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Section 3 (A). Victory in Europe. Do Now page 821 thinking critically question. In 1943, Allied leaders agreed to open a second front in the war in Europe. The secret operation was code-named Operation Overlord. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the mission’s commander.
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Section 3 (A) Victory in Europe
In 1943, Allied leaders agreed to open a second front in the war in Europe. • The secret operation was code-named Operation Overlord. • General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the mission’s commander. American and British troops would cross the English Channel and invade France.
The planning phase • Preparations for a ‘second front’ against Nazi Germany date back to 1942. • The Allies knew they would have to capture a port to ensure the success of the invasion of France. • A ‘dress-rehearsal’ took place in 1942 when a British-Canadian raid on the port of Dieppe was carried out. • The aim was to capture and hold a French port for a short period to test German defences. • The raid was a total disaster: of the 6,086 men who made it ashore, 4,384 were killed.
Roosevelt knew the risks of the invasion. He resisted Stalin’s pressure for an early launch of the second front. This delay was the cause of much bitter feeling between the Russians and Americans.
American locomotives sent to England being unloaded from a Liberty Ship.
Air raids in preparation for D Day • The British and Americans began bombing targets in occupied France in preparation for D Day. • The French railway system came under continuous attack. • Raids were concentrated in the Calais region to mislead the Germans in to believing that was the intending invasion area. • The Normandy region was bombed, but less heavily.
Operation Fortitude • The Allies began a massive deception of operation to conceal the intended landing zone. • A massive build-up of fake armies and equipment was concentrated in Kent to fool the Germans in to thinking Calais was the intended target. • Canvas and rubber tanks were assembled to confuse any German aerial reconnaissance aircraft. (In fact there were no German spy planes over England in 1944)
Fortitude – canvas aircraft What do such operations reveal about Allied planning for D day ?
Fortitude- fake radio signals Enormous amounts of ‘fake’ wireless messages were transmitted relating to possible invasion plans in the Calais region in the hope the Germans would believe them.
Hitler expected the invasion here in the Pas de Calais Normandy
The French resistance (Maquis) assisted the preparations for D Day by disrupting French railways and causing other acts of sabotage to the telegraph and telephone system. Such acts brought terrible retribution on the local populations.
June 1944 • The timing was now favourable for an invasion • The U boats had been defeated • The German air force was largely grounded for lack of fuel.
The Atlantic Wall • Despite all Allied efforts, the Germans obviously expected an Allied invasion somewhere in France. • Hitler appointed two of his best Generals, Gerd Von Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel to take charge of strengthening the French coast line from attack.
From Norway to the South of France the Germans built up a defensive line against the expected invasion. Tens of thousands of Russian POWs were put to work to construct elaborate defences. The line was by no means complete or evenly spread by the time of D Day.
Despite gaps in the line, the defences were formidable in some places.
Futuristic looking German blockhouse on the island of Jersey.
General Eisenhower Admiral Ramsay General Montgomery Leigh-Mallory ‘Operation Overlord’ planning meeting.
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower gives a pep talk to American paratroopers the evening before D Day.
The capture of Cherbourg was a key objective. It was not captured until the end of June and was badly damaged. The Allies could not risk launching the invasion without a useable port. They constructed an artificial harbour which could be towed across the channel.
Towed to France in sections the Mulberry Harbours allowed the Allies to unload supplies until Cherbourg was captured.
American troops on Omaha Beach, scene of the heaviest fighting and over 5,000 US deaths on D Day.
French civilians ponder their liberation from Nazi occupation as they survey the ruins of their homes.
Caen was a D-Day objective, but took more than two months to capture, by which time the town lay in ruins.
The Mayor of Southampton honours the millionth American soldier to embark for France. D Day + 1 month.
French civilians place flowers at a US cemetery in Normandy.
The D-Day invasion was successful and turned the course of WWII and world history. By landing in Normandy, the Allies made an opening where they could strike at the heart of Nazi Germany. TURN TO PAGE 822 answer questions 2/3
In December 1944, Hitler launched a counterattack, creating a bulgein the American lines. The Americans pushed back, forcing a German retreat during the Battle of the Bulge.
The Race to Berlin: By April of 1945, American and Soviet troops were closing in on Berlin. • Soviets coming in from East • British and American troops moving in from West • WW2 European Theater Map
The Allies seized the momentum. The Soviets advanced from the east, liberating Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. The Americans and British advanced from the west, liberating Paris in August 1944.
Between April and May of 1945 5000 people committed suicide in Berlin (Why do you think this was?) • On April 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler added himself to that list • The Last Film Pictures of Hitler Clip
How old do you think the youngest boy was? • What does this tell us about the German army in March 22, 1945? • They claim these boys “volunteered”, what do you think would happen if you were a young man who refused to defend the “fatherland”
Draft age drops from 18 to 16 to 13 A young machine-gunner totes an MG-42 at Caen in northern France shortly after D-Day. Young replacements huddle in a foxhole on the Russian Front in early 1942--now out of the Hitler Youth and in the German Army--and soon to face the ferocious Red Army. HJ-Schnellkommandos (Emergency Squads) help put out fires after an Allied air raid on Düsseldorf.
V-E Day (Victory in Europe). Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30, and Germany officially surrendered on May 7, 1945. The endless procession of German prisoners marching through the ruined city streets to captivity.
Red army soldiers raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag (German Parliament) in Berlin, Germany.
· On May 8, the Allies celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe). Churchill waves to crowds in Britain after broadcasting to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945.
