SECTION ONE. THE WAR IN EUROPE

During most of World War II, the Soviet Union was fighting the Nazi war machine single handedly in Europe. Stalin pleaded with his Allies to open a front in Western Europe, but the attack was postponed and delayed. Instead, Americans provided weapons, war materials, and SPAM!

After the United States and English troops captured Sicily, they used it as a base to launch an invasion of mainland Italy. Once the invasion was underway, Benito Mussolini was denounced by the King of Italy, and forced to flee Rome.

General Eisenhower took personal responsibility for the D-Day Invasion of Europe, carried out on June 6, The code name for the event was Operation Overlord, and the assault on the Normandy region of France was a great success – with high casualties at Omaha.

At Omaha Beach, Americans met fierce resistance from Nazi gunners, entrenched in pill boxes on the cliffs of Normandy. During the assault, over 2500 Americans gave their lives to preserve the American way of life – individual rights and liberty.

Members of the US Military scaled the sea cliffs at Pointe du Hoc at Omaha Beach to capture their German adversaries. They climbed up rope ladders under heavy fire, and suffered terrible casualties in the process.

American, British, and Canadian troops who stormed the beaches at Omaha met heavy fire from the German Army – despite a bombardment by naval vessels all morning. One of the squads which suffered the heaviest casualties was from Bedford, VA.

At one point in the assault, Eisenhower considered evacuating the beachhead – and retreating from the area. But slowly but surely – miraculously – soldiers started to reach the heights of Omaha beach, and engage the enemy. The Nazis began to falter.

By the end of the morning, American and Allied soldiers had secured the beachhead and created an artificial port where they began landing weapons and materials for the assault on Nazi- controlled Europe.

The last major assault on Allied troops in Western Europe took place in the winter of 1944 – 1945 in Belgium and the low countries. The counterattack is known as the Battle of the Bulge because of the dent in put on the Allied lines across Western Europe.

The Battle of the Bulge took place in the bitter cold winter of 1944 – 1945, and ended any hope the Nazis had of reinvigorating their war machine. After the Battle of the Bulge ended in Nazi defeat, Russian, American, and English soldiers raced for Berlin.

When President Roosevelt passes away in April of 1945 – of a stroke while resting at Warm Springs, GA – he was confident that the United States would prevail in Europe. The city of Berlin would fall in the next several weeks, and Germany would surrender with one month.

Truman ascended to the Presidency in 1945, and took control of the war effort. He was so little informed of the situations in the war that many worried whether or not he was competent to manage the job as Commander in Chief – but he learned the ropes quickly.

Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide sometime in late April of 1945 – just as the Soviet Union’s Army was rolling into Berlin with punishing force. His body was discovered by Soviet soldiers, burned, and the taken back to the Soviet Union.

When Germany surrendered to the Allies, officially ending the war in Europe, wild celebrations took place all over the world – but Americans still had another war to fight – in the Pacific Theatre, against Japan. Many predicted a long war.