WW II: Allies Turn the Tables Lesson Plan

Goals- Students will learn the events that took place during the war as the Allied Powers stopped the Axis advance and began pushing them back. They will look at both the Pacific and European fronts. This lesson will look directly at specific battles that occurred as the Allies took back the land the Axis Powers had taken at the beginning of the war. (D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Midway) 


Materials- textbook, "Saving Private Ryan" DVD, battles note sheet, posters students made in first lesson on WWII

Procedure -
1. As a start to the class show the first part of "Saving Private Ryan" to show the students what the D-Day invasion was like for the men storming the beaches. (around 25 mins)
2. Have students present the information about the battles they did their posters on and show the class what they made.
3. The rest of the class will take down the information on the provided note sheets.
4. Any information that is missed by the students will be added by the teacher. 

Assessment- 
Presentations by students, note sheets

Give students a blank version of the note sheet below:

Key Battles of World War II note sheet

1. El Alamein - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
British General Bernard L. Montgomery
begun May 26, 1942
British forces retreated into Egypt and by June 30 had set up a defense line extending 35 mi (56 km) from Alamein S to the Qattara Depression, a badland which could neither be crossed nor flanked. If this position had fallen, the British might have lost Alexandria and been forced to withdraw from North Africa.

The British offensive opened on Oct. 23 with tremendous air and artillery bombardments. Montgomery's forces cleared the German minefields and on Nov. 1 and 2 burst through the German lines near the sea and forced a swift Axis retreat out of Egypt


2. Midway