Essential Question:What unique decisions did the US face as a result of fighting

a war on three fronts?

04/20/23 1

1. Europe2. Pacific3. North Africa Today we will

be discussing the European and African fronts

04/20/232

Troops in the desert; Chinese civilians buried alive by Japanese soldiers; Soviet forces a winter offensive; Carrier-borne Japanese planes Soviet troops fighting in Berlin; German submarine

The second day after Attack on Pearl Harbor, Churchill and FDR decide to meet again – and so begins an amazing alliance

War Plans – spent 3 weeks in White House• Hitler is greater threat – more soldier and resources• After they had control, they would send more to

Pacific• Created a “very strong affection” for one another

04/20/233

Hitler orders raids on ships, German aim is to prevent food & war supplies reaching Britain & USSR

In first 4 months, Wolf packs destroy 87 ships off the Atlantic coast

7 months into war – 681 ships sunken

04/20/234

Organize their supplies into convoys – groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection

Destroyers & planes with radar & sonar were used to escort convoys of cargo ships

Extremely successful, Admiral Karl Doenitz (commander of U-boats) reported that his losses had “reached an unbearable height”

140 ships built each month at home to counter the sinking ships

04/20/235

04/20/236

Code name for Germany’s

invasion into the Soviet Union

04/20/237

Battle of Stalingrad• Germans had been fighting in USSR since June 1941

The bitter cold environment stopped them• In summer 1942, Germans rebounded • Hitler wanted oil fields in the Caucasus Mtns• He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad – a great industrial

city on the Volga River• They Approached in August 1942

Luftwaffe (German AF) bombed and set all buildings ablaze

The USSR officers wanted to burnt he rest to prevent Hitler from taking the resources

Stalin orders them to stay and defend his namesake city

04/20/238

04/20/239

German Advance

German Soldiers

For weeks, Germans press into town conquering house by house and killing everyone

By Sept., they controlled 9/10 of the city Then, another winter set in The soviets, used to the weather, take

advantage rolling tanks across frozen land• The Soviets close around the Stalingrad, trapping

the Germans in the city, cutting off their supplies• Hitler said “Stay and fight! I won’t go back from

the Volga”04/20/23

10

04/20/2311

The Winter proved too harsh and on January 31, 1943, the German commander surrendered.

The Soviets lost 1.1 million soldiers during battle alone• More than total Americans lost during the entire

war Despite the death toll, the Soviet victory

marked a turning point in the war The Soviet army began marching west

towards Germany04/20/23

12

04/20/2313

Soviet Propaganda of

Germans retreat

While the Battle of Stalingrad raged on, Stalin pressured Britain and America to open a “second front” in Western Europe

He argued that an invasion across the English Channel would force Hitler to divert troops from the Soviet front.

Churchill and FDR didn’t think the allies had enough troops to rage war on European soil. Instead . . .

04/20/2314

An invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Nov. 1942, 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, Algeirs in North Africa• Pushed eastward chasing Afrika Korps• Defeats General Rommel (Desert Fox) Afrika

Korps May 1943

04/20/2315

04/20/2316

Meeting at Casablanca before Torch was won• FDR, Churchill & commanders

Only accept an unconditional surrender by the Axis Powers

They would have to accept whatever terms the allies dictated

Discussed where to strike Americans said – massive invasion in Britain then

through English Channel – Through France - and into Germany

Churchill thought it would be safer to attack Italy first

04/20/2317

04/20/2318

Defeat Italy first• Summer 1943 Sicily captured• Mussolini forced to resign & arrested by the King• Italians cheered but Hitler was determined to

stop the allies in Italy• Allies fighting Germans in Italy• 1944- Allies win battle that lasted 4 months

“Bloody Anzio” 25,000 Allied casualties and 30,000 Axis casualties

• Germans still resisting – would not end until Germany surrenders in 1945

04/20/2319

Allies landing in Casablanca, location of Casablanca, and British POWs

04/20/2320

All-black 99th Pursuit Squadron – Tuskegee Airmen

The Buffaloes – 92nd Infantry Division• In 6 months, they won 7 Legion of Merit

Awards, 65 Silver Stars, and 162 Bronze Stars Mexican Americans

• 17 awarded Congressional Medal of Honor Japanese Americans

• The 442nd Regimental Combat Team became the most decorated unit in US History

04/20/2321

04/20/2322

Allies gathered 3m British, American, and Canadian troops with supplies• Planned to attack Normandy in Northern France

To fool Hitler the allies set up a phantom army headquarters & equipment with radio messages the Germans read.

Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines

Seaborne soldiers hit the beaches of Normandy

04/20/2323

04/20/2324

Operation Overlord

D-Day- June 6, 1944 – allied invasion of France led by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower- Largest amphibious invasion in history.

3m British, American, & Canadian troops gather to invade Normandy, France

04/20/2325

04/20/2326

04/20/2327

Despite heavy casualties the Allies held the beachheads

Gen. Bradley leads air and land bombardment to provide a gap in the German line

Gen. George Patton leads Third Army & reaches Paris in August 1944

Oct. 1944• Allies capture 1st German

town, Aachen• Hitler responds by driving

German tank divisions 60 miles into Allied area

• Germans are pushed back and have lost 120,000 troops and thousands of (tanks, planes, guns) Cannot be replaced

• Retreat is all they can do

04/20/2328

04/20/2329

Malmedy: Germans swept through lines capturing 120 US GIs. Took them in field and mower through them with machine guns

Allies in Germany, Soviets in Poland Liberate concentration Camps• Find starving prisoners, corpses, evidence of

killing

04/20/2330

• This is one man’s account of what he remembers when arriving at a concentration camp

• The US soldiers, nor did anyone know that this had been going on, until they found these camps

• In many cases, the Nazis running the camps would have either fled or killed themselves, leaving the prisoners locked inside

• http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/videos/concentration-camp-liberation#concentration-camp-liberation

1944• FDR is elected to his

4th term as President• Harry Truman is his

Vice-President

April 12, 1945 FDR dies and Truman becomes President

04/20/2332

Yalta Conference• February 1945-

FDR, Churchill, Stalin meet in Yalta

• purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization

04/20/2333

• Temporarily divide Germany into 4 parts

• Stalin promises free elections in Eastern will fight Japan

• FDR gets support for United Nations

04/20/2334

April 1945 Soviet Army storms Berlin

Hitler commits suicide

Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender of German Reich

May 8, 1945 V-E Day04/20/23

35

04/20/2336