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VICTORY IN EUROPE
Invasion of Normandy (D-Day)
2) General Dwight D. Eisenhower was selected as
the Supreme Allied Commander in charge of the
operation because of his successful Allied
invasions in North Africa and Italy and because
the majority of the invading troops were going to
be American.
“Belgian Gates”
D-Day
3) The first phase of the
invasion began on the night
of June 5th, when the 101st
Airborne Division took to
the skies and parachuted
behind German lines along
the coast of Normandy.
The Airborne troops were
ordered to drop inland and
take out the German
artillery installations to
ensure the success of the
ground invasion on the
beaches the next morning.
D-Day
5) The second phase of the
invasion involved a
massive aerial
campaign to soften up
the beaches by
bombing German
defensive installations.
The bomb craters on
the beaches would also
create natural cover for
the invading troops the
next morning.
D-Day
7) The third phase of the invasion would
commence precisely at 6:30 a.m. on
June 6th when the American, British,
and Canadian ground forces hit the
beaches of Normandy.
The First Wave
1) The invasion was the largest amphibious
assault in history. More than 150,000 men,
a fleet of 5,000 ships and landing craft,
50,000 vehicles, and 11,000 planes were
involved in the invasion of Normandy.
The First Wave
5) American troops had to fight across over 400
yards of open beach to the fortified cliffs under
the fire of several German MG-43 machine guns
that fired over 1000 rounds per minute. The first
waves of American troops on Omaha beach
experienced astronomical casualties.
The First Wave
7) The 3,200 inhabitants of the small town of
Bedford, Virginia lost more men per capita
than any other community as a result of DDay. It was as if an entire generation
vanished from such a small rural Virginia
town.
The First Wave
8) The difficult landing cost the combined
Allied forces over 10,300 casualties
with over 4,900 dead
The Holocaust
1) As Allied troops drove
back the German
advances on the
Eastern and Western
Fronts in 1944-45, they
began to discover a
massive system of
labor and death
camps.
The Holocaust
10) The principle goal was to exterminate Europe’s
Jewish population, but millions of other victims
included the Poles and Slavs of Eastern Europe,
nomadic Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally
and physically handicapped, and Hitler’s various
political enemies. (Communists, the French
Resistance, etc.)
The Holocaust
11) It is estimated that over 11 million people
were exterminated during the Holocaust.
Nearly 6 million of them were Jewish. This
represented over 2/3rds of the European
Jewish population.
The Nuremberg Trials
1) An international court was established by
the Allied nations at Nuremberg, Germany
to identify and convict the Nazi leaders
that were guilty of crimes against
humanity.
The Nuremberg Trials
2) The Nuremburg trials emphasized
individual responsibility for personal
actions during the war, regardless of
orders that were received from senior
officers.
The Nuremberg Trials
3) The trials led to increased demands for a
Jewish homeland to be established in
Palestine (later known as Israel).
The Nuremberg Trials
4) The United States government supported
the establishment of the Jewish state in
the Middle East and was the first to
officially recognize the nation of Israel in
1949.
VICTORY IN JAPAN
Iwo Jima
1) In October 1944, a major naval battle in Leyte
Gulf off the coast of the Philippines virtually
destroyed the remnants of the Japanese Navy
in the Pacific and enabled the invasion of the
Philippines. Next up on the Allied agenda was
the invasion of a much smaller island named Iwo
Aerial shot of U.S. landing on Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
11) After four days of fierce battle, the American flag
was raised on the summit of Mount Suribachi.
American forces suffered over 26,000 casualties,
with nearly 7,000 dead. Less than 5% of the
Japanese defenders were taken as prisoner.
(Only 1000 remained of the total force of 21,800)
Okinawa
1) The next U.S. target in the Pacific Island Hopping
Campaign was Okinawa. Similar to Iwo Jima and
Saipan, the island’s airfields would enable more
bombings of the Japanese mainland.
Okinawa
6) Okinawa was declared secure by early July
1945. The battle was the most costly of the
entire Pacific Theatre with over 72,000
American casualties and over 18,000 dead.
The Atomic Bombs
Harry S. Truman
1) President Roosevelt suddenly died in April of
1945 and Vice President Harry S. Truman took
the oath of office as Allied troops closed in on
Nazi Germany in Europe and assaulted Okinawa
in the Pacific.
The Atomic Bombs
2) Upon assuming the Presidency, Truman
was notified of the top-secret Manhattan
Project to develop an atomic bomb.
The Atomic Bombs
3) After a successful test of the atomic bomb
during the summer of 1945, President
Truman decided to use the new weapon
against the Japanese to bring the war in
the Pacific to a quick end.
The Bombs
1) The B-29 Superbomber named “Enola Gay”
dropped the first bomb on the city of
Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th, 1945.
The Bombs
2) Three days passed without a surrender and
a second bomb was dropped on the city of
Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945.
The Bombs
3) The combined explosions instantaneously
killed over 150,000 people. However, an
additional 150,000 people would die as a
result of radiation poisoning and exposure to
the atomic explosions.
The Bombs
4) On August 10th, Japan officially offered surrendered with
the condition that Emperor Hirohito would remain in
power and the Allied powers accepted on August 14th.
The formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S.
Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945.
The Bombs
5) The Second World War was over and
millions celebrated the long awaited V-J
Day (Victory in Japan).