The document summarizes key events at the end of World War 2 in Europe. It describes the Battle of the Bulge, where German forces launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes forest in Belgium in December 1944, and the Malmedy Massacre where German SS troops murdered American POWs. It also discusses the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, Hitler's suicide in April 1945 as Soviet forces approached Berlin, and the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945, marking the end of the war in Europe.

1. THE END IN EUROPE
Essential Questions:
What was the Battle of the Bulge?
•
• What was the Malmedy Massacre?
• How did the war in Europe come to an
end?

2. Battle of the Bulge
In October 1944 Americans captured

the first German town, Aachen
The Allies continued to move further

and further into German occupied
territory
Hitler devised a last ditch attack for

his troops
He ordered them to break through

the Allied lines and recapture the
Belgian port of Antwerp
On December 16, under cover of a

darkness, German tank divisions
broke through weak American
defenses along an 80-mile front

3. Battle of the Bulge
Tanks drove 60-miles into

Allied territory
It created a bulge in the lines

The Battle of the Bulge raged

for over a month
By the battles end the

Germans had lost 120,000
troops, 600 tanks and assault
guns, and 1,600 planes
They could not replace them

From that point on the Nazis

could do little but retreat

4. Malmedy Massacre
Took place during the

Battle of the Bulge on
December 17, 1944
90 unarmed American

prisoners of war were
captured by the
Germans
Elite German SS troops

took them into a field and
mowed them down
Eventually recognized

as a German War
Crime

5. Liberation of the Camps
Soviet troops were the

first to come across the
Nazi death camps in
July 1944
Across Germany SS

troops worked to hide
evidence of their crimes
This included both

documents, camps, and
those that were
‘detained’

6. Unconditional Surrender
By April1945 the Soviet army had

surrounded Berlin
In his underground bunker Hitler

prepared for the end
Married Eva Braun

Wrote his last letter to the

German people blaming the Jews
for the war
The next day he shot himself and

took poison; Eva too took the
poison
According to his orders their

bodies were taken
outside, soaked in gasoline, and
burned

7. Unconditional Surrender
A week later General

Dwight D. Eisenhower
accepted the
unconditional
surrender of the Third
Reich
On May 8, 1945 the

Allies celebrated V-E
Day
Victory in Europe Day

War in Europe was

over

8. Death of Roosevelt
Roosevelt did not live to

see V-E Day
On April 12, 1945 the

president had a stroke and
died
That night Vice-President

Harry S. Truman became
the nation’s 33rd President
Later, with one order

Truman would change the
course of all wars