EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF D-DAY AS A TURNING POINT IN WW2
D-Day was when the Allied troops invaded France. There was very careful planning for D-Day and because of this it was a success. D-Day marked ‘The start of the end’; D-Day was a major turning point in the war because it led to many different things.
At the start of the war in 1939, Germany and Russia’s relations were good. In August, just a week before the outbreak of the war, the two countries had signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact which claimed that Russia and Germany wouldn’t fight against each other for the next ten year. This pact was broken in 1941 when Germany launched ‘Operation Barbarossa’, the invasion of Russia as a three-pronged attack. Hitler has said that ‘We only need to kick in the front door for the whole rotten structure to come crumbling down’, this was proved wrong when winter struck and cold set in. This played into the Russians hands perfectly as it eventually led to German having to retreat out of Stalingrad due to the conditions. This was Germany’s greatest single defeat in the war so far and because of this their morale fell and as the warfare had been so brutal and savage there were massive losses for each side. Ever since this invasion of Russia there had been pressure on the Allies from Russia to attack Germany from the West. In 1944 they did this starting with D-Day.