World War II

1. World War II Beating the Germans

2. The Casablanca Conference • From January 14 to January 24, 1943, the first war conference between the Allied Powers, was held in Casablanca, Morocco. (Africa) • The purpose of the conference was relatively vague. It took steps toward planning the allied strategy and the end of the war. • Initially, it was to be a Big Three meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. • It became a Big Two meeting when Stalin declined the invitation. • With his country besieged by both Hitler and the harsh winter, Stalin didn't feel that he could leave. • Even without Stalin, or perhaps due to his absence, the Casablanca Conference was successful.

3. No sitting President had ever been to Africa, nor had a U.S. President ever left the country during a time of war. But in the middle of January 1943, FDR became the first President to do both.

4. How and when Roosevelt left the U.S. and arrived in Morocco was kept secret. The President's trip itself wasn't disclosed to the public until he was already safely back in Washington.

5. New Bombing Campaign • At the Casablanca Conference, FDR & Churchill agreed to step up the bombing of Germany - the goal of this new campaign was “the progressive destruction of the German military, industrial, and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people.”

6. Invading Sicily • The Allies agreed to attack the Axis of the island of Sicily – Churchill called Italy the “soft underbelly” of Europe and was convinced that the Italians would quit the war if the Allies invaded their homeland.

8. Invading the Soft Underbelly • Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower was placed in overall command of the invasion • The invasion began before dawn on July 10, 1943 – despite bad weather, the Allied troops made it ashore with few casualties thanks to the new vehicle, the DUKW (an amphibious truck) • 8 days after troops came ashore, US tanks smashed through enemy lines & captured the western half of the island • By August 18, Germans had evacuated the island

9. General Dwight D. Eisenhower

10. DUKW

13. Italy Surrenders • The attack of Sicily created a crisis within the Italian government. • Victor Emmanuel, the Italian king & a group of Italian Generals decided it was time to get rid of Mussolini • On July 25, 1943, the king invited Mussolini to his palace & placed him under arrest & the new Italian government began secretly negotiating with the Allies for Italy’s surrender • On September 8, 1943, Italy publicly announced its surrender

14. Hitler was not about to loose Italy • German troops went into action at once & seized control of northern Italy, including Rome, attacked the Americans at Salerno, and put Mussolini back in power.

15. The Italian Campaign • To stop the Allied advance, the German army took up positions neat the heavily fortified town of Cassino with steep, barren, & rocky terrain. • Instead of attacking such difficult terrain, the Allies chose to land at Anzio behind German lines hoping to force them to retreat.

19. Instead of retreating, the Germans surrounded the Allied troops near Anzio • It took the Allies 5 months to break through the German lines at Cassino & Anzio • Finally in May 1944, the Germans were forced to retreat • The Italian campaign was one of the bloodiest in the war – it cost the Allies more than 300,000 casualties

20. Mussolinis Fate • On September 12, 1943, two months after he was stripped of power, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in Operation Oak. • The Germans relocated Mussolini to northern Italy. • After yielding to pressures from Hitler and the remaining loyal fascists, Mussolini helped orchestrate a series of executions of some of the fascist leaders who had betrayed him at the last meeting of the Fascist Grand Council. • One of those executed included his son-in-law

21. Mussolini and his mistress were stopped by communist partisans and identified as they headed for Switzerland to board a plane to escape to German-controlled Austria. • Mussolini had been traveling with retreating German forces and was apprehended while attempting to escape recognition by wearing a German military uniform • The next day, Mussolini and his mistress were both shot by a firing squad, along with most of the members of their 15-man train, primarily ministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic.

22. On April 29, the bodies of Mussolini and his mistress were taken to the Piazzale Loreto and hung upside down on meat hooks. • This was both to discourage any fascists to continue the fight and an act of revenge for the hanging of many partisans in the same place by Axis authorities. • The corpse of the deposed leader became subject to ridicule and abuse.

26. Meeting at Tehran • FDR & Churchill wanted to meet with Stalin before the Allies launched the invasion of France – the 3 met in Tehran, Iran& reached several agreements: • Stalin promised to launch a full-scale offensive against the Germans when the Allies invaded France • FDR & Stalin agreed to break up Germany after the war so that it would never again threaten world peace • Stalin also promised that once Germany was beaten, the Soviet Union would help the US defeat Japan

28. Operation Overlord • FDR selected General Eisenhower to command the planned invasion of France – Operation Overlord • Knowing that the Allies would invade France, Hitler had fortified the coast • The Allies had one advantage – the element of surprise – the Germans did not know when or where the Allies would land

29. Pas-de-Calais Normandy

30. Operation Fortitude • The Germans believed the Allies would land in Pas-de-Calais– the area closet to Britain • To convince the Germans they were right, the Allies placed inflated rubber tanks, empty tents, and dummy landing craft along the coast across from Calais • To German spy planes, the decoys looked real & succeeded in fooling Germany - the real target was Normandy

35. Inflatable decoy troop carrier

37. By the spring of 1944, everything was ready – over 1.5 million American soldiers, 12,000 airplanes, and more than 5 million tons of equipment had been sent to England – only one thing left to do – pick the date & give the command to go! • The invasion had to begin at night to hide the ships crossing the English Channel, the ships had to arrive at low tide so they could see the beach obstacles, the low tide had to come at dawn so that gunners bombarding the coast could see their targets. • Before the main landing, paratroopers would be dropped behind enemy lines which required a moonlit night in order to see where to land. • Most important of all – the weather had to be good – a storm would ground the airplanes & high waves would swamp the landing craft.

38. Given all these conditions, there were only a few days each month when the invasion could begin • The 1st opportunity would last from June 5-7, 1944. • Eisenhower's planning staff referred to the day any operation began by the letter D, the date for the invasion therefore came to be known as D-Day. • Heavy cloud cover, strong winds & high waves made it impossible to land on June 5th • A day later the weather briefly improved but the Channel was still rough • After looking at the weather forecasts one last time, shortly after midnight on June 6th, 1944, Eisenhower gave the final order: “Ok, we’ll go!”

39. The Longest Day • Nearly 7,000 ships carrying more than 100,000 soldiers set sail for the coast of Normandy , France on June 6th. • At the same time 23,000 paratroopers were dropped inland, east & west of the beaches. • Allied fighter-bombers raced up & down the coast hitting bridges, bunkers, & radar sites. • As dawn broke, the warships in the Allied fleet let loose with a tremendous barrage of fire – thousands of shells rained down on the beaches. • The beaches were code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, & Juno