Transcript 13th August 1942

Battle of Stalingrad
• Fought between invading forces of Nazi Germany and
forces of Soviet Union.
• Lasted from August 1942-February 1943
• Hitler wanted to gain Caucasus oil, therefore wanted to
turn north onto the rear of the immobilized Russian
armies covering Moscow, or even strike at Russia’s new
war-industries.
• The offensive was greater than that of the previous year
because the long flank of this southerly drive could be
exposed to a counterstrike anywhere along its thousandmile stretch.
• The German Blitzkrieg technique worked again- it made
a swift breakthrough on the Kursk-Kharkov sector, and
then the army surged across the gateway to the
Caucasus, gaining the more westerly oilfields in six
weeks.
• Russian resistance crumbled under Blitzkrieg impact—
Russia’s weakest hour.
• German General Staff warned Hitler that it would be
impossible to hold their 400 mile long defensive flank in
the winter, but Hitler ignored this warning, obsessed with
capturing Stalingrad.
• October 14th—German attackers’ morale was
lowered by their heavy losses and a growing sense
of frustration.
• November 19th—Russians launched counteroffensive  by the 23rd, more than a quarter of a
million German and allied troops were cut off, but
still Hitler did not permit withdrawal.
• Finally on January 31st the 6 month battle ended.
• Decisive battle of WWII because it ended the
German defensive and destroyed much of the
German armies
Campaign in North Africa
NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN TIMELINE
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13th September 1940- Italian forces invade Egypt. Halted at Sidi Barrani.
9th December 1940- British offensive begins. Torbruk captured. Italians
collapse and retreat.
7th February 1941- Successive victories for Allies with 130, 000 Italians
captured in two month offensive.
12th February 1941- Erwin Rommel arrives in North Africa in command of
the Africa Corps to support collapsing Italian Army.
30th March 1941- Rommel's offensive begins and Torbruk is seiged.
14th June 1941- Operation Battleaxe fails to relieve Tobruk.
18th November 1941- Operation Crusader relieves Torbruk. Rommel
retreats to Gazala
21st January 1942- Rommel's second offensive begins.
7th February 1942- Allies lose Benghazi and halt German advance at the
Gazala line.
26th May 1942- Rommel's outflanks Gazala line
21st June 1942- Torbruk Garrison surrenders to Rommel's forces.
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2 July 1942- Rommel reaches and then is driven back from El Alamein.
13th August 1942- Montgomery assumes control of Eighth Army.
30th August 1942- Rommel attacks at Alam Halfa, but is repulsed and his
armor is considerably weakened.
September to October 1942- The Eighth Army receives 300 Sherman
tanks.
23rd October 1942- Second Battle of El-Alamein commences. Battle fierce
and little gains made.
1st November 1942- Operation Supercharge initiated (Renewed British
attack).
4th November 1942- British armor breaks through German lines. Rommel
retreats towards Libya.
8th November 1942- Operation Torch launched (Anglo-American landings
on the North African Coast).
23rd January 1943- Allies capture Tripoli.
7th May 1943- Tunisia captured.
13th May 1943- All Axis forces in North Africa surrender.
THE DESERT WAR IS OVER.
North Africa Campaign
• The specific objectives were to gain French-controlled Morocco,
Algeria, and Tunisia as a base for enlisting the French empire in the
war, to assist the British in the Libyan Desert in destroying Axis
forces in North Africa, to open the Mediterranean to Allied shipping,
and to provide a springboard for subsequent operations.
• Germany and Italy controlled a narrow but strategic strip of a North
African body of water between Tunisia and Egypt with impassable
desert bounding the strip on the south. The German-Italian army in
Libya, with 100,000 men, posed a constant threat to Egypt and
served to deny the Mediterranean to Allied shipping.
• Operation began in western Egypt
• General Eisenhower’s combined U.S. and British forces planned to
launch a converging attack against the German-Italian army.
• The Allies planned to simultaneously land at three points to be
secure- in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
• The U.S. army faced difficulties in meeting a target date in
November of that same year. On October 23rd, Montgomery’s Eighth
Army opened offensive on El Alamein- victory for Britain and turning
point in Britain fortunes.
• November 8th the US Army and some British troops invaded North
Africa (Operation Torch).
• Operation was achieved strategic surprise, but the French fought
back.
• 3 days later the French agreed to cease fire and take up arms on
the Allied side.
• Germans took over the narrow body of water between Sicily and
North Africa – Tunisia temporarily out of reach for Allies.
• General Rommel’s German-Italian army occupied French
fortifications near Tunisia and had to face the Eighth Army, while
General Juergen von Arnim’s army faced General Eisenhower’s
army in the west  Axis nations failed to establish a unified
command over these two forces.
• General Rommel broke through the American lines in order to reach
the Allied supply base at Tebessa in Algeria.
• American soldiers stopped the assault, and Rommel was
forced to retreat because of lack of supplies.
• American leaders realized they needed more aggressive
officers and also troops that were better trained for
desert fighting.
• Eisenhower put the American forces in North Africa
under the command of General George Patton.
• Patton’s forces advanced east while the British pressed
west from Egypt, trapping the Axis forces in Tunisia.
• May 1943, German and Italian forces surrendered.
Bibliography
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"HyperWar: US Army in WWII: American Military History [Chapter 22].
<http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AMH/AMH/AMH-22.html>.
"Stalingrad and the Advances in the Pacific - The Tide Turns - History.Com." The
History Channel - Home Page. Web.
<http://www.history.com/content/worldwartwo/the-tide-turns/stalingrad-and-theadvances-in-the-pacific>.
"Introduction." Telenet Service. Web.
<http://users.telenet.be/stalingrad/allerlei/introduction.html>.
"BBC - History - World Wars: Animated Map: The North African Campaign." BBC Homepage. Web.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/wwtwo_map_n_africa/index_emb
ed.shtml
"World War II, European Theater, 1940-1945 Map." The History Channel - Home
Page. Web.
<http://www.history.com/maps.do?type=view&catName=Europe&catId=229&letter=W
&mapId=1504&mapName=World+War+II%2C+European+Theater%2C+1940-1945>.