 8, 1945
Pacific Island Hopping
Troops advanced skipping some
islands
 Simply cut off the supplies
 Cannot waste men and time
reclaiming every island
Battle of the Coral Sea 1948
 The first major turning point in
the Pacific
 American and Australian forces
fight Japanese to a draw
 Initial and permanent blunt of
Japanese advance
Pacific Island Hopping
Battle of Midway: June 1942
 Turning point for U.S. in the
pacific
 Severely hurt the Japanese fleet
 Americans met and defeated a
larger Japanese fleet
Battle of Guadalcanal
 First invasion of a Japanese held
territory
 3 month battle
 Huge losses on both sides
 Bushido code; you fight to the end
and don’t get taken
 U.S. gains control of important air
base
Pacific Island Hopping
Battle of Iwo Jima: Feb-March 1945
 Nothing on Iwo Jima but an
airstrip 800 miles from Japan
home island
 Could keep up constant bombing
 Japanese would not go easily
 Vowed to fight to the death no
matter how many
Battle of Okinawa
 Pretty much suicide for
Japanese holed up in mountains
 Also suicide for U.S. troops that
had to attack
 450 miles from Japan
 Bloodiest battle of the Pacific
Pacific Island Hopping
The Nuclear bomb
 Truman’s catch 22
 Kill civilians or save
soldiers
 The amount of soldiers
expected to die were
astronomical
Pacific Island Hopping
Nuclear Bomb
Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima
 August 6 1945
 The Japanese do not give in
Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki
 August 9 1945
 Japan agrees to unconditional
surrender August 14
 V-J day September 2 terms
signed
Pacific Island Hopping
Nuclear Bomb
 Effects of the nuclear bomb
 .3 miles buildings collapse,
peeling skin, immediate
shockwave
 .75 miles buildings collapse,
peeling skin, shock wave
 2.3 miles, flash, building
damage, burning flesh, and
shockwave
 “Black Rain fell”
 Concentrated radioactive
material from the blast
 Like drinking nuclear sludge
The Holocaust
Concentration Camps
 Hitler’s “Final
Solution”
 Destruction of the Jews
in Germany or occupied
Europe
 Previously they were
detained in Ghettos
 Einsatzgreupen
 Eventually needed a
better way
 Not just the Jews
 Gypsies, Disabled
Germans, Poles, Blacks,
etc.
The Camps
Concentration Camps
Labor Camps
 To produce for the German
war effort and people
 Literally worked to death
Death Camps
 Gas and Creamation
 Medical Experimentation
 Random amputations,
pressure changes, drug
tests, freezing, changing
eye color
Auschwitz
Liberation
Began July 1944
 Russians Started to
enter the camps in
Poland
 Western allies
entered
Concentration camps
in April 1945
Deaths
Camp
Estimated Deaths
Auschwitz-Birkenau (40-45)
1,500,000
Belzec (42-43)
600,000
Chelmno (41-43)
320,000
Majdanek (41-44)
360,000
Sobibor (42-43)
250,000
Treblinka (42-43)
700,000-800,000
Nuremburg War Trials
Needed to have some
response to the
Holocaust
 Sentenced 12 Nazi
leaders to death,
including the doctors
 Has set precedence
for future war crimes
trials and crimes
against humanity