Exploring American History
Unit VIII- Boom Times and Challenges
Chapter 26 – Section 3
The War in Europe and Northern Africa
WWII- A World Conflict
Allied Goals1st- Defeat the Germans
2nd- U.S. to postpone the offensive in the Pacific and continue an
active defense.
War in Europe and North Africa
The Big Idea
After fierce fighting in North Africa and Europe, the Allies
stopped the German advance and slowly began driving
back German forces.
Main Ideas
• The Allies fought back against the Axis Powers in North
Africa and Europe.
• Key Allied victories halted the German advance.
• In the D-Day invasion, Allied forces attacked Germancontrolled France.
Main Idea 1:
The Allies fought back against the Axis Powers
in North Africa and Europe.
Allies Join Forces
• Casablanca
• Priority:
New Technologies
• Sonar
• Long-range aircraft
Casablanca Conference- Jan. 1943
Jan. 14-24, 1943, World War II meeting of U.S. President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Casablanca, French
Morocco. A joint declaration pledged that the war would end only with the
unconditional surrender of the Axis states, and the U.S. to attack Germany 1st.
The Allies Fight the Battle of the Atlantic
Allied ships and aircraft
•American shipyards.
•Convoys.
Cracking the Enigma
•Enigma
•Ultra
How and why did the Allies fight
the Battle of the Atlantic?
control of the seas- safe for shipping
Germany had a very powerful navy
wolf pack.
The entry of the United States into the war
would help turn the tide in the Battle of
the Atlantic.
Battle for the Atlantic
• German Wolf Packs- sinking
thousands of tons of Allied
shipping each month.
• 1942-43 critical, allies need
food and supplies.
• Radar and Sonar were
invented
• Use of Ultra (code breaking),
Convoys and Destroyers
• U.S. Producing more ships and
supplies than the Germans
could sink.
The Allies Fight Back
• Recall – How did sonar help the Allied
war effort?
• Explain – Why did Stalin want the
Allies to attack in Europe
immediately?
Main Idea 2:
Key Allied victories halted the German advance.
North Africa
•1942– German
Afrika Korps
•Battle of El
Alamein.
•Dwight D.
Eisenhower Operation Torch
Italy
•July 1943–
Allied forces
invaded Sicily
•June 1944–
Allied forces
captured Rome.
North African Theater
 Erwin Rommel- German
1942- Tanks and Blitzkrieg
Send to Africa to help the Italians stop
the British and take British Oil Fields
“Desert Fox”- Outwitting opponentsGreatest German General
Also planned the defense of the Atlantic
Wall.
Later accused of being Anti-Hitler
conspirator- forced to take poison.
 Afrika Korps- Rommel
Battle of Tobruk and El Alamein
Threaten Oil Fields of Middle East and the
Suez Canal
North African Theater
 Bernard Montgomery- British
 El Alamein- Nov. 4, 1942
Allies defeat the Germans
Germans bottled up in Tunisia.
 U.S. Landing in “Vichy” Algeria“Operation Torch,” November 8, 1942
entailed the largest amphibious invasion in
U.S. naval history. 107,000 men.
Operation Barbarosa.
•
•
•
•
June 22, 1941 – Hitler makes the
great blunder- he feels that all
battlefields are alike and blitzkrieg
always works. He invades Russia
Napoleon had learned a hard lesson
a hundred years before- Russia is
too big, too frozen and would
cause the downfall of his empire.
Hitler would learn the same lesson.
Germans moved quickly and went
deep into Russia, but when they got
to Moscow the worst winter in 30
years struck. Freezing temps
stopped the german advance.
Germans are stalemated at
Leningrad, Stalingrad and
Moscow
Eastern Front
• Massive German and Soviet armies battled
on eastern front.
• By mid-1942, Battle of Stalingrad.
• In January 1943 the German commander
surrendered.
• Soviet victory came at an enormous cost.
– More than 1 million Soviet soldiers dead
– About 800,000 Axis soldiers killed
Halting the German Advance
• Identify – What countries did each of the
three generals involved in the North African
Campaign come from?
• Explain – What caused the different views
of Italy’s strength in 1943 and 1944?
Halting the German Advance
• Describe – In the Battle of Stalingrad, how
did many Germans die?
• Explain – What is meant by “The tide of
the war in the east had turned”?
• Contrast – What advantages did Soviet
Troops have over the advancing German
soldier.
Main Idea 3:
In the D-Day invasion, Allied forces attacked
German-controlled France.
Invasion of German-occupied France
• Dwight Eisenhower
• June 6, 1944– D-Day, or “designated day”
– American, British, and Canadian troops
– Americans landed on two beaches,
codenamed Utah and Omaha.
– Almost 3,000 killed or wounded at Omaha
Beach alone.
Amphibious Tanks
(DD Tanks)
These so-called Duplex Drive tanks of the 741st
Armoured Battalion were launched from landing craft
four kilometres from the beach. Fitted with large
canvas skirts round the upper portion of the vehicle,
the DD tanks were designed to float low in the water appearing to the enemy as nothing more menacing
than a rubber boat.
The entry of this first group into the rough seas proved
disastrous. The tanks were intended to operate in seas
with a one-foot swell, yet on D-Day the waves rose six
feet.
High waves
The heavy seas swamped 27 DDs, sending them to the
sea floor.
The D-Day Invasion
• Explain – What was the Allied mission?
• Rank – Which area would prove to be the
toughest fight: North Africa, France or Italy
• Identify - What did the “D” in D-Day
mean?
The D-Day Invasion
• Recall – Soldiers from which countries took
part in the D-Day Invasion?
• Compare – How did the D-Day invasion
compare to past sea to land invasions.
• Make Judgments - What is your opinion of
the type of men who could wade ashore and
fight on the Normandy beaches?