US in WWIIThe War for Europe and North Africa

United States and Britain Join Forces

War Plans Roosevelt and Churchill decide to fight Hitler

first Battle of the Atlantic

Hitler orders submarine raids on the East Coast▪ to prevent allies from receiving food or war materials▪ Germans sank 681 Allied ships

Cargo ship convoys▪ Sank German U-boats to the point where it “reached

unbearable heights”▪ By mid-1943, the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic had

turned

The Eastern Front and the Mediterranean

The Battle of Stalingrad November 1941, the cold stops Germans outside of

Moscow and Leningrad Summer 1942, Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields The Luftwaffe bombed the city nightly and the Soviets

wanted to quit but Stalin ordered them to defend his namesake city no matter the cost

Winter 1942, Soviets mount counterattack and trap the German soldiers in the city cutting off all supplies

German commander surrenders January 31, 1943, the troops surrender February 2, 1943

Soviets lost 1.1 million soldiers but was a turning point in the war

Battle of Stalingrad

The Eastern Front and the Mediterranean

The North African Front To divert troops from

Russia, Stalin asked the other Allies to open a “second front”

Operation Torch Invasion of North Africa

commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Chased the Afrika Korps Afrika Korps surrender in

May 1943

Casablanca

The Eastern Front and the Mediterranean

The Italian Campaign Before the North Africa

battle was won Roosevelt and Churchill agree that they will only accept unconditional surrenders from Axis

Capture of Sicily in Summer 1943

July 25, 1943, Mussolini is stripped of his powers and arrested

Bloody Anzio Hitler was determined

to stop Allies in Italy, so they would not reach Germany

Lasted 4 months (Ends May 1944)

25,000 Allied casualties/ 30,000 Axis casualties

Effort to free Italy did not succeed until Germany collapsed

Eastern Front and the Mediterranean

Heroes is Combat Tuskegee Airmen (99th Pursuit Squadron)▪ All African-American pilots▪ Received two distinguished Unit Citations for their outstanding

combat against the Luftwaffe Buffaloes (92nd Infantry Division)▪ African-American unit▪ Won 7 Legion of Merit awards, 65 Silver Stars, 162 Bronze Stars for

courage under fire Company E (141st Regiment, 36th Division)▪ All Mexican-American unit▪ Received 7 Congressional Medal of Honors

Purple Heart Battalion (100th Battalion)▪ 1,300 Hawaiian Nisei and Japanese-Americans▪ Becomes most decorated unit in U.S. history

Heroes in Combat

The Allies Liberate Europe D-Day (Operation Overlord)

Allies gather 3 million troops in England planning to attack Normandy, France

To keep plan secret phantom army was created, even sending fake radio signals

Eisenhower gives go ahead on D-Day, June 6, 1944

Three divisions of paratroops and thousands of seaborne soldiers invaded- the largest land-sea-air operation in army history

D-DAY

D-DAY

Allies Liberate Europe

Allies Gain Ground After 7 days Allies held an 80-mile strip of France Within a month they landed a million troops General Omar Bradley unleashes massive air and

land bombardments at St. Lo creating a gap in German defense

General George Patton and his Third Army advance through and on August 25, 1944 they liberate Paris from 4 years of German occupation

By 1944 Allies had freed France, Belgium, and Luxembourg

Generals

Allies Liberate Europe

The Battle of the Bulge October 1944, Americans captured their first

German town Aachen Hitler orders troops to recapture the Belgian

port of Antwerp December 16, 1944 hoping that the effort

would split up Allied forces and supply line Battle raged for a month, the Germans lost

120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and 1,600 planes, Nazis could now do little more than retreat

Battle of the Bulge

Allies Liberate Europe

LIBERATION OF THE DEATH CAMPS

Soviets come from west and Allied troops come from east

Soviets come upon death camps first in July 1944

“gigantic murder plant”

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

April 25, 1945, Soviets stormed Berlin

April 29, 1945, Hitler blames Jews and his general for losing the war

April 30, 1945, Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide

May 7, 1945, Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender of Third Reich

May 8, 1945, Allies celebrate V-E day (Victory in Europe Day)

War officially over

Liberation of Death Camps

Allies Liberate Europe

Roosevelt’s Death Does not live to see V-E Day April 12, 1945, while posing for portrait,

has a stroke and dies Later that day, Vice President Harry S.

Truman become the nation’s 33rd president