Post on 23-Mar-2020
OPERATION OVERLORD
OBJECTIVE: Invade Western Europe in
order to liberate France and the low
countries. Relieve pressure on the
Soviets in the East.
AIRBORNE FORCES
PURPOSE: Land behind enemy lines and
capture key points like airfields,
bridges and crossroads and disrupt the
enemy until the regular ground forces
arrive.
Two Types:
Paratroopers
Glider Assault Infantry
CASUALTIES DURING THE BATTLE OF
NORMANDY FOLLOWING THE INVASION:
ALLIED: 209,000 (54,000 KIA)
GERMAN: 200,000 + 200,000 POWs
The operation succeeded; the Allies
established a foothold in France
for the first time since 1940.
Next came the hard drive toward
Germany.
DECEMBER-JANUARY 1944
After Normandy, the Allies fought hard
across France, Holland and Belgium.
Supply lines were stretched thin and the
men exhausted from nearly six months of
near continuous combat.
Hitler believed one last major offensive
could knock the western allies out of the
war.
DECEMBER-JANUARY 1944
The German army quietly gathered the remainder
of its reserves and moved into the Ardennes
Forest in Belgium-it was believed by the Allies
to be a quiet sector.
DECEMBER 20TH: The German army catches the Allies
by surprise and punches a massive hole through
American lines.
Allied air superiority is lost due to blizzard-
like conditions.
Many units are quickly overwhelmed, surrounded
and destroyed.
101st AIRBORNE
The American 101st AIRBORNE Division is one of
the units cut off and surrounded.
It holds out around the key Belgian town of
Bastogne.
The Germans demand the unit surrender. Their
commander sends back a famous reply: “NUTS!”
MALMEDY
SS units execute 80 American POW’s at Malmedy
Belgium. Their bodies are not found until
Spring when the snow begins to melt.
THE END
The battle turns when the weather clears,
the Germans run out of fuel and Patton’s
3rd Army breaks through to Bastogne from
the south.
Germany’s last major offensive of the war
fails and the end is in sight.
MARCH-APRIL 1945
The Allies punch their way into western
(Battle of Hürtgen Forest) and northern
Germany (Battle of Aachen) while the
Soviets enter Germany from the east.
Soviet and American forces link up on the
Elbe River on 25 April.
Hitler commits suicide on April 30th.
Soviets take Berlin while other Allied
units seize key Nazi locations in Bavaria
including Hitler’s house.
VE DAY
On May 8th, the German surrender is
announced over the radio.