Lesson 19 - WW II: End of the War in Europe

INTA 4803 TP WAR IN THE 20th CENTURY

WW II: End of the War in Europe

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"My men can eat there belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas."

Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
To General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 2 September 1944

"The Allied armies, through sacrifice and devotion and with God's
help, have wrung from Germany a final and unconditional surrender. "

President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)
Proclamation of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, May 8, 1945

Lesson Objectives

• Describe and analyze the logistics issues that defined the Allied thrust through France and into Germany.

• Describe and analyze the political issues that defined the Allied thrust through France and into Germany.

• Describe the differences in the operational strategies of Patton and Montgomery.

• Analyze Operation Market Garden, comparing its objectives with its outcomes.

• Describe the major events leading to the end of the war in Europe.

Study Guides

• Describe the events in Western and Eastern Europe from June 6, 1944, that led to the downfall of Nazi Germany.

• What was the major factor (concern) in the planning and execution of operations in Europe from the breakout from Normandy to the final conquest of Germany?

• What were the objectives of Operation Market Garden? Why did it fail?

• What were the German objectives in the Battle of the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge)?

Assignment

Readings:

Operation Cobra (breakout from Normandy beachhead)
Wikipedia
      • READ: Introduction only

Animated Map of Normandy Campaign (June-August 1944)
World War Two
BBC

"World War II: The War Against Germany and Italy"
Charles B. MacDonald
American Military History
Maurice Matloff (ed)
Washington: US Army Center of Military History, 1989
      • READ: From p. 483, "Cross-Channel Attack," to end of chapter, p. 498.

Logistics and Supply
Wikipedia
      • This is a section of the article Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine

Red Ball Express
U.S. Army Transportation Museum

Operation Market-Garden (Sept 1944)
Wikipedia
      • READ: Introduction only

Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944 - Jan 1945)
Wikipedia
      • READ: Introduction and Aftermath

Supplemental Resources:

War & Conflict: World War II
BBC
      • An extensive portal containing links to excellent articles and multimedia on WW II.

World War II Commemorative Brochures series
U.S. Army Center for Military History

Normandy (6 June - 24 July 1944)
Northern France (25 July - 14 September 1944)
Rhineland (15 September 1944 - 21 March 1945)
Ardennes-Alsace (16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945)
Central Europe (22 March - 11 May 1945)

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