1. World War II
Retaking Europe

2. World War II AXIS: ALLIES: Germany Italy Japan
Great Britain (and commonwealths of the British empire)
Australia
Canada
India
South Africa
Soviet Union (Russia)
United States of America
France (Free France)
[The French government had fallen to Nazi Germany in the spring of 1940 and was called ‘Vichy France’]
AXIS:
Germany
Italy
Japan
Miscellaneous conquered countries

3. The Atlantic Charter August 1941
British Prime Minister: Winston Churchill
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
Declaration of Principles to guide the United States and Great Britain during the course of the war.
No territorial gain for US and Britain
No territorial changes without peoples consent
Territorial self-determination
Safe boundaries in Europe
Formation of an organization of world nations

4. Americans enter the War
Battle of Britain (1940) German bombing of England
Nazi Germany controlled nearly all of western Europe
Nazi Germany had invaded the Soviet Union (USSR or Russia)
Japan attacked US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Islands

5. Battle of the Atlantic
Food and supplies from U.S. to Britain destroyed by Nazi submarines = “wolf packs”
U.S. established convoy system
Development of “SONAR” to locate vessels underwater
Essentially victory for the Allies by 1942

6. Map 26.1 World War II in the North Atlantic, 1939–1943 (p. 752)

7. North Africa Campaign
Germans invaded North Africa with goal of reaching oil fields of the Arabian peninsula
German General Erwin Rommel (“the Desert Fox”)
November 1942, Battle of El Alamein (Egypt) - British victory
Americans came in June of 1942
Allies defeated Axis in North Africa by May,1943.
Casablanca (Morocco) Conference in January Allies planned to deal with Europe first

8. Allied victories

9. Allied Invasion of Italy
Allies invaded Sicily, July, 1943
Mussolini removed as fascist leader of Italy (1943)
Brutal fighting
Heavy American losses
Famous battles:
Anzio
Monte Cassino
Allies captured Rome, May 1944
Nazis surrendered in N. Italy, April 1945

10. War in the Soviet Union (USSR, Russia)
Nazis invaded USSR in June 1941
Needed oil and food
Germans at first welcomed as liberators, later hated - executed Russian citizens
Germans almost captured Moscow, never did
Germans besieged Leningrad for 3 years
Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates - movie)
USSR victorious
German casualties - 300,000+
Russian casualties - est. 1.1 million

11. Stalingrad

12. Allied Air War Long-range bombing missions
B-29 Bomber
Long-range bombing missions
Pinpoint bombing of factories and war related industries, railroads, etc.
Some ‘saturation’or carpet bombing later in the war to destroy enemy morale

13. Invasion of Western Europe
Planned for spring of 1944
Code named: OPERATION OVERLORD
More famously known as D-Day
June 6, 1944

14. D-Day, June 6, 1944 Supreme Commander: General Dwight D. Eisenhower
150,000 Allied troops invaded the French coast of Normandy
Heavily defended by Nazi soldiers and defenses (the Atlantic Wall)
Famous places:
Omaha Beach, Caen (France), Ste. Mere Eglise
Movies:
Saving Private Ryan
The Longest Day

15. Hitting the Beach at Normandy (p. 771)

16. D-Day, June 6, 1944

17. Liberation of France French Resistance (to the Nazis) helped
August 25, Paris liberated
Most of Western Europe liberated by late 1944

18. Battle of the Bulge: (the Ardennes Forest)
December 1944
Last desperate German counter-offensive
Temporarily isolated small units of the American Army
Largest battle in Western Europe
Casualties:
US - 80,000
German - 100,000

19. End of World War II in Europe
March Allies crossed Rhine River
Soviet troops advanced from the east, captured Berlin
USSR - lost 11,000,000 troops
Germany - lost 3,000,000 troops
April 25, Russian and American troops met at the Elbe River in Germany

20. Germany Surrenders Hitler commited suicide, April 30, 1945
German surrender, May 8, Victory in Europe (V-E Day
Yalta Conference - Feb. 1945
FDR died in April Vice-President - Harry Truman became president

21. Map 26.4 World War II in Europe, 1944–1945 (p. 769)

22. German Surrender (Victory in Europe) V-E Day

23. Yalta Conference (in the Soviet Union)
February, 1945
FDR, Churchill, Stalin
Divided defeated Germany, divided Berlin into 4 zones
Stalin broke all his promises from Yalta:
dominated Eastern Europe (not free)
No free elections
Not enter war against Japan in the Pacific

24. The Big Three at Yalta (p. 775)