D-Day - Weebly

D-Day Opening the Second Front OVERVIEW In this lesson you will examine: Pressures for the second front Challenges for amphibious invasion Reasons for success Consequences for the Axis powers

Pressures for invasion By the end of 1943, factors pushed the US and Britain towards a direct invasion of France:

Stalin wanted the Allies to relieve pressure Allied bombing campaigns were ineffective The invasion of Italy had been indecisive American and British leaders were concerned about Soviet domination of Europe Challenges A direct invasion of France presented many challenges:

Unpredictable weather of the English Channel High cliffs and soft narrow beaches Heavy fortifications The Atlantic Wall The Germans believed Calais would be With great Even

after the secrecy, battlethe began, AlliesHitler built hesitated up forces attacked and the Allies pretended it would and attacked to send

the weaker reinforcements Normandy beaches be Massive air and naval bombardment of coastal defences Sea-based bombardment

Ground attack aircraft Paratroopers secured access points to the beaches Artificial harbours and floating pipelines provided supplies Mulberry artificial harbours

PLUTO pipeline Poor German leadership and communication Marshalls Rommel and Von Rundsteadt German soldiers surrendering at

Normandy Consequences By July 1944, 600,000 Allied soldiers had landed over into France Field Marshall Rommel urged Hitler to negotiate an end to the war

By August 1944, Paris was recaptured By December 1944, most German forces had retreated to German borders SUMMARY QUESTIONS What pressures did the US and Britain face to open a second front in Europe?

What technical challenges faced an amphibious invasion of France? What were the major reasons for DDays success? Why did Rommel press Hitler to seek peace after the D-Day invasion?