1 / 66

1943

1943. Allies seize the initiative. Kursk. After 1942 Russian Winter offensive Spring and summer belonged to Germans Salient – Russians knew the Germans would go after it and fortified the salient Hitler delayed the attack so that production of Panther and Tiger tanks could be delivered.

asa
Download Presentation

1943

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. 1943 • Allies seize the initiative

  2. Kursk • After 1942 Russian Winter offensive • Spring and summer belonged to Germans • Salient – Russians knew the Germans would go after it and fortified the salient • Hitler delayed the attack so that production of Panther and Tiger tanks could be delivered

  3. German Tiger Tank

  4. Russian T-34 Tank Note the sloped frontal armor.

  5. German Panther Tank

  6. American Sherman Tank

  7. The battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history. • The Germans had about 2,000 tanks and the Russians had about 3,000 • The Russians dug trenches and laid hundreds of thousands of land mines • They also brought up thousands of pieces of artillery • The Germans had about 900,000 troops in the area and the Russians had about 1.3 million.

  8. Germans attacked but made little headway. • Once the Germans had worn themselves out in the attack, the Russians counter attacked and never stopped. • Significance – this was the last major German offensive in the East. Germany had spent its best troops and equipment and been beaten – it was only a matter of time.

  9. Soft Underbelly of Europe • Churchill (Prime Minister of England) wanting to avoid the bloodshed England experienced in WWI didn’t want a head on attack of Germany through France. • He convinced the US to attack the periphery of the Axis. • Churchill called Italy the “Soft Underbelly of Europe” – by this he meant that it would be easier to attack the Italians because they were tired of fighting.

  10. Operation Husky – Invasion of Sicily • July – August complete conquest of Sicily • Invasion of Italy • Sep Italy Surrenders • Germans seize Rome and control of Italy

  11. Fighting in difficult/mountainous terrain • Germans would withdraw to next defensive position • The fighting in Italy would last to the end of the war in 1945. • “Soft Underbelly?”

  12. Bomber Offensive • Since America couldn’t wasn’t prepared to invade Europe when it entered the war, it was looking for a way to have an impact. • Strategic bombing seemed the answer. • American Daylight Precision Bombing • English Night Bombing

  13. American B-17 Bomber This one is actually in Mesa! Maybe you saw it at the prom last year.

  14. American B-24 Bomber

  15. Bombing was less accurate than hoped – 7% of the bombs dropped landed within 1,000 ft of the target point • Bombers faced attacks from German fighters and anti-aircraft artillery commonly called flak.

  16. Hamburg Raid – 8 days and 7 nights, firestorms, killed 42,000 and wounded 37,000 • Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOxfpWaCdQ • The combination of high explosive bombs and incendiary bombs create something called fire storms. • They were like fire tornadoes that roared through the city. • Temperature 1,500 degrees • Winds of 150 mph • Reaching a height of over 1,000 ft

  17. Schweinfurt Raid – Ball bearing factory • Black Thursday (Oct 43) - 291 B-17, 60 shot down, over 1/5 • End of unescorted missions • The bombing missions would continue until the end of the war. They would only bomb targets within range of fighter cover. • The human cost is surprising, the American 8th Air Force lost more men than all the Marines in WWII.

  18. American P-51 Mustang – Long Range Fighter

  19. Pacific 2 plans • McArthur and SW Philippines route • Nimitz and Central Pacific/China route

  20. American General Douglas McArthur

  21. American Admiral Chester Nimitz

  22. Nimitz – Central Pacific Drive McArthur – South Pacific Drive

  23. Island Hopping – US strategy in the Pacific Theater • US would capture islands that had airfields or harbors and bypass or “hop” over heavily defended islands. • They could then isolate and ignore any Japanese on islands they didn’t take

  24. Rabaul

More Related