“Allies Strike Back”1941-1945

European Theatre

Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa• June 22, 1941: Hitler launches Operation

Barbarossa: Invasion of Soviet Union

• The Russians practiced a Scorched Earth Policy: Destroy everything the German’s would pass through

• Hitler’s largest Mistake of the War.

1942• January: 26 nations sign the United Nations

agreement

• Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

• November: Operation Torch: Allied forces (110.000 men) under Dwight D. Eisenhower land in North Africa.

Battle of Stalingrad

• On April 5, 1942, Hitler ordered his Armies to Stalingrad, Soviet forces would be completely cut off from their own oil supply.

• Operation Uranus: The Red Army secretly began to mobilize one million troops, 14,000 heavy guns, 979 tanks, and 1,350 aircraft to attack the Germans

Stalingrad

• The German Blitzkrieg stalled in Stalingrad

• German troops were prepared for Summer fighting, not the harsh Russian winters

• The Germans lost 147,000 men and 91,000 were taken prisoner.

• The Red Army lost 500,000 men in the battle.

• Stalingrad was the first battle where the German Army surrendered.

1942- Northern Africa

• Famous North African Tank Battles

• Axis Powers led by Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)

• Allies led by Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery

• Battle of El Alamein first victory for Allies in Northern Africa

General Erwin RommelGeneral Erwin Rommel

1943• January 14: Casablanca Conference: FDR

and Churchill announce they will accept nothing less than an unconditional surrender from the Axis powers

• May: German forces in Africa defeated, Rommel moved to European front.

1943• July-August Operation "Husky": Allied

forces invade Sicily, Italy. The greatest Airborne-Amphibious Operation of WWII; 3.000 ships and landing-craft with 8 Divisions.

• November: Teheran Conference: First "Big Three" conference to discuss the upcoming Allied invasion of western Europe

The Big ThreeThe Big Three

December 24: General Eisenhower chosen Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in Europe.

1944

• January: Leningrad freed from Germans

• June 4: Allied Forces capture Rome

• June 6: D-day

D-day: Normandy InvasionD-day: Normandy Invasion• D-Day does not stand for Doomsday, it was

a code word for the specific operation

• June 6: 5,000 ships and landing-crafts carried 5 Allied divisions to the French coast.

• At the first 48 hours, 107,000 men landed.

D-dayD-day

1944• June 12: In total 326.000 men, 104.000 ton

material and 54.000 vehicles were carried to the French coast

• June 17: 587.000 landed

• July 2: In total 929.000 men, 586.000 ton material and 177.000 vehicles landed

• August 15: About 2.000.000 men landed

Battle of the Bulge• December, 1944: Was the last major

offensive by the German Army.

• Battle was primarily Ground infantry, Armored vehicles and planes.

Bulge Facts• Over a million men: 500,000 Germans,

600,000 Americans and 55,000 British.

• 100,000 German casualties, killed, wounded or captured. 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed.

• 1,400 British casualties 200 killed. 800 tanks lost on each side, 1,000 German aircraft.

1945• Through the late winter/spring Allied

Forces pushed Axis forces back into Germany.

• The Big Three meet at Yalta to discuss Post-War Europe, beginning of disagreements between USSR and Allies: Possible start of Cold War

1945• April 16: FDR dies, Vice-President Truman

becomes President

• April 30, 1945 Hitler, trapped in his Berlin Bunker, shoots himself

• May 8 1945: Germany formally surrenders July 1945: Potsdam Conference: Splitting of Germany into Four Allied Zones, Discussion of Japanese surrender.

“Allies Strike Back” 1941-1945

Pacific Theatre

December 7th 1941

• Japanese Air Force attack US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii, and attack the Philippines the same day.

December 8th 1941

• United States officially declares war on both Japan and Germany.

• “A Day which will live in Infamy”

The U.S. would use the Pearl Harbor Bombing as a Propaganda Source

throughout the war.

• For the next several months the Japanese military cannot be stopped. . . .

• Under the command of General Tojo, the Japanese attacked many targets

General Tojo

Battle of Coral Sea: May 1942

• Largest all air battle of the war, huge losses for American airmen.

• First battle to stop Japanese Aggression

June 1942: The Battle of Midway

• Turning Point in the War: Major Victory for US American Intelligence broke Japanese military codes,

• planned sneak attack against Japanese battle plan of Midway island.

• First Allied Victory

Island Hopping

• Allied strategy to avoid Japanese stronghold, hopping to Japan

• Led by Douglas MacArthur and Chester Nimitz

July-November 1942: Battle of Guadalcanal

• 1st Offensive Victory of the Allies

• 1st territory taken from the Japanese

1944- Battle of Leyte-Gulf

• First use of Japanese Suicide Pilots

• Kamikazes “Divine Wind”

1945Iwo Jima / Okinawa

• Fiercest battles of the war

• Despite little chance of victory, Japanese would not surrender

1945• March ‑‑ Tokyo Air Raid : Bombing runs

over Tokyo: These attacks on the mainland were part of the American effort to force Japan toward a surrender agreement.

• July: At the Potsdam Conference, Stalin agrees to enter the war against Japan in August.

• President Truman learns about the A- bomb at the potsdam conference

• To save American lives, President Truman orders the use of the A-bomb on Japan.

• August 6 1945: The bombing of Hiroshima (Little Boy)

• August 9 1945: The bombing of Nagasaki

(Fat Man)

• Hiroshima- August 6th

– 140,000 people killed

• Nagasaki- August 9th

– 80,000 people killed

• September 2: Japan officially surrenders

• Two important points of Japan’s surrender

1. The Emperor openly announces he

was not a living god, shocking loyal

followers

2. Japan was not, and still is not allowed

to have any military forces.