The Allies Turn the Tide 15.1 Mrs. Stoffl

Axis and Allies Plan Strategy Axis Powers – common enemies but personal goals Hitler: dominate Europe + eliminate “inferior” ppls Mussolini: expand the Italian empire Tojo: control the Western Pacific and Asia Allies – FDR, Churchill, Stalin: Germany = #1 and most dangerous enemy ∴ they pursue “Europe First” strategy

Axis Powers in 1942

Turning the Tide in Europe “Arsenal of democracy” American production could supply Br and SU for years Only problem  delivering the supplies

Allies Battle U-Boats in the Atlantic “Wolf Packs” – German U-boat teams Patrol the Atlantic + Caribbean Sunk 3,500 merchant ships + killed tens of thousands of sailors Allied Convoys Radar invented = helped to locate the u-boats Air Recon – bombers to destroy the u-boats Cracking the Enigma December 1942 – cracked the Axis secret code for communication

Operation Barbarossa: Invasion of Soviet Union, Hitler’s Biggest Mistake

Operation Barbarossa: June 22, 1941  3,000,000 German soldiers.  3,400 tanks.

Soviets Turn Back Nazis at Stalingrad Nazis encounter strong Soviet resistance + the brutal Russian winter ∴ by 1942 Hitler concentrates forces on Stalingrad + southern Russia Goal: capture the Caucasus oil fields Fighting erupted in Stalingrad  block by block battles VERY brutal fighting (Battle of Stalingrad) Hitler’s soldiers: sick, starving, frostbitten He refused to let them stop until January 31, ,000 Nazi soldiers captured only 5,000 ever survived and returned to Germany

Battle of Stalingrad: Winter of German ArmyRussian Army 1,011,500 men1,000,500 men 10,290 artillery guns13,541 artillery guns 675 tanks894 tanks 1,216 planes1,115 planes

Allies Drive Germans Out of North Africa Forcing Germans out of North Africa = better position for an attack of Italy British had been fighting Germans and Italians in North Africa since 1940 Invading North Africa required less supplies and planning General Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) commanded the North Africa campaign October 1942: The Battle of El Alamein Decisive victory in Egypt  then continued and took Algeria and Morocco

Allies Drive Germans Out of North Africa Continued to push into key German positions Fighting erupted in Feb, 1943 in Tunisia at the Kasserine Pass German General Erwin Rommel aka the Desert Fox led his Afrika Korps, broke thru American lines Headed for the Allies’ supply base American forces stopped their advance + forced a German retreat (lack of food and supplies)

Lessons Learned in Africa Fighting on the Kasserine Pass taught that Americans needed aggressive offices + troops specially trained for desert fighting ∴ Ike puts General George Patton Jr. in control of the North African army Patton reinvigorated the Allies and my May ,000 Axis forced surrendered in Africa

Increasing the Pressure On Germany FDR and Churchill agreed that: Allies must increase bombing on Germany and invade Italy Allies would only accept unconditional surrender Axis would have to give up totally w/o any concessions

Allies Invade Italy The Italian Campaign [“Operation Torch”] : Europe’s “Soft Underbelly” The target: Sicily was directly across the Mediterranean from Tunisia + just off of mainland Italy July 1943: invade on 2 fronts  both under Eisenhower By Sept 3 – Italy surrenders to the Allies Hitler rescued Mussolini + put him in control of a puppet state in Northern Italy

Invasion of Italy Fighting over control of Italy lasted until the end of 1945 Hitler controlled much of the North and some of the best defensive positions Allies and Axis won and lost battles in Italy thru/out the war

Bombers Batter Germany Stalin wanted the Allies launch a second front in France Instead in 1942 – Allies opened up a bombing series against Germany Night - Practiced saturation bombing: dropping massive amounts of bombs continuously Day – Practiced strategic bombing: targeted attacked on important German buildings (political + industrial) Not until 1944 do Allies invade France

Tuskegee Airmen Tuskegee Airmen – important role in these bombings to keep enemy fighter planes from attacking Allies’ bombers 1,500 missions and not one bomber plane lost

Turning the Tide in the Pacific “Europe Frist” but didn’t ignore the Pacific entirely Japan controlled most of the Pacific but American not completely out…

Turning Point: Americans Triumph at Midway Japanese Admiral Yamamoto knew to gain total control of Pacific they needed to take over U.S. naval base in Midway U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz – used Navy code breakers to uncover the Japanese plans Concentrated all available Naval forces on Midway U.S. won very decisively and Japanese Navy took a huge hit

Battle of Midway Island: June 4-6, 1942

Japanese Navy Takes a Huge Blow U.S. Casualties 1 Carrier 1 Destroyer 98 Carrier Planes 307 Sailors Japanese Casualties 4 Carriers 1 Cruiser 248 Carrier Planes 3,057 Sailors

Turning Point: Americans Triumph at Midway Battle of Midway = Turning point of the war in the Pacific Japan now on the defensive – would never again threaten American territory

Guadalcanal August 1942 – Americans attack the Japanese on the Solomon Islands Protect Australia! – Needed to control Solomon Islands Horrible place to fight

Americans Take the Offensive Pacific Plan: attack the Japanese on the southwest and central Pacific fronts Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) August 1942 – Battle lasts 6 months February 1943 Japanese retreat Forced the Japanese off and began the long haul towards attacking the country of Japan