THE WAR FOR EUROPE AND

NORTH AFRICA

Chapter 17.2

Essential Questions

What were the Allies’ plans for winning the war?

What were key events in the war in Europe?

How was Europe liberated from Axis control?

Who is the bigger threat?

Both FDR and Churchill agreed that Germany and Italy posed the biggest threat to the world’s security and should be dealt with first

Once the Allies gained the upper hand in Europe, they could pour more resources into the Pacific War against Japan

Battle of the Atlantic Why was it so

important to win this battle? The 3,000 mile lifeline

that stretched from the U.S. to Great Britain crossed the North Atlantic

If German U-boats were successful in cutting that lifeline, Britain would be starved into submission

The Threat: The Wolfpack

German U-Boats

The Effect

Easy Targets:

By July 1942, German U-boats had sunk 681 Allied ships.

To combat the Wolfpack threat, the Allies employed new countermeasures:Detection by aircraftSonarMinesweepersWeapons like depth charges and torpedosThe good old convoy system!

Counter-measures: Detection

ASDIC = Canadian/British SONAR System

Anti-SubmarineDetectionInvestigationCommittee

As well as Corvettes and Destroyers, minesweepers were crucial to detect dangers above and below the surface.

Counter-measures: Destruction of the THREAT

Depth Charges = drums of

TNT(here loaded on a side-shooting “K Gun”

Counter- measures:

The CONVOY

The Tide Turns…

By mid-1943, Allied counter-measures had begun to take effect.

The Allies captured a German Enigma encoding machine, allowing them to track German u-boat movements

The Allies “win” the Battle of the Atlantic by keeping the lifeline open!

ENIGMA/ULTRA

Turning Point Campaign #1:The Eastern Front

The Largest Full Scale Land Invasion… Ever. June 22, 1941-Operation Barbarossa Hitler wanted to conquer the Soviet Union for

Lebensraum, or living space for the Aryan People. He viewed the Russians (Slavs) as inferior untermenschen (subhuman).

June 1941 Hitler ignores the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and invades the Soviet Union.

The Wehrmacht attacked with 188 divisions, 3,300 tanks, 2,700 aircrafts, 7,000 artillery, 600,000 vehicles, 650,000 horses, and 100,000 wagons. (3.3 Million Men)

Battle Plan This massive force was divided into

three army groups: North, Center, South.

Army Group North- Attack from the North, targeting the city of Leningrad.

Army Group Center- Penetrate central Soviet territory and encircle Moscow.

Army Group South- Capture the oil fields located in the Crimean Peninsula.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5674307756491129489&q=battle+of+kursk&hl=en

What led to initial success for the Germans? Stalin had ample evidence of a German

Invasion but mobilized too late; late mobilization results in heavy casualties on the Soviet side.

Stalin had purged most of his officer corps (One million men) when he came to power. Result: no experienced officers to lead the Soviet Army.

Because Stalin was so hated by many of his own people, many Russians saw the Germans as liberators

Germany’s Initial Success To the North, Army Group A reached

Leningrad, and began a 900 day siege on the city.

By Oct 1941, Army Group Center was 40 miles away from Moscow.

Army Group South was 60 miles away from the oil fields, until Hitler changed his mind and ordered the attack on Stalingrad.

Battle of MoscowOct 1941 – Jan 1942 Hitler’s assumption: When Moscow falls, the

Soviet Union falls. German forces had reached the outskirts of

Moscow by Oct 1941. Dec 1941, Soviet began counter offensives.

Soviet continued to pour fresh reserves into the battlefield. At one point, the Red Army fielded over 250 divisions on the Eastern Front.

German forces were pushed back by Soviet resistance.

At the outskirts of Moscow

Battle of StalingradAug 21, 1942 – Feb 2, 1943 Rattinkrieg (Rat War)

Urban Warfare fought within the city of Stalingrad.

The German war machine bogged down inside and outside the city because of the Russians’ best ally- General Winter!

90% of Stalingrad’s surface was destroyed.

Stalin decreed executive order no. 227, which asked for all political officers to shoot deserters of battle; “Not a Step Back” was the slogan.

“Why is Stalingrad considered a turning point battle of WWII?”

 

In terms of casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in modern history.

790,000 Soviet casualties (750,000 military, 40,000 civilians) 740,000 Axis casualties (91,000) captured

  For perspective, the U.S. lost 416,800 service members in all of

WWII.

  It was the first large-scale German defeat of the war.

  After the defeat, the German Army was in full retreat from Russia.  Stalingrad was Russia’s center of communication, transportation; it

was also an important manufacturing center. If the city was lost, Russia would have effectively been split in two.

“Why is Stalingrad considered a turning point battle of WWII?” continued… The impact of morale: If the city with Stalin’s name attached to it

was captured it would be a blow to Russian pride and a feather in Hitler’s cap!

Russia could not allow the Germans to gain control of the oil fields in the Caucasus region.

  It was a battle of wills:

Hitler’s orders to Gen. Von Paulus- “Fight to the last man and the last bullet; there will be no surrender.”

Stalin’s orders to Gen. Zhukov- “Not one step back!” (enforced by the NKVD- the “commissars”) 

For the Germans, the loss at Stalingrad was a disaster. A complete army group was lost. 91,000 Germans were taken prisoner. It was a huge loss of manpower and equipment. Once it began, they had nothing left to stop the Russian advance to Germany.

Factors in German Defeat Corporal Hitler- Hitler made poor decisions

during the invasion. General Mud and General Winter German supply line stretched thin. The Soviet Union possessed unlimited

manpower. German military leaders were overconfident. Allied intelligence was superior. Allied bombing campaign was successful in

reducing Germany’s production efficiency.

