End of WWII Map

Operation Fortitude

The Allies set up decoys (Operation Fortitude) and ran diversionary missions to make the Germans think that an invasion would happen in Calais, France instead of Normandy, France. The Allies used inflatable tanks and trucks, fake wooden aircraft, and dummies attached to parachutes to "fake out" the Germans. They also dropped tinfoil strips to scramble their radar and make them think an attack was going to happen closer to Calais, France.

Landing on the Beaches of Normandy

The D-Day landing was difficult and risky for everyone involved. Look at the picture to the right and read the account of a Veteran that landed on Omaha Beach linked below. Answer the questions on your paper.

D-Day Landing Account of Edward B. Farley

Liberating Paris

As American and British troops battled their way through France, they also liberated towns and cities along the way. For the most part, Allied forces were greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm or subdued thankfulness from French civilians; for them, a four-year nightmare was coming to an end. One member of the 5th Infantry Division remembers the liberation of a tiny French town in the woods: “As we came closer we could see the shadowy forms of French men and women and children, lining the roadway, not talking, some crying softly, but most just gently clapping, extending for several hundred feet on both sides of the road. A little girl came alongside me. She was blonde, pretty, and maybe all of five years old. She trustingly put her hand in mine and walked a short way with me, then stopped and waved until we were out of sight.”

French civilians had endured years of devastation and horror with the French landscape scorched terribly. Allied liberations of French communities, whether large or small, were unwaveringly significant. Throughout the Normandy campaign, conflicting goals and squabbling typified Allied leadership. Strong personalities on both the British and American sides made agreeing to a unified plan of action difficult. With France coming under Allied control, American and British leaders shifted their focus, and also their arguments, to the ensuing campaign in Germany. Thus, the liberation of Paris largely fell to Charles de Gaulle and his Free French Forces. Beginning on August 22, de Gaulle and his men reclaimed the capital that had fallen to Nazi forces roughly five years earlier. Although there was still much more fighting to take place, the Allied invasion that began on D-Day reached an important crescendo when French flags graced Paris once again.

Preparing for the D-Day Landing

Click this link and read the first section and the section titled "Eliminating the Beach Obstacles." - answer the corresponding questions on your paper.

An Army Combat Engineer's Story of the D-Day Invasion

(If the site doesn't work, click here for a doc version without as many pictures)

Germany's Last Stand - The Battle of the Bulge

Click this link and read about the Battle of the Bulge, noting the "Key Facts" and looking at the photographs. Answer the accompanying questions on your paper.

The Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of Berlin was the final battle in WWII. The Soviet Union had approached the German capital from the East and the Americans and British from the West. Watch the video and fill in your paper as you go.

The Allies Turn the Tide at Stalingrad

While the United States, Great Britain, and France pushed East from Normandy toward Berlin, the Soviets were also heading toward Berlin from the other direction. After a Soviet Victory at Stalingrad (one of the most terrible and costly battles of the war), the Germans were on the retreat in the East. They would be pushed back into Berlin by April of 1945.