1. 32:4 The Allied Victory

2. December 22 nd, 1941: – FDR, Churchill meet at the White House to discuss joint war policy – FDR agrees to open second war front in the west – Western front would (1) relieve pressure on Stalin’s Soviet armies in the east, and (2) force Germany to fight a two-front war

3. The Tide Turns on Two Fronts Allied decide to attack Axis powers in North Africa; Soviets forced to hold out against Germany in the east (without pressure on the Western Front) – Late 1942: Allies begin to turn the tide in the Mediterranean and on the Eastern Front

4. The North African Campaign: – British General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery launches frontal attack on General Rommel (The Desert Fox) at El Alamein near Alexandria, Egypt – Rommel’s army beaten at Battle of El Alamein; forced to retreat west

5. – American General Dwight D. Eisenhower attacks from Morocco and Algeria with 100,000 troops – Rommel trapped between Montgomery’s and Eisenhower’s armies – Rommel’s Afrika Korps finally defeated in May 1943

6. The Battle for Stalingrad: – German advance stalls at Leningrad in late 1941 amidst cold winter – Summer of 1942: Hitler sends his Sixth Army, commanded by General Friedrich Paulus, to seize oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains – Army also sent to capture Stalingrad (now Volgograd)

7. – Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad; Stalin orders generals to defend city to the death – November 1942: Germans control 90% of city; Russian winter sets in – November 19 th : Soviet troops surround city; cut off supplies to trapped German army – General Paulus begs Hitler to retreat; Hitler refuses – City “to be held at all costs”

8. – February 1943: 90,000 frostbitten, half- starved Germans surrender to Soviets (army started with 330,000) – Soviets suffer over 1 million casualties, city 99% destroyed; but German army now on defensive – Battle of Stalingrad: 1942-1943 WWII battle in which German forces were defeated in their attempt to capture Stalingrad – Soviets push Germans westward

9. The Invasion of Italy: – Stalin again urges Allies to attack France; FDR, Churchill decide to attack Italy first – July 10 th, 1943: Allies land on Sicily; capture island a month later – Conquest of Sicily topples Mussolini from power – July 25 th, 1943: King Victor Emmanuel III has Mussolini arrested – September 3 rd : Italy surrenders

10. – Germans seize northern Italy; Mussolini put back in power – June 4 th, 1944: Allies reach Rome; Germans retreat northward – Fighting continues in Italy until 1945 – April 27 th, 1945: Italian resistance fighters ambush German trucks near Milan; find Mussolini disguised as German soldier – Mussolini shot dead next day; body hung in Milan

12. The Allied Home Fronts Mobilizing for War: – Nations prepare for total war – U.S. factories convert peacetime operations to wartime production; e.g. auto companies build tanks – By 1944: 17-18 million U.S. workers work in war industries; war production leads to shortages for consumer goods

13. – American government forced to ration meat, sugar, tired, gasoline, soap, etc. – Rationing more drastic in Europe – Allied governments begin propaganda campaigns to boost morale – Citizens buy war stamps and bonds to help finance the war

14. War Limits Civil Rights: – Attack on Pearl Harbor sparks prejudice against Japanese Americans – February 19 th, 1942: FDR issues executive order calling for internment of Japanese Americans – March: military begins rounding up “aliens”, shipping them to relocation camps – 2/3 were Nisei (native-born American citizens); many fought in WWII for U.S.

15. Victory in Europe The D-Day Invasion: – 1943: Allies begin building secret invasion force in Britain – May 1944: thousands of planes, ships, tanks, landing crafts await order for attack – General Eisenhower plans strike on coast of Normandy in northwestern France – “Dummy army” appears to be striking Calais

16. – Operation Overlord (invasion of Normandy) becomes largest land and sea attack in history – D-Day: June 6 th, 1944: Normandy invasion in which British, American, French, Canadian troops fight their way onto 60 mile stretch of beach – Germans prepared for attack: machine guns, rocket launchers, cannons, etc. – Allies suffer heavy casualties

18. – 2,700 American troops die on D-Day – Allies hold the beach; 1 million additional troops land within the month – July 25 th : Allies break German defenses near Saint-Lo – U.S. Third Army, led by General George S. Patton, leads charge; Allies capture Paris a month later – By September, Allies liberate France, Belgium, Luxembourg

19. The Battle of the Bulge: – Allied forces push towards Germany from west, Soviets from east; Germany fights two-front war – Hitler gambles on counterattack in west – December 16 th, 1944: German tanks break through weak American defenses along 75- mile front in the Ardennes

20. – German push into Allied lines gives battle its nickname – Battle of the Bulge: 1944-1945 battle in which the Allied forces turn back the last major German offensive of WWII – German forced to retreat; no reinforcements available

21. Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: – March 1945: Allied forces cross Rhine River into Germany – April: 3 million Allied soldiers approach Berlin from southwest; 6 million Soviet troops close in from east – April 25 th : Soviets surround Berlin; bombard city with artillery fire – Hitler retreats to underground headquarters

22. – April 29 th : Hitler marries long-time companion Eva Braun; both commit suicide the next day – May 7 th: General Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender of the Third Reich from German military – FDR had died on April 12 th ; successor Harry Truman received news of surrender – May 9 th : surrender officially signed in Berlin; V-E Day (Victory in Europe) celebrated

23. Victory in the Pacific The Japanese in Retreat: – Fall, 1944: Allied forces close in on Japan – General MacArthur lands on previously surrender island of Leyte in Philippines – October 23 rd : Japanese risk entire fleet in attacking American fleet (to cut off supply lines) at Battle of Leyte Gulf; Japanese suffer disastrous defeat

24. – With naval fleet destroyed, Japanese left only with army and kamikazes: Japanese suicide pilots trained to sink Allied ships by crashing bomb-filled planes into them – March 1945: American Marines take Iwo Jima (island 760 miles from Tokyo) – April 1 st : U.S. troops invade Okinawa (350 miles from southern Japan) – June 21 st : bloody battle for Okinawa ends (Japanese suffer 100,000 casualties)

25. The Japanese Surrender: – Truman’s advisors warn invasion of Japan may cost Allies 500,000 lives – Truman decides on whether to use new A- bomb (atomic bomb); weapon developed by top-secret Manhattan Project (headed by General Leslie Groves & scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer) – July 16 th, 1945: 1 st bomb was exploded in desert in New Mexico

26. – Truman warns Japan: surrender or expect a “rain of ruin from the air”; Japan does not reply – August 6 th, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima (70,000-80,000 people die from blast) – August 9 th : U.S. drops second A-bomb on Nagasaki (70,000 killed immediately) – Radiation fallout from bombs kills many more

27. – September 2 nd, 1945: Japan surrenders to General MacArthur – Ceremony takes place aboard U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay – With Japan’s surrender, World War II finally ends