Download WW II_ Europe and North Africa

Ch.25.2
The War for Europe and North Africa
Notes
Main Idea: Allied forces, led by the U.S. and Great Britain,
battled Axis powers for control of Europe and North Africa.
Why did the U.S. and Great Britain join forces in WWII?
-They were “In the same boat” – Churchill
What were the war plans of Roosevelt and Churchill?
-Strike Germany 1st
-posed a greater threat than Japan
-once the Allies gained control in Europe they could pour
more resources into
the Pacific
What was the German response to the new allied force?
-Battle of the Atlantic
-German submarine raids on the east coast of U.S. were
meant to keep supplies
from getting to GB and USSR
How did the allies respond to the threat of U-boat attacks on
their supply ships?
-Allies organized cargo ships into convoys escorted by
destroyers
-new technologies like sonar for underwater detection,
radar for surface
detection
-launch crash shipbuilding program
-140 Liberty ships per month
-Convoys, technology, and shipbuilding turn tide in Battle of
the Atlantic
What were the Soviets doing to help the Allied forces?
Battle of Stalingrad- German offensive in southern USSR
-Soviets kept Germans engaged in the east
-Germans wished to destroy this major industrial city
- and oil fields in the Caucasus Mts.
-Germans surrender January 31, 1943
What was the cost to the Soviets to defend and defeat the
Germans at Stalingrad?
-Soviet losses totaled 1.1 million men
-marked the turning point in the war
-Soviets moved to the west in pursuit of retreating
Germans
What was Stalin urging the Allies to do?
-as a diversionary tactic Stalin wanted the Allies to open a
“second front” in the west.
-Churchill and Roosevelt don’t think they have the man
power to invade Europe
-instead they invade North Africa
-invasion is known as Operation Torch
-Germans surrender May, 1943
-defeat Rommel known as the “Desert Fox”
-Allies demand unconditional surrender of Axis powers
Now that North Africa was under control of the Allies, what
was there next move?
-Allies move into Europe via the Mediterranean Sea
-Italian Campaign- 1. safer than attacking in the north via
the English Channel
2. control Med. Sea
3. good point to step into Europe from the
South
-Italians collapse in Sicily in summer of 1943
-Mussolini is forced to resign
-Germans determined to stop Allies in Italy rather than
Germany
-Anzio is the sight of one of the bloodiest battles in Italy
-55,000 men died
-Germans are defeated in 1945
What was the plan for liberating Western Europe?
-D-day-elaborate plan to liberate Western Europe (France)
-known as Operation Overload
-commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower
-nearly 3 million troops
-American, British, and Canadian
-plan to attack Normandy in northern France
-set up phantom army and equipment with messages to attack
Calais
-June 6, 1944- Operation Overload is carried out
-one day late do to weather
What was the Allied plan to finish the Axis powers and
especially Germany?
-after D-day Allied forces moved east to Germany
-first German town taken in October 1944 (Aachen)
How does Hitler respond to invasion of Germany?
-Hitler decides make one last-gasp offensive
-capture Antwerp, Belgium and its port
-hoped it would disrupt enemy supply lines
-easily breaks through weak allied line
-created a bulge in lines 60 miles wide
-separated American and British forces
-Battle of the Bulge ensues
-lasts one month
-from this point on the Germans could not recover from
losses of men and
supplies
-they could only retreat
-On April 25, 1945 the Soviets stormed Berlin
What did the Allies find once they captured the German
heartland?
-Concentration and death camps
-Majdanek , Poland was the site of the first death camp
captured by the Soviets
-unimaginable treatment of humans
What happened to Hitler in the end?
-Hitler commits suicide with a gun shot to the head
-his body is burned as he had ordered
V-E Day – Victory in Europe officially occurs on May 8, 1945
-the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich to
Eisenhower