D-Day

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D-Day

• June 6th, 1944

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What was the situation in 1944?

• The Russians have defeated the Germans and are
  advancing in the East
• The Allies are victorious in Africa and launch an
  assault on mainland Italy through Sicily

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The Russian Front

• On August 23rd, 1939, Stalin and Hitler signed a
  Non-Aggression Pact which vowed not to
  interfere in each others business
• On June 22nd, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet
  Union
• Having purged his military of many of its best
  officers, Stalin and the Soviets were not ready
  for war

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The Eastern Front

• Operation Barbarossa began on June 22nd, 1941
• The early days saw the Germans drive into the
  Soviet Union almost reaching Moscow by October
• The German army besieged Leningrad for what was
  to become a two year struggle ending in the death
  of more than one million civilians
• When the severe Russian winter arrived
• the Nazi offensive broke down and the German
  attack was halted

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The Tide Turns

• The Nazis needed supplies and resources to
  continue the war so victory in the Soviet Union
  was essential
• From Sept. 14th, 1942 Feb. 2nd, 1943 the
  Germans and Russians fought for the strategic
  city of Stalingrad on the Volga River
• Hitler and the Nazis lost the battle 500 000
  German and other troops were killed or taken
  prisoner
• By the Autumn of 1943 the Germany army of 2.5
  million soldiers faced an army of 5.5 million
  Soviet soldiers

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Italy

• From July 10th to August 17th the Allies
  including the Canadians fought and took Sicily
  from the German Army Codenamed Operation
  Husky
• The Campaign of Italy was designed to take the
  pressure off their Russian Allies and pull German
  troops out of north-western Europe readying the
  area for Operation Overlord
• 9th September, 1943 the attack began on Italy
• The Canadians were forced to fight for every
  metre of the mountainous terrain as the Germans
  refused to give it up
• Italian Campaign Animated Map

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The Italians Surrender

• On the 8th of September, 1943, the Italian
  Government surrenders
• The Allied planners thought the Italian Campaign
  would be over in a matter of weeks.
• They were wrong.
• Italy would represent frustration and death for
  thousands of Allied soldiers in a bitter
  stagnated fight.
• It would be a year before Allied troops entered
  Rome, and the Invasion of France would overshadow
  that victory.

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The Battle for Italy

• When Italy formally surrendered on September 8th,
  the Italians separated into two camps, pro-Allied
  and pro-German factions.
• On September 9, the Allies landed Americans at
  Salerno and the British landed at Taranto
• By September 26 the Allies had built a force of
  189,000 men and 30,000 vehicles.
• Following the Italian surrender, the German Army
  took control of the defense of Germany

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Ortona

• Ortona is an ancient city that consists of narrow
  streets and connected houses
• Much of Ortona was reduced to rubble, making it
  difficult for the Canadians to use tanks
• The Germans barricaded themselves in houses and
  mined the streets
• The fighting was house-to-house-literally the
  Canadians blasted (Mouse-Holing) their way
  through walls to get from building to building.
• The battle continued over Christmas Day, 1943 but
  three days later the Germans withdrew.

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The Move on to France

• Having the Germans occupied in Italy allowed the
  Allies to move forward with their plan to open up
  the long awaited western front in Europe

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The Plan

• Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt agreed
  it was time to open up a new front in the West
  through the beaches of France
• The obvious choice for a landing area was the Pas
  de Calais so the Allies decided to attack in
  Normandy instead but believed they had to deceive
  the Germans they intended to attack elsewhere

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Normandy It Is!

• Normandy is a peninsula on the French Coast
• It was chosen because the Germans expected the
  attack to be on the Pas de Calais

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The Criteria

1. The enemy must remain ignorant of the proposed
   landing site enemy not know where the Allies
   will land
2. The enemy must be prevented from bringing up
   reinforcements quickly once the allies landed
3. Complete Allied air and naval domination in the
   English Channel
4. Local defenses must largely be destroyed by air
   and sea bombardment

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Operation Overlord

• There would be five sectors that would be
  attacked
• Utah American
• Omaha American
• Gold British
• Juno Canadian
• Sword - British

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The Attack June 6th, 1944

• Operation Overlord Simulation

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The Atlantic Wall!
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of
coastal fortifications built by the Germans
between 1942 and 1944
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The Time Has Come

• On the evening of June 5th paratroopers dropped
  in to secure bridges for the allied advance
• Heavy bombers dropped their payloads on what was
  supposed to be the beach defenses
• In the early morning the largest armada of ships
  left Britain for the French coast

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The Canadians on D-Day

• Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or
  parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were
  Canadians
• The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and
  10,000 sailors in support of the landings while
  the R.C.A.F. had helped prepare the invasion by
  bombing targets inland
• Canadians suffered 1074 casualties, including 359
  killed.

