1. The Wild, Wild West – Retaking Western Europe Allied Positions in Great Britain Allied Presence in Italy Allied Positions in the USSR

2. Key Terms & Concepts Carpet Bombing D-Day / Operation Overlord Battle of the Bulge V-E Day Yalta Conference

3. Preparing to Retake France -German dominance of Western Europe requires air attacks to weaken defense. -Need for widespread attacks-rather than pinpoint accuracy-leads to “Carpet Bombing” – carpeting Germany with bombs. -Carpet bombing assault on Hamburg leads to term “firestorm” -Air strikes destroy German factories, transportation, and cities. -Postwar, teams of women – trummerfrauen – will clean up the rubble in Germany

4. D-Day June 6, 1944 attack on German defenses at Normandy was planned for almost a year, scheduled to take place on D-Day at H-Hour. “Operation Overlord” returned the Allies to Western Europe 4 years after Dunkirk. Plan called for attacks on 60 miles of beachfront, with a decoy attack further down the English Channel. Eisenhower addresses the troops. Interesting: D-Day was originally scheduled for June 5, but weather conditions were not favorable to an attack.

5. The English Channel – Where to Attack?

7. Operation Overlord -Air assault from weakened German defenses -4,600 ships delivered troops and attacked the German front line -23,000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines in to France.

8. French Liberation Allied forces led by General Patton blitz out of Normandy and sweep across France. In Paris, French Resistance fighters, along with U.S. troops, seize control of the city and install Charles de Gaulle as leader of free France.

9. Battle of the Bulge Though France has been liberated, Germans still control much of Europe. To reinforce his army, Hitler begins drafting boys as young as 15. Counterattack of German forces in Belgium and the Netherlands blitzes a “bulge” in the Allied line, isolating American troops. In the largest battle ever fought by the U.S. Army – 600,000 American soldiers involved – the Allies win the decisive battle of the war.

10. VE V-E Day – V ictory in E urope April 30, 1945 – As U.S. troops approach Berlin from the West, and Soviet troops surround the city, Hitler kills himself. May 8, 1945 – V-E Day – The final German troops surrender, signaling the Allied victory in Europe.

11. Yalta Conference Meeting prior to war’s end of Allied leaders Churchill (GB), Roosevelt (US) and Stalin (USSR) Agree to divide Germany in to four zones (France controls the fourth). Berlin, the capital, will also be divided in to quarters – though it lies within the Soviet occupation zone. Will this solution last?