“THE HELL OF WINTER”

1944-1945FROM FRANCE TO

BERLIN

VERDUN, DIEPPE, ROUEN,ABBEVILLE, ANTWERP, & BRUSSELS,

Volkssturm “The Home Guard”

• All able bodied men 16-60 to defend Germany

• By Mid-November all 6 Allied Armies were poised to break out of France and into Germany

• But German defensive build up was eclipsing the Allies numbers

US TROOPS REACH SIEGFRIED LINESEPT. 13, 1944

On 17 September 1944 thousands of paratroopers descended from the

sky by parachute or glider up to 150 km behind enemy lines. Their goal:

to secure to bridges across the rivers in Holland so that the Allied

army could advance rapidly northwards and turn left into the

lowlands of Germany, skirting around the Siegfried line. If all

carried out as planned it should have ended the war by Christmas

1944.

OPERATIONMARKET & GARDEN

A BRIDGE TO FAR

Aachen. October, 1944

Wacht am Rhein • December 16, 1944• The operation's goal was to

create an opening from Germany to Antwerp, Belgium

• Hitler’s choice go East or West???

• The 6th Panzer Army of General Josef "Sepp" Dietrich would be responsible for the principal effort in the north.

• The 5th Panzer Army of General Hasso von

Manteuffel would drive in the same direction as the 6th, but on a more southerly route.

The 7th Army of General Erich Brandenberger would attack between Vianden and Wasserbillig. Then it would take Luxembourg and cover the whole operation by joining Semois and the Meuse south of Givet

“Wars may be fought with

weapons, but they are won by

men”Patton

The Ardennes Offensive

“The Battle of the Bulge”

• The "bulge" refers to the extension of the German lines in this battle, forming a growing salient into Allied controlled territory, seen clearly in maps presented in newspapers of the time.

• German assault began on 16 December 44, at 0530 hrs with a massive artillery barrage on the Allied troops facing the 6th SS Panzer Army

• By 0800 all 3 German armies were attacking in the Ardennes

• 1st wave was mostly infantry

General Winter

• Snowstorms engulf the forest

• Grounded Allied aircraft, but also slowed the German advance

• “The Red Ball Express”– 250,000 troops in a week

• Operation Stösser

• Fallschirmjager– (German

paratroopers)• Miss drops

scattered and left Allies concerned

• Operation Greif • English-speaking

Germans behind Allied lines

• “Krauts... speaking perfect English... raising hell, cutting wires, turning road signs around, spooking whole divisions, and shoving a bulge into our defenses". Patton

• Otto Skorzeny• The most

dangerous man in Europe

Malmédy Massacre

• 150 American POW’s executed by SS officers and 6th SS Panzer Army, Kampfgruppe Peiper

• After the incident orders were given to shot all SS officers and paratroopers on sight

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Malmedy_Massacre.jpg

BASTOGNE

• Small city stuck right smack in the middle of the German offensive in the Ardennes

• The town was being held by the US101st Airborne and Combat Command B or the US 10th Armored Division

• All roads led to Bastogne

• No supplies, cut off, no winter clothes

• Battling Bastards of Bastogne

"Nuts!" • Awakened with an

offer to surrender• 10 days and the

weather breaks• One last shot and it is

over• 506 Easy Co.

– Band of Brothers

•By Dec. 23 p-47 started to destroy German troops

•By 24th the offensive was stalled short of the Meuse

•Patton’s 3rd Armored relieves Bastogne

•

OPERATION BONENPLATTE

• LUFTWAFFES OFFENSIVE AGAINST AIRFIELDS IN THE LOW COUNTRY

• THE DAMAGE TO ALLIED AIRCRAFTS WAS HEAVY, BUT RECOVERABLE

• THE LUFTWAFFE SUFFERED A DEATH BLOW AS AN OFFENSIVE WEAPON

Operation Nordwind

• LAST MAJOR OFFENSIVE• Seventh U.S. Army • ALSACE & LORRAINE• 14,716 casualties VI ARMY• US SUFFERS ROUGHLY

