Download 18.2 - Humble ISD

Chapter 18, section 2
The War in Europe
Stalin and the 2nd Front
• Stalin wants
a second
front
against
Germany to
relieve
pressure on
Russia.
Atlantic War
 German U-Boats prowled the Atlantic Ocean and wreaked
havoc on American shipping. No where was safe.
 Ships were often sunk in sight of the American coast!
• Wolf Packs
ruled the
Atlantic,
sinking 175
ships in June
1942 alone.
• The US
countered with
the convoy
system and
anti-U-boat
planes.
Operation Torch
George Patton
USA
Bernard Montgomery
Great Britain
Erwin Rommel
Nazi Germany
May God have mercy upon my
enemies, because I won't.
“No bastard ever won a war by dying for his
country. He won it by making the other poor
dumb bastard die for his country.”
“Nobody ever defended anything
successfully, there is only attack and attack
and attack some more.”
North Africa
and Italy
• The Nazis relieved
the Italian Army,
who was losing
ground to the
Allies.
• Rommel (the
Desert Fox)
commanded the
Afrika Corps.
• The Nazis pushed
back the Allies
until the arrival of
Montgomery and
Patton
• Patton invades
Italy in April 1943
and Italy is finally
freed in July 1945.
• As Mussolini
attempted to
flee Italy, he
was
captured
and shot by
an Italian
mob
The Eastern Front (Russia)
• Hitler breaks the
Non-Aggression
Pact with Stalin
and invades
Russia their oil
supplies
• Much of eastern
Russia is
overrun.
Russians make a
stand at
Stalingrad.
• The battle lasts 4 ½ months,
• Turning point on the Eastern Front. 330,000
German casualties, 1.1 MILLION Russians
Bloodiest battle in human history.
Allied Air War
• Allied bombing began pounding German
factories and cities
Precision Bombing vs. Carpet bombing
Carpet Bombing
• Massive casualties and devastation of some
German cities.
Operation Overlord “D Day”
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
was made the
Supreme commander
• Create a 2nd front,
and a beachhead in
France
• Largest amphibious
landing in history
(150k men in the 1st
wave)
• Hitler thought it was
a decoy and
delayed
reinforcements
• French Resistance
played a key role.
France was free
after 4 years of Nazi
occupation.
French Hedgerows
Battle of the Bulge
• Last major
German offensive
(counter attack)
• Largest battle of
the war in
Western Europe.
• Signaled the end
of the war for
most Nazis
761st Tank Division
Germany Surrenders
• Hitler commits suicide
as Berlin is
surrounded
• Germany surrenders
on May 8th , 1945
known as VE Day.
• FDR died about a
month before.
Yalta Conference , February 1945
• Germany is divided
into occupied
zones
• Stalin promises
– Enter the war in the
Pacific vs. Japan
– Hold free elections
in occupied
territories