The War in Europe and North Africa Ch 14 sec 1

I. The Battle of the Atlantic  The German navy was large enough to compete for control of the Atlantic. They had a large fleet of submarines and used them effectively at the beginning of the war.  They traveled in wolf packs, and those groups of submarines attacked at night and stayed hidden during the day.

I. The Battle of the Atlantic  But the U.S. was able to build more ships than the Germans could handle, Germany’s secret code was broken in 1941, and radar allowed the Allies to neutralize the U-boats.

II. The War in the Soviet Union  The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, breaking their non-aggression pact. They advanced quickly through the Soviet Union, and the Soviets retreated back towards Moscow.  When winter came the Germans were not prepared, and their advance slowed down. They besieged Leningrad, causing hundreds of thousands of people to die.

II. The War in the Soviet Union  After the winter the Germans attacked Stalingrad, but they were defeated and began to be driven back.  The Germans lost 2 million men, but the Soviets lost 12 million in the fight. But the Germans were not able to recover from the loss in the Soviet Union.

III. American Forces in North Africa and Italy  The British and Italians began fighting in North Africa soon after France fell. The British wanted to protect shipping in the Mediterranean from the Italians.  The Italians tried to drive the British out of Egypt, but were beaten so badly the Germans had to come in to help. Erwin Rommel was the Nazi commander, nicknamed the Desert Fox.

III. American Forces in North Africa and Italy  The British were able to defeat him, and then the United States joined in the fight in North Africa, since the Allies did not feel they were ready for an invasion of Europe.  The U.S. gained experience fighting in North Africa, and after defeating the Germans there the Allies turned to Italy to try and knock them out of the war.

III. American Forces in North Africa and Italy  The Allies first invaded Sicily, and the Italians were tired of Mussolini and Hitler, and began to welcome the Allies as heroes.  As they moved up the Italian peninsula, Hitler sent German forces to fight against the Allies. The fighting raged for over a year, but eventually the Allies drove the Germans out of Italy.

IV. D-Day  The invasion of France, called Operation Overlord, took over a year to plan and took resources from the battle in Italy which made that last longer than expected.  The landing site was chosen at Normandy, and this was the crucial moment of the war. If they failed at Normandy, the war may drag on for years more.

IV. D-Day  June 6, 1944 began with paratroopers landing behind enemy lines, and then the landings at the beaches.  The Germans were slow to respond to the invasion because of deceptions that the Allies laid for the Nazis. By the time they realized their mistake. The Allies had secured the beach and were bringing troops and supplies in.

IV. D-Day  The Allies pushed towards Paris, and in two months had liberated the city and were forcing the Germans back to Germany.  The Germans tried to fight back, most notably at the Battle of the Bulge, but they were unable to stop the advance of the Allies.

In your notebooks   Write 3 things you learned today  Write 2 things you want to learn more about  Write 1 thing you did not understand  Write 1 thing someone else learned that you did not write down.