The Road to Victory in Europe
•U.S. Enters the War with Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1942
Loss of Life
•The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic..
–Joseph Stalin
The Numbers
USSR: 27 Million
UK: 450,900
USA: 418,000
Germany: 8 Million
Japan: 3 Million
Italy: 454,000
Part 2 of WW2: Bloody Allied Victories in Europe----Overview
•Europe: Allied Victory 1943-45
•Defeating Hitler first #1 Aim of Allies, Japan later (
•Red Army fought 3/4s of German Army, from Stalingrad to Berlin, 27 million Russians killed
•Stalin demanded “2nd Front”; Germany was fighting 2/3s of German Army
•Br & US bombed Axis cities; invaded N. Africa, 11/42, Italy 7/43, Mussolini overthrown, Italy switched sides, occupied by Gers.
•Br & US invaded France 6/6/44, Russia into Poland, Eastern Europe fall ‘44, German prod. peaks Dec.44
•9/44 Arnhem op. fails; 12/44 Battle of Bulge; 1/45 Germany invaded; Russians took Berlin 4/45, Hitler suicide (see “Downfall”)
•VE-Day May 7, 1945 European Fascism Defeated
Atlantic Charter
(1941-Before Pearl Harbor Day): Meeting b/w FDR and Churchill to set goals for the post-war world
The eight principal points of the Charter were:
1.No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom;
2.territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned;
3.all people had a right to self-determination;
4.trade barriers were to be lowered;
5.there was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare;
6.the participants would work for a world free of want and fear;
7.the participants would work for freedom of the seas;
8.there was to be disarmament of aggressor nations, and a post-war common disarmament
•Fortress Europe: Hitler’s Haven
Atlantic Wall:
extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1945 along the western coast
•The use of Penicillin in the War and on the Home front
•Miracle Drug mass produced after Pearl Harbor
•Used to treat: Infections and STDs
Still being used in hospitals today
•Casablanca Conference
•In a radio address Roosevelt made on February 12, 1943, the President laid forth the tenets of “unconditional surrender”:
“In our uncompromising policy we mean no harm to the common people of the Axis nations. But we do mean to impose punishment and retribution upon their guilty, barbaric leaders.”
Hitler First ---------- Then Japan
•GI: Government Issued
•GI “Government Issue”
appeared on boots, fatigus, clothes, weapons
•16,000,000 U.S. Soldiers served in WW2
"Dog-face" Soldiers – Foot soldiers
•Treated like dogs in training ---
Soldiers fought in:
deserts,
jungle,
swamps,
seas
•Women in WW2
JUST KNOW FOR KNOW THAT WOMEN ARE USED IN:
-SUPPORT ROLES
-NAVAL AVAIATION
-THE COAST GUARD
NOT IN COMBAT
The Western Front
1.How we fought Germany
Strategic Bombing Raid
•Harbors
•Railways
•Industrial Districts
•Military Installations
•Oil Refineries
•Dams
---Example: "Dam Busters" Bouncing Bomb
Carpet Bombing Aka Saturation Bombing, Obliteration
Random dropping of bombs on cities:
•The ultimate aim break the morale of the population by:
1.make the city physically uninhabitable
2.make the people fearful of impending death
(i.e. produce (i) destruction and (ii) fear of death.
Ex:
•90% of Dresden’s City Center Destroyed
•2431 tons of high explosive bombs, and 1475.9 tons of incendiaries
•Nazi propaganda reports claimed 200,000 deaths
•2010 Report 25,000 casualties
•Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter-House Five
–Emerges from Meat Locker and
Forced to find and bury bodies
2.How we invaded Fortress Europe
•North Africa:
•Allies vs. Nazi “Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel (Talented Gen. also at D-Day)
•Allied victory at El Alamein wins
Italy:
• Rome Falls 1943
•Mussolini Executed
•Italy Switches Side
Casualty of War: Destruction of Monte Cassino est. 529 ----- See movie Monuments Men---Art is threatened by war
France (Western Europe):
D-Day: Breaks the Atlantic Wall
•Utah Beach Casualties 197
•Omaha Beach. "Bloody Omaha" U.S. suffered around 3,000 casualties
•Battle of the Bulge: Germany's last great stand
EASTERN FRONT:
GERMANY VS. RUSSIA
Part 1 of WW2: Axis Expansion
•Axis Peak summer 1942; Germany reached Asia @ Stalingrad
Russia Continental Effect: (Extreme differences in temperature)
–Hot Summers Record: (110F on a Summer Day)
–Very, Very Cold Winters (-90F on a Winters Night)
General Winter: Russia's great defense (Like the U.S. has oceans; Like Switzerland has mountains; Russia has an ocean of land)
•Russians have a long history of Winter Warfare
•Napoleon's Army Destroyed by Russian Winter
•German were not prepared for Russian Winter
Turning Points
•Europe: Nazi Germany vs Soviet Russia; Hitler vs Stalin w/ titanic tank battles, millions engaged. EASTERN FRONT = KEY WHERE WW2 DECIDED
•Stalingrad (9/42-1/43) psychological Turning Point.
