Transcript Chapter 25
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 UBoats, but the wolf packs experienced great success –Sank 175 in June 1942 • Allies developed better strategies & Uboat 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