BELL RINGER

In World War I, the two sides were the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. What was the name of the two sides in World War II? Name the 3 main countries on each side.

WORLD WAR II – FIGHTING IN EUROPE

THE MAIN IDEA

To secure victory in Europe, the Allies waged war in the Atlantic Ocean, North Africa, the Soviet Union, and Western Europe between 1941 and 1945

Key Terms

- Atlantic Charter

- Carpet bombing

- D-Day

- Battle of the Bulge

AUGUST 1941• Two warships sat off the coast of Newfoundland

• Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were aboard the ships

• Discussed the war• Both believed the US would join the war as an ally

• Jointly issued the Atlantic Charter

• Agreement signed by FDR (USA) and Churchill (GB) in 1941 outlining their war goals

• No territorial expansion• Allow countries to choose their own governments• Peace between neighboring countries• The entire world to abandon force

AMERICA JOINS THE WAR• December 1941 after Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

• London and major British cities had suffered major damage during the Battle of Britain

• German blitzkrieg had extended Nazi control over most of Europe

• Germany and Italy had defeated a majority of British forces in North Africa

• Growing belief was Germany could not be stopped and the US was to late

THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC• Germany was using U-Boats to control trade routes

between the US and GB

• GB was relying on the US for food and supplies• Trade ships began using the convoy system• Germany combatted the convoy system with wolf packs

• Group of submarines working to take out convoy systems

• U-Boats begin attacking ships off the coast of the US when they enter the war

• Sonar was introduced• 175 American ships sank off the coast in 1942

THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN

• Started in August 1940 – GB defeated Italian troops in Egypt and Libya

• February 1941 – Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel and troops to reinforce the Italians

• Pushed deep into British-controlled Egypt• November 1942 – GB under General Bernard Montgomery forced

Germany to retreat

• General Dwight D. Eisenhower lands in Morocco and pushes east quickly and easily. GB chase Rommel and his troops throughout Egypt

• Hitler sends 20k troops to help fight the Americans and Britain• Defeat the Americans in Tunisia in February 1943 at the Kasserine Pass• May 1943 – Axis troops closed in and 240k troops surrendered

• Casablanca Conference – January 1943 in Casablanca, Morocco

• FDR and Churchill agreed to focus on the European Theatre before the Pacific Theatre

THE INVASION OF ITALY• July 1943 – Ally troops in Africa invade Sicily

• led by General George S. Patton• Italy feared they would be invaded next

• Fascist council voted and had Mussolini removed from office and he was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III

• Ended Fascism in Italy but was freed by Germans and evacuated him to northern Italy• Set up fascist Italian state

• September 1943 – Allies threatened to take Rome

• New Italian gov’t surrendered• October – declared war on Germany• German army destroyed bridges and roads as they retreated north

• Churchill called Italy the “soft underbelly” of Europe

THE INVASION OF ITALY• November 1943 – Allied advance north to Rome was halted by

German defense at Cassino

• January 1944 – Allied soldier land on beach behind German control. Anzio – 35 miles from Rome

• Took to long to get organized and the beach became blocked off and troops became surrounded

• Fought off for 4 months until breaking through defenses in May• Thousands died and wounded

• May 1944 – Surrounded troops break through

Axis’ defenses and Cassino falls to the Allies

• Allows for the troops to easily take Rome• German troops in northern Italy surrender in

April 1945

• Mussolini was shot and killed trying to flee

northern Italy

THE WAR IN THE SOVIET UNION

• In Mein Kampf Hilter says Germany needed to conquer the USSR for more living space and resources

• Wanted Germany to be self-sufficient and needed oil and food• Had already taken oil fields in Romania and farmlands in the Ukraine• After losing the Battle of Britain Hitler turns his attention East• Hitler breaks his pact with Stalin and begins his attack on the Soviet

Union

THE GERMAN ADVANCE IN THE USSR, 1941-42

• Axis troops began to invade June in 1941 – 3.6 million were met by 3 million poorly trained Red Army troops

• Ukraine and Lithuania welcome German troops

• Felt liberated after suffering under Stalin but didn’t last long as they were forced into forced labor and executions

• “In case of forced retreat of the Red Army, all rolling stock must be evacuated; to the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon fuel.

