Toward Victory – World War II in Europe

1. Toward Victory – World War II in Europe The United States Role in the Good War, 1941 - 1945

2. Joseph Stalin demanded the US and Britain open a Second Front. During most of World War II, the Soviet Union was fighting the Nazi war machine single handedly in Europe. Stalin pleaded with his Allies to open a front in Western Europe, but the attack was postponed and delayed. Winston Churchill, stuck between two fierce superpowers, remarked, “Look here!. I am the leader of a strong, unbeaten nation. Yet every morning when I wake my first thought is how I can please President Roosevelt and my second is how I can conciliate Marshall Stalin.” The US was reluctant to begin a second front in Europe. Instead, Americans provided weapons, war materials, and Spam®.

3. Sicily - 1943 After the United States and English troops captured Sicily, they used it as a base to launch an invasion of mainland Italy. Once the invasion was underway, Benito Mussolini was denounced by the King of Italy, and forced to flee Rome. The Italians ultimately captured and executed Mussolini – but the Nazi forces which had come forward to supplement Italy’s defenses were a formidable threat yet.

4. Dwight David Eisenhower General Eisenhower took personal responsibility for the D-Day Invasion of Europe, carried out on June 6, 1944. The code name for the event was Operation Overlord, and the assault on the Normandy region of France was a great success – with high casualties at Omaha.

5. The Assault on Omaha Beach The assault on Omaha Beach was one of five landings on the D-Day invasion (Utah, Sword, Juno, and Gold beaches were the others). Most of the other beachheads were secured without significant losses.

6. Omaha Beach At Omaha Beach, Americans met fierce resistance from Nazi gunners, entrenched in pill boxes on the cliffs of Normandy. During the assault, over 2500 Americans gave their lives to preserve the American way of life – individual rights and liberty.

7. “Saving Private Ryan”: Public Memory of the D-Day Invasion, World War II The popular memory of the D-Day invasion plays a large role in how Americans remember the war in general. The US role in World War II, and particularly the role of Americans in winning the war, has been the source of great pride for the United States. It is commonly argued that American efforts resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers – an argument which, at best , needs to be qualified. The emphasis on the D-Day invasion at Omaha is central to the narrative in Saving Private Ryan, for example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgs5DgDhsnI

8. Saving Private Ryan and public memory of World War II. “The Greatest Generation” and “The Good War” are commonly ascribed euphemisms for the men who fought in and the conflict known as World War II. Studs Terkel was responsible for “The Good War” becoming popular jargon – although some people object that no war is good. The Greatest Generation is a more recent tribute, as the generation of men who fought in the war pass away, they are remembered as men who braved an evil enemy. The clarity of purpose in the war and the unambiguous goals presented in Saving Private Ryan allow us to celebrate the American role in the conflict – divorced for a more general narrative of World War II.

9. The Letter to Mrs. Bixby – a side note While Mrs. Bixby was the mother of five Union Soldiers, at least three of the boys survived the war. Executive Mansion,Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln The letter may have been written by John Hay, Lincoln’s secretary .

10. Pointe du Hoc Members of the US Military scaled the sea cliffs at Pointe du Hoc at Omaha Beach to capture their German adversaries. They climbed up rope ladders under heavy fire, and suffered terrible casualties in the process. The assault on seawall was intended to capture heavy guns the Nazis had in place – the guns, however, had been disassembled and replaced by wooden replicas.

11. D-Day: June 6, 1944 American, British, and Canadian troops who stormed the beaches at Omaha met heavy fire from the German Army – despite a bombardment by naval vessels all morning. One of the squads which suffered the heaviest casualties was from Bedford, VA. Hence, the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, today.

12. The D-Day Invasion At one point in the assault, Eisenhower considered evacuating the beachhead – and retreating from the area. But slowly but surely – miraculously – soldiers started to reach the heights of Omaha beach, and engage the enemy. The Nazis began to falter.

13. Omaha Beach, D-Day Plus By the end of the morning, American and Allied soldiers had secured the beachhead and created an artificial port where they began landing weapons and materials for the assault on Nazi-controlled Europe.

14. The Battle of the Bulge The last major assault on Allied troops in Western Europe took place in the winter of 1944 – 1945 in Belgium and the low countries. The counterattack is known as the Battle of the Bulge because of the dent in put on the Allied lines across Western Europe.

15. The Battle of the Bulge, 1944 - 1945 The Battle of the Bulge took place in the bitter cold winter of 1944 – 1945, and ended any hope the Nazis had of reinvigorating their war machine. After the Battle of the Bulge ended in Nazi defeat, Russian, American, and English soldiers raced for Berlin.

16. The Red Army of the Soviet Union Arrived in Berlin.

17. President Roosevelt Passed Away April 12, 1945 When President Roosevelt passes away in April of 1945 – of a stroke while resting at Warm Springs, GA – he was confident that the United States would prevail in Europe. The city of Berlin would fall in the next several weeks, and Germany would surrender with one month.

18. Harry S Truman Truman ascended to the Presidency in 1945, and took control of the war effort. He was so little informed of the situations in the war that many worried whether or not he was competent to manage the job as Commander in Chief – but he learned the ropes quickly.

19. Adolf Hitler’s Suicide Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide sometime in late April of 1945 – just as the Soviet Union’s Army was rolling into Berlin with punishing force. His body was discovered by Soviet soldiers, burned, and the taken back to the Soviet Union.

20. V-E Day: Victory in Europe – May 8th, 1945 When Germany surrendered to the Allies, officially ending the war in Europe, wild celebrations took place all over the world – but Americans still had another war to fight – in the Pacific Theatre, against Japan. Many predicted a long war.