WAR IN AFRICA AND
EUROPE
Section 3
ALLIED ADVANCES
• Churchill convinced the Americans to
push the Axis out of Africa before
invading Europe
• This would allow the Allies to gain
control of the Mediterranean and open
the way to invade Europe through Italy
ALLIED ADVANCES
• German General Erwin Rommel had
control of Northern Africa
• With the assistance of the American
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the
Axis powers eventually surrendered.
• The Allies could now set up bases from
which to attack southern Europe
• The Allies started with the Italian island
of Sicily
• The Germans were forced off the island
after a month of fighting, and the Allies
then swept into Italy
• By this time, Italians had turned on
Mussolini and he was imprisoned
• The new Italian government
surrendered
The defeat of Italy is significant to the outcome of WWII because it was the defeat of a main Axis Power
GERMANY ON THE DEFENSIVE
On the eastern front…
• German forces attacked the Russian city
of Stalingrad
• As winter approached, the German
commander begged Hitler to let him
retreat – Hitler refused
• Soviet troops cut off German supply lines
– many thousands of Nazi soldiers froze or
starved to death
• The remaining German troops
surrendered in the spring
• This battle is considered a turning point
because the Soviet army continued to
push the German army back toward
Germany
GERMANY ON THE DEFENSIVE
• The Allies planned to cross the English
Channel and invade France
• The plan, Operation Overlord, was
commanded by General Eisenhower
• American, British and Canadian soldiers
crossed the channel into Normandy
• Became known as D-Day, and was the
largest land-sea-air operation in history
• Was a victory for the Allies but at a
staggering cost
• More than 10,000 Allied soldiers were
killed or wounded
On the western front…
GERMANY ON THE DEFENSIVE
• The Allied troops in France moved west, pushing German forces out of France
• At the same time, Soviet forces were pushing Germans out of the east
• Hitler launched a desperate final assault known as the Battle of the Bulge where the
German soldiers attempted to push back
• Allied forces defeated the Germans once again
• The human toll was costly: about 200,000 casualties
THE WAR ENDS IN EUROPE
• Before the war ended, Allied leaders
met at the Yalta Conference
• It was attended by the “Big Three” –
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
• Stalin promised to declare war on Japan
after Germany surrendered
• All three agreed to establish a peacekeeping organization
• They discussed what types of
governments would be established in
Eastern Europe after the war
THE WAR ENDS IN EUROPE
• The Soviet Union finally reached Berlin
in April of 1945
• Hitler knew the end of the war was near,
and committed suicide
• One week later, German leaders signed
an unconditional surrender
• The Allies declared the next day, May
8, 1945, V-E Day, or Victory in Europe
Day