1. The Atlantic Theater
Chapter 11 Sections 1 & 3

2. Lecture Focus Question
#1: How did the Allies defeat the Axis Powers in Europe?

3. Americans Join the Struggle
Axis Powers seem unstoppable
Battle for control of the Atlantic
Use of convoys as protection against U-boats
Key war strategy: Allies agree to focus efforts on liberating Europe first

4. Axis Powers in Africa
General Dwight Eisenhower (Ike): commanded invasion of North Africa
General Patton (“Old Blood & Guts”): led U.S. forces
Axis Powers pushed out of Africa northward
Italy invaded
Mussolini killed by Italians while fleeing

6. War in the Soviet Union Hitler breaks the Nonaggression Pact
Red Army poorly equipped and trained
Soviet citizens saw Germans as liberators until forced labor and executions began
Battle of Stalingrad
Turning point
Germans forced to surrender and retreat

7. Planning Further Strategies
Saturation bombing: Allies drop massive amounts of bombs on Germany by night
Strategic bombing: targeting Germany’s key political and industrial centers
Goal: destroy Germany’s capacity to wage war

8. Invasion of Western Europe
D-Day
Allied invasion of France’s Normandy coast
Largest landing by sea in history
Goal: liberate France and push Germans back into Germany
Battle of the Bulge
Largest battle in Western Europe
80,000 Allied casualties

10. V-E Day! Soviets suffered the largest Allied casualties
18 million dead
Capturing Berlin was a matter of honor
Hitler refuses to flee, commits suicide
V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day, May 1945
Yalta Conference
Germany split into 4 zones

11. Lecture Focus Question
#1: How did the Allies defeat the Axis Powers in Europe?