OPERATION OVERLORD

OBJECTIVE: Invade Western Europe in

order to liberate France and the low

countries. Relieve pressure on the

Soviets in the East.

AIRBORNE FORCES

PURPOSE: Land behind enemy lines and

capture key points like airfields,

bridges and crossroads and disrupt the

enemy until the regular ground forces

arrive.

Two Types:

Paratroopers

Glider Assault Infantry

CASUALTIES DURING THE BATTLE OF

NORMANDY FOLLOWING THE INVASION:

ALLIED: 209,000 (54,000 KIA)

GERMAN: 200,000 + 200,000 POWs

The operation succeeded; the Allies

established a foothold in France

for the first time since 1940.

Next came the hard drive toward

Germany.

DECEMBER-JANUARY 1944

After Normandy, the Allies fought hard

across France, Holland and Belgium.

Supply lines were stretched thin and the

men exhausted from nearly six months of

near continuous combat.

Hitler believed one last major offensive

could knock the western allies out of the

war.

DECEMBER-JANUARY 1944

The German army quietly gathered the remainder

of its reserves and moved into the Ardennes

Forest in Belgium-it was believed by the Allies

to be a quiet sector.

DECEMBER 20TH: The German army catches the Allies

by surprise and punches a massive hole through

American lines.

Allied air superiority is lost due to blizzard-

like conditions.

Many units are quickly overwhelmed, surrounded

and destroyed.

101st AIRBORNE

The American 101st AIRBORNE Division is one of

the units cut off and surrounded.

It holds out around the key Belgian town of

Bastogne.

The Germans demand the unit surrender. Their

commander sends back a famous reply: “NUTS!”

MALMEDY

SS units execute 80 American POW’s at Malmedy

Belgium. Their bodies are not found until

Spring when the snow begins to melt.

THE END

The battle turns when the weather clears,

the Germans run out of fuel and Patton’s

3rd Army breaks through to Bastogne from

the south.

Germany’s last major offensive of the war

fails and the end is in sight.

MARCH-APRIL 1945

The Allies punch their way into western

(Battle of Hürtgen Forest) and northern

Germany (Battle of Aachen) while the

Soviets enter Germany from the east.

Soviet and American forces link up on the

Elbe River on 25 April.

Hitler commits suicide on April 30th.

Soviets take Berlin while other Allied

units seize key Nazi locations in Bavaria

including Hitler’s house.

VE DAY

On May 8th, the German surrender is

announced over the radio.