Historical+Background

=Historical Background=

Throughout much of the 1930s, Germany made aggressive movements against neighboring European countries, and on October 10, 1938, **Adolf Hitler** sent troops into the Sudetenland, a mountainous region in Czechoslovakia. Almost a year later, on September 1st, 1939, German troops moved into Poland, sparking the beginning of the second World War. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, believed in conquering the world through the use of brutal, physical force.

A few days later on September 3rd, Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand all declared war on Germany. In May of 1940 Hitler ordered his troops to invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. At this point in time Hitler was in the driver's seat in the European theatre and very few strong countries stood in the way of complete domination.

Hitler next targeted Paris, which he began bombing in early June. Only a few short weeks later, the Nazi army was successful in forcing the //surrender of Paris//. With France under his belt, Hitler then focused his attention on Britain. The //Battle of Britain// began on July 10, 1940, when Hitler began the air raids and intensive bombing of Britain. By autumn of 1940, Hitler realized the British were not going to surrender and any plans for a ground invasion were abandoned. Hitler's failure to force an armistice with the British was a major blow to the Axis plans. On September 27, 1940, after the Nazi defeat, Hitler signed a pact with Italy and Japan called the Tripartite Pact, which stated that for the next ten years these three nations would have an alliance. With the strength of the formal alliance, Italy invaded North Africa and the Nazis began moving eastward into the Baltic states. In June of 1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union (Holocaust Encyclopedia).

Meanwhile, the Americans were still officially neutral, although through the Lend- Lease Act, they were supporting the Allied efforts to defeat the evil Axis powers. That all changed on December 7, 1941, when Japan bombed the naval base at //Pearl Harbor//. The following day, after the deaths of 2,400 Americans, **Franklin D. Roosevelt** declared war on Japan. By the end of the year, America was also at war with Germany and Italy. Almost six months later a combined force of U.S. and British Navies halted the advance of the Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway.

In June of 1942, Hitler ordered a new offensive into the Soviet Union. German troops successfully fought their way into Stalingrad. The Germans were not prepared, however, for the harsh Soviet winter. Forbidden by Hitler to retreat, many of the German soldiers froze and/or starved to death. By February of 1943, Soviet troops had defeated 300,000 Germans at Stalingrad. The Soviets then began pushing westward to attack Germany (Holocaust Encyclopedia).

With a Soviet victory on the eastern front, the time was now right for the Allies to launch their attack on the west and begin with a massive invasion to liberate France. On December 1, 1943, planning for the Allied invasion of Europe began at the Tehran Conference where Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin Roosevelt met for the first time. The plan was known as Operation Overlord and the invasion would be launched on the French coast in the spring of 1944. Operation Overlord required secrecy, and the Allies even set out decoys to keep the Germans guessing when and where the landing would occur. **Dwight D. Eisenhower** was named Supreme Commander for the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Eisenhower, known as a driven, demanding general, was chosen by President Roosevelt because he had commanded two successful invasions into Italy (D-Day 14). On June 5, 1944, Operation Overlord was scheduled to begin, but General Eisenhower received several bad weather reports leading up to the day of the invasion. On the morning of June 5, with the wind shaking the windows at the command headquarters, and rain coming down sideways, Eisenhower was faced with a decision: order his troops into battle as planned early the next morning, or postpone the invasion and risk the Germans discovering the plan with possibly worse weather (van der Vat 14).

General Eisenhower had a crucial decision to make and now so do you. Click on the link below to get more information.

The Decision