Download WORLD WAR II ALLIED INVASIONS

WORLD WAR II
ALLIED INVASIONS
War in Africa
• Fighting begins in Africa in 1940 when Italian
forces based in Libya attacked British-controlled
Egypt
• Italy wants an African empire
• The British eliminate the Italian threat and even
invade Libya – the Italians were now on the
defensive
• Feb. 1941 – 30,000 British soldiers capture
130,000 Italian prisoners, gain 500 miles
• Only lost 500 men and Ethiopia is freed
• Hitler steps in and sends the Desert Fox
• The new German and Italian force was called
the Afrika Korps and was led by General Erwin
Rommel
• He pushes the British out of Libya and back
into Egypt
• Rommel and the British go back and forth
• The Afrika Korps lacks supplies – Rommel is
outnumbered and has less fire power
Allied Invasions
• Allied Invasion of Africa – known as Operation Torch
• Nov. 1942 – three amphibious landings in the
French colonies of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco
• Led by American general Dwight Eisenhower
• Landed with 107,000 Allied troops and the
Vichy-controlled colonies soon joined
• As a result, Germany occupies all of France
• Rommel is in trouble, has Allied forces to the east
and west
• Rommel goes to Berlin to plead for more
troops and weapons
• May 1943 the Afrika Korps surrenders and the war
in Africa is over
• 250,000 Axis soldiers taken prisoner and the
Allies control all of North Africa
• Allied Invasion of Italy - known as Operation
Husky (June 1943)
• The Italians remove Mussolini from power
• Italy leaves the war in September
• The Allies next invade mainland Italy
• Germany sends Rommel to defend northern
Italy
• German resistance slows the Allies
• They reach Rome by May 1944
• Don’t gain total control of Italy until five
days before Germany surrenders
Battle of the Atlantic and Berlin
• Battle of the Atlantic
• Germany relied once again on U-boats since they
couldn’t match the battleships of Great Britain
• The German U-boat fleet consisted of 400 subs
• They fought in wolf packs for protection
• Sank 2,452 merchant ships and 174 warships at a
cost of thousands of lives and millions of dollars
• Eventually the Allies won control of the Atlantic
• Better-equipped convoys that hunted and
destroyed the U-boats
• Allies had broken the German code, knew the
location of the U-boats
• Battle of Berlin
• November 1943 to spring 1944
• Allies bomb Berlin and other cities
• Also bomb railways and infrastructure
in France
Tehran Conference
• Nov. 1943 – meeting of the Allied Powers
• Main issue was the plan to launch the
cross-channel invasion
• Decide to create the United Nations to
replace the failed League of Nations
• Would be dominated by Britain, U.S.,
the Soviet Union, and France
Invasion of France
• American generals Eisenhower and Marshall
are put in charge
• Assemble and train troops, also develop
specialized equipment to transport
troops and tanks across the channel
• Hitler doesn’t know where the attack
will happen, sends Rommel to defend
the coast of several nations
• Rommel builds the Atlantic Wall
• D-Day June 6, 1944
• Allied forces invade France, known as
Operation Overlord
• 150,000 troops land on the beaches of
Normandy and force their way through
German defenses
• High amount of casualties, but D-Day was a
huge victory
• With the beaches secured, more Allied troops
sent in
• 1 million soldiers in France by the end of June
• The Allies quickly reconquered most of France
and Paris is freed in August
Battle of the Bulge
• Dec. 1944 – the Germans launch a massive
counterattack in Belgium
• The Germans advance, creating a bulge in
the Allied battle lines
• By Jan. 1945 the Allies regain the land
and crush the German offensive
• Within two months the Allied forces had
crossed the Rhine River into Germany and
were racing towards Berlin
War on the Eastern Front
• Siege of Leningrad
• Germans fail to capture the city, so Hitler
orders a siege, or military blockade
• Designed to force the city to surrender
• Winter of 1941-1942 people starved to
death at a rate of 3,000-4,000 a day
• As many as one million will eventually
die in the siege
• The Soviets end the siege in early 1944
after 900 days
• Spring of 1942 German forces renewed their
attacks on the Soviet Union
• Fought well at first and by August looked
ready to capture the city of Stalingrad
• One of the largest in the nation and its
factories produced military equipment
vital for the Soviet war effort
• Battle of Stalingrad – Aug. 1942
• One of the most brutal battles of the war
• The Luftwaffe and artillery bomb the city into rubble
• German troops then go in to wipe out the
remaining Soviet defenders
• Vicious house-to-house fighting ensues
• Tens of thousands die on each side
• Soviets manage to hold off the German attack by the
fall of 1942 and organize a counterattack
• A Soviet force breaks through and surrounds the
Germans, around 250,000 men
• The Germans could escape the trap by retreating,
but Hitler won’t allow it
• By Jan. 1943 the Germans are out of ammunition,
food, and medicine, but Hitler tells them that
surrender is forbidden
• 90,000 Germans that are left surrender shortly
after, making Hitler mad
• Most of them will die in Soviet camps
• This was the first major defeat of Hitler’s armies
• Turning point for the war on the Eastern Front
• June 1944 – the massive Soviet offensive against the
Germans
• Pushes the Germans out of Russia and into central
Europe
• Leads to another 800,000 German casualties
• July the Soviets capture Poland
• Captures Romania and Bulgaria in Sept.
1944
• Captures Hungary at the end of 1944
• Vienna captured in April 1945
• By January 1945 the Germans were within
40 miles of Berlin
Yalta Conference
• Meeting of the Allied Powers
• Purpose was to discuss the final strategy for
defeating Germany and Japan
• Division of Germany and Berlin into
occupation zones
• UN Security council featuring Britain, U.S., Soviet
Union, France, and China
• Would have more power than other member
nations
Victory in Europe
• The race to Berlin is on between the Soviets and the
other Allies (Americans, British, and French)
• The Soviets win
• Take 200,000 casualties to gain the last 39 miles
• Half a million Soviets surround Berlin in late August
1945
• Hitler commits suicide on May 2 and Berlin
surrenders the same day
• On May 7th Germany surrenders
• May 8th is proclaimed V-E Day = Victory in Europe Day
World War II Conferences
T = Tehran Conference
Y = Yalta Conference
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Stalin promises to declare war on Japan
Creates the United Nations
Final strategy for defeating Germany and Japan
Security Council that includes France and China
Plan the cross-channel invasion
Division of Germany into four zones