D-Day Invasion: June 6, 1944

Allies crossed a narrow strip of sea from ____________to

Normandy, ___________, & cracked the Nazi grip on

western Europe

This was considered the turning point in the war.

“it all seemed unreal, a sort of dreaming while awake, men were screaming & dying all around me…I honestly could have walked the full length of the beach without touching the grown – they were that thickly strewn about”

- Despite intense German gunfire & heavy losses, Allied forces pushed on

- August 25 1944, the Allies pushed their way to Paris & within a month, all of France was free

- By the end of August 1944 Paris (capital of France) had been liberated from the

German’s

- After ______years of German occupation

- September 1944 – Allied powers had reclaimed lands in France, Belgium, and the

Netherlands

________________: December 1944 German forces began a fierce counterattack, pushing Allies back & creating a bulge in the front lines & temporarily slowing Allied advances - The battle slowed Allies but did NOT stop them- Allied armies advanced on the ground- Allied planes bombed Germany- British airmen dropped tons of bombs on German cities- U.S. troops bombed factories & oil refineries which caused fuel shortages & reduced the

nation’s ability to produce war goods

A New President- FDR ran for a ______th term & won more than 54% of the vote!!!!- In April of 1945, FDR abruptly grew ill, complained of a headache, and was dead in hours- ___________took over & was now faced with taking over a country in the middle of a war- By April 1945, Germany was collapsing- American troops were closing in on Berlin from the west- Sov. Troops were advancing from the east/ Allied air raids pounded Berlin- Hitler hid in his underground bunker – unwilling to accept defeat, he commits suicide - One week later, Germany surrenders to the Allies - __________________________: Victory in Europe Day, May 8 th 1945