World War II

1. World War II War In Europe and Africa 1942-1944

2. War Plans • Churchill meets with FDR • Three weeks on war plans • Decide Germany and Italy pose greatest threat • Japan secondary • Must gain foothold in Europe first • Then worry about the Pacific • Will strike against Hitler first

3. Battle of the Atlantic • German U-Boats attack US • East coast/Atlantic regions • Trying to cut off supply lines to Britain and USSR • Allies organize into convoys • Escorted by destroyers with sonar and planes with radar • 1943 > Battle turns in favor of Allies

4. Battle of Stalingrad • Germany invaded USSR in June1941 • Summer of 1942 Germans go on offensive • Oil fields and industrial center on Volga River • Symbolism of taking Stalingrad • Luftwaffe strike first, set city ablaze • Soviets ordered to defend at all costs • Germans hold 9/10 of the city • Winter sets in…Germans crippled • Soviets launch massive strike, cut off supplies to Germans • Hitler orders Germans to dig in • Germany surrenders January 31, 1943 • TURNING POINT! USSR moves toward Germany

5. Stalingrad

6. North African Front • Stalin pressures Allies to open 2nd front • Not enough troops for W. Europe front • Allies launch Operation Torch • Invade Axis-controlled North Africa • Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower • Land in 1942 and move east • Chase Erwin Rommel’s AfrikaKorps • Nickname “Desert Fox”

7. Notable Commanders Rommel (Germany) Patton (US) Montgomery (Britain)

8. Battle of El Alamein • Montgomery vs. Rommel • Fought in deserts of Egypt • Heavy use of landmines by Rommel’s men • Decisive Allied victory • Marked turning point in Western desert campaign in favor of Allies • Leads to retreat of Rommel’s Afrika Korps • Afrika Korps eventually surrender May 1943 • Result = complete destruction of Rommel’s infantry divisions and tanks

9. Kasserine Pass • Fought in Tunisia • After Allied victory at El Alamein, Montgomery pushes into Tunisia from the South • US and other Allies push in from the West • Kasserine Pass • Rommel launches an attack on Allies • Hopes to drive a wedge between two groups of Allies • Allies get rocked, many losses

10. Map of Tunisia

11. Battle of El Qatar • First U.S. victory over Rommel • U.S. forces led by General Patton • U.S. forces prove they are up to the Nazi challenge • U.S. prepares for invasion of Sicily

12. Italian Campaign • Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Casablanca • Morocco • Decide they will only accept an unconditional surrender of the Axis powers • Roosevelt > launch attack across English Channel through France into Germany • Churchill > better to attack Italy

13. Italian Campaign Cont. • Allies take Sicily in 1943 • Allies under command of Patton and Montgomery • Within three days 150,000 Allied troops ashore • Face little resistance from Sicilian troops • “Race to Messina” • Allies want to trap Axis forces in NE corner of the island • British moving up the Southeast coast • US moving east across the north coast • Result = 100,000 Axis troops retreat to the mainland • Ultimately leads to collapse of Mussolini’s government • Replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio • Begin secret pacts with Allies

14. Race to Messina Patton Montgomery

15. Italian Campaign Cont. • Montgomery begins assault on mainland Italy • Result = Italy surrenders to the Allies • Deal was they would be treated with “leniency” if they helped to expel Nazis from Italy • Mussolini is rescued from prison • Becomes Nazi puppet government leader in northern Italy • Badoglio government declares war on Germany • Mussolini later captured and executed

16. Operation Overlord • Allies liberate Europe • Plan is to invade France and move to free Western Europe • D-Day (June 6, 1944) • Attack Normandy in Northern France • Led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Montgomery • Largest land and sea operation in military history • Allies land over 1 million troops! • Brutal fight with German armies, especially at Omaha beach

17. Allied Landings in Normandy • General Omar Bradley • July 25th > unleashes massive air raid at St. Lo • Breaks a gap in the German line • Allows for Patton and his 3rd Army to move into position German Line

18. Patton’s 3rd Army • Advances • August 23rd 1944 Patton’s 3rd Army reaches the Seine River south of Paris • Two days later French Resistance and Allies take the capital (Paris) • By September France, Belgium and Luxembourg are free! • Roosevelt is elected to a 4th term

19. Battle of The Bulge • Last major German offensive • Allies capture first German town-Aachen • Hitler orders troops to break through Allied lines and take Antwerp Antwerp • 8 Nazi panzer divisions break through Allied lines, separate British and US troops • Created a “bulge” in the line • Battle raged for a month, massive German losses • Germans eventually retreat

20. Pinching Germany

21. Liberation of Death Camps • US troops push east, Soviets push west toward Berlin • Majdenek first liberated • SS try to bury/burn all evidence • “gigantic murder plant” • Hitler’s last address • Letter blaming Jews for starting the war, German generals for losing it • Hitler commits suicide • May 8th, 1945 Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender of 3rd Reich • V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)

22. Roosevelt Dies • Roosevelt dies of a stroke April 12, 1945 • Did not live to see V-E Day • Harry S. Truman becomes 33rd President of the United States