• Stalin• As the Red Army began to retreat they destroyed everything in their path

• Scorched Earth

• The use extended the Lend-Lease program to the USSR

• Stalin asks GB and US to attack western Europe, instead they attack Italy

THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD OF 1942

• Stalingrad

• Major rail and industrial center on the Volga River• September – Germans launched a bombing attack on the city and

house to house combat

• November – winter returns and Soviets launch fierce counterattack

• Hitler would not allow a retreat• Germany became surrounded with very few supplies

• January 1943 – 90k German troops surrendered

• 330k in total lost = 240k killed• 1.1 million Soviets

• Turning point in the war on the eastern front

• Germany’s unstoppable offensive attack was stopped• The Red Army began to slowly push back German invaders

• Stalin still wanted the Allies to attack Western Europe

THE ALLIED AIR WAR• Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) began practicing carpet bombing

when attacking German cities

• planes scattered large number of bombs over a wide area• Once the US enters the war the attacks become greater and more

frequent

• B-17s would leave Great Britain and be escorted by fighters and would target German aircraft factories, railway lines, plants, bridges, and major cities

THE INVASION OF EUROPE

• George Marshall – the top American General and FDR’s Chief of Staff – like Stalin wanted to invade Western Europe

• 1943 – Great Britain finally agreed to the Marshall Plan

• Code-named Operation Overload • Marshall chose General Eisenhower to be the supreme commander

of the invading forces• Allies would invade France along the beaches

• Allies began a massive military buildup in England

• Polish, Dutch, Belgian, and French troops would join the Americans, British, and Canadians

• Germans knew the invasion was coming but did not know where the attack would happen

• Began adding machine-gun nests, barbed-wire fences, land and water mines, and underwater construction

D-DAY• June 6th, 1944

• 4,600 invasion craft and warships slipped out of harbors in England just after midnight

• 1,000 RAF bombers dropped bombs on German forces at Normandy• 23k airborne soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines

• D-Day began at first light

• Code name for the allied invasion on France• Allied warships began shooting at the coast• 150k troops and equipment land along 60 miles of beaches in France

• Largest sea landing in all of history• Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword were code names for the

beaches

• 2 millions troops by late July

• Hitler feared the Allies were going to

invade at Calais – close to France

LIBERATING FRANCE• Air attacks on D-Day destroyed bridges that would be

prevent Germany from sending reinforcements

• General Patton uses blitzkrieg against the Germans to open holes in German defenses in Normandy

• Was able to push through Frances with the US Third Army• Tank division

• August 25, 1944 – Paris was liberated

• August 26 – General Charles de Gaulle takes control of French gov’t

• Mid-September 1944 – US enter western Germany

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

• Allies attacked Germans in the Netherlands along the Rhine River

• December 1944 Germany launched counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg

• Caused the Allied troops to be pushed back and creating a bulge in the line

• Cut off units from the rest of the American Army• Eisenhower ordered more troops to help the bulge

• Lasted throughout the winter

• Largest battle in Europe during WWII

• Largest battle ever fought by the US

• 600k GIs• 80k died• 100k Germans died, wounded, or captured

THE WAR IN EUROPE ENDS

• March 1945 – American forces under General Bradley cross the Rhine River and move toward Berlin.

• Soviet troops push into Germany from the east• Soviet forces advance

• 2/3 of all soldiers killed came from the eastern front in the European theatre

• 11 million Soviets, 3 million Germans

• 9 million soldiers fighting at once• After Hitler breaks the Pact and hardships brought onto the USSR, the

Soviets saw taking Berlin as a matter of honor• April 1945 – Soviets make it into Berlin and just as they did in

Stalingrad• Connect with American forces on April 25

GERMANY SURRENDERS• Hitler does not flee Berlin as suggested by his generals

• Commits suicide in his underground bunker on April 30th, 1945

• May 8th, 1945 – Remaining troops surrender

• V-E Day – Victory in Europe Day• The war was not over as the Pacific Theatre was still ongoing

• The Yalta Conference (Yalta

• Take place in February 1945 between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt to talk about the end of the war and how to divide Germany

• Split Germany into 4 zones with Berlin sitting deep in the Soviet Union’s portion• Promised to allow free elections but did not as promised

• Stalin promised to enter the Pacific theatre

YALTA CONFERENCE