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D-Day

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D-Day June 6th, 1944 The Russians have defeated the Germans and are advancing in the East The Allies are victorious in Africa and launch an assault on mainland Italy ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: D-Day


1
D-Day
  • June 6th, 1944

2
What was the situation in 1944?
  • The Russians have defeated the Germans and are
    advancing in the East
  • The Allies are victorious in Africa and launch an
    assault on mainland Italy through Sicily

3
The Russian Front
  • On August 23rd, 1939, Stalin and Hitler signed a
    Non-Aggression Pact which vowed not to
    interfere in each others business
  • On June 22nd, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet
    Union
  • Having purged his military of many of its best
    officers, Stalin and the Soviets were not ready
    for war

4
The Eastern Front
  • Operation Barbarossa began on June 22nd, 1941
  • The early days saw the Germans drive into the
    Soviet Union almost reaching Moscow by October
  • The German army besieged Leningrad for what was
    to become a two year struggle ending in the death
    of more than one million civilians
  • When the severe Russian winter arrived
  • the Nazi offensive broke down and the German
    attack was halted

5
The Tide Turns
  • The Nazis needed supplies and resources to
    continue the war so victory in the Soviet Union
    was essential
  • From Sept. 14th, 1942 Feb. 2nd, 1943 the
    Germans and Russians fought for the strategic
    city of Stalingrad on the Volga River
  • Hitler and the Nazis lost the battle 500 000
    German and other troops were killed or taken
    prisoner
  • By the Autumn of 1943 the Germany army of 2.5
    million soldiers faced an army of 5.5 million
    Soviet soldiers

6
Italy
  • From July 10th to August 17th the Allies
    including the Canadians fought and took Sicily
    from the German Army Codenamed Operation
    Husky
  • The Campaign of Italy was designed to take the
    pressure off their Russian Allies and pull German
    troops out of north-western Europe readying the
    area for Operation Overlord
  • 9th September, 1943 the attack began on Italy
  • The Canadians were forced to fight for every
    metre of the mountainous terrain as the Germans
    refused to give it up
  • Italian Campaign Animated Map

7
The Italians Surrender
  • On the 8th of September, 1943, the Italian
    Government surrenders
  • The Allied planners thought the Italian Campaign
    would be over in a matter of weeks.
  • They were wrong.
  • Italy would represent frustration and death for
    thousands of Allied soldiers in a bitter
    stagnated fight.
  • It would be a year before Allied troops entered
    Rome, and the Invasion of France would overshadow
    that victory.

8
The Battle for Italy
  • When Italy formally surrendered on September 8th,
    the Italians separated into two camps, pro-Allied
    and pro-German factions.
  • On September 9, the Allies landed Americans at
    Salerno and the British landed at Taranto
  • By September 26 the Allies had built a force of
    189,000 men and 30,000 vehicles.
  • Following the Italian surrender, the German Army
    took control of the defense of Germany

9
Ortona
  • Ortona is an ancient city that consists of narrow
    streets and connected houses
  • Much of Ortona was reduced to rubble, making it
    difficult for the Canadians to use tanks
  • The Germans barricaded themselves in houses and
    mined the streets
  • The fighting was house-to-house-literally the
    Canadians blasted (Mouse-Holing) their way
    through walls to get from building to building.
  • The battle continued over Christmas Day, 1943 but
    three days later the Germans withdrew.

10
The Move on to France
  • Having the Germans occupied in Italy allowed the
    Allies to move forward with their plan to open up
    the long awaited western front in Europe

11
The Plan
  • Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt agreed
    it was time to open up a new front in the West
    through the beaches of France
  • The obvious choice for a landing area was the Pas
    de Calais so the Allies decided to attack in
    Normandy instead but believed they had to deceive
    the Germans they intended to attack elsewhere

12
Normandy It Is!
  • Normandy is a peninsula on the French Coast
  • It was chosen because the Germans expected the
    attack to be on the Pas de Calais

13
The Criteria
  1. The enemy must remain ignorant of the proposed
    landing site enemy not know where the Allies
    will land
  2. The enemy must be prevented from bringing up
    reinforcements quickly once the allies landed
  3. Complete Allied air and naval domination in the
    English Channel
  4. Local defenses must largely be destroyed by air
    and sea bombardment

14
Operation Overlord
  • There would be five sectors that would be
    attacked
  • Utah American
  • Omaha American
  • Gold British
  • Juno Canadian
  • Sword - British

15
The Attack June 6th, 1944
  • Operation Overlord Simulation

16
The Atlantic Wall!
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of
coastal fortifications built by the Germans
between 1942 and 1944
17
The Time Has Come
  • On the evening of June 5th paratroopers dropped
    in to secure bridges for the allied advance
  • Heavy bombers dropped their payloads on what was
    supposed to be the beach defenses
  • In the early morning the largest armada of ships
    left Britain for the French coast

18
The Canadians on D-Day
  • Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or
    parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were
    Canadians
  • The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and
    10,000 sailors in support of the landings while
    the R.C.A.F. had helped prepare the invasion by
    bombing targets inland
  • Canadians suffered 1074 casualties, including 359
    killed.

