D-Day

Operation Overlord June 6, 1944: Great Britain and the U.S. invaded Normandy, France The largest naval attack in history 7,000 ships 160,000 soldiers By the end of the month: 850,000 soldiers 148,000 vehicles 570,000 TONS of supplies

Dwight D. Eisenhower Organized the attack Led the allies to victory “We will accept nothing less than full victory Eight years later, “Ike” became the 34th president of the U.S. http://www.army.mil/d-day/message.html

Plan of Attack

As they near the beaches, men pray

Awaiting arrival

Beach Obstacles

Assaulting the beaches

Coming ashore

Coming ashore

Taking cover from German machine guns

Staying low

German Defense

Climbing the sea wall

German machine gun

Bombing the beaches

Bombing the beaches

Capturing the beaches

Caring for the wounded

Taking Prisoners

Taking Prisoners

By the end of the Invasion

Result By the end of the day, the Allies controlled the beaches of Normandy The Allies proceeded to flood France with more than 800,000 soldiers

The (German) Empire Strikes Back The Battle of the Bulge: Germany’s final (surprise) assault in France and Belgium After 120,000 German casualties and 80,000 American casualties, Germany was defeated The largest battle fought by American soldiers during WWII

The Malmedy Massacre During the Battle of the Bulge, 150 American prisoners of war (POWs) who had surrendered were murdered by Nazi’s

The Battle of the Bulge Hitler never regained the ability to launch and attack on the Allies "This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever-famous American victory." – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Germany Retreats With the success of D-Day, Operation Overlord, and the defensive stand in the Battle of the Bulge, Germany was forced to retreat Within a year, Germany surrendered and Hitler was dead