Battles of World War II: Europe

Libertyville HS

Phases of World War II - Europe

Maginot Line

Fall of France

• France considered the strongest military in world, before 1940

• Defeated in 6 weeks• Why? – Reliance on linear (static

) defense– Lack of tanks

The Battle of Britain

St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1940

The Battle of the Atlantic

Operation Barbarossa: German invasion of Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa

Germans• Infantry: 4.3 million• Tanks: 4,171• Artillery: 42,601• Airplanes: 4,389

Soviets• Infantry: 3.2 million• Tanks: 15,687• Artillery: 59,787• Airplanes: 11,537

German surprise was complete• Almost 4000 Soviet aircraft were destroyed in first three days

of the attack • Germans advanced 300 miles in first week• Germans captured or killed over 1 million Soviet soldiers by

November, 1941

Stalingrad

Pre war Stalingrad

Stalingrad: The Human Cost

• Siege was 199 days long• Estimated 2 million casualties, combined• Germans: 850,000 casualties (KIA, WIA, POW)• Soviets: 1.1 million casualties + untold civilian

casualties

Battle of North Africa

D-Day• “Operation Overlord”• Allied invasion of France– Beach landings in Normandy,

France– Paratrooper drop the night the

troops hit the beach

• General Dwight Eisenhower: Supreme Allied Commander

• After sharp combat, made it to Paris by August 1944

Battle of the Bulge: Dec. 1944

• Last German offensive of the war

• Assault through Ardennes Forest, in quiet sector with few allied troops

• Battle of Bastogne– Artillery– “Nuts” story