The European Theater

A look at the fighting that happened in Europe during World War II

OBJECTIVE

•By the end of the lesson, TSWBAT describe the major battles of the European theater during World War II.

Lightning Round Review

• 1. Who was the leader of Italy during World War II?

• 2. Who was the leader of Germany during World War II?

• 3. What does blitzkrieg mean?

• 4. Where were the two places that World War II occurred?

Vocabulary• Eastern Front - The fight in the Eastern part of Europe. The fight was between Germany and the Soviet Union.

• Western Front - The fight in the Western part of Europe. The fight was between Germany and the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and Australia.

• D-Day - The day the Allied powers opened up the Western front. The attack took place on the beaches of Normandy, France.

• Josef Stalin - The leader of the Soviet Union (Russia).

European Theater• In the spring of 1939, Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany, ordered the Nazis to invade both Poland and Czechoslovakia.

• This event started World War II.

• Germany was able to take over much of Europe by 1941.

• Included France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway

Europe

Eastern Front

•Germany invaded Russia in June 1941-Operation Barbarossa.

•The place that most fighting was really going on in Europe between 1941 - 1943 was on the Eastern front.

•The Germans wanted lebensraum(living space) to gain oil, land, etc.

Eastern Front•The battles in the Eastern Front were miserable:

• It was cold, and the troops traveled thousands of miles

•The Soviet Union leader, Josef Stalin, would not give up and he kept fighting.•“One rifle, two soldiers!”

•The Soviet Union lost over 20 million people in the battles that happened there!

Leningrad

• (Sept 1941-Jan 1944) 900 day German siege(military blockade) of the city.

• 1.5 million soviet military and civilians died of starvation, disease, and cold temperatures

• Survived on horses, cats, dogs, etc.

Stalingrad• August 23, 1942-February 2, 1943• Casualties are estimated at 1.1 million for Soviets

• German casualties were estimated 400,000• Important due to its access to rich oil lands• Biggest tank battle of all time

Open up the Front• The Soviet Union was begging the United States and Great Britain to start fighting in Western Europe.

• The Soviets wanted the Allied Powers to open up the Western Front.

• The U.S., Britain, Australia, and Canada spent years preparing for their attack against Nazi Germany.

• Why would the Soviet Union want its allies to open up the Western Front?

• Why would this attack on the Western Front take so much planning?

D-DAY!•Finally, on June 6, 1944, the Allied Powers opened up the Western Front of the European Theater by attacking the beaches of Normandy, France

•Canada, The United States, Australia, and Great Britain all fought in the biggest land invasion ever!

•The allied Powers landed on five beaches named: Utah, Gold, Sword, Juno, and Omaha

D-Day - The Numbers

•5,000 ships were used in the attack.•150,000 men fought in the battle•30,000 tanks were brought ashore•9,000 soldiers died on the first day of battle, but 100,000 soldiers made it to the beaches

D-DAY•The Allied mission against the Nazis was very dangerous because on the cliffs above the beaches, the Nazis had huge concrete forts where they had huge machine guns ready to shoot the soldiers.

•The Nazis also put a lot of metal objects on beaches so the landing crafts couldn’t get close and the soldiers had to swim to shore?

•Why was it dangerous for soldiers to have to swim to shore?

D-DAY SUCCESS

• Although the Allied Powers lost a lot of soldiers, they were able to land on the beaches of Normandy.

• With the Allied Powers fighting in France, the European Theater was a two front war: meaning there was fighting in the West and the East.

• Why was that a bad thing for the Nazis and the Axis Powers?

Nazi struggles•The Nazis were not doing well in a two front war.

•They had to decide where to put there troops and they could not defend both the East and West of Germany.

•The race was on for both the Soviet Union and the Americans to see who get to the capitol of Germany - Berlin first.

•Both the Soviet Union and the Americans wanted to be the first to capture Berlin

•Why would both the Americans and Soviets want to get Berlin first?

ROOSEVELT AND STALIN

Tuskegee Airmen

•The Tuskegee Airmen played a big role in World War II.

•They were involved in the fight to defeat Italy.

•They dropped bombs over the island of Sicily before the Allied Powers invaded Italy.

Conclusion•The Nazis were winning in Europe when it was only a one front war.

•When the Allied Powers opened up the Western front on D-Day, it was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.

•The Tuskegee Airmen fought in Italy.

Video of D-Day

• http://youtu.be/bwBkQy9CpS0?t=15s

Resources

• http://betterlesson.com/lesson/29279/world-war-ii-european-theater

• http://www.nationalww2museum.org/history/final/interactive_timeline.html