D - Day

The images of War

Allies United:U.S.S.R, England and The U.S.

D-Day Invasion – “Operation Overlord” June 6, 1944

Opened up the planned second front in Europe …

(something Stalin had been asking Churchill & Roosevelt to do since 1941)

… and led to the liberation of France, Belgium, and much of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation.

General Eisenhower rallies paratroopers prior to the Normandy invasion.

Dwight D. Eisenhower – American general who led the D-Day invasion.

Normandy Invasion, D-Day

June 5, 1944.

The weather was extraordinarily bad and created adverse conditions for an amphibious landing.

However, on this morning, Eisenhower was assured of a break in the bad weather. He replied "O.K. We'll go.“ The Allied armada set off for the Beaches of Normandy.

Later that night, 882 airplanes, holding paratroopers and towing gliders, descended on Normandy.

General Eisenhower Speaks

Talking to his men, general Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Normandy invasion, wished paratroopers luck before they dropped behind German lines in France on d-day.

D-Day - June 6, 1944 Landing on Normandy Beach

It was the largest sea borne invasion in history.

Movement of Allied troops

Battle of the Bulge – At first this German offensive forced Allies to retreat; Allied resistance then stopped Germans and resulted in heavy losses for Hitler.

Germans run out of gas and come to the end of the road!

T. Loessin; Akins High School

Germany SurrendersMay 7, 1945

With a torn picture of his Fuhrer beside his clenched fist, a dead Nazi general lies on the floor of city hall in Leipzig, Germany.

He committed suicide rather than face U.S. Army troops who captured the city on April 19, 1945.

NAZI Germany falls apart…

the Reich that was supposed to last a thousand years… lasted only 12.

T. Loessin; Akins High School

What happened to Hitler?(an article from 2003)

Otto Günsche, 86, Who Helped to Burn Hitler's Body, DiesBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: Oct. 14, 2003 BERLIN, Oct. 13 (AP) — Otto Günsche, an aide to Hitler who took part in burning the Nazi dictator's body to keep it from the advancing Soviets in the final days of World War II, died on Oct. 2 in Lohmar, near Bonn. He was 86.The cause of death was heart failure, said a son, Kai.An SS major and a member of Hitler's inner circle, Mr. Günsche spent the last hours with the Nazi leader in his Berlin bunker before Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, committed suicide on April 30, 1945.

Otto Günsche said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that Hitler personally ordered him to burn his body. When the day came, he and another aide poured gasoline on the bodies of Hitler and Braun, which were then set on fire.Mr. Günsche was captured by Red Army troops at the end of the war and spent 12 years in Soviet captivity. He lived quietly in West Germany after his release.

V – E day = May 8, 1945“Victory in Europe”

While Londoners wave Union Jacks, "out of work" American bombers

return to their English base on May 8, 1945.

T. Loessin; Akins High School

Germany At The End Of WWII

World War II

• Most devastating war in human history

• 55 million dead

• 1 trillion dollars

• Began in 1939 as strictly a European Conflict

• Widened to include most of the world