1. Aim: Summarize events that led to the surrender of Germany & of Japan

2. Germany Sparks a New War in Europe
Allies were preparing to push toward victory in Europe
1943: Allies began building an invasion force in Britain
Plan was to launch an attack on German held France across the English Channel
June 6, 1944: Planes, ships, tanks, landing craft, & 3 million troops planned to strike on the coast of Normandy (Northwestern France)
Known as the D-Day Invasion
Germans knew an attack would happen but didn’t know where
By September, they had liberated France, Belgium, Luxembourg
Dec 6: German tanks broke through American defenses but were pushed back (Battle of the Bulge) 2

3. Germany’s Unconditional Surrender
March 1945: 3 million Allied soldiers approached Berlin from the Southwest
Six million Soviet troops approached from the East
May 7, 1945: General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich from the German military
The United States & other Allied powers celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe) 3

4. Victory in the Pacific
Allies were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific
Japanese had devised a bold plan to halt the Allied advance
They would destroy the American fleet
This would prevent the Allies from resupplying their ground troops
Within days, the Japanese navy had lost disastrously
Kamikazes (Japanese suicide pilots) were only thing between Allies and Japan
Pilot would sink Allied ships by crash-diving bomb-filled planes into them
March 1945: American Marines took Iwo Jima
April 1: US troops moved to Okinawa
June 21: Japanese lost 100,000 in battle 4

5. The Japanese Surrender
President Truman’s advisers had informed him than an invasion of the Japanese homeland might cost the Allies 500,000 lives
Truman decided to use a powerful new weapon (Atomic Bomb)
Aug 6, 1945: The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Aug 9: Second bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Sept 2: The Japanese finally surrendered to General MacArthur 5