Victory in Europe and the Pacific

1. Victory in Europe and the Pacific Chapter 11, Section 3 Mrs. Huston

2. Starting a Second Front in Europe • Arguments between leaders • Roosevelt • Churchill • Stalin • Force Germany to divide its troops • Churchill delayed

3. Tehran Meeting • November, 1943 • 3 Allied leaders • Agreed to invade France across the English Channel • Issued a joint statement in December • Operation Overlord • June, 1944

4. D-Day • Largest fleet ever put together • American General Dwight D. Eisenhower • Supreme commander • British General Bernard Montgomery • Commanded ground forces • American General Omar Bradley • Led the US 1st Army

5. The Attack • Five beaches in Normandy, France • Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword • Also included a “fake” army under • General George Patton • Built cardboard tanks, etc. • Fake radio messages • Fooled the Germans into thinking Calais was the landing site

6. The Invasion • Four of the beaches met relatively little resistance • Omaha beach was brutal • Concrete “pill box” buildings that had heavy guns inside • Mines hidden on the beach • Some soldiers who’d been dropped too far from shore drowned because of heavy packs

7. It was a start • It gave the Allies the toe hold they needed • Within a month more than a million troops had landed

8. Two-Front War • Soviets advancing from the East • Other Allies moving from the West • Reached Paris in August of 1944

9. Counterattack • December, 1944 Germany fights back • Gathered troops near the Ardennes forest • Tactics • English-speaking Germans in US uniforms • Cut telephone lines • Changed road signs • Called Battle of the Bulge • Almost succeeded

10. On to Berlin • January, 1945 Soviets outside Berlin • Allies advancing north in Italy • April, 1945 Mussolini captured and executed • Americans and British cross into Germany • April, 1945 Americans also outside Berlin

11. Hitler’s Demise • Hitler still had delusions of victory • Made plans never carried out • April 30, 1945 • Hitler and close associates commit suicide

12. The Pacific • Americans used “island-hopping” strategy • Moved steadily toward Japan • Japanese fought fiercely to the last man • No surrender • Sometimes committed suicide • Kamikaze pilots crash into American ships

13. Iwo Jima • One of the hardest battles • Small island, only 5 miles long • 36 days of fighting • More than 23,000 casualties • Famous flag raising • Actually the 2nd flag

14. New Weapon • Atomic bomb • Manhattan Project • Albert Einstein wrote the President • J. Robert Oppenheimer headed the project • Hanford had a part • 1st test at Alamogordo, New Mexico • July 16, 1945

15. To use it or not? • Debate over the destruction vs. loss of life • Shall we invade the home islands? • President Truman made the decision • Feared Germany might use the atomic bomb first • It could end the war

16. Two Cities Destroyed • Hiroshima

17. Nagasaki

18. Japan Surrenders • Victory declared August 15, 1945 • Surrender signed September 2, 1945 • Aboard the USS Missouri • Now kept at Pearl Harbor

19. The End