World War II
War In Europe and Africa
1942-1944
War Plans
Churchill meets with FDR
– Three weeks on war plans
Decide Germany and Italy pose greatest
threat
– Japan secondary
Must gain foothold in Europe first
– Then worry about the Pacific
Will strike against Hitler first
Battle of the Atlantic
German U-Boats attack US
– East coast/Atlantic
regions
– Trying to cut off supply
lines to Britain and
USSR
Allies organize into convoys
– Escorted by destroyers
with sonar and planes
with radar
1943 > Battle turns in favor
of Allies
Battle of Stalingrad
Germany invaded USSR in June1941
– Summer of 1942 Germans go on offensive
• Oil fields and industrial center on Volga River
• Symbolism of taking Stalingrad
Luftwaffe strike first, set city ablaze
– Soviets ordered to defend at all costs
– Germans hold 9/10 of the city
Winter sets in…Germans crippled
– Soviets launch massive strike, cut off supplies to
Germans
– Hitler orders Germans to dig in
Germany surrenders January 31, 1943
TURNING POINT! USSR moves toward Germany
Stalingrad
North African Front
Stalin pressures Allies to open 2nd front
– Not enough troops for W. Europe front
Allies launch Operation Torch
– Invade Axis-controlled North Africa
– Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower
– Land in 1942 and move east
– Chase Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps
•Nickname “Desert Fox”
Notable Commanders
Rommel (Germany)
Patton (US)
Montgomery (Britain)
Battle of El Alamein
Montgomery vs. Rommel
Fought in deserts of Egypt
Heavy use of landmines by Rommel’s men
Decisive Allied victory
– Marked turning point in Western desert
campaign in favor of Allies
Leads to retreat of Rommel’s Afrika Korps
– Afrika Korps eventually surrender May
1943
Result = complete destruction of Rommel’s
infantry divisions and tanks
Kasserine Pass
Fought in Tunisia
After Allied victory at El Alamein,
Montgomery pushes into Tunisia from the
South
– US and other Allies push in from the West
Kasserine Pass
– Rommel launches an attack on Allies
• Hopes to drive a wedge between two groups of
Allies
– Allies get rocked, many losses
Map of Tunisia
Battle of El Qatar
First U.S. victory over Rommel
U.S. forces led by General Patton
U.S. forces prove they are up to the Nazi
challenge
U.S. prepares for invasion of Sicily
Italian Campaign
Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Casablanca
– Morocco
– Decide they will only accept an unconditional surrender
of the Axis powers
Roosevelt > launch attack across English Channel through
France into Germany
Churchill > better to attack Italy
Italian Campaign Cont.
Allies take Sicily in 1943
– Allies under command of Patton and Montgomery
– Within three days 150,000 Allied troops ashore
– Face little resistance from Sicilian troops
“Race to Messina”
–
–
–
–
Allies want to trap Axis forces in NE corner of the island
British moving up the Southeast coast
US moving east across the north coast
Result = 100,000 Axis troops retreat to the mainland
Ultimately leads to collapse of Mussolini’s government
– Replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio
– Begin secret pacts with Allies
Race to
Messina
Patton
Italian Campaign Cont.
Montgomery begins assault on mainland Italy
– Result = Italy surrenders to the Allies
• Deal was they would be treated with “leniency” if they helped
to expel Nazis from Italy
Mussolini is rescued from prison
– Becomes Nazi puppet government leader in northern
Italy
Badoglio government declares war on Germany
Mussolini later captured and executed
Operation Overlord
Allies liberate Europe
– Plan is to invade France and move to free Western Europe
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
– Attack Normandy in Northern France
– Led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Montgomery
– Largest land and sea operation in military history
• Allies land over 1 million troops!
– Brutal fight with German armies, especially at Omaha
beach
Allied
Landings in
Normandy
General Omar Bradley
•July 25th > unleashes
massive air raid at St. Lo
•Breaks a gap in the
German line
•Allows for Patton and
his 3rd Army to move
into position
German Line
Patton’s 3rd
Army
Advances
•August 23rd 1944
Patton’s 3rd Army
reaches the Seine River
south of Paris
•Two days later French
Resistance and Allies
take the capital (Paris)
•By September France,
Belgium and
Luxembourg are free!
•Roosevelt is elected to
a 4th term
Battle of
The
Bulge
•Last major German
offensive
Antwerp
•Allies capture first
German townAachen
•Hitler orders troops
to break through
Allied lines and
take Antwerp
• 8 Nazi panzer divisions break through Allied lines, separate British and US troops
•Created a “bulge” in the line
•Battle raged for a month, massive German losses
•Germans eventually retreat
Pinching Germany
Liberation of Death Camps
US troops push east, Soviets push west toward
Berlin
Majdenek first liberated
– SS try to bury/burn all evidence
– “gigantic murder plant”
Hitler’s last address
– Letter blaming Jews for starting the war, German
generals for losing it
Hitler commits suicide
May 8th, 1945 Eisenhower accepts unconditional
surrender of 3rd Reich
– V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)
Roosevelt Dies
Roosevelt dies of a
stroke April 12,
1945
– Did not live to see
V-E Day
Harry S. Truman
becomes 33rd
President of the
United States