World War II in the European Theater

WWII before Pearl Harbor (this is review!)

Before the US: a very quick review  September 1939: Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war  Blitzkrieg – German tactic of massive, rapid, armored tank attacks

Before the US: a very quick review  June 1940: Fall of France; British troops retreat

Before the US: a very quick review  Summer and fall 1940: Battle of Britain; aerial bombing of major British cities

Before the US: a very quick review  June 1941: Germany invades the Soviet Union; the USSR joins WWII

Axis control by 1942

US Contributions to WWII

In your notebook: how can the Allies turn the tide?

“The Arsenal of Democracy”  Date:  Definition: idea that the US would build enough war products to supply the Allies and itself  Significance  Essential to Allies winning the war  US had tremendous unused production capacity  Also led to recovery from the Depression

The Battle of the Atlantic  Date: (longest of WWII)  Definition: Allied and German forces competing for control over shipping lanes in the Atlantic Ocean  Essentially an economic battle:  Allies’ goal: protect US shipping to Britain, which was crucial to the war effort  Germany’s goal: disrupt US shipping to Britain

Pearl Harbor  December 7, 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor; US joins the war

Who wants what from the USA? USSR Britain

The debate over US involvement  Stalin (USSR) wants the US and UK to open a second front in France  Churchill (UK) wants to be cautious – the UK has already lost a lot of troops – and focus on other theaters  Roosevelt (USA) wants to defeat the Nazis  Political pressure to defeat Japan  Wants to minimize American losses

The North African campaign  October-November 1942: Allies win at El Alamein (Egypt) and start pushing back Axis  November 1942: Operation Torch – US/UK reinforcements to North Africa  May 1943: Axis forces leave North Africa

The War in the USSR  June 1941: Operation Barbarossa – Hitler invades the USSR, surprising Stalin  Turns out it’s hard to advance quickly in Russia…  Cold  Mud  “Scorched earth”

The Battle of Stalingrad July 1942-February 1943

Stalingrad: Urban warfare; massive casualties

Stalingrad: 2 million casualties

The Soviets advance  February 1943: Battle of Stalingrad ends; Germans retreat  Turning point of WWII on the eastern front  USSR steadily advances toward Germany

Operation Overlord  Meanwhile, the US and UK have been stockpiling troops and materiel in Britain  Operation Overlord: planned invasion of northern France  By the time it begins:  1.5 million American troops  5 million tons of supplies

In your notebook: -Challenges for the Allies? -Challenges for Germany?

D-Day  June 6, 1944  Allied amphibious invasion of Normandy (northern France)  Importance of espionage:  Allies broke the German codes (Enigma) and monitored troop movements in France  Operation Bodyguard: attempt to deceive the Germans about where the amphibious invasion would take place  Opens up a second front against the Germans in Europe

The End of the War  Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945): last major German counteroffensive on the Western Front  April 1945: Soviet troops surround Berlin  April 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide  May 2, 1945: Germany surrenders to the Allies  …But what about Japan?