Download North African Campaign

WWII In Europe and Africa
Unit 8, Group In-Class Research
-Prepare a News Report to share with the class
about your assigned topic. PLEASE NOTE: you need
to present your news report from the perspective I
have assigned!
There will be 6 groups
North African Campaign
• On January 1, 1942 the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union (Allies) joined to
defeat the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan)
• Even though Japan was conquering much of the Pacific the Allies agreed to
concentrate on fighting Germany in Europe first.
• Europe and Africa were almost completely conquered by Hitler and the
Allies felt if the Soviet Union were conquered, Germany might prove
unstoppable.
•Although Stalin wanted an assault on Europe by the Allies to open a second
Western Front, it was deemed too difficult at the start of the war and instead
the Allies started by attacking German forces in North Africa
• Axis forces in Africa were under the command of General Erwin Rommel
known as the “Desert Fox” because of his success in desert warfare.
• In November 1942, the British defeated Rommel at El Alamein, (on the boarder
of Libya and Egypt) that prevented the Germans from capturing the Suez Canal
linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
American Forces in Africa
• In November 1942, General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived with American
forces
• Initially American forces were inexperienced and met defeat in Tunisia.
• The arrival of General George Patton however signaled a new direction for U.S.
forces and by May of 1943 Rommel and the Germans were driven out of Africa
by Allied forces.
•The Allies achieved the first step toward depriving German of natural resources
they needed to fight the war.
GROUP 1

Research the North African Campaign
(from the Axis Power perspective)
The Invasion of Italy
• The Allies now had areas to prepare military bases to launch an invasion of
southern Europe
• They took the Island of Sicily in the summer of 1943 and landed on the Italian
mainland in September of 1943.
• As the Allies advanced on their capture of Italy, Hitler had to divert men and
resources to try and help his Italian Allies.
• With Allied advances on Rome the Italian population grew disenchanted with
Mussolini and the war.
• Mussolini was overthrown by the Italian people and Italy surrendered and
Italian forces were out of the war.
• However, German forces continued to fight.
• Fighting in the Italian mountains slowed the Allies who made an amphibious
landing at Anzio, near Rome in an attempt to capture the capital.
• The Allies were pinned down on the beach for four months until they finally
broke through German forces and advanced to take Rome and liberate the capital
in June of 1944.
GROUP 2

Research the Invasion of Italy (Axis Power
Perspective)
Air War over Germany
• The Allies also launched an air war against Germany
•In the summer of 1942, using bombers, the British and U.S. air forces began
bombing Germany.
•The Allies looked to destroy the manufacturing capability of Germany and
prevent them from supplying the war.
•The bombing caused massive damaged to Germany and killed many civilians.
• The British and U.S. forces suffered many casualties as bombers were shot
down at an alarming rate.
• The capacity of U.S. factories to re-supply planes quickly was a major factor in
helping to defeat Germany.
• Intense Allied bombing of cities often resulted in firestorms in the cities. In one
attack on Hamburg in 1943, 30,000 people died in the firestorm that resulted from
the bombing.
U.S. B-17 Bomber
Allied Bombing in Hamburg
Group 3

Research the Air War over Germany
(from the Allied Powers perspective)
The Tide Turns in Europe
• On the Eastern Front it was the Soviets that bore the brunt of the fighting as
there forces battled German troops.
• German forces had advanced far into the Soviet Union after their initial invasion
and by September of 1941 they surrounded Leningrad.
• The Germans began a siege ( military blockade to starve a city) of the city.
• The blockade lasted 900 days.
• Leningrad did not fall, and as food ran out people of the city ate the animals
(even dogs and cats) as well as bread made from wall paper paste.
• In 1944, Soviet forces broke the siege and Germany retreated, many civilians
were killed or suffered malnutrition and disease after it was over.
• German forces also tried to capture the Soviet capital of Moscow and reached
the cities outskirts before bad weather and a Soviet counteroffensive forced a
German retreat.
Leningrad Citizens
Stalingrad
• In 1942, the Germans attempted to capture Stalingrad, a city near rich oil fields.
• The Germans fought house to house to take the city.
• No sooner than the German victory and capture of Stalingrad, Soviet forces
surrounded the city cutting off German supply lines and laying siege to the city.
• Cold and Starving and running out of ammunition German forces fought until
February 1943, when the remains of their Army surrendered.
• The Soviets then launched an offensive that drove back the Germans hundreds
of miles.
•Germany counterattacked but the loss of their Army at Stalingrad marked a
turning point in the war as there forces were no longer able to dominate the
field of battle as they had before.
• Hitler would suffer a major blow because of his attack on the Soviet Union.
• Even though his forces were initially superior, the vastness of the Soviet Union,
its large supply of men, and its cold harsh winter (the coldest in a generation after
Hitler’s attack with temperatures dropping that winter to 60 degrees below zero)
would be to much for Germany to overcome.
Group 4

