Download D-Day & Battle of the Bulge

D-Day &
Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 2011
Summary
• 1941: Pearl Harbor
• Europe: North Africa/ Italy
• Pacific: McArthur/ Bataan Death March
– Battle at Coral Sea
– Battle at Midway
– Guadalcanal
• 1942 to 1943
– Axis powers from OFFENSIVE to
DEFENSIVE
• June 6, 1944: D-Day
• 1944 to 1945
– Final crushing of Axis powers
• Europe Goal: Attack Germany from EAST and
WEST
– 2 front war
• Pacific Goal: Island Hopping Strategy
• U.S. creating NEW WEAPON that will change
warfare forever
•
Soviets have done most of
fighting in Europe (France)
–
•
U.S./ England went to North
Africa
Stalin insist that U.S. & Britain
invade from West
–
Force Germany to divide troops
Churchill doesn’t want to do
1.
2.
3.
•
Recalled deaths in WWI
German U-Boats in English
Channel
Need MORE training/ equipment
November 1943: FDR, Stalin,
& Churchill meet in Iran
•
1st face to face meeting
• Eventually agree they need
to cross Channel
• PLAN: U.S. & Britain will
invade France & march
towards Germany
• 6 months later - massive
invasion begins
– Code name “OPERATION
OVERLORD”
• D-Day Invasion of Normandy
– Most experienced officers
• Years of training in U.S. &
England
– Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
(Supreme Commander)
• Planned invasion
• Operation Overlord a.k.a. D-Day
– 21 U.S. divisions
– 26 British, Canadian, & Polish
divisions
– 50 mile stretch of beach in
Normandy, France
• Largest fleet EVER assembled
– 156,000 soldiers
• 73,000 are American
– 15,500 are U.S. paratroopers
– 11,000 planes
– 5000 ships
• 5 beaches in Normandy
– Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold, & Sword
• Omaha MOST DANGEROUS
D-Day Continued…
Battle of the Bulge
December 19, 2011
• D-Day planned for June 5, 1944
– Foggy
• D-Day happens on June 6, 1944 (6:30 AM)
• A little lie…
– Allies create fictional army under Gen.
Patton (fake HQ, tanks, radio, etc.)
– Convince Germans attack will come
from Calais…not Normandy
• Worked: Hitler order top divisions to Calais
– Germans still on beaches of Normandy
• Fire from trenches, mined beaches
(bombs), anti-landing obstructions
• Some let off too far from beach
– Equipment heavy (drowned)
• Planes shot down/ Paratroopers killed in air
• High casualties
– 10,000 Allied/ 4,500 died/ 2,500 US died
• Allies made gains in France
– 1 month: 1 million troops landed in
Normandy
• Germany hopeless
– 2 front war
– Soviets to the EAST
– U.S. & England to WEST
• August 1944: Allies liberate Paris
– Hitler ordered to destroy but generals
disobeyed
• September 1944: Operation Market Garden
– Netherlands
– Unsuccessful/ Americans retreat
• Forced to go through Belgium
Battle of the Bulge
• Starts December 16, 1944 – Feb. 1945
• Hitler’s counterattack to D-Day
• Germans attack through Ardennes Forest
– Belgium, Luxembourg
• German Advantage: Foggy/ snow storm
• Prevent planes from sending aid
• Germans ALMOST succeeded
– Created “bulge” in allies lines
• Germans stopped by Allies in Bastogne
– Surrounded/ outnumbered
• U.S. troops hold & fight despite frostbite & German
bombing
• January 1945: Skies clear / bomb
– Patton’s army storms Bastogne
– Push Germans back & crippled them
• 80,000 Allied casualties/ 100,000 German
• Hitler no more reserves
• February 1945: Soviets reach outskirts of Berlin
• April 12, 1945: FDR dies
– Harry Truman takes over as U.S. President
• April 28: Mussolini captured & executed
– U.S./ Britain 50 miles west of Berlin
• Hitler physical wreck
– Shakes, paranoid, still thinks
chance of victory
– Giving orders but no one listen
• April 30, 1945: Hitler commit
suicide
• May 7, 1945: Germany
surrenders in Eisenhower’s
Headquarters
• Americans celebrate V-E Day
– Victory in Europe