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The Battle for Normandy

• For the first month following the D-Day landings,
  a stalemate developed during which the Allies
  built up their forces
• In July, Canadian troops helped capture Caen and
  then turned towards Falaise where they aimed at
  joining an American advance from the south to
  encircle the German forces in Normandy.
• By August 21, the Germans had either retreated or
  been destroyed between the Canadian-British and
  American pincers
• The ten-week Normandy Campaign cost the Canadians
  alone more than 18,000 casualties, 5000 of them
  fatal.

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The Liberation of Northwest Europe

• September 1944 the British captured the Belgian
  port of Antwerp
• It was a key victory for the allies because they
  desperately required its docking facilities to
  bring in supplies.
• The problem was that the Germans occupied both
  banks of the 70-kilometre long Scheldt River
  estuary linking Antwerp to the sea.

• Realizing the value of Antwerp to the Allied
  supply line, the 2nd Canadian Army under the
  command of Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds was
  assigned to the task of securing the Scheldt
  Estuary

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Liberating The Scheldt Estuary

• The Battle of the Scheldt, was a series of
  military operations which took place in northern
  Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from October
  2 to November 8, 1944
• By September, 1944, it had become urgent for the
  Allies to clear both banks of the Scheldt Estuary
  in order to open the port of Antwerp to Allied
  shipping, thus easing logistical burdens in their
  supply lines stretching hundreds of miles from
  Normandy.
• The British captured Antwerp on September 4th,
  1944 but the Germans still controlled the Scheldt
  Estuary making the port useless

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The Scheldt Continued

• After five weeks of difficult fighting, the First
  Canadian Army with support from other countries
  was successful in securing the Scheldt Estuary
• It took numerous amphibious assaults, crossing of
  canals, and fighting over open ground.
• Both land and water were mined, and the Germans
  defended their retreating line with artillery and
  snipers.
• The Allies finally cleared the port areas on
  November 8, but at a cost of 12,873 Allied
  casualties (killed, wounded, or missing), half of
  them Canadians.

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The Battle of the Bulge

• The Ardennes Offensive known to the general
  public as the Battle of the Bulge, started on
  December 16, 1944
• Three powerful German armies plunged into the
  semi-mountainous, heavily forested Ardennes
  region of eastern Belgium and northern
  Luxembourg.
• Their goal was to reach the sea, trap four allied
  armies, and negotiate peace on the Western front.

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The Battle of the Bulge

• Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot
  for a German offensive the line was thin with
  American manpower concentrated north and south of
  the Ardennes. Limited Allied Forces
• Even though the German Offensive achieved total
  surprise, the American troops did not give ground
  without a fight Allies stood tough!
• Within three days the Americans, assisted by the
  arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that
  the Germans would not achieve their goal.

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Battle of the Bulge Outcome

• The German losses in the battle were critical
• The last of the German reserves were now gone
• The Luftwaffe had been broken
• The German Army in the West was being pushed
  back.
• Most importantly, the Eastern Front was now ripe
  for the taking and the German Army was unable to
  halt the Soviets
• German forces were sent reeling on two fronts and
  NEVER RECOVERED.

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The Final Days

• In April 1945, the battle is coming to a close.
• On the 30th April, Hitler commits suicide
  together with his mistress Eva Braun hours after
  they were married.
• Hitler gave strict orders for his body to be
  burned, so that his enemies wouldn't do what they
  had done to Mussolini, who was publicly displayed
  hanging upside down and mutilated

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The Soviets Arrive Berlin Falls

• By 2 May, the Reichstag, the old German
  parliament falls and Berlin surrenders to
  Marshall Zukhov, who receives the honour of being
  the conqueror of Berlin.
• The battle for Berlin cost the Soviets over
  70,000 dead. Many of them died because of the
  haste with which the campaign was conducted.

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VE-Day

• The major Allied ground offensive from the west
  against German territory began on 8 February 1945
  
• In April, Canadian troops liberated most of the
  Netherlands
• The Germans formally surrendered on 8 May 1945,
  known as Victory-in-Europe, or V-E Day

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Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Following FDRs death, Harry Truman becomes
  President of the United States
• Truman decided to use the bomb on Japan because
  he believed that it was the only way to get the
  Japanese to surrender and save American lives
• On August 6th, 1945 a lone B-29 Superfortress
  called the Enola Gay by its crew took off and
  headed for HiroshimaVideo

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Fat Man and Little Boy

• At 815am the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy
  was dropped on Hiroshima
• Within seconds two thirds of the city was
  flattened and thousands were dead
• On August 11, a bomb called Fat Man was dropped
  on Nagasaki at 1102 am
• At noon, August 15th, 1945 Emperor Hirohito
  spoke directly to his people to tell them Japan
  had surrendered

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Why Did the Allies Win?

• Complete material superiority weapons etc.
• More soldiers
• Better Strategy
• Technology
• Morale
• Material and financial Wealth