Retaking Europe Section 2

Atlantic Charter Meeting between Churchill and FDR 1 st – Allies seek no territorial gain 3 rd – They will respect the right of people to choose their own govt. 8 th – All countries of the world must come to the abandonment of the use of force

The Atlantic Britain relied upon allied supplies from the U.S U – boats would wait and hunt these supply ships Controlling the Atlantic would be vital for allied survival

Battle of the Atlantic Allies develop sonar to spot u-boat “wolfpacks” U-boats still experience great success and sink over 175 ships in June 1942 alone

North Africa – August 1941 Africa was the 1 st step for the allies of recontrolling Europe Hitler sends General Rommel “Desert Fox” to Northern Africa to help Italy defend against allied invasion Morocco and Algeria Americans land here under command of General Eisenhower Push east as Britain pushes west towards Rommel’s army 240,000 Axis troops surrender despite Hitler’s order to fight to the death

Invasion of Italy July 1943 under Gen. Patton the U.S invades the Island of Sicily With Italy in jeopardy a Fascist council has Mussolini arrested and Fascism was disbanded Germans would free Mussolini and send him to Northern Italy

Italy cont. Sept 1943 Italy’s new govt. surrenders Italy declares war on Germany Germans set up Mussolini as puppet leader of N. Italy Cassino – German stronghold that stood between allied armies and Rome After much struggle the allies break through in months of fighting and 10’s of thousands of allied deaths to take Rome

Cassino – pop. 32,000

Mussolini Germany surrenders Italy in April 1945 Mussolini shot and killed by Italians

War in Soviet Union After losing the Battle of Britain Hitler would turn his armies to the east In June million Axis troops cross the Soviet border and are met by 3 million Soviet soldiers The Axis troops quickly gained control of Soviet territory

War in Soviet cont. Many Ukrainians and Lithuanians welcome the Germans as liberators They would change their minds quickly as Germans began executing civilians and using forced labor camps

Battle of Stalingrad By fall German armies advance 100’s of miles in Soviet Union Sept the Soviet Union decided to make its final stand in Stalingrad House to house combat occurs and Germans take most of the city However, Soviets launch a counterattack and surround the German troops within the city

Dive bomber over Stalingrad

Soviet’s storming a factory

Aftermath of bombing raid

Stalingrad cont. Jan 31 st ,000 German troops surrender 330,000 Germans die at Stalingrad 1,100,000 Soviets would die to save the city

Weird but true! During WWII the Soviet Union trained dogs that were strapped with timed bombs to chase after German tanks. 17 German tanks were destroyed this way!

Allied Air War In order to invade Western Europe the Allies needed air power Carpet Bombing – scattered bombing of Germany by the allies - aimed at: Factories, bridges, and railway lines Typical raid was American during the day and British during the night 100’s of B-17 would be escorted by fighters

Invasion of Western Europe (D-Day) June 6 th 1944 around 150,000 allied troops land in the Normandy coast Supported by RAF bombers and war ships would take the beach at Normandy with over 2,000 casualties By late July allied forces in France would be over 2,000,000

Liberating France Once Allies establish a foothold in Normandy they burst out into the rest of France under General Patton in August 1944 A French uprising then occurs in Paris w/ Allied help Paris is officially liberated on August 25 th 1944

The Battle of the Bulge Hitler begins reinforcing with army with children as young as 15 Largest battle ever fought by U.S Army 600,000 GI’s 80,000 U.S casualties 100,000 Nazi casualties Allies win battle – Nazi leaders recognize war is lost

The War Ends in Europe March 1945 American forces advance into Germany from the west and Soviet troops advance in the east Forces Germany to fight a battles on both fronts Soviet troops arrive in Berlin in April 1945 and captured the German capital

Germany Surrenders Hitler commits suicide in underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945 May 8 th remaining German troops surrender Called V-E Day (victory in Europe) However, the allies had not defeated Japan yet

Yalta Conference Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill meet in Yalta (a Soviet city) Germany is split into 4 zones – each zone was to be controlled by one of the allies Stalin promised free elections for Eastern European countries he had liberated from Germany and to declare war on Japan He failed on both of his promises

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin