North Africa

North Africa• Before 1941

– Germany had control under General Rommel’s (“Desert Fox”) command

• 1942– British want to invade N.

Africa and Italy (“soft underbelly”) – U.S. wants to invade France – Operation Torch

– English General Montgomery pushes Rommel out

– El Alamein (Egypt)• Montgomery beats

Rommel in surprise attack

North Africa• Eisenhower

(American) chases Rommel from other side

• Rommel surrounded– Rommel accused of

plot to assassinate Hitler

– Takes poison and commits suicide

Italy - 1943• Allies attack Italy• Mussolini out of

power• Germans come

in and put Mussolini back in power

• 1944 - Allies take Italy again (Battle of Anzio and Monte Cassino)

D-Day

June 6, 1944

Operation Overlord• Invasion finally a

go for May 1944 – Where to attack?

• Weather and plans push back invasion

• Time to fake out Germans – fake army, inflatable tanks, Patton, decoy bombing

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018-%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord

Inflatable Tanks

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018-%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord

Ready for Operation Overlord

• June 5, 1944 chosen as invasion day

• More than 700 Allies die in rehearsal

• Bad weather forces delay to 6th

• Germans waiting for Allies (though mainly at Calais)

German Defenses

Allied Plan

• The Allied plan would involve amphibious landings on the Normandy beaches supported by airborne assaults behind the beaches to block German counterattacks

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018-%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord

June 6, 1944• Paratroopers begin landing shortly after

midnight• Minesweepers led the way• Planes bomb beaches (7500 sorties

between midnight and 8 a.m. – 31,000 airmen)

• Landing begins at 6:30 a.m.• Landing at 5 beaches (Omaha, Utah, Gold,

Juno, and Sword) - - all secured by end of day

• 195,000 soldiers/navy (American, British, and Canadian - - 133,000 go to shore), 7000 ships with landing crafts, tanks, etc., 11,000 airplanes

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w416373/HIS%20351/Lsn%2018-%20WWII%20Normandy.ppt#338,2,Operation Overlord

At low tide, the assaulting troops had to cross more than 300 meters of completely exposed beach.

Charles Durning

Aftermath• Over 10,000 casualties

– Heaviest losses at Omaha

• By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies

• By Sep. 30, Allies have freed France, Belgium, and Luxembourg

• Germans make one last push (Battle of the Bulge – December 1944) - - initially successful but eventually lose

1945• Mussolini killed

– Mussolini is found dressed as German Soldier

– Shot the next day and hung from town square in Milan

Germans close to surrender• Hitler marries Eva

Braun• Writes final note to

Germans– Blames Jews for

starting war– Blames his generals

for losing war• April 30, 1945

– Takes poison and then shoots himself; Eva swallows poison

April and May 1945• Roosevelt dies• Germany

surrenders unconditionally

• May 8, V-E Day (victory of Europe)– Truman (new U.S.

president) accepts surrender