The Eastern Front 1943-1945 Soviet forces gradually pushed the

German Army back to Berlin. Throughout the war, Hitler dedicated

80% of Germany’s military power on the Eastern Front.

Soviet Union suffered the most casualties out of the Allied powers, totally to about 6 million people.

Turning Point Campaigin #2:The Battle for North Africa November 1942: Operation Torch The invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa The Force- 107,000 Allied troops (most of

them American) Supreme Commander of Allied Forces-

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower The 3 main landing sites:

CasablancaOranAlgiers

Operation Torch- November 1942

The Enemy: The Afrika Korps Germans and

Italians controlled most of North Africa

Their goal: to drive toward Egypt and capture the Suez Canal

Key Battle: Germans stopped by the British at

El Alamein

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel-aka The Desert Fox- Commander of the German Afrika Korps

Axis Forces Surrender U.S. forces saw their first military action in North

Africa… and were absolutely overmatched! They were annihilated by German forces at Kasserine Pass…until General Patton took over and whipped them into shape

Though Eisenhower was the Allied Commander, U.S. General George Patton was the commander in the field, proving to be the best field general in the U.S. Army

The North African campaign ended when the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 1943

The Casablanca Conference

FDR and Churchill meet in Casablanca, Morocco in 1943

Both agree that only an unconditional surrender by the Axis will be accepted, meaning: the enemy nations have to accept whatever peace terms the Allies dictate to them

Also, it was agreed that the next Allied target would be Italy and not France

TUSKEGEE AIRMEN

Among the brave men who fought in Italy were pilots of the all-black 99th squadron – the Tuskegee Airmen

The pilots made numerous effective strikes against Germany and won two distinguished Unit Citations

On May 31, 1943, the 99th Squadron, the first group of African-American pilots trained at the Tuskegee Institute,

arrived in North Africa

Turning Point Campaign #3:The Italian Campaign

Italy was considered the “soft underbelly of Europe”- a less heavily defended area for the Allies to attack

Operation HuskyLaunched in the summer of 1943Sicily was easily captured by American and

British forces led by General Patton and Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.

Sicily would serve as the launching point for the invasion into Italy

The Allied Invasion of Italy

German Resistance in Italy After the collapse of Sicily, Mussolini is forced to

resign (he is eventually captured and executed) Italy withdraws from the war, but Hitler sends in

German forces. He would rather fight in Italy than in Germany. As a result, the “soft underbelly of Europe becomes nothing of the sort. The fighting is some of the most ferocious of the war!”

Major Battles in the Italian Campaign:“Bloody Anzio”- 25,000 Allied casualtiesMonte Cassino- fought in early 1944 with the intention

of breaking through to Rome- more high casualties

Benito Mussolini- Shot, hung upside down in the town square (Milan) so that the townspeople could spit on him!

Turning Point Campaign #4:The Normandy Invasion

Code-Named Operation Overlord D-Day: June 6, 1944 (the same day that

Rome falls to the Allies!) The largest amphibious assault in history Supreme Allied Commander- General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Combined landing of 1 million amphibious

forces and paratroopers- American, British, Free French and Canadian troops

The Normandy Invasion

Prior to Field Marshal Rommel’s arrival, the “Atlantic Wall” was nothing more than a few gun emplacements

The Atlantic Wall- Hitler commanded Rommel to make the German Beach Defenses more formidable

Reinforced Concrete Wall Defenses

Barbed Wire

Rommel Inspecting the Atlantic Wall Defenses

Field Marshal Rommel was in charge of building the Atlantic Wall

D-Day

5 landing beaches code-named:Omaha- bloodiest fighting UtahJunoSwordGold

OMAHA BEACH 6/6/44

Many soldiers disembarked their landing craft in water over their heads. Many drowned.

Shore parties took cover under the intense German machine gun and mortar fire

General Eisenhower encouraging American paratroopers

Planes drop paratroopers behind enemy lines at Normandy, France

Losses were extremely heavy on D-Day

On the way to victory… Within one month of the

D-Day landing, Allied forces had secured a beachhead and were driving inland

On August 25, 1944, Paris was liberated by American and Free French forces.

By September 1944, France, Belgium and Luxembourg had been liberated

General George Patton (right) was instrumental in

Allies freeing France

Victory Equals Re-election for FDR Good news in Europe– and the

American people’s desire not to “change horses in midstream” – helped elect FDR to an unprecedented 4th term

VS.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE

In October 1944, Americans captured their first German town (Aachen)– the Allies were closing in

Hitler responded with one last ditch massive offensive

Hitler hoped breaking through the Allied line would break up Allied supply lines

BATTLE OF THE BULGE

The battle raged for a month – the Germans had been pushed back

Little seemed to have changed, but in fact the Germans had sustained heavy losses

Germany lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and 1,600 planes

From that point on the Nazis could do little but retreatThe Battle of the Bulge was

Germany’s last gasp

LIBERATION OF DEATH CAMPS While the British and

Americans moved westward into Germany, the Soviets moved eastward into German-controlled Poland

The Soviets discovered many death camps that the Germans had set up within Poland

The Americans also liberated Nazi death camps within Germany

For many it was too late…

ALLIES TAKE BERLIN; HITLER COMMITS SUICIDE

By April 25, 1945, the Soviet army had stormed Berlin

In his underground headquarters in Berlin, Hitler prepared for the end

On April 29, he married his longtime girlfriend Eva Braun then wrote a last note in which he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it

The next day he gave poison to his wife and shot himself

V-E DAY

General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich

On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day – victory in Europe Day

The war in Europe was finally over

Famous picture of an American soldier celebrating the end of the war

FDR DIES; TRUMAN PRESIDENT

•President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day• On April 12, 1945, he suffered a stroke and died– his VP Harry S Truman became the nation’s 33rd president