Research Leningrad and Stalingrad (from a
German perspective)
Stalingrad Damage
Stalingrad Casualties
Group 5

Research Stalingrad/Leningrad (from a
Russian perspective)
The Allied Invasion of France
D-Day
• By 1944, the Allies were preparing to open a new front on Germany by landing forces
in France and opening a second Western Front to the war.
• General Eisenhower was named the Supreme Allied Commander and code named the
invasion “Operation Overlord”
•It would be a massive invasion using U.S., British, and Canadian forces in a massive
amphibious assault that included Allied paratroopers, the French underground, and a
massive bombing campaign from both the air and sea.
• The Germans were convinced that the invasion would come at the port city located
closest to England.
•General Patton was assigned to the area where the Allies created a fake army to fool
the Germans.
•Instead, Eisenhower chose the French costal area of Normandy for the invasion.
• The plan was set to correspond to the proper tides for the landing at the beginning of
June but poor whether delayed the invasion.
•With a glimmer of hope for a break in the weather Eisenhower ordered his troops to
their ships on June 5th where they stayed till June 6th when the weather cleared.
Eisenhower and Troops
D-Day
• June 6, 1944, the Allies waded ashore on the beaches of Normandy.
• The Germans had prepared the coasts with defenses that included land mines,
barbed wire, and fierce artillery from fixed positions.
• Many soldiers were killed in the landing on the beaches as the Allies struggled in
some areas to gain a strong foothold.
• Hitler refused to release the Panzer tanks he held in reserve to repel the attack
believing the the real invasion would come at the Roux d Callis.
• The move proved to be an error as the Allies succeeded in securing a beachhead
and began building docks to land troops and supplies.
• Within a few weeks the Allies had landed over 1 million men and the Germans
were in retreat from what was now a two front war.
• On August 25, French and American soldiers marched through joyful crowds and
liberated Paris. France was ruled by the French once more.
D-Day
Group 6

Research D-Day from an Axis Power
perspective
Liberation of Paris
Victory in Europe
• The Germans were now fighting the Soviets on the Eastern front and the British
and Americans on the Western Front.
•General Patton was brought to France and his Army raced across France quickly.
• In late 1944, the cold winter and German resistance slowed the Allied forces at
the Rhine River.
• In mid-December the Germans mounted a desperate winter offensive along a 50
mile front in Belgium, trying to split Allied forces and regain an advantage in the
war.
• The “Battle of the Bulge” as it became known, created a deep bulge in Allied
forces leaving Allied forces in the position of having their lines broken.
• After several weeks, and with a long winter drive by Patton’s Army, the Germans
were pushed back.
• German forces also suffered from a lack of gasoline for their tanks and trucks.
• The battle resulted in 75,000 casualties and marked the end of any real German
resistance.
Battle of the Bulge
V-E Day
• The final phase of the war in Europe began in the spring of 1945.
• The Soviets surrounded Berlin, the capital of Germany.
• Hitler refused to leave the capital and spent the final few months of the war in an
underground bunker.
• On April 30, 1945, when he realized the situation was hopeless he committed
suicide along with his companion Eva Braun.
• On May 7, 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender ending the war in
Europe.
•The Allies declared May 8, V-E DAY for “Victory in Europe”
Hitler’s Bunker Site
Hitler’s Bunker
V-E Day