VICTORY IN EUROPE

Chapter 27, Section 3

Review

U.S. first offensive in Europe started out rather cautiously. What was this offensive called? What was the plan?

Allies now going into the soft underbelly of Europe

Allied Attacks in the Mediterranean

Allied Attacks in the Mediterranean

Invasion of Italy North Africa offered a gateway to Sicily July 1943 – Allied troops subdued Sicily in a little over a

month Guided by George S. Patton

Italian king named new prime minister to replace Mussolini and ordered his arrested. Germans took Mussolini – set up a base for him in northern Italy

January 1944 – Allies landed in south Rome at Anzio Rome falls to U.S. and Britain

1945 – Germans occupying Italy defeated; Mussolini captured and shot by Italian rebels

Question: Why was losing Italy an important defeat to the Axis powers?

Sea and Air Assaults

German U-boats continued to take a toll on allied ships, lives, and supplies

Battle of the Atlantic turned in the Allies favor because of refined sonar equipment. Uses sound waves to detect underwater objects

Allies developed fast escort ships for convoys Allies air bombed German U-boats and

submarine yards 1944 – Allies won Battle of the Atlantic

Creative Representation

After being cautious at the beginning of the war, the Allies were starting to turn the war in Europe to their favor.

Draw an image or icon that represents this problem and how it worked in America

Surround your image with a word cloud including at least 5 nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives

Discuss and develop with your partner You have 6 minutes

Operation Overlord

Allied invasion of German-occupied France U.S. Army chief of staff and key allied

strategist George C. Marshall led the planning General Dwight D. Eisenhower led the invasion

Dummies and false clues installed to convince Germans the invasion would be near Calais on the English Channel

Instead, Allies landed farther north in Normandy on D-Day June 6, 1944

Operation Overlord

General Omar Bradley led troops that landed at Normandy

Planes dropped 23,000 airborne troops Bombed roads,

bridges, and German troop concentrations

Operation Overlord

Germans fortified Normandy beaches with concrete bunkers, tank traps, and mines Allied campaign of disinformation and

distraction had done its job Hitler refused to send reinforcements to

Normandy because he believed the main invasion would be elsewhere

Operation Overlord

Success: 20 miles into France by early July Liberated Paris on August 25, 1944 Early September – 2 million Allied troops

landed in western Europe

Video

Answer these questions while watching the video: How did the men prepare for D-Day? How did their generals attempt to keep

morale up, knowing their men would most likely die in battle? Cite specific examples.

Write down specific strategic information pertaining to D-Day that you saw in the video.

How did Saving Private Ryan depict the chaos that ensued on D-Day?

The Holocaust

Nazi Germany’s systematic slaughter of European Jews, Gypsies, Poles, mentally disabled, and religious and political prisoners.

Made camps specifically for genocide Deliberate annihilation of an entire people

Nazis called the extermination program the “final solution of the Jewish problem”

Defeating Germany

Hitler refused to give up.

Battle of the Bulge

September 1944 – Allies crossed German border

Germans launch final counterattack Thickly wooded Ardennes region of Belgium

and northern France Pushed to create a dangerous bulge in the

Allied lines 200,000 Germans vs. 80,000 U.S. troops

Allied generals rushed in reinforcements and pushed Germans back

Video

Answer these questions while watching the video: What is Germany’s strategy at the Battle of

the Bulge? How does the situation for the Americans

get worse? Why were Americans refreshed by the

victory in the Ardennes?

The Yalta Conference

February 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met to plan for postwar peace

The Yalta Conference

Stalin pledged to declare war on Japan three months after Germany’s surrender

Agreed to divide and occupy Germany after the war and outlined plans for a new international peace organization

Presidency

Urgency of the war effort convinced President Roosevelt to run for an unprecedented fourth term Missouri Senator, Harry S. Truman as his

running mate Roosevelt won the election

The Race to Berlin

Early months of 1945 – Allied bombers continued to blast German cities Leipzig and Berlin

March 1945 – Allied troops crossed the Rhine River from the west and drove into the heart of Germany

Soviet troops occupied much of eastern Europe

April 1945 – Allied advance halted at the Elbe River

End of the Fuhrer

April 30, 1945 – Hitler committed suicide in his bunker deep under the ruins of Berlin.

May 7, 1945 – Germany surrendered unconditionally

May 8, 1945 – known as V-E (Victory in Europe) Day Marked the formal end of a brutal war that

held Europe in its grip for more than five years

Video

Answer these questions while watching the video: How did the Allies celebrate their victory

over Germany? What was President Truman’s message to

the American people?