Major Battles of WWII

D-Day (Neptune, operation overlord) June 6, 1944 Allied forces landed in Normandy Main goal was to rid Germany from France and destroy the new German regime U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Utah” Farthest beach to the right Light defense compared to other beaches Current pushed them of target Allies only lost 300 men

“Omaha” Stretch of coast line with massive 60 meters cliffs The goal of the landings in this sector is to establish a beachhead between Port en Bessin and the Vire river Then push south to reconnect with the Second British Army Horrible Conditions

“Gold” Least protected out of any of the beaches No German armor Very little infantry resistance

“Juno” Second beach from the left Biggest thing the troops had to worry about was coral reefs 1200 troops died The landing craft was running late

“Sword” Far left of all the beaches Little infantry defense Only big defensive tactics were heavy artillery Located far away Germans had machine gun nest hidden in the dunes

Battle of the Bulge December 16th 1944 Last major Nazi offensive against Allied troops Hitler believed that in order to come out victorious in the war, Germany would need to destroy the alliance between Britain, France, and the US

What Hitler's plan was…. Wanted to launch a massive attack on Allie forces He primarily focused against American forces He wanted to take the huge port of Antwerp Antwerp was the major supply port for the allies He believed that if he took Antwerp than the allies would be become unstable and eventually fall

The battle begins…. Hitler started with massive bombings of the allies lines Then he quickly followed the bombardment with an attack with the majority of his armored units Americans are caught by surprise and Hitler’s army starts off extremely powerful

Why was the US caught off guard? We had very little intelligence that the attack was going to happen German spies went behind US lines and began to create havoc Cut power lines, changed road signs, spread misinformation The weather was foggy with low clouds, ground was extremely hard

Allies fight back The German offensive only lasted two days The German tanks and armored infantry were running out of fuel to continue to push forward The weather started to clear up and the allies began to get planes in the air

German’s try to gain control The Germans sent 16 German Me-262’s to attack Allie railcars. Even though the bombardment in the air was working the German tanks still had no fuel to continue with the ground attack

Bibliography DeLoach, Jay A. "Normandy Invasion, June 1944." Web. 16 Dec D-Day - Normandie 44 : Etat des Lieux - Débarquement et Bataille de Normandie. Web. 16 Dec "World War 2 - D-Day -." DCS - Technology Courses for High School Students. Web. 17 Dec "The Battle of the Bulge." History Learning Site. Web. 17 Dec