084. WW2_Europe Overview.pdf

EUROPE, 1945

MAJOR OPERATIONS OF

WORLD WAR TWO

TIMELINE

NORWAY

FINLAND

Sept.

1939

NORTH

SEA

Oslo

SWEDEN

Helsinki

Leningrad

0 100 200 300 400

Stockholm

SCALE OF MILES

HISTORY DEPARTMENT

USMA

Frank Martini

ESTONIA

WORLD WAR TWO IN EUROPE

World War II began in Europe on 1 September

1939 with Germany invading Poland. U.S.

involvement started on 11 Dec. 1941, only four

days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, when

Germany and Italy unexpectedly declared war on

the U.S. British Prime Minister Churchill met

with President Roosevelt in Washington D.C.

22 Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942, and decided to defeat

Germany ﬁrst.

Germany invades Low Countries, 10 May

Riga

LATVIA

IRELAND

DENMARK

France signs armistice with Germany, 22 June

Copenhagen

LITHUANIA

Memel

Smolensk

Battle of Britain, July-10 Oct.

1st peacetime draft law in U.S. history, Sept.

eb. 1

1940

SOVIET UNION

Danzig

EAST

PRUSSIA

(GER.)

GREAT BRITAIN

Wavell’s 1st Libyan offensive, 9 Dec.-

7 Feb., 1941

Rommel’s 1st offensive, 31 March

Germany invades Greece & Yugoslavia, 6 Apr.

German airborne assault on Crete, 20 May

Germany invades U.S.S.R., 22 June

NORTH AFRICA

The Americans wanted to invade continental Europe in 1943, but

this idea was deemed premature and was cancelled in favor of an

Allied invasion of French North Africa. Operation TORCH consisted

of three task forces which landed on 8 November 1942. Moving east,

these forces linked up with General Montgomery’s Eighth Army in

Apr. 1943, becoming 18th Army Group under the overall command

of General Alexander. By 12 May 1943 this unit had forced the

surrender of all Axis forces in North Africa

(Gdansk)

Minsk

Hamburg

Amsterdam

London

Gomel

Von Rundstedt

(Dec. 1944-Jan. 1945)

Berlin

EISENHOWER

Kursk, 1943

Warsaw Brest

GERMANY

English Channel

BELGIUM

(June 1944)

Normandy Invasion,

D-Day, 6 June 1944

Torgau

POLAND

Kharkov

Remagen

Kiev

Battle of the Bulge

U.S.S.R & Great Britain sign mutal aid pact,

13 July

ITALIAN LANDINGS

Operation HUSKY the invasion of Sicily, began on 9 July

1943, and after that island was cleared, the mainland of Italy

was assaulted on 3 Sept. 1943. Allied forces continued to

“slog” their way up the Italian peninsula until 2 May 1945.

Amphibious operations at Salerno and at Anzio were

attempts to outﬂank the Germans in Italy.

Paris

Prague

Auschweitz

Lvov

1941

Seige of Leningrad, 8 Sept.- Jan. 1944 700,00

deaths estimated

ATLANTIC OCEAN

(Sept. 1944-

May 1945)

DEVERS

FRANCE

Munich

Vienna

U.S. declares war on Japan after attack on

Pearl Harbor, 8 Dec.

NORMANDY LANDING

Roosevelt and Churchill decided at the Trident Conference (May

1943) to conduct a major cross-Channel invasion of Europe in June 1944.

General Eisenhower was designated to command Operation OVERLORD.

The greatest amphibious assault yet known to history began on the

Normandy coast in complete tactical surprise on D-Day, 6 June 1944. To

protect Eisenhower’s ﬂank, the U.S. Seventh Army landed in southern

France (Operation DRAGOON) on 15 August 1944.

THE BREAKOUT

The breakout from the Normandy beach head took place in

July 1944, and the offensive continued using General

Eisenhower’s “broad front” strategy. Attempts to breach

the German Siegfried Line blunted the Allied offensive.

The Germans then launched an offensive - the ensuing

ﬁght being the “Battle of the Bulge” - through the thinly

held Ardennes Forest in December 1944. The Allies

halted the German offensive in January 1945 and

continued the attack, crossing the Rhine River in March

1945 and encircling the Ruhr area in April 1945.

This resulted, along with the Soviet pressure from the

east, in the German collapse and surrender on 8 May 1945.

Vichy

SWITZERLAND

AUSTRIA

Budapest

Germany & Italy declare war on U.S., 11 Dec.

HUNGARY

Lyons

CLARK

ROMANIA

(Jan.-May 1945)

Trieste

Sevastopol

Yalta

(Aug.-Sept. 1944)

PATCH

Battle of Stalingrad, 23 Aug.-2 Feb. 1943

Belgrade

Bucharest

1942

St. Tropez, 1944

YUGOSLAVIA

Danube

BLACK SEA

Battle of El Alamein, 23 Oct.

ANDORRA

CORSICA

Madrid

BULGARIA

ITALY

Allied troops land at Morocco & Algeria,

8 Nov.

Soﬁa

Rome

SPAIN

Anzio, 1943

Istanbul

SARDINIA

Naples

Salerno, 1943

TURKEY

From Great Britain

Battle of Tunis, 7 May

Axis forces in N. Africa surrender, 13 May

Battle of Kursk, 4 July-1 Aug.

Allies land at Sicily, 10 July

Italians secretly surrender, 3 Sept.

Allies land at Salerno,10 July

Allies land at Anzio, 22 Jan.

Gibraltar

(Great Britain)

GREECE

AEGEAN

SEA

From U.S.

PATTO N (N

1943

Palermo

Mazagan

Casablanca

Saﬁ

Port Lyautey

Oran

Algiers

Bizerte

Tunis, 1944

Bone

FREDENALL

(Nov. 1942)

Sicily Invasion, 1943

Kasserine Pass, 1943

DODECANESE ISLAND

(ITALY)

MALTA

(GREAT BRITAIN)

MOROCCO

(FRANCE)

TUNISIA

(FRANCE)

CRETE

CYPRUS

(GREAT BRITAIN)

Allies invade Normandy, 6 June (D-Day)

Soviets push Germans into Poland, mid-July

ALGERIA

(FRANCE)

1944

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Mareth, 1943

Paris liberated, 25 Aug.

Polish Resistance revolts against Germans in

Warsaw, Aug.-Oct.

Battle of the Bulge, 16 Dec.- 7 Feb. Last

signiﬁcant German offensive

Yalta Conference, 4-11 Feb.

Soviets launch attack on Berlin, 16 April

City or Town

National Capital

Allies

Tripoli

Axis

Benghazi

Tobruk, 1942

National Boundaries

Neutral Countries

Axis Controlled (Max. Extent)

Battle Site

Cairo

Axis Advance

EGYPT

Allied Advance (American & British)

Allied Advance (Soviet)

LI BYA

( I TALY)

June

1945

Hitler commits suicide 30 Apr.

Germany surrenders, WWII in Europe ends,

7 May

SAHARA

DESERT

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