Chapter 25

Section 2: Retaking Europe

• Atlantic Charter- agreed upon by FDR & Churchill in Aug. 1941- basis for the United Nations

Americans Join the Struggle

• The Battle of the Atlantic–U-Boats were attacking US ships

headed for GB–Allies formed convoys–Germans countered with wolf packs

(20 U-Boats) that carried out coordinated nighttime attacks

• After the US entered the war, U-Boats began attacking merchant ships within sight of the coast

• Allies used sonar to locate & attack U-Boats, but the wolf packs experienced great success–Sank 175 in June 1942

• Allies developed better strategies & U-boat success dropped

The North Africa Campaign

• Aug 1940- British army successfully battled Italian troops in Egypt & Libya

• Feb. 1941- Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox) & a German division to reinforce the Italians

• Won several battles & pushed deep into British controlled Egypt & threatened the Middle East

• Offensive failed in Nov. 1942 when British Gen. Bernard Montgomery won a decisive battle at El Alamein

• Days later, Allies landed on Morocco & Algeria led by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, pushed east, while British troops chased Rommel from Egypt

• Hitler sent 20,000 more troops to Tunisia

–Feb. 1943 Americans suffered a major defeat trying to defend the Kasserine Pass

• Early May, had the Axis force trapped in North Africa –240,000 Germans & Italians

surrendered• Churchill & Roosevelt met in Jan. 1943 at

Casablanca, Morocco–Casablanca Conference- mapped out

their war strategy –Concentrate on Europe first

Invasion of Italy

• July 1943- US 7th Army under Gen. George Patton invaded Sicily

• Italy started to lose their faith in Mussolini

–removed from office & arrested

• Fascist Party was disbanded, Germans freed him & took him to northern Italy

• Sept. 1943- Italy’s new government surrendered

• Oct. 13- Italy declared war on Germany

• German army in Italy continued to resist, blocking roads & destroying bridges

• Set up Mussolini as the puppet ruler of a fascist Italian state in northern Italy

• Jan. 1944- Allies landed behind German lines at Anzio (35 miles south of Rome)–Took too long to organize forces &

Germans blocked off the beach trapping the Allies & attacked them for 4 hours

• Allies attacked Cassino & broke through the German line & joined forces at Anzio in May & captured Rome

• Surrendered April 1945

–Mussolini was shot & killed as he tried to flee

War in the Soviet Union

• The Germans advance 1941-42

–Attack began June 22, 1941

•Nearly 3.6 million Axis troops crossed in the SU from Finland & Romania

• Opposed by 3 million poorly trained & badly equipped Red Army soldiers

• The Luftwaffe quickly gained control of the air & troops drove deeper into Soviet territory

• Ukrainians & Lithuanians welcomed the Germans as liberators from Stalin–Germany soon introduced forced labor

• Stalin announced that if the Army was to retreat, destroy everything to help the enemy

• Also asked FDR for help through the Lend Lease Program & American aid began to help

• By fall, Germany threatened the capital

–Stalin urged his Allies to attack on the western front forcing Hitler to fight on 2 fronts

•Instead they invaded Italy

The Battle of Stalingrad

• German advance was stopped on Oct. due to winter

• Next summer they attacked oil fields–Red Army made a stand at

Stalingrad, a major rail & industrial center on the Volga River

–Germany began bombing Sept. 1942

• Mid Nov.- Soviets launched a counterattack & the Germans were soon surrounded with few supplies

• Surrendered January 31, 1943–Germany lost more than 330,000

troops• Turning point in the war in eastern

Europe

The Allied Air War

• RAF started carpet bombing where planes scattered a large number of bombs over a wide area

–Germany suffered heavy losses

• Allied bombing intensified after the US entered the war

• Typical raid had bombs rain down on German aircraft factories, railway lines, ball-bearing plants, bridges, & cities

–Aided to destroy German ability to fight

• July 28, 1943 firebombing turned Hamburg into a huge blaze

The Invasion of Western Europe

• Invasion code named Operation Overlord would be launched from Great Britain with Gen. Eisenhower as supreme commander

• Massive military build up in England, with Polish, Dutch, Belgian, & French troops joining the Americans, British, & Canadians

• French strengthened their forces along the coast adding machine guns nests, barbed wire fences, land & water mines, & underwater obstructions

D-Day

• June 6, 1944- 4,600 invasion craft & warships left England shortly after midnight

• 1,000 RAF bombers pounded German defenses at Normandy while 23,000 airborne British & American soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines

• At dawn the invasion began

–Hitler hesitated to counterattack because he feared a second, larger invasion at the narrowest part of the English Channel

• By late July, the Allied forces in France numbered 2 million troops

Liberating France

• Aug.- Patton used a blitzkrieg to open a hole in the German lines & burst out of Normandy

• After breaking German defenses, Patton led his army on a successful sweep across northern France

• In Paris, an uprising started by the French Resistance freed the city

• Aug. 25 1944, a French division liberated Paris & Charles de Gaulle arrived to take charge of the government

Battle of the Bulge

• Allied attack on the Netherlands falters at the Rhine River, while Hitler reinforced his army

• Mid- Dec. 1944 Germany launched a counterattack in Belgium & Luxembourg, smashing the Allied army, creating a huge bulge in the Allied line

• Many small units were forced to fight against overwhelming odds

• Allies sent troops & in a few weeks under General Omar Bradley knocked the Germans back

• After the battle, most Nazi leaders recognized that the war was lost

The War in Europe Ends

• March 1945- Gen. Bradley crossed the Rhine River & moved towards Berlin from the west, while the Soviets pushed in from the east

Soviet Forces Advance

• At any given time more than 9 million were fighting on the eastern front–11 million Soviets & 1 million German

soldiers died• April 1945 Soviet troops fought their way

to Berlin, destroying the city• Eventually connected with American

troops at the Elbe River

Germany Surrenders

• Hitler choose to commit suicide instead of fleeing the city on April 30, 1945

• May 8- Germany surrendered

–V-E day was celebrated

The Yalta Conference• Feb. 1945

–FDR, Churchill, & Stalin met•Plan the defeat of Germany & decide the shape of the post war world–Agreed to split Germany into 4 zones each under control of the Allies (including France)

• Planned a similar division of Berlin

• Stalin promised elections in the nations of eastern Europe that his army liberated from Germany & to enter the war against Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender

–Stalin didn’t fulfill his promises