The War for Europe and North Africa

Chapter 25 Section 2

Do NowLooking at the map of German occupied Europe, what would be your plan to invade and defeat Hitler?

I the U.S. & Britain Join ForcesA. War Plans• Defeat Germany = TOP PRIORITY for ALLIES• Only uncond. Surrender would be acceptable• Historians criticize this because it may have caused Axis to fight longer and

desperately than they otherwise might have

B. Battle of the Atlantic• Hitler's U-boats raids along the US E. coast• US unprepared and was being badly beaten

• Allies org. ships into convoys= groups of ships travel together for mutual protection• Escorted by destroyers w/ sonar and airplanes w radar

• US finally sinking U-boats faster then Hitler could build them while we launched our own ship building program

II the Eastern Front & the MediterraneanA. The Battle of Stalingrad

• 1st major turning point was the Battle of Stalingrad• German war machine running out of

oil change in strategy w/ 2 objective• Move S to seize Soviet airfields• Capture major industrial center of

Stalingrad

• Germ. Bombs Stalingrad to point that Soviet officers consider burning all factories and abandoning city• Stalin orders to defend city at ANY & ALL

Costs

• Soviet launch counterattack that threatens to destroy Hitler’s army but he also orders to fight to the last man•Winter hits and leaves

German army in shamblesGerman troops surrender• Soviet victory marks turning

point as they begin to steadily move eastward towards Germany

B. The North African Front• During Stalingrad, Stalin urges US & GB to open 2nd front in Western

Europe• Believed it would force Hitler to divert troops from Soviet Front and help

defeat Hitler

• US & GB instead launch Operation Torch= invasion of N. Africa lead by Gen. Eisenhower which ends in Allied victory

C. The Italian Campaign• Amer. Believes best plan to attack across English channel into France

& push through into Germany• GB believes smarter to first attack Italy• Compromise by going with Amer plan and GB plan

• Italian weary of warItalin King strips Mussolini of his power and arrest him• Italians celebrate end of war but Hitler seizes control of Italy and reinstates

Mussolini

• Allied troops take over Italy after 4 months of fighting• Mussolini shot and hung in Milan Square

III the Allies Liberate EuropeA. D-Day• As troops push through N Italy & Soviets move W into Poland,

Eisenhower org. operation overlord• Op. Overlord= surprise lightly fort. Normandy peninsula by storming

the beach• Bomb N Frances supply routs a month prior to invasion to make

reinforcement of German forces more difficult during invasion

• D-Day= the day of the invasion• Parachute divisions drop behind German lines while troops fight along the

shore

• W/in 2 months troops liberate French capital• FDR and his running mate Truman get elected for 4th term

http://youtu.be/pCLJhxfj608 Start at 3:05

B. Battle of the Bulge• America captures 1st German townHitler

responds w/ counterattack• Germ break through weak Amer.

Defenseslast offensive ditch called the Battle of the Bulge• Amer. Troops outnumbered and surrounded

make last stand at Bastogne

• Battle of the bulge left no clear winner but Germ. Lost many soldiers , tanks, guns & other weaponsHitler’s army looses ability to effectively fight• From this point on all the Germans could

do is retreat

C. Liberation of Death Camps• Allied troops push eastward into Germ while Soviets push westward• Soviets 1st to encounter one of Hitler’s death camps

• Came across a thousand corpses in a crematorium• “not a concentration camp…it is a gigantic murder plant (PG 745)

D. Unconditional Surrender• Soviet army storms into Berlin and kill German

soldier on site• Hitler prepares for the end• Marries girlfriend and writes his last address to the

German people blaming Jews for starting war and his generals for losing it

• Hitler shoots himself and his wife swallows poison• Gen. Eisenhower accepts the unconditional

surrender of the Third Reich• V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) marks the end of

the 1st part of the war