Transcript Dusty Boot: Africa & Italy

Dusty Boot:
Africa & Italy
Why Africa?
• To create a second
front for the Russians
• A mass invasion of
Europe would take too
long and did not have
the supplies or
numbers
• Britain did not want to
lose the Suez Canal
Operation of Torch (North African
Invasion)
Torch is burning Nov. 1942
• General George Patton Jr.
- Landing at Casablanca to
capture airport
• “PLAY BALL”
• “Unconditional surrender”
• Allies capture Tripoli
• Tunis capture
• Axis surrender in North
Africa, May 1943
Allies land in Italy (Sicily)
• Bad news:
– Germany evacuates
most of their troops to
the mainland
• Good news:
– Gained experience in
• Opposed amphibious
operations
• Coalition warfare
• Mass airborne drops
Losing a toe results in a loss of
balance
• U.S. & British forces enter through the toe
• Little resistance as they moved north
• Terrain made things more of a challenge
(rivers)
• Field Marshal Kesselring (Germany)
– Winter line south of Rome Anzio & Monte
Cassino
– Rome fell in June
Italy considered secondary
theatre
• Last defensive line was not broken until April
1945
• Turned more into a civil war