19
The Battle for Normandy
  • For the first month following the D-Day landings,
    a stalemate developed during which the Allies
    built up their forces
  • In July, Canadian troops helped capture Caen and
    then turned towards Falaise where they aimed at
    joining an American advance from the south to
    encircle the German forces in Normandy.
  • By August 21, the Germans had either retreated or
    been destroyed between the Canadian-British and
    American pincers
  • The ten-week Normandy Campaign cost the Canadians
    alone more than 18,000 casualties, 5000 of them
    fatal.

20
The Liberation of Northwest Europe
  • September 1944 the British captured the Belgian
    port of Antwerp
  • It was a key victory for the allies because they
    desperately required its docking facilities to
    bring in supplies.
  • The problem was that the Germans occupied both
    banks of the 70-kilometre long Scheldt River
    estuary linking Antwerp to the sea.
  • Realizing the value of Antwerp to the Allied
    supply line, the 2nd Canadian Army under the
    command of Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds was
    assigned to the task of securing the Scheldt
    Estuary

21
Liberating The Scheldt Estuary
  • The Battle of the Scheldt, was a series of
    military operations which took place in northern
    Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from October
    2 to November 8, 1944
  • By September, 1944, it had become urgent for the
    Allies to clear both banks of the Scheldt Estuary
    in order to open the port of Antwerp to Allied
    shipping, thus easing logistical burdens in their
    supply lines stretching hundreds of miles from
    Normandy.
  • The British captured Antwerp on September 4th,
    1944 but the Germans still controlled the Scheldt
    Estuary making the port useless

22
The Scheldt Continued
  • After five weeks of difficult fighting, the First
    Canadian Army with support from other countries
    was successful in securing the Scheldt Estuary
  • It took numerous amphibious assaults, crossing of
    canals, and fighting over open ground.
  • Both land and water were mined, and the Germans
    defended their retreating line with artillery and
    snipers.
  • The Allies finally cleared the port areas on
    November 8, but at a cost of 12,873 Allied
    casualties (killed, wounded, or missing), half of
    them Canadians.

23
The Battle of the Bulge
  • The Ardennes Offensive known to the general
    public as the Battle of the Bulge, started on
    December 16, 1944
  • Three powerful German armies plunged into the
    semi-mountainous, heavily forested Ardennes
    region of eastern Belgium and northern
    Luxembourg.
  • Their goal was to reach the sea, trap four allied
    armies, and negotiate peace on the Western front.

24
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25
The Battle of the Bulge
  • Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot
    for a German offensive the line was thin with
    American manpower concentrated north and south of
    the Ardennes. Limited Allied Forces
  • Even though the German Offensive achieved total
    surprise, the American troops did not give ground
    without a fight Allies stood tough!
  • Within three days the Americans, assisted by the
    arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that
    the Germans would not achieve their goal.

26
Battle of the Bulge Outcome
  • The German losses in the battle were critical
  • The last of the German reserves were now gone
  • The Luftwaffe had been broken
  • The German Army in the West was being pushed
    back.
  • Most importantly, the Eastern Front was now ripe
    for the taking and the German Army was unable to
    halt the Soviets
  • German forces were sent reeling on two fronts and
    NEVER RECOVERED.

27
The Final Days
  • In April 1945, the battle is coming to a close.
  • On the 30th April, Hitler commits suicide
    together with his mistress Eva Braun hours after
    they were married.
  • Hitler gave strict orders for his body to be
    burned, so that his enemies wouldn't do what they
    had done to Mussolini, who was publicly displayed
    hanging upside down and mutilated

28
The Soviets Arrive Berlin Falls
  • By 2 May, the Reichstag, the old German
    parliament falls and Berlin surrenders to
    Marshall Zukhov, who receives the honour of being
    the conqueror of Berlin.
  • The battle for Berlin cost the Soviets over
    70,000 dead. Many of them died because of the
    haste with which the campaign was conducted.

29
VE-Day
  • The major Allied ground offensive from the west
    against German territory began on 8 February 1945
  • In April, Canadian troops liberated most of the
    Netherlands
  • The Germans formally surrendered on 8 May 1945,
    known as Victory-in-Europe, or V-E Day

30
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • Following FDRs death, Harry Truman becomes
    President of the United States
  • Truman decided to use the bomb on Japan because
    he believed that it was the only way to get the
    Japanese to surrender and save American lives
  • On August 6th, 1945 a lone B-29 Superfortress
    called the Enola Gay by its crew took off and
    headed for HiroshimaVideo

31
Fat Man and Little Boy
  • At 815am the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy
    was dropped on Hiroshima
  • Within seconds two thirds of the city was
    flattened and thousands were dead
  • On August 11, a bomb called Fat Man was dropped
    on Nagasaki at 1102 am
  • At noon, August 15th, 1945 Emperor Hirohito
    spoke directly to his people to tell them Japan
    had surrendered

32
Why Did the Allies Win?
  • Complete material superiority weapons etc.
  • More soldiers
  • Better Strategy
  • Technology
  • Morale
  • Material and financial Wealth
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