WWII European Front An American Perspective

1941-1945

But 1st The Battle for Stalingrad

• Hitler betrays the non-aggression pact with Stalin and invades S.U. in the summer of 1941

• Hitler wants Germany to invade S.U. to acquire oil and Stalingrad (a major industrial center)

• Germany was very close to taking Stalingrad by 1942 and some leaders in the S.U. military wanted to blow up the infrastructure in the city and leave it a wasteland

• Stalin demanded that they protect the city that has his namesake and fight to the last man so S.U. launched a counter attack that slowed the German advance

• Hitler’s Generals begged him to retreat past the Volga River to resupply during the winter but Hitler every bit as stubborn as Stalin said his men would fight to the death and stayed in the city of Stalingrad

• The German Sixth Army was surrounded and trapped inside the city of Stalingrad for the winter of 1942-43 where they starved and froze to death and eventually 91,000 troops that are still alive surrender from a army that once totaled 330,000 most of the German soldiers were sent to the Gulags where almost all of them die

Allies

Axis

USASoviet Union Italy

Germany Great Britain Japan

North Africa and Italian Campaign• By November of 1942 mostly American along with some British

troops invaded North Africa looking to invade Italy next this was lead by Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Stalin was getting restless (Stalingrad was ready to fall) and was insisting the U.S. and G.B. forces invade somewhere from the Atlantic to force Germany into a war on two fronts

• The Americans squared off against legendary German military general Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)

• The mainly American forces defeated Germany in North Africa in may 1943

• The Allied forces then invade Italy from the south and also begin to plan the mass D-Day invasion

• Italy is a house of cards and the Italian King Victor Emanuel the III called in Mussolini into a meeting to strip him of all powers and said he was the most hated man of Italy

• Mussolini was then temporarily saved by Hitler; Germany seized control of Italy and disposed of the king and put Il Duce (The Leader) Mussolini (Name was created by him like Hitler’s Furher) The reinstated power was short lived and over by April 1943

• 5 beaches attacked in Normandy, France• Lead by American, British, and Canadian forces• Largest American land, air, and sea invasion in history• Planned for two years• Building a landing force with ships, landing craft, and

nearly 3 million troops• Normandy was lightly fortified• Despite heavy casualties they landed 1 million troops,

567,000 tons of supplies, and 170,000 vehicles• They had liberated Paris from 4 years of German

occupation on August 25, 1944

D-DAY June 6th 1944

• Oct. 1944• Americans capture their first German town, Aachen.• Hitler counter attacks with a desperate massive assault with 8

German panzer tank divisions• Germans swept through Allied lines and captured 150 American GIs

near Malmedy where SS troopers gunned them down with machine guns and pistols

• 101st Airborne regiment holds down the small Belgium town of Bastogne

• Battle raged for one month where not a lot of land seems to change hands

• However, Hitler had lost 120,000 troops 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1,600 planes

• Nazis basically can do nothing from this point, but retreat to Berlin

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the

Bulge

What the Hell is this place?

• April 25, 1945 Soviets storm Berlin • Hitler commits suicide April 30, 1945• V-E Day on May 8, 1945 victory in Europe day• Germans give an unconditional surrender• On October 18, 1945, twenty-two of Nazi Germany’s

political, military, and economic leaders were brought to trial in Nuremberg for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. 

• The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death, three to life imprisonment, four to imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years, and three were acquitted.

Fall of Berlin

Nuremburg Trials• Churchill wants to have show trials with the

leadership of Nazi Germany (read them what they are accused of and then shoot them)

• Stalin wants to kill 100,000 Nazi leaders and soldiers

• FDR is somewhere in between, but dies in office• Secretary of War Henry Stimson recommended

trials that would be held only for the Nazi Leadership

• Potsdam Conference