D-Day: The D-Day: The Invasion of Invasion of Europe Europe The beginning of the end.
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D-Day: The Invasion of D-Day: The Invasion of EuropeEurope
The beginning of the end.
Background
US enters the war in Dec 1941 when Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
US joins Great Britain & USSR against the Axis
US troops fight throughout Africa and Italy against the Nazis 1942-1944
A Plea from the east
Stalin pleaded with the US and Great Britain to open a second front in the west.
The resources that were needed to overcome the Germans in the East were immense
Russia had been fighting Germany alone for three years and wanted help.
Ike takes control
US General Eisenhower is supreme Allied commander
An invasion into France had to take place to free the rest of Europe
Allied Plan
Make the Germans believe the attack will be at Pas de Calais
Form the largest army and naval armada EVER seen on the face of the earth
All without the Germans finding out!
Allied Plan
Establish a beach head
Press inland once beach head is secured and reinforcements make it ashore
The Germans Defense: The Atlantic Wall 1942-44
General Rommel given command of Normandy
Stop the Allies at the French coast
Built 15,000 fortifications 11 million tons of
concrete 1 million tonnes of steel Land mines, barbwire,
machine gun bunkers, artillery
June 5-6, 1944
British and American Paratroopers take off for Normandy to secure bridge heads, towns, and other vital locations
British and American troops board the largest fleet of ships ever seen (7,000)
D- Day June 6th 1944
The Invasion:156,000 allied troops 11,590 aircraft 7,000 ships
The cost in lives: June 6th 1944
10,000 Allies killed and wounded
4,000-9,000 Germans
Normandy was only the beginning:
Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy.(July-August 1944)
The battle for the Normandy coast was only the beginning of a bitter fight as the Allies paid a heavy cost to reach Paris and eventually Germany itself.
Why were the Allies so successful?
Good planning The Germans had been bleed dry in the
east by the Red Army Many German defenders of Normandy
were not even German! The surprise that the attack came at
Normandy!
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