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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