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The Western-Soviet Victory

The Western-Soviet Victory. Section 21.107. Plans and Preparations, 1942-1943. Plans and Preparations, 1942-1943. Jan.’42: 26 nations (GB, US, USSR) formed Grand Alliance to face the Axis Powers Pledged to use all its resourced and never make a separate peace

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The Western-Soviet Victory

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  1. The Western-Soviet Victory Section 21.107

  2. Plans and Preparations, 1942-1943

  3. Plans and Preparations, 1942-1943 • Jan.’42: 26 nations (GB, US, USSR) formed Grand Alliance to face the Axis Powers • Pledged to use all its resourced and never make a separate peace • US and GB pooled resources under a Combined Chiefs of Staff • Formed overall strategy early (unlike WWI) • Decided that Germany must be defeated 1st • Pacific theater would be defensive until Germany fell • U.S. efforts in the Pacific halted Japanese expansion and pressure on Australia • Coral Sea and Midway were important U.S. victories • Guadalcanal, Solomon, and other island campaigns would follow; i.e., island hopping

  4. War Preparations • Began with air bombardment of Germany • Soviets wanted a “second front” immediately with ground forces to relieve pressure in East • US began mobilizing, converting factories over, controlling economy • US and GB utilized women in labor force unlike Germany • I.E. U.S. presence in Europe was slowed by mobilization and German control of the Atlantic by submarines • Submarine menace was curtailed by ’43 and US troops began arriving in Britain • 1943 U.S. and Britain launched the opening of a second front • Used total war via aerial bombardment of cities • Civilians and factories targeted • Hamburg and Dresden destroyed • Land advances hold off until 1944

  5. The Turning of the Tide, 1942-1943: Stalingrad, North Africa, Sicily • North Africa • Eisenhower led invasion of north Africa (Algeria and Morocco) from the west • French, unable to get French cooperation, asked Vichy president Admiral Darlan • He helped but was assassinated • Charles De Gaulle emerged as leader of the French liberation committee in Algiers • Montgomery launched final counter offensive from the east • Germany was crushed by 5/1943 in Tunisia • By May ’43 Africa was cleared of Axis • Mediterranean and Suez reopened François Darlan

  6. Stalingrad (Volgograd)

  7. Stalingrad (Volgograd) • Aug. ’42 ¼ million German forces began all out assault on Stalingrad • Key transport city of lower Volga • 9/1942 German forces were in the city • Stalin ordered the city to be held at all costs • Red Army under General Zhukov organized a counteroffensive and enveloped the German army • Only 100,000 German soldiers were left to surrender in Feb 43 • Number of Russians killed is unknown • Soviet Union was taking staggering number of casualties • Estimates run as high as 25 million • Turning point of the war • Red Army was now an offensive army

  8. New Hope for the Allies

  9. New Hope for the Allies • US began to win in Solomon Islands and absorb German subs by ’43 • Sicily (July-Aug. ’43) •  7/1943 Combined Allied forces invaded Sicily • Mussolini set up “Italian Social Republic” in northern Italy but only existed with German soldiers • Mussolini fell 4/1945 Duce was captured trying to flee the country and shot • Marshal Badoglio made peace overtures to the Allies but German army occupied Italy • Bodoglio gov declared war on Germany and Italy was labeled as a “cobelligerent” • Italian campaign turned into long stalemate due to lack of troops

  10. Allied Offensive, 1944-1945: Europe and the Pacific

  11. Allied Offensive, 1944-1945: Europe and the Pacific • Festung Europa (Atlantic Wall) was heavily fortified in France, Holland • Amphibious attack posed exceptional challenges • RR allowed for quick troop transports of Germans • Allies utilized feinting tactics, air superiority, 4, 000 transport ships, 10 thousand aircraft, engineering materials (artificial harbors, pontoon ramp system) • June 6 gave a break in the weather

  12. The Invasion of Europe: D Day

  13. The Invasion of Europe: D Day • 6/6/1944 D-Day • Germans expected main thrust of invasion at Calais • Allies chose Normandy beach to establish a second front • Under the command of Eisenhower 130 thousand Canadian, British, American forces landed 1st day • 1 million within a month and moving eastward • By August Paris was liberated and by Sept Allies were in Germania • French, Italian, and Belgian Resistance movements emerged • 7/20/44 attempted assassination of Hitler at Wolf’s Den failed • 8/1944 Battle of the Bulge • Hitler threw remaining armored forces against the Allies in the Ardennes • V1 and V2 rockets and new Messerschmitt jet terrorized London but Germany’s time was running out • 3/1945 Allied forces crossed the Rhine

  14. The Eastern Front • Soviet army was pushing west and reclaiming territory lost early in the war • Allowed youth of Warsaw Uprising (Aug. ’44) and democracy to be crushed by Nazis • Stalin had already destroyed Polish army leadership at Katyn forest in ‘43 • Feb ’45 General Zhukov reached the Oder River • Red army was 50 miles from Berlin

  15. The Final Drive on Germany • 4/1945 American troops reached the Elbe • 60 miles from Berlin • Soviets were permitted to take Berlin, Prague, and other central and eastern European capitals • Eisenhower • Directed troops south in case of guerilla attacks • Gesture of goodwill to Soviets for their sacrifice • 4/30/1945 Hitler died by his own hand • Admiral Doenitz, Hitler’s successor offered Germany’s unconditional surrender (5/8/1945)

  16. The Holocaust

  17. The Final Solution • Soon after the surrender atrocities of concentration camps, work camps, and death camps were revealed • Whole villages (Lidice in Czech, or Oradour-sur-Glane, France) razed and inhabitants murdered or deported • Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps • Minimal rations worked prisoners to death • Auschwitz • 12 thousand gassed per day • Nazi ideology to wipe out inferiors had evolved • Einsatzgruppen– killing squads • Mobile gas units • Eikman • Utilized rail system to bring whole minority populations (Jews, Gypsies) to work and death camps • 6 million Jews • 3 million Poles • Russians, Slavics, Romana murdered

  18. The Final Solution

  19. The Final Solution • Holocaust was decided by Nazi executives at Wannsee, Poland in Jan. ’43 • “Final Solution” to “Jewish Problem” was a planned genocide of European Jewry • Utilized modern scientific organization • Carried out by ordinary people and bureaucrats in the heart of European civilization • Who is responsible? • The individual or the collective society?

  20. Auschwitz-Birkenau

  21. Auschwitz-Birkenau

  22. Push towards Japan • From Guadalcanal Americans began to “Island Hop” northward toward Japan • March 1945 took 8 square mile strategic island of Iwo Jima after heavy loses • Took Okinawa after brutal 2.5 months in spring of ’45 • Only 300 miles from Japanese main islands • Japanese fought harder the closer Americans came to Japan • Began all-out air campaign from newly won territory to destroy Japanese industry • Plan for full-scale invasion of Japan were being drawn up

  23. The Atomic Bomb • 8/6/45 “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima • 78 thousand killed and thousands of others were wounded or suffered radiation exposure • 8/8 Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria • 8/9 Nagasaki was struck • 9/2/45 Japan signed unconditional surrender on the Missouri • Emperor Hirohito remained head of state but Japan under occupation of US army under MacArthur

  24. Epilogue • Greatest conflict in human history • 50-60 million total deaths • 25 million wounded • 15 million military deaths • USSR- 6 • German- 3.5 • Chinese- 2.2 • Japanese- 1.3 • Polish 700 thousand • GB- 400 • US 300 • French 200 • 30-40 million civilian deaths • 15-20 million Russian

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