The War for Europe and North Africa

1. The War for Europe and North Africa 17.2 Notes

3. U.S. and British War Plans • Churchill and FDR conference at White House, 12/22/41 • 3 weeks of planning • Germany + Italy bigger threat than Japan • Strike Hitler first • Get upper hand in Europe then focus on Pacific • Comradeship formed

4. Battle of Atlantic • Hitler ordered submarine raids on U.S. Atlantic coast • Prevent food, war materials from reaching Britain and Soviet Union • 3,000 miles • 87 ships sunk in 4 months • 681 Allied ships destroyed by wolf packs

5. U.S. responded w/ convoys • Supply ships escorted by destroyers, planes, radar equipment etc. • Able to destroy u-boats faster than they could make them • Crash ship-building – 1943 • 140 “liberty ships” produced / month • Battle of Atlantic now in allied favor

7. Battle of Stalingrad • Germans fighting in Soviet Union since June, 1941 • Stopped in Nov. due to winter cold • Right outside Moscow, Leningrad • Summer, 1942 – Germans take offensive • Aim to capture Soviet oil fields • Wipe out Stalingrad – major industrial center • Luftwaffe prepared attack w/ nightly bombing raids over city • Soviet officers recommended blowing up factories and abandon the city

8. Took over house by house • Controlled 9/10ths of city • Another winter set in • Soviet counterattacked • Rolled tanks across frozen land • Closed around Stalingrad • Trapped Germans inside • Cut off supplies • Hitler ordered to keep fighting • January 31, 1943 – Germans surrendered • Soviet victory w/ losses – 1,100,000 soldiers • Turning point – moved westward toward Germany

9. North African Front • Stalin begged Allies to open second front • Focus on western Europe • Divide Hitler’s troops • Not enough Allied troops • Operation Torch instead • Invade Axis-controlled North Africa • General Dwight D. Eisenhower in command • Nov., 1942 – 107,000 troops land in Casablanca, Oran, Algiers • Afrika Korps and “Desert Fox” (Erwin Rommel) surrender by May, 1943

10. Italian Campaign • Roosevelt, Churchill meet in Casablanca • Decide on unconditional surrender only • Either attack Italy first or… • A massive invasion fleet launched across English Channel through France • Captured Sicily, summer ‘43 • Italian gov’t stunned • Mussolini forced to resign • King Victor Emmanuel III had him arrested • Germany pushed through – Battle of Anzio • Lasted 4 months - Hitler still resisted

11. D-Day • Codename = Operation Overlord • Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower • Force of 3 million Americans, British, Canadian troops • Top-secret attack on Normandy • Sent radio messages of attack at Calais, 150 miles away • Hitler ordered large army there • Originally set for June 5, 1944 • Postponed b/c of weather

12. June 6, 1944 • Largest land-sea-air operation in army history • Midnight: • 3 divisions parachute behind German lines • Early Morning: • 1,000s of seaborne soldiers bombard beach • German retaliation brutal at Omaha Beach • 80 miles of coast gained in 7 days • One month: • 1 million troops, 567,000 tons of supplies, 170,000 vehicles

13. “People were yelling, screaming, dying, running on the beach, equipment was flying everywhere, men were bleeding to death, crawling, lying everywhere firing coming from all directions. We dropped down behind anything that was the size of a golf ball.”

14. July 25, 1944 • Gen. Omar Bradley leads massive air/land strike at St. Lo • Creates gap in German defense • George Patton advances his army to Seine River near Paris • Paris liberated after 2 days • Under 4 years of occupation • French overjoyed • By September, 1944 • France, Belgium, Luxembourg liberated • FDR elected for 4th term