Warm up What countries participated in the invasion? What are some challenges with conducting an attack such as this? How would a successful invasion put pressure on Germany?

Planning Germany’s Defeat Tehran Conference- Allied leaders agreed to open a new front in Western Europe Invasion of France-Operation Overlord

D-Day Invasion of Normandy Diversion Allies tricked Germans by constructing a false army across from Calais, France His strongest armor divisions were sent here

D-Day Invasion of Normandy Gen. Eisenhower would command this offensive US, British, Canadian, and Polish soldiers would invade the 50 miles of beach 5 beaches: Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword 4,400 ships and landing craft involved

D-Day Invasion of Normandy 11,000 planes were used Bomb German fortifications Drop paratroopers behind enemy lines Bad weather caused bombings to fail The invasion was planned for June 4, 1944, but was delayed due to bad weather Why would bad weather present a problem? Despite persistent bad weather, the invasion took place on June 6, 1944 Why could they no longer wait?

D-Day Invasion of Normandy Americans would land at the most heavily defended beaches Omaha and Utah Covered with obstacle, pillboxes, etc. Fired upon immediately, some drowned

D-Day Invasion of Normandy By the end of the day, the Allies were able to establish a beach-head Over the next month, 1 million+ troops would enter France from here

The Liberation of Europe August 1944-Allies liberated Paris Germans began to doubt their Fuhrer Operation Valkyrie-an attempt to assassinate Hitler that failed Added to Hitler’s feeling of invincibility Had German leaders killed

The Liberation of Europe Hitler made a desperate attempt to break thru Allied lines near the Ardennes Forest Battle of the Bulge Germany did push Allies back, but did not break the lines Hitler used up resources and morale in this battle and his army would not recover The Allies would make their push towards Berlin

The Liberation of Europe January 1945- Allies had crossed into Germany (both east and west) Mussolini killed in April 1945

Liberation of Europe Hitler would commit suicide in his bunker May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders Known as V-E Day

Warm up Are there rules of war? If yes: How are the rules determined/What if they are not followed? Do you consider dropping the bomb inhumane by a democratic country? Was the dropping of the atomic bombs morally justifiable?

Advancing In the Pacific Japanese soldiers fought until the end, killing themselves before surrendering Used Kamikaze pilots to destroy US ships

Advancing In the Pacific Fiercest fighting focused on Iwo Jima (Feb-March 1945) and Okinawa (April-June 1945) Iwo Jima: 36 days 23,000 US deaths

Advancing In the Pacific Okinawa: Last major island until mainland Japan 14,000+ Americans killed, estimated 77,000 Japanese killed 82 days

Advancing In the Pacific US could now launch attacks on the Japanese mainland Firebombed Tokyo Killed 100,000 Japanese Made 1 million+ homeless Ethical?

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War The Manhattan Project Responsible for developing the first atomic bomb A “top secret” project that was America’s best kept secret July 16, 1945: The atom bomb was successfully tested for the first time in Los Alamos, NM Led by Robert Oppenheimer in Los Alamos, New Mexico Views on the bomb were mixed

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War FOR dropping the bomb: Saves US from invading Japan Shows the world that we have an atom bomb (deterrent) Would end the war quickly AGAINT dropping the bomb: Massive loss of civilians in Japan Invasion was possible Opens a new dangerous era of nuclear science

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War The decision was Pres. Truman’s to make August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the bomb over Hiroshima

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War Hiroshima (Aug 6th): 60,000+ immediate deaths, many more followed Aug 9th- After a warning, the next bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Killed 35,000 + residents Aug 15, Emperor Hirohito surrendered to the Allies Known as V-J Day

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War Total cost of life in WWII was 60 million people Most of these were civilians