•Blitzkrieg broken by Red Army in 1943. Russia could win war!!!!
•Stalingrad 1942-43 (Watch the new movie coming out this week in America) WW2 Psychological Turning Point
Stalingrad (The Bloodiest Battle in History)
•Germans: est. 850,000 killed, missing or wounded
•Russians: Approx. 1,120,000 killed, missing or wounded
•July 1942-January 1943; on Volga R., border of Asia
•Stalin: Not a Step Back! Russians Learned They Could Win vs Blitzkrieg
Aftermath of Stalingrad:
• German POW’s:
91,000 German troops taken prisoner at Stalingrad
Only 6,000 would make survive
•Red Army: On To Berlin!
Battle of Berlin
•Berlin Falls------------ Watch Movie Downfall
•Defended by the Volkstrumm: People’s Militia
Males 16-60 years old
•Russians Plunder
•¾ of all German Women Raped by Russian Soldiers
•Read: Woman in Berlin
Story. Written by a German Woman reporter who spoke Russian
•Torgau: US, Soviets Meet
Yalta Conference: Allies Discuss Postwar Europe
•U.S. Enters the War with Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1942
Loss of Life
•The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic..
–Joseph Stalin
The Numbers
USSR: 27 Million
UK: 450,900
USA: 418,000
Germany: 8 Million
Japan: 3 Million
Italy: 454,000
Part 2 of WW2: Bloody Allied Victories in Europe----Overview
•Europe: Allied Victory 1943-45
•Defeating Hitler first #1 Aim of Allies, Japan later (
•Red Army fought 3/4s of German Army, from Stalingrad to Berlin, 27 million Russians killed
•Stalin demanded “2nd Front”; Germany was fighting 2/3s of German Army
•Br & US bombed Axis cities; invaded N. Africa, 11/42, Italy 7/43, Mussolini overthrown, Italy switched sides, occupied by Gers.
•Br & US invaded France 6/6/44, Russia into Poland, Eastern Europe fall ‘44, German prod. peaks Dec.44
•9/44 Arnhem op. fails; 12/44 Battle of Bulge; 1/45 Germany invaded; Russians took Berlin 4/45, Hitler suicide (see “Downfall”)
•VE-Day May 7, 1945 European Fascism Defeated
Atlantic Charter
(1941-Before Pearl Harbor Day): Meeting b/w FDR and Churchill to set goals for the post-war world
The eight principal points of the Charter were:
1.No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom;
2.territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned;
3.all people had a right to self-determination;
4.trade barriers were to be lowered;
5.there was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare;
6.the participants would work for a world free of want and fear;
7.the participants would work for freedom of the seas;
8.there was to be disarmament of aggressor nations, and a post-war common disarmament
•Fortress Europe: Hitler’s Haven
Atlantic Wall:
extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1945 along the western coast
- Kept the British and Americans busy building up enough war materials to break the wall
•The use of Penicillin in the War and on the Home front
•Miracle Drug mass produced after Pearl Harbor
•Used to treat: Infections and STDs
Still being used in hospitals today
•Casablanca Conference
•In a radio address Roosevelt made on February 12, 1943, the President laid forth the tenets of “unconditional surrender”:
“In our uncompromising policy we mean no harm to the common people of the Axis nations. But we do mean to impose punishment and retribution upon their guilty, barbaric leaders.”
