Chapter 25 Section 2: Retaking Europe. Atlantic Charter- agreed upon by FDR & Churchill in Aug....
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Transcript of Chapter 25 Section 2: Retaking Europe. Atlantic Charter- agreed upon by FDR & Churchill in Aug....
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 U-Boats, but the wolf packs experienced great success–Sank 175 in June 1942
• Allies developed better strategies & U-boat 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)