The Western Front

‘D-Day’

Under Eisenhower’s direction, the Allies gathered a force of nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops

Army is stocked with a massive amount of military supplies

Allies prepare for a massive invasion of Normandy

Eisenhower’s Trickery

Sets up a ‘Phantom Army’ Sends radio message to ‘Army’ in codes he

knew the Germans could read Orders ‘Army’ to attack Calais (strongest

section of Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall’) Hitler orders his generals to keep a large

army at Calais

‘D-Day’

Why would it make sense for the Allies to invade at Calais?

D-Day

June 6, 1944: Allied forces invade German-occupied France

Largest land-sea-air operation in army history

D-Day

Despite Eisenhower’s trickery, the German response was brutal, particularly at Omaha Beach

D-Day

After seven days of fighting, the Allies held an 80-mile strip of France

Within a month they had landed a million troops, 560,000 tons of supplies, and 170,000 vehicles in France

American Cemetery in Normandy

After D-Day

By September 1944, the Allies had freed France, Belgium and Luxembourg

‘Dear Ike: today I spat in the Seine.’ – General George S. Patton

The Battle of the Bulge

A last-ditch German offensive in the Ardennes Forest

The Battle of the Bulge

Allied frontline ‘bulged inward’ (according to an early report of the war map)

Germans sustained massive losses (120,000 troops)

Unconditional Surrender

- April 25, 1945: Soviet Army storms Berlin May 8, 1945: The Allies celebrate V-E Day

(Victory in Europe Day) Roosevelt dies (April 12, 1945). V.P. Harry Truman becomes next president