Hitler First ---------- Then Japan
•GI: Government Issued
•GI “Government Issue”
appeared on boots, fatigus, clothes, weapons
•16,000,000 U.S. Soldiers served in WW2
"Dog-face" Soldiers – Foot soldiers
•Treated like dogs in training ---
Soldiers fought in:
deserts,
jungle,
swamps,
seas
•Women in WW2
JUST KNOW FOR KNOW THAT WOMEN ARE USED IN:
-SUPPORT ROLES
-NAVAL AVAIATION
-THE COAST GUARD
NOT IN COMBAT
The Western Front
1.How we fought Germany
Strategic Bombing Raid
•Harbors
•Railways
•Industrial Districts
•Military Installations
•Oil Refineries
•Dams
---Example: "Dam Busters" Bouncing Bomb
Carpet Bombing Aka Saturation Bombing, Obliteration
Random dropping of bombs on cities:
•The ultimate aim break the morale of the population by:
1.make the city physically uninhabitable
2.make the people fearful of impending death
(i.e. produce (i) destruction and (ii) fear of death.
Ex:
•90% of Dresden’s City Center Destroyed
•2431 tons of high explosive bombs, and 1475.9 tons of incendiaries
•Nazi propaganda reports claimed 200,000 deaths
•2010 Report 25,000 casualties
•Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter-House Five
–Emerges from Meat Locker and
Forced to find and bury bodies
2.How we invaded Fortress Europe
- Battle of Atlantic (U.S. sends war martials to U.K.)
- North Africa: Br and US Fight Germans
- Italy: "Soft underbelly of Europe" Stalin wanted a second front in France but FDR opted for Italian Invasion
- France: Operation Overlord -- US, UK, and Canada invade northern France (2nd Front Stalin wanted)
•North Africa:
•Allies vs. Nazi “Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel (Talented Gen. also at D-Day)
•Allied victory at El Alamein wins
Italy:
• Rome Falls 1943
•Mussolini Executed
•Italy Switches Side
Casualty of War: Destruction of Monte Cassino est. 529 ----- See movie Monuments Men---Art is threatened by war
France (Western Europe):
D-Day: Breaks the Atlantic Wall
•Utah Beach Casualties 197
•Omaha Beach. "Bloody Omaha" U.S. suffered around 3,000 casualties
•Battle of the Bulge: Germany's last great stand
- Fought in the Ardennes Forrest ---Belgium
- Last Stand for Germany to keep the Western Allies out of Germany---Many Nazi leaders considered this loss to be the last hope for their war
- The Bloodiest Battle for U.S. in WW2
EASTERN FRONT:
GERMANY VS. RUSSIA
Part 1 of WW2: Axis Expansion
•Axis Peak summer 1942; Germany reached Asia @ Stalingrad
Russia Continental Effect: (Extreme differences in temperature)
–Hot Summers Record: (110F on a Summer Day)
–Very, Very Cold Winters (-90F on a Winters Night)
General Winter: Russia's great defense (Like the U.S. has oceans; Like Switzerland has mountains; Russia has an ocean of land)
•Russians have a long history of Winter Warfare
•Napoleon's Army Destroyed by Russian Winter
•German were not prepared for Russian Winter
Turning Points
•Europe: Nazi Germany vs Soviet Russia; Hitler vs Stalin w/ titanic tank battles, millions engaged. EASTERN FRONT = KEY WHERE WW2 DECIDED
•Stalingrad (9/42-1/43) psychological Turning Point.
•Blitzkrieg broken by Red Army in 1943. Russia could win war!!!!
•Stalingrad 1942-43 (Watch the new movie coming out this week in America) WW2 Psychological Turning Point
Stalingrad (The Bloodiest Battle in History)
•Germans: est. 850,000 killed, missing or wounded
•Russians: Approx. 1,120,000 killed, missing or wounded
•July 1942-January 1943; on Volga R., border of Asia
•Stalin: Not a Step Back! Russians Learned They Could Win vs Blitzkrieg
Aftermath of Stalingrad:
• German POW’s:
91,000 German troops taken prisoner at Stalingrad
Only 6,000 would make survive
•Red Army: On To Berlin!
Battle of Berlin
•Berlin Falls------------ Watch Movie Downfall
•Defended by the Volkstrumm: People’s Militia
Males 16-60 years old
•Russians Plunder
•¾ of all German Women Raped by Russian Soldiers
•Read: Woman in Berlin
Story. Written by a German Woman reporter who spoke Russian
•Torgau: US, Soviets Meet
Yalta Conference: Allies Discuss Postwar Europe
- How to carve up Germany and Berlin : 4 Zones (U.K. ; U.S. ; France ; USSR)
- Polish Question: Poland would have free elections
- Nazi War Criminals will be brought to justice
- The UN Question: When will we talk about United Nations for the world