European Theater
Oct. 1942 – El Alamein (Egypt)
• Turning point for the Allies
January 1943 – summit meeting - Casablanca, Morroco
*FDR and Churchill only
*Unconditional Surrender
*Attack Italy first: “Soft Underbelly of Hitler’s Europe”
July, 1943 – Allied invasion of Italy
*Mussolini killed by own people
*Hitler sent huge army to slow Allied advance
November 1943 – summit meeting -Tehran, Iran
*First meeting of “Big 3”
*FDR, Churchill, Stalin
*Stalin insisted on French invasion
*Churchill stalled; FDR supported Stalin
5 June 1944 - Fall of Rome
*Battle at Anzio
6 June 1944 – D Day; Invasion of Normandy, France
*Largest air and sea invasion in world history
*Dwight D. Eisenhower – Supreme Allied Commander
20 July 1944 – Assassination attempt on Hitler by German generals
* failed and hundreds executed
25 August 1944 – Allies took Paris
December, 1944 – Battle of the Bulge
February, 1945 – Yalta Conference
* 2nd Meeting of Big 3
* In Soviet Union
* Post-war plans made, including framework for United Nations
12 April 1945 – FDR died in Warm Springs, GA
End of April, 1945 – U.S. met Soviet forces at Elbe River
• Eisenhower agreed to let Soviets take Berlin
• Churchill furious
30 April 1945 – Hitler married girlfriend Ava Braun and the two
committed suicide in his underground bunker
8 May 1945 – official German surrender
* known as “V-E Day”