WW2 Battles

• U.S. History
• 8th Grade

What was the importance of the Navajo Code Talkers?

Major Battles & Events

Operation Torch

• FDR and Churchill had differing ideas about how to defeat Germany
• FDR - wanted to go straight into                                                           Europe
• Churchill - wanted to attack                                                                       border areas and work their                                                                       way into Europe

Invade North Africa... WHY?

• Give the Allied troops practice
• Protect the Suez Canal in Egypt

                 Canal brought goods from Britain's Asian colonies

November 1942 - Allied forces invade in northern Africa (Morocco and Algeria)

General Eisenhower's forces move further west

May 1943: last German troops in north Africa surrender

these were French territories indirectly ruled by Germany

 - Who had control of France? 

- Eisenhower's forces struggle until General Patton is put in command in March 1943

 first time the British and Americans had jointly worked on an invasion plan together.

Operation Torch Map

Americans

Led by Eisenhower

There were hopes that the French would not resist the invasion

French ended up surrendering before an all out attack

British

"not the “beginning of the end” but at least the “end of the beginning.”

-Winston Churchill

Allies grew confident after defeating the German army in Africa

Decide to set up bombings over Germany

-these aerial attacks on Germany destroyed so much of their war production area that Germany could not replace airplanes as fast as they were destroyed

Where did Operation Torch take place?

1. Great Britian
2. France
3. Italy
4. Africa

Give one reason the Allied Forces invaded northern Africa.

Tehran 

Conference

• Stalin, Churchill, FDR met

       in Iran

• Stalin promised to attack     Germany from East 

       when Allies invade France

• The three agree to 

       divide Germany after war

The chief discussion centered on the opening of a “second front” in western Europe

Operation Overlord

code name for the Allied Invasion of France

Allies led Hitler to believe that the invasion would take place farther north

D-Day

D-Day

• June 6th, 1944
• Allies land on several beaches in France
• Most of the landings went well
• Landing on Omaha Beach resulted in many allied deaths

00:33

What was the other name for D-Day?

00:49

Who was the Red Army?

Soviet Union

02:50

What tipped the balance of D-Day? (There are 2 possible answers)

Battle of the Bulge

• Final German offensive on Western front
• December 1944-January 1945: German Army pushes west
• Fighting was fierce during winter weather
• Caused temporary delay of Western Allied advance
• Once weather cleared, U.S. Air Force is able to come in and accurately target the German positions

The “bulge” refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines.

The Battle of the Bulge marked the last German offense on the Western Front. The catastrophic losses on the German side prevented Germany from resisting the advance of Allied forces following the Normandy Invasion

What made the battle of the bulge so difficult?

1. Not enough troops
2. Cold Weather
3. The Allies were unprepared
4. Missing Supplies

Iwo Jima