Text Notes

1. Text Notes Soon after the US entered WWII, the Allies agreed that the 1st goal was to defeat the Germans. If the Germans won in Europe, the US would be left to face the aggressor nations alone!

2. Wolf Pack • Groups of German submarines attacked ships in the Atlantic. • This type of battle proved costly for the Allies. In May 1942, 120 ships were sunk. This cost the allies food & weapons.

3. Radar • Airplanes could locate & destroy submarines or direct armed ships to attack. • Invented by ‘good research & good luck.’

4. Sonar • ‘sound navigation ranging’ • Navy ships could hear distant propeller noises from subs or use ‘echo-ranging’ sending ‘pings’ out to rebound off sub hulls.

5. Success in North Africa • with the Battle of the Atlantic underway, the Allies began their 1st moves in North Africa.

6.  Desert Fox! • Erwin Rommel led Axis forces in North Africa.

7. Afrika Korps • Rommel’s forces threatened the Suez Canal & oil fields of the Middle East. • The British secret decoding machine, ULTRA, revealed Rommel’s plans.

8. ‘Rat Patrol’ • The Allies decided in July 1942 to clear Africa by invading North Africa from the West.

9. Bernard Montgomery led the British 8th Army. Monty’s armies finally broke through on Nov 4, 1942 & left Rommel’s North AfrikaKorps in ‘disarray.’

10. Landing in Africa • On Nov 8 1942 a huge Allied force landed on the west & north coast of Africa. • 101 of the ship transports carrying 35,000 GIs came from the USA.

11. CASABLANCAJan 1943 • Allied strategy to defeat Italy & Germany in Europe & North Africa first!

12. Churchill said: • ‘It is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning!’

13. Text Notes At Casablanca, FDR argued for an invasion of France in 1943, but the British wanted to free the Mediterranean by taking Sicily & Italy out of the war. Their view finally prevailed.

14. In Tunisia • an Axis army of 250,000 was trapped, in North Africa & when some tried to escape their transport planes were destroyed.

15. Rommel was recalled to Germany • on March 7, 1943 & asked Hitler if total victory was possible. ‘I know it is necessary to make peace….but no one will make peace with me.’ A. Hitler

16. General Jurgen von Arnim • surrendered the Axis forces in Tunisia on May 7, 1943. • He & 16 other generals were taken prisoner.

17. July 10, 1943 • 250,000 British & American troops landed in Sicily. • It was the greatest amphibious operation of all time.

18. Faulty Plan! • Axis forces escaped to the mainland of Italy but the Italians forced Mussolini to resign.

19. Armistice with Italy • signed an armistice on Sept 3, 1943 with Italy. • So Hitler rushed reinforcements to hold Italy for the Axis.

20. On June 4, 1944… the Allies entered Rome but the Germans held on. 70,000 Americans died in the invasion.

21. Saturation Bombing • In 1941, the RAF dropped 46,000 tons of bombs. • The British Lancaster bomber had a payload capacity of 14,000 pounds. • whole areas were destroyed. • Incendiary bombs set fire to entire cities & were intended to demoralize the Nazis & force their early surrender.

22. Army Air Corps made its’ 1st raid on Germany in 1942. They used ‘pinpoint’ attacks to focus on crucial factories.

23. B-17… ….bombers were called ‘Flying Fortresses’ because they bristled with so many machine guns.

24. V-2 • was the world’s 1st ballistic missile! • It made no warning & dropped suddenly from the sky carrying one-ton bombs.

25. Werner von Braun • was the “driving force” behind development of the “V2.” • Von Braun & JFK watched the launch of a NASA rocket in the early 60s

26. By 1944…. • Nazi offense gave way to defense. • Allied planes killed thousands & destroyed 5 million homes.

27.  “Operation Overlord” The Allied invasion designed to liberate France. Nazi held Europe was called ‘Fortress Europa.’

28. Dwight D. Eisenhower • Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe! • Allied Expeditionary Force • Before D Day, ‘Ike’ gave a ‘pep talk’ to a group of paratroopers.

29. Hitler sent 58 German divisions • to France because he thought the Allies would attack Calais, the closest point to Great Britain & because the Allies made him think so!

30. The most important…. • & best kept secret of the war was where & when the Allied invasion of France would be. • The cross-channel invasion was dangerous because the Germans had 4 years to build coastal defenses.

31. June 5, 1944 • A force of 600 warships, 4000 supporting craft & 176,000 men moved toward the Normandy coast protected by an air cover of 11,000 planes. The Allies achieved tactical surprise & the landings were a success.

32.  D-DAY! June 6, 1944 The largest amphibious invasion in history! GIs packed in LCIs prepared to hit one of Normandy’s beaches.

33. Panzers • German generals had wanted to use their armored divisions but Hitler said no. • He still feared the main attack would come at Calais.

34. The Battle of Normandy • from June 6 to July 24, 1944. More than a million men controlled 1500 square miles of Normandy & Brittany.

35. George Patton • led the 3rd Army in the Battle for France on July 25, 1944. • “He was known for his pearl handled revolvers & profuse profanity!”

36. French Forces (of the) Interior • The French Resistance or ‘Underground’ came out into the open to aid the Allies.

37. ‘Vichy’ • French who were helping the Nazis & ruling North Africa quickly sided with the Allies. • All North Africa to the borders of Tunisia was now in Allied hands.

38. The US 7th Army led by General Patch joined the eastward moving troops.

39.  August 25, 1944 • PARIS WAS LIBERATED BY THE ALLIES! • Within 6 weeks all of France was cleared of Germans who lost tons of men & material.

40. September 12, 1944 • Units of the US 1st Army under Courtney Hodges moved onto the ‘sacred soil’ of Hitler’s ‘3rd Reich.’

41. Siegfried Line • A line of fortifications extending the whole length of the German border. • Six allied armies with 3 million men faced this line.

42. To Russia, with Love! • In Nov 1942, the Russians broke the siege of Stalingrad. • Then captured the German army in Feb 1943.

43. Soviet armies… • headed west toward the German border & Romania & Bulgaria surrendered on Oct 20, 1944.

44. ’Bridge too Far!’ • The Allies failed to ‘jump’ the river-barriers: the Meuse, Waal & lower Rhine. • A British officer called it “a bridge too far” & the Allies settled for a ‘slower strategy.”

45. Hitler’s Final Gamble In December 1944, 2 German armies struck in the Ardennes intending to sweep through & seize Antwerp, the main Allied base.

46.  Battle of the Bulge Dec 1944 • Largest and bloodiest battle of the war • Germans advanced 60 miles into Belgium creating a large ‘bulge’ in the Allied line.

47. General McAuliffe 101st Airborne • was surrounded & asked to surrender by the German commander. He sent a one word reply: “Nuts!”

48. The US 3rd Army • relieved the 101st & by the end of January 1945 the Germans were forced back to the Siegfried Line.

49.  Yalta Conference • Churchill, FDR & Stalin met in Feb 1945 & agreed on plans of Nazi surrender. • Germany was to be taken apart & forced to pay enormous “reparations.”

50. Josef Stalin • made the Allies agree to give him half of all German reparations, & promised to declare war on Japan soon after the defeat of Germany.