Early Stages: Europe and North Africa By May the German army had pushed the French, British and Belgian armies into the Northwestern French port of Dunkirk a. For one reason or another– possibly weather-- Hitler ordered his army to stop b. This allowed the massive evacuation of many the Allied soldiers from Dunkirk to Great Britain on May 26, 1940 By June of 1940, France surrendered to Germany and was divided a. Germany officially occupied the Atlantic coast and Northern France

Early Stages: Europe and North Africa b. The Germans set-up a separate, puppet country in Southern France, known as Vichy France (because its capital was the city of Vichy) *. Its president was Henri Petain, a French military leader c. Not all French people supported this situation or ceased fighting 1. The French Resistance, a secretive group of “underground” fighters continued to fight against German occupation throughout the war 2. A “Free French” government, led by Field Martial Charles de Gaulle, a French tank commander, was headquartered in Great Britain

Map of Occupied France and the Vichy Government.

Early Stages: Europe The Battle of Britain 1. Hitler quickly began making plans to invade Great Britain *. In order to successfully invade Britain, Hitler decided that he needed to 1. gain air superiority over the English Channel and Britain itself 2. soften-up British defenses and cities

People took shelter in the subway

Stalingrad July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 Turning point of the war in favor of the Allies Stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union Combined casualties: +2 Million By 1945, 2/3rd of territory Regained via counter for Soviet Union

D-Day Tehran Conference- Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in December 1943 to discuss options for ending the war. Stalin desperately wanted the allied powers to attack in France and drive Germany back into Berlin. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed to serve as supreme allied commander in charge of planning Operation Overlord. This involved hundreds of thousands of troops and called for the largest invasion by sea in military history.

D-Day Prep 3 million soldiers were readied on the British Islands. Mostly U.S. troops Normandy, France was chosen has the location to invade because it was less heavily defended

D-Day On June 6, 1944 the invasion began and was known as D-Day. It took several weeks to get 500,000 troops ashore. On August 25, 1944, the Allies fought their way into Paris, liberating the city from four years of German occupation.

Battle of the Bulge Major German offensive campaign- 200,000 men, 340 tanks in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front After defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated After the Battle of the Bulge, allied powers focused their attention on pushing Germany back into Berlin. Casualties- appox. 175,000

Fall of Berlin Finally, in the spring of 1945, Berlin fell before the advancing Soviet army. FDR would die (April 12, 1945) before seeing Germany surrender. Harry Truman now Pres. April 16: Stalin sent 20 armies, 6,300 tanks, 8,500 aircraft to capture Berlin Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 rather than being captured.

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)