March to Berlin

After the Breakout After Normandy, Allies begin to move Supply issues Cherbourg only usable port Allies moving too fast Train lines blown up Red Ball Express

Liberation of Paris – Aug 24-26 Orders to evacuate German commander ordered to destroy Paris bridges and the city General von Choltitz could not Some fighting, but the city is spared

Liberation of Paris – Aug 24-26

Liberation of Paris

Liberation of Paris

Market–Garden – Sept ‘44 Supplies were limited Priority to Monty over Patton Eliminate V-2 rockets Strike a blow into Germany Paratroopers secure highway into Holland & bridges British 2nd armor Around Siegfried Line into Germany Cut off Ruhr

Market Garden British and American Airborne secure bridges road British 2nd Army and Guards Armor could push through and into Germany High risk, high reward mission Needed precise execution, surprise, and tough fighting

Why it failed Bad intelligence – fighting good troops Coordination between allies - shaky Thin front of attack allowed for… too much congestion vulnerability to flank attacks

Aftermath of Market Garden British 1st Airborne lost 8,000 of 10,000 men Eisenhower believed M-G was a risk that had to be taken…press the enemy as they retreat

Russians on the Move After Stalingrad, no major offensives July 43 – Battle of Kursk Nov 43 – Russia is back to pre-war borders Supply issues slow them July 44 – Attempts assassination of Hitler Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg

Reconquest – Foreshadowing the Cold War August 44 – Warsaw Uprising No Soviet help Sept 44 – Russians invade Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, & Hungary – they fall Fall 44 – No retreat Feb 45 – 60 miles from Berlin

Battle of the Bulge – Dec ’44-Jan ‘45 Last German counterattack Achieved surprise Three armies into Belgium & Holland Bastogne – Gen. McAuliffe Patton’s 3rd Army

Deception 25 German divisions Achieved complete surprise Allies thought the Germans had 4 Achieved complete surprise Allied overconfidence Offensive made no sense Germans concealed their forces well

Biggest Battle in US Army History Used American mobility 600,000 American soldiers involved 20,000 dead, 20,000 captured, 40,000 wounded Two American divisions completely destroyed

Allies Enter Germany Feb 1945 - Americans enter Germany (cross Rhine) March – All 7 western allied armies were in Germany No point to continue the war at this point April 1945 – Allies 50 miles from Berlin

Who would get to Berlin? Feb 1945 – Yalta Conference – zones of occupation Berlin was in Soviet zone Ike’s forces were spread out and under supplied

The Big 3 at Yalta

Mussolini’s Death

VE Day April 16 – Russians attack Berlin Street fighting Hitler in underground bunker Suicide – April 30, 1945 Germans Instrument of Surrender – May 7, 1945 – Reims, France V-E Day: May 8, 1945 Surrender to Russians – May 9

Alfred Jodl – Reims, France

Nuremburg Trials

A- Bomb Why? Costly invasion Japanese brutality They ignored the Potsdam Declaration Nuclear fission Bombs Aug 6 – Hiroshima Aug 8 – USSR declared war on Japan – invaded Manchuria Aug 9 - Nagasaki

VJ Day August 14, 1945 – unconditional surrender Sept 2, 1945 – Formal Surrender – USS Missouri, Tokyo Bay