9000

VICTORY IN THE ARDENNES• Houffalize

– PATTON AND MONTY

• FREEZING COLD-URINATE ON YOUR WEAPON TO KEEP IT FROM FREEZING

BY 7 JAN. HITLER PULLS THE SS UNITS

OUT • Bradley and

Patton both threatened to resign unless Montgomery's command was changed

The Battle of the Bulge ended when the two American forces met up on

15 JAN. 1945

SOVIETS ENTER AND LIBERATE

WARSAWLET THE RACE

TO BERLIN BEGIN

Dresden Firestorm• Feb. 13-14, 1945• Dresden was a cultural center in

Germany • 769 Lancasters struck the city in two

waves and dropped 2500 tons of bombs

• City burned for a week-- 35,000 killed, 1600 acres destroyed

YALTA--FEB.45’“Big Three”

•STALIN CHURCHILL ROOSEVELT

•WHAT TO DO ABOUT POST WAR EUROPE?

•WHO GET BERLIN?•WHAT ABOUT THE JAPANESE?

A QUICK ENDING

• BY MARCH THE OILFIELDS OF HUNGARY ARE LOST

• THE GERMAN ARMY RETREATS TO IT’S INTERIOR

• BERLIN IS ALL THAT REMAINS• IT IS A PRIZE THAT WILL

BELONG TO THE SOVIETS

•BY APRIL BERLIN IS SURROUNDED AND THE AMERICANS ARE IN NUREMBERG

•THE SOVIETS UNDER ZHUKOV ASSUALT WITHOUT PITY THE CITY AND IT’S DEFENDERS

•HITLER AND HIS TRUSTED SS ARE HIDING IN BUNKERS DEEP BELOW THE CITY

APRIL 12, 1945

• Berchtesgaden, why not leave Berlin??

• Goering leaves in the dead of night

• Donitz leaves with instructions to take over leadership and continue the fight

• Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler, had offered to surrender to the western Allies, but that this had been declined

The Cowards End

• April 30, 1945 Hitler shoots and kills himself and Eva takes Prussic Acid Poison

Follow the Leader

•The entire family died of poison injection.

•Goebbels also destroyed his dogs

•HIMMLER DIES 22 MAY 45

BERLIN FALLS

• General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff in the German High Command signed unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945

V-E DAY MAY 8, 1945

THE FALL OF THE THIRD REICH

• WHAT WERE HITLER’S WORST MISTAKES?

• COULD GERMANY HAVE WON THE WAR AND IF SO HOW?

• WHAT DID THE “FINAL SOLUTION” COST HITLER?

• WHERE DOES THE CREDIT FOR VICTORY BELONG?

• WHO CAME OUT OF THE WAR ON TOP?

• WHAT HAPPENED TO EUROPE?

GERMANY

• 18 MILLION + SERVED (VOLKS)

• 2.3 MILLION DIED

• ROUGHLY 20% OF THOSE WHO SERVED DIED

• WAFFEN SS 900,000 SERVED 310,000 DIED

• OVER 11 MILLION WHERE TAKEN PRISONER

SOVIET UNION• 34.5 MILLION

SERVED• ROUGHLY

BETWEEN 8 & 10 MILLION DIED

• WELL OVER 14 MILLION WOUNDED

• 4.5 MILLION POWS

BRITISH US• 11.5

MILLION SERVED

• ROUGHLY 380,000 DEAD

• 475,000 WOUNDED

• 14 MILLION SERVED

• ROUGLHY 300,000 DEAD

• ALMOST 700,000 CASUALTIES

• LESS THAN 25 % SERVED TO CASUALTY RATIO

AFTERMATH OF THE WAR• MARSHALL PLAN• DIVIDING UP OF

GERMANY• SOVIET OCCUPATION• WAR CRIMES TRIALS

–NUREMBERG TRIALS–A WORLD OF CHANGE

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