Transcript WWII Lecture 9: North Africa

WWII Notes 8: North Africa
World Wars – Ms. Hamer
April 26, 2010
Hitler’s Original Strategy for Europe
After the Fall of France
• Mediterranean was not primary focus for
Hitler (Soviet Union was), but hoped his allies
could pressure British colonial holdings in the
Mediterranean
– Wanted to lure Italy, Fascist Spain, and Vichy
France into an alliance to pressure England in the
Mediterranean
– Without success
• Spain and Vichy France wouldn’t jump on board
and Italy was erratic
Allies in the Middle East
• Iraq – pro German coup caused British
intervention April 1941 that restored proBritish government in Baghdad
• British and Free French troops moved into
Syria in June 1941 where they fought against
Vichy French troops
• End of June 1941, England controls or has
friends in all of the Middle East
• Believed in the weakness Mussolini Invades
of the British
North Africa PART 1
• Wanted to take Greece
and Egypt and recreate
the Roman Empire (like we
haven’t heard that before)
• Italian Egyptian campaign
launched September 13,
1940
– British beat Italians out
Italian L3-33
of Egypt by December
1940
Mussolini Invades North Africa PART 2
• By February 1941, England had taken most of
Libya and captured over 130,000 of the Italian
invasion force
– “Never has so much been surrendered by so many
to so few” said Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
(parody of Churchill’s quote)
British Crusader
Tanks in Libya
North Africa Campaign
Germany Has to Help Italy PART 1
• British go on offensive against Italy in North
Africa, Germany decides it has to help
• Early 1941 England had captured all of Italian
East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian
Somaliland) and had retaken French and
British Somaliland
Germany Has to Help Italy PART 2
• Hitler intervenes by sending Erwin Rommel in
February 1941 to save the situation
• Rommel sent to Libya in charge of one
armored and one mechanized division:
together they’re called Afrikakorps
• Rommel had just shown up and forced British
back to Egypt EXCEPT for Tobruk
– Rommel needed Tobruk for supplies
– Deadlock at this point along Egyptian
frontier
North Africa Campaign
New German strategy for
Mediterranean
• Intended to be a side show
• Short-sidedness – shows Hitler’s limitations –
traditional German statesman who doesn’t
appreciate the strategic implications of the
Middle East
Theories: Could Germany Have Won?
PART 1
• Would had to have diverted
the necessary forces to North
Africa
• Could have seized the Suez
and captured oil fields
• Would have cut England off
from their Empire
• Would have helped Germany
with oil later in the war
Theories: Could Germany Have Won?
PART 2
• There were real problems that would have created
real issues for Germany asserting their power in the
Middle East
– Logistics
• Tripoli was the only major Axis port
• Fighting in narrow band on single road along the
coast
• British air from Malta harassed supplies coming from
Italy
• Water, oil, spare parts, and ammunition were always
scarce
1941-1942 Change of Course
May 1942 –
Rommel Unleashed New Offensive
• German troops took Tobruk and captured 35,000
British prisoners as well as many supplies
• By late June Afrikakorps was at El Alamein
• Hitler promoted Rommel to Field Marshall
First Battle of el Alamein July 1942
• Ended with British holding it, but unable to push
Germans back
– British ability to resupply their troops in Egypt including
US Sherman Tanks helped
• Churchill in mid-August replaced his commander in
North Africa with General Harold Alexander who
would command the entire theater
• General Bernard Montgomery was chosen to lead
the British 8th Army
– Monty was very popular with troops because he waited
to move until he had superiority – seen to care about
troops
2nd Battle of el Alamein –
October 23, 1942
• British forces led by Montgomery: 230,000 troops;
1500 Tanks
• German forces 80,000 troops; 500 Tanks
• British were able to thwart Axis supplies with the
use of ULTRA (breaking of German code)
– British lost more tanks than Germans, but Rommel
couldn’t handle the German losses because Hitler
refused reinforcements
• November Rommel was in retreat and Monty’s
caution allowed the Germans to retreat into Libya
Would the Allies Be Able to Drive Axis
Out of Africa? PART 1
• Debate between British and Americans
• Both agreed on Europe First
• US wanted to focus on cross-channel invasion
only
• UK wanted to finish off Axis in Mediterranean
first
Would the Allies Be Able to Drive Axis
Out of Africa? PART 2
• US got the Dieppe Raid (August 1942)
– Small raid on Northern France with mostly Canadian
troops
– Over 3,000 Allied casualties (60% of the invading force)
• Churchill urged FDR to adopt the plan for the
invasion of French North Africa
– US Army Chief of Staff George Marshall was upset about
this – thought it reeked of British colonialism (defending
the empire and all)
– Result was Operation Torch
Operation Torch
First Allied joint military operation
Commanded by US General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Skills in planning, organization, and logistics
• Personal and political skills: team player, not led by
ego, had great personal magnetism
• Even Monty said that Ike
had the “power of drawing
the hearts of men toward
him as a magnet attracts
bits of metal. He merely
has to smile at you and you
trust him at once”
Allied Landings PART 1
• Allied landings at Casablanca in Morocco and Oran
and Algiers in Algeria
– Out of German airspace, but would mean long campaign
because landing so far west
• 200,000 French troops in
North Africa loyal to
Vichy France and they
disliked the British
– So the US led this
operation
– Allies didn’t trust De
Gaulle so they picked
Giraud to lead Free
France, but de Gaulle
would emerge in full
control of French policy
in N Africa
Allied Landings
PART 2
Allied Troops in Algiers
Axis Resisted
• Germans poured troops into Tunisia from
Libya
• French resisted – 7000 French casualties
Captured
German Tiger
1 Tank
• Allies successfully landed in
November, but were bogged
down in Tunisia
Allied Disaster
– Inter-Ally friction
– Americans did not perform
with great distinction
• First encounter with Germans
at Kasserine Pass was a
disaster
– US commanded by MajorGeneral Lloyd Fredendall and
British General Anderson
The 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry
Regiment of the United States Army
marches through the Kasserine
Pass and on to Kasserine and
Farriana, Tunisia.
Here Comes Patton!
• March 6, 1943 - Ike
named Patton as the
new commander of
Army 2nd corps
• As much or more of
an ego as
Montgomery!
Allies Turn it Around
• March 1943 - Allies had amassed great
strength and began the final push towards
victory
• Rommel was unable to get re-supplied
– Hitler refused to see the potential of the
Afrikakorps
• Germans failed to hold North Africa and
Operation Torch succeeded
What this Means for Europe
• This was scary to America because the success
meant no cross-channel invasion in 1942 or
1943…