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• If you were an ordinary citizen living in a country occupied by a brutal government like the Nazis, what are some ways that you could resist their power or try to weaken them?

• By the fall of 1942, the US was engaged in heavy fighting with Japan across the Pacific, both at sea, on the ground, and in the air. American soldiers were working tirelessly to kick the Japanese out of the Solomon Islands, off the coast of Australia, at the same time that they were fighting them off the coast of the Philippines as well.

• In Europe, the Nazis had launched a new attack against the Soviets, this time in southern Russia, around the city of Stalingrad, which supplied most of the oil for the Soviet Army. The Nazis, though, were not doing very well, being slowly surrounded by the Soviets. Meanwhile, the resistance movement in Greece (a network of people working secretly to sabotage the Nazis and kick them out of the country) was making progress, succeeding in blowing up a Nazi building in the capital, as well as blowing up an important railroad bridge, making it harder for the Nazis to send more troops and supplies.

Greek resistance fighters celebrating their victory

• By February 1943, the Soviets had completely defeated the Nazis for a second time in the Battle of Stalingrad, with over 750,000 Nazi soldiers killed, wounded or captured. Later that spring, Greek resistance fighters managed to kick the Nazis out of an entire large city in northern Greece, and defend it against a Nazi counteract, giving hope to resistance movements in other countries, like Poland, France, and in Germany itself.

• The resistance in Greece was followed up by an unsuccessful Jewish revolt in Poland called the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. By April 1943, most of the residents of the Warsaw ghetto (over 250,000) had been slowly removed for “resettlement.” That month, though, the remaining leader of the Warsaw ghetto learned the true fate of all those people – taken to concentration camps and killed. In his grief, he committed suicide, and the remaining 50,000 residents of the ghetto rose up in revolt against the Nazi guards. For 4 weeks, Warsaw’s Jews attacked the Nazis, using homemade weapons, like Molotov cocktails, and a small number of weapons smuggled into them by the Polish resistance movement.

• In the end, though, the Jews only managed to kill 17 Nazi soldiers and wound 93, and the uprising was ruthlessly put down by the Nazis, killing over 13,000 people, and sending the remainder to concentration camps.

• Although the uprising was unsuccessful, it inspired other, smaller, uprisings in Jewish ghettos throughout Poland.

• In the summer of 1943, the Axis Powers began suffering heavy losses in two different areas – northern Germany and Italy. Heavy Allied bombing of the city of Hamburg, Germany, the Nazis’ most important naval base, left over 42,000 dead and 37,000 wounded, and crippling the Nazi Navy.

• In Italy, the Allies successfully invaded southern Italy that summer, capturing the entire bottom third of the country. By September, the Allies were outside the capital of Rome, and Mussolini surrendered. The Nazis quickly occupied Rome and the rest of northern Italy, splitting the country in half. Mussolini himself fled to the north under Nazi protection, now powerless.

• The Nazi capital of Berlin experienced came under fire during the fall and winter of 1943, in the Battle of Berlin. Purposefully named like the Battle of Britain, this time it was the British Royal Air Force dropping bombs day and night on the German capital. By the end of the 4-month campaign, over 4,000 people had been killed and 10,000 injured. Most of the historic city center of Berlin was in ruins, as well as most of the city’s railways and roads, isolating it from the rest of the country.

• Although there was no covering up the Allied damage to their capital, the Nazis did a good job of covering up a series of concentration camp uprisings around the same time. At the Sobibor extermination camp, a secret team of Jewish prisoners quietly executed 11 of the camp guards, then hundreds more rose up in revolt. Around 300 Jewish men were able to escape the camp and hide in the forest, where they were aided by the Polish resistance fighters and taken to safety.

• Now known as D-Day, the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944 saw unexpectedly brutal, heavy fighting because of the Nazi preparation, resulting in 4,400 Allied dead, and 10,000 wounded on that day alone. But despite the Nazi machine guns and bombs, wave after wave of Allied troops continued to arrive on the beaches, eventually overpowering the Nazis and forcing them to retreat.

• Over the rest of June and July, the Allied troops in northern France made slow but steady progress, liberating the coast of northern France from Nazi control as they advanced all the way to Belgium.

• To speed up the liberation of France, the Allies launched a similar invasion, this time along the southern coast, called Operation Dragoon. Just 2 months after D-Day, on August 15, 1944, 175,000 American, Canadian, and British troops landed along a stretch of beach. Unlike the first time, the Nazis were not prepared, and quickly overtaken. The Allies air-dropped thousands of troops by parachute onto land, so the Nazi coast guards would be attacked from behind and from troops landing on the sand. Within two weeks, the Allies had liberated a large chunk of southern France, including the region’s largest city, and the Nazis had suffered 7,000 dead, 20,000 wounded, and 130,000 captured.

Key Term ID's

• A key term ID is a short but complete definition of a historical event, person, or idea.

• A good key term ID will usually be 2-3 sentences long and answer the 5 W's:

Who was involved? What was it? Where was it? When was it? Why is it important?

Muhammad Muhammad was a religious prophet who live in Saudi Arabia in the early 600's AD. He wrote his religious teachings in the Quran, which serves as the basis of the religion of Islam.

Senate The Senate is one of the two houses of the legislative branch of the United States government. It was created in the late 1700's and still exists today. Every state gets equal representation with two senators per state.

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Exit Ticket

1. What is a resistance movement? What are some ways that resistance fighters tried to weaken Nazi power in World War II? 2. Describe the events and purpose of the D-Day Invasion.