“allies strike back” 1941-1945 european theatre
TRANSCRIPT
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa• June 22, 1941: Hitler launches Operation
Barbarossa: Invasion of Soviet Union
• The Russians practiced a Scorched Earth Policy: Destroy everything the German’s would pass through
• Hitler’s largest Mistake of the War.
1942• January: 26 nations sign the United Nations
agreement
• Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.
• November: Operation Torch: Allied forces (110.000 men) under Dwight D. Eisenhower land in North Africa.
Battle of Stalingrad
• On April 5, 1942, Hitler ordered his Armies to Stalingrad, Soviet forces would be completely cut off from their own oil supply.
• Operation Uranus: The Red Army secretly began to mobilize one million troops, 14,000 heavy guns, 979 tanks, and 1,350 aircraft to attack the Germans
Stalingrad
• The German Blitzkrieg stalled in Stalingrad
• German troops were prepared for Summer fighting, not the harsh Russian winters
• The Germans lost 147,000 men and 91,000 were taken prisoner.
• The Red Army lost 500,000 men in the battle.
• Stalingrad was the first battle where the German Army surrendered.
1942- Northern Africa
• Famous North African Tank Battles
• Axis Powers led by Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)
• Allies led by Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery
• Battle of El Alamein first victory for Allies in Northern Africa
1943• January 14: Casablanca Conference: FDR
and Churchill announce they will accept nothing less than an unconditional surrender from the Axis powers
• May: German forces in Africa defeated, Rommel moved to European front.
1943• July-August Operation "Husky": Allied
forces invade Sicily, Italy. The greatest Airborne-Amphibious Operation of WWII; 3.000 ships and landing-craft with 8 Divisions.
• November: Teheran Conference: First "Big Three" conference to discuss the upcoming Allied invasion of western Europe
D-day: Normandy InvasionD-day: Normandy Invasion• D-Day does not stand for Doomsday, it was
a code word for the specific operation
• June 6: 5,000 ships and landing-crafts carried 5 Allied divisions to the French coast.
• At the first 48 hours, 107,000 men landed.
1944• June 12: In total 326.000 men, 104.000 ton
material and 54.000 vehicles were carried to the French coast
• June 17: 587.000 landed
• July 2: In total 929.000 men, 586.000 ton material and 177.000 vehicles landed
• August 15: About 2.000.000 men landed
Battle of the Bulge• December, 1944: Was the last major
offensive by the German Army.
• Battle was primarily Ground infantry, Armored vehicles and planes.
Bulge Facts• Over a million men: 500,000 Germans,
600,000 Americans and 55,000 British.
• 100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured. 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.
• 1,400 British casualties 200 killed. 800 tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German aircraft.
1945• Through the late winter/spring Allied
Forces pushed Axis forces back into Germany.
• The Big Three meet at Yalta to discuss Post-War Europe, beginning of disagreements between USSR and Allies: Possible start of Cold War
1945• April 16: FDR dies, Vice-President Truman
becomes President
• April 30, 1945 Hitler, trapped in his Berlin Bunker, shoots himself
• May 8 1945: Germany formally surrenders July 1945: Potsdam Conference: Splitting of Germany into Four Allied Zones, Discussion of Japanese surrender.
December 7th 1941
• Japanese Air Force attack US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii, and attack the Philippines the same day.
December 8th 1941
• United States officially declares war on both Japan and Germany.
• “A Day which will live in Infamy”
• For the next several months the Japanese military cannot be stopped. . . .
• Under the command of General Tojo, the Japanese attacked many targets
Battle of Coral Sea: May 1942
• Largest all air battle of the war, huge losses for American airmen.
• First battle to stop Japanese Aggression
June 1942: The Battle of Midway
• Turning Point in the War: Major Victory for US American Intelligence broke Japanese military codes,
• planned sneak attack against Japanese battle plan of Midway island.
• First Allied Victory
Island Hopping
• Allied strategy to avoid Japanese stronghold, hopping to Japan
• Led by Douglas MacArthur and Chester Nimitz
July-November 1942: Battle of Guadalcanal
• 1st Offensive Victory of the Allies
• 1st territory taken from the Japanese
1945Iwo Jima / Okinawa
• Fiercest battles of the war
• Despite little chance of victory, Japanese would not surrender
1945• March ‑‑ Tokyo Air Raid : Bombing runs
over Tokyo: These attacks on the mainland were part of the American effort to force Japan toward a surrender agreement.
• July: At the Potsdam Conference, Stalin agrees to enter the war against Japan in August.
• President Truman learns about the A- bomb at the potsdam conference
• To save American lives, President Truman orders the use of the A-bomb on Japan.
• August 6 1945: The bombing of Hiroshima (Little Boy)
• August 9 1945: The bombing of Nagasaki
(Fat Man)