Transcript 7th May 1943 - corvinahistory

Casablanca Conference
• Roosevelt and Churchill
met in Casablanca,
Morocco in January
1943
– Stalin had been
invited, but declined
to attend because of
Stalingrad
– After the Axis
surrender in Tunisia
on 7th May 1943, the
Allies began planning
the next phase of the
war
•
•
•
•
The final German attempt in the
Eastern Front
The biggest tank battle in the world
KURSK 5TH-12TH July 1943.
Operation of Citadel
From then the Red Army pushed the Wehrmacht to
west.
• Since July 19, 1941, Stalin had been demanding the
Allies open up a second front to relieve the German
pressure Russia was facing
Strategic Differences
• US advocated a
cross channel
invasion to
directly attack
Germany
• Churchill
preferred an
indirect
approach,
attacking
through the “soft
underbelly of
Europe”
British
Approach
American
Approach
What They Agreed On
• Forces from Operation Torch could continue on
to Sicily once the North African Campaign was
terminated
• At the end of the conference, Roosevelt
announced that “peace can come to the world
only by the total elimination of German and
Japanese military power . . . (which) means
unconditional surrender.”
The Italian Campaign
• Three amphibious operations
– Sicily (Operation Husky)
9-10 th July 1943.
8th September Armistance of Italy, Mussolini
was arrested, Germans occupied the rest of
Italy.
- Salerno (Operation Avalanche)
– 9th September 1943.
– Anzio (Operation Shingle)
24th January 1944.
The Commanders
General Mark
Clark,
American
Fifth Army
General Sir
Harold
Alexander, 15th
Army Group
General
Bernard
Montgomery,
British Eighth
Army
Sicily
• Allies enjoyed great tactical success in capturing the island
of Sicily but did not have a good plan for what to do next
• Germans were able to escape to the Italian mainland
• The King placed Mussolini under arrest but the Allies were
slow to exploit this diplomatic opportunity and Hitler shored
up his defenses in Italy
Messina:
With
Mainland
Italy in the
Distance
Salerno
• With the Italian Army on the
verge of disintegrating, the
assault on Salerno was
designed to seize the port of
Naples and the airfields of
Foggia, followed by a drive to
Rome
• The Germans were ready for
the invasion and the battle
was a close call for the Allies
– Massive naval gunfire,
strategic bombers, and
determined Allied ground
forces saved the day
Gustav Line
• The Germans withdrew to
a defense centered on
Monte Cassino
• Major position from which
to defend Rome
• Exposed the Allies to costly
and slow mountain fighting.
Strategic Situation in late 1943
• Campaign stalled
about 80 miles short
of Rome and was
beginning to resemble
the trench warfare of
World War I
Rome
Anzio
Gustav Line
Salerno
• The Allies surprised
the Germans at Anzio
and had immediate
success
Legacy of Anzio
• It wasn’t until June 4 that the
Allies finally reached Rome in “a
hollow triumph”
– By then the decisive Allied
effort had shifted to France
• Most of the German Tenth Army
escaped Clark at Rome and the
Germans established a strong
defense along the Gothic Line
– Kept the Allies away from the
Italian industrial area and the
Alpine approaches to
Germany
Gothic
Line
Rome