World War II EndsThe Last Years of the War

Last Years of the War

1943 the tide of the battle had turned against Germany, Italy, and Japan◦ Axis forces then crossed the Mediterranean and carried war to Italy

Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it the “underbelly” of Europe◦ After taking Sicily, the Allies began an invasion of mainland Italy

The European Theater

After Sicily fell, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy arrested Mussolini but the Germans liberated him and made him head of a German puppet state in northern Italy

The Germans set up a defensive line but the Allies took Rome◦ The Allies forces open their long awaited “second front” in western Europe

D-Day

The Allies planned an invasion of France across the English Channel

June 6, 1944 Allied forces under general Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on Normandy beaches in history’s greatest naval invasion

D-Day

The Allies fought their way past hidden underwater mines, treacherous barbed wire, and horrible machine gun fire

Germany thought the real invasion would occur elsewhere so they were slow to respond

This gave the Allied forces time to set up a beachhead◦ Within three months, the Allies had landed 2 million men

and 500,000 vehicles

◦ Broke through the German defensive lines

D-Day

Allied troops liberated Paris by the end of August 1944

Battle of the Bulge

October 1944, Americans had capture the first German town of Aachen and Hitler responded with a desperate last offensive

German troops broke through weak Allied lines and created a bulge in the defense line◦ Captured 120 American GIs

◦ SS herded the prisoners into a large field and shot them

The Germans had been pushed back and nothing changed◦ Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and

assault guns, and 1,600 planes

◦ Allied forces then linked up with the Soviets

Battle of Kursk

The Soviets had come a long way since the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943

The Soviets had defeated the German forces at the Battle of Kursk which was the greatest tank battle of WWII

Soviet Advancement

Soviet forces began advancing westward◦ Reoccupied the Ukraine by the end of 1943

Soviets occupied Warsaw in January 1945 and entered Berlin in April◦ Soviet troops swept through Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria

Soviet Advancement

As the Allied forces advanced into Nazi occupied Europe, they also liberated the concentration camps and death camps

The Nazis tried to destroy some of the evidence, but the Allies were able to see for themselves the crimes against humanity carried out by the Nazis

Death of Hitler

January 1945, Adolf Hitler moved into a bunker 55 feet under the city of Berlin

In his underground headquarters, Hitler prepared for the end◦ April 29, he married Eva Braun◦ Wrote his last address to the German people – blamed Jews

for starting the war and his generals for losing it◦ The next day Hitler shot himself and Eva Braun swallowed

poison◦ The two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline,

and burned

Two days later, Mussolini was shot May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered The way in Europe was over

◦ May 8, 1945 V-E Day --- Victory in Europe Day

Asian Theater

Beginning in 1943, U.S. forces went on the offensive and advanced across the Pacific ◦ Continued their island-hopping campaign

The attainment of Iwo Jima and Okinawa helped the Allied military power draw closer to mainland Japan

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Iwo Jima was essential to the air war in Japan. The island had two airfields used by the Japanese to attack Allied aircraft and to support their naval force◦ Capture would lessen the Japanese threat and could

aid in the invasion of the Japanese mainland

Okinawa would also provide them with a base near the mainland

Heavy Losses

The Allies were victorious but there were heavy casualties on both sides and many feared more losses if the war continued

This left Harry S. Truman with a difficult decision to make

Truman and his advisors were convinced that American troops would suffer heavy casualties if they continued

Game Changer

What Truman decides to do completely changes the world forever