The Liberation of Europe and the Holocaust US History Standards: SSUSH19 The student will identify the origins, major developments, and the domestic impact of World War II, especially the growth of the federal government. c. Explain major events; include the lend-lease program, the Battle of Midway, D-Day, and the fall of Berlin.

The Battle for North Africa By the time the Americans entered the war, the British had been fighting the Italians and the Germans in North Africa for a year and a half The Americans, led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, aided the British troops in Africa After a major defeat in February 1943, the Allies struck back in May 1943 and trapped the 240,000 German and Italian troops who surrendered rather than follow Hitler’s instruction to fight to the death

Invading Italy After taking North Africa, the Allies moved on to Italy July, 1943 – Patton’s troops take Sicily With the Italian mainland in jeopardy, Italians and the King lost confidence in Mussolini and had him arrested The Allies slowly moved through the country, forcing the southern half to surrender in September 1943 Germany retained control of Northern Italy and set Mussolini up as the dictator of a puppet state The Germans did not surrender until April 1945 – in the same month, Mussolini was shot and killed by the Italians as he tried to flee across the border Benito Mussolini

Invasion of Italy

D-Day By 1943, plans were beginning for the invasion of France, nicknamed “Operation Overlord” Troops and supplies were formed and trained in Britain June 6, 1944 – the invasion of France was launched with thousands of troops on boats with parachutists Hitler expected the Allied invasion at Calais, the French city closest to Britain – instead the Allies invaded at Normandy In the largest amphibious assault in history, the British, Canadians, and Americans, along with many others, invaded and took the 5 code named beaches: Omaha and Utah (American), Gold and Sword (British), and Juno (Canadian)

Liberating Europe The Allies pushed out from Normandy and, lead by a French division of the US First Army, liberated France on August 25, 1944 British and Canadian troops liberated Belgium The Netherlands was liberated after the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 – the largest battle the US had ever been involved At this point, the Germans were drafting anyone they could find and many recognized the war was lost

Germany Surrenders By 1945, the Allied army was marching east and the Soviets were marching west and they met up in Germany The eastern front of the war was particularly brutal, with almost 15 million dead, so the Soviets were thrilled to reach the German capital of Berlin first On April 30, 1945, rather than surrender, Hitler killed himself in his bunker in Berlin May 8, 1945 – V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) – the date of the official German surrender

Yalta A few months before the Ger. surrender, FDR, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta to discuss ending the war They agreed to split Germany into 4 zones to be managed by the 4 major Allies, including France – this included a division of Berlin Stalin promised free elections in Eastern Europe, but he doesn’t come through on this promise

The Holocaust As the Allies moved across Europe to Germany, they began to discover the horrible fate of Europe’s Jews Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies lead to the Holocaust, or systematic murder of European Jews In all, 6 million Jews died – about 2/3 of the European Jewish population as well as 5-6 million others – political enemies, Homosexuals, the disabled, and mentally retarded Hitler’s persecution of the Jews began in the 1930s with the destruction of Jewish businesses and their exclusion from all areas of German life

The Holocaust Later, they were rounded up and placed in ghettos or sent directly to concentration camps where they were either killed immediately by poison gas or made to work on little food until they either died of sickness or malnutrition or became too sick to work and were sent to the gas chambers Death camps like Auschwitz in Poland were used to kill Jews soon after they arrived – Auschwitz could kill and cremate 12,000 people a day As the Allies liberated Europe, they discovered the survivors who remained at the camps, most of whom were sick, malnourished, and looked more like skeletons than people