Writing Tips

Ending the War Allied victories in North Africa and Italy and the victory at Midway represented turning points in the war. After these events the outcome of the war was nearly certain as the Allies established their firm superiority. However, between these events and the actual end stretched two years of fighting and many crucial battles. D-Day and After While Allied forces struggled up the Italian peninsula, planning for a cross channel invasion started in Britain. Code-named Operation Overlord, the invasion required a massive buildup of supplies, ships, landing craft, and men in preparation. Although it was impossible to hide the buildup, the Allies succeeded in surprising Hitler by invading at Normandy in France. D-Day started on June 6, 1944 with a brazen and daring assault on the beaches of Normandy, France. Despite the element of surprise and the size of the attacking force, Nazi troops had several deadly advantages. First they controlled the beaches from well-fortified bunkers, virtually impregnable to Allied gunners. Second, the beaches provided little cover for the invading soldiers. Allied troops had to throw themselves at the beach in wave after wave of landings until some few men could gain the cliffs and eliminate the German pillboxes. Third, the Allies had no chance for retreat. Yet, despite enormous casualties, the Allied troops under the command of General Eisenhower succeeded in taking the coast and establishing a toehold on continental Europe. Required Reading: D-Day (1) Required Reading: D-Day (2) Three months later, in September, the Allied forces stood on the borders of Germany after freeing France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. One month later, Allied troops crossed into Germany and captured the city of Aachen. At this point, Hitler decided on a daring line of action. Surprising the Allies, he ordered a counterattack, throwing the German army into the Allied lines with the hope of breaking through and disrupting their supply lines. Nazi tank division smashed into the American forces patrolling the Ardennes forest along the German border south of Aachen. Caught by surprise, the Americans gave way creating a bubble in the front line, which gave the offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. Fighting raged for a month, but when the Germans retreated to their pre-offensive lines they had lost over one hundred thousand men. The Russian forces proceeded westward across Poland and toward Germany, while the Americans, British, and French headed east. On April 25, 1945, the Soviets entered the outskirts of Berlin, four days later, Hitler committed suicide in an underground bunker. Without its charismatic head, Nazi Germany was left with little to fight for. Ten days later the war in Europe was over. Required Reading: The Fall of Berlin