War in Africa and Italy Mr. White’s US History 2

Big Questions Main Idea: In order to weaken the Nazi military’s hold on Europe, the United States first fought the Germans in North Africa and Italy. After we complete this section, you should be able to: – Describe early setbacks and lessons learned by the United States military in World War II – Evaluate the importance of these lessons for the United States military

Allied War Plans Roosevelt and Churchill met to discuss the aims for the war Both agreed that Germany and Italy were the greater threat, and had to be dealt with first Both men would also later agree to only accept unconditional surrender from Germany and Italy

Battle of the Atlantic After Germany declared war on the United States, Hitler ordered submarine attacks on the United States coast Hitler wanted to cut off the flow of supplies from the US to Britain United States started blacking out its cities to make it harder on German submarines

Battle of the Atlantic 2 Americans and British again began using the convoy system that had been used in World War I US also began to step up its shipbuilding program to have more ships Gradually, the Allies defeated the German subs, and sub attacks gradually ended

The Eastern Front Hitler invades Soviet Union in 1942, breaking his non- aggression agreement with Stalin After huge initial successes, the Germans are stopped by the Soviets The Soviets held out in three major Soviet cities – Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad

Stalingrad Stalingrad would be the turning point for the Soviet Union German army takes over 90% of the city However, winter sets in, and the Soviets counter-attacked Starving and freezing, over 91,000 German troops are surrounded and surrender Of these 91,000 prisoners of war, only 5,000 will survive Soviet work camps until the end of the war

Trial By Fire: The United States in the Africa Campaign 1942 – North Africa is controlled by Axis powers to control the Mediterranean Allies decide to invade Africa and take it back from the Germans before anything else This will be the first combat that any of the American troops have seen

United States in Africa US and Britain would face one of Germany’s best generals, Erwin Rommel US lands troops in Morocco, and landings are initially easy However, Americans were still totally unprepared for was coming This would be the trial by fire of many of the Americans

Attack and Repulse Rommel uses his experienced Afrika Korps to attack and push back the Americans and British US and British forces panicked and ran very far at first However, Allied forces were able to rally and counter- attack In several months, Africa is lost to the Germans Allies will use Africa as a springboard to launch an invasion of Italy

Differences of Opinion Stalin, under heavy attack from the German army, wanted Churchill and Roosevelt to open up a second front and attack Germany – take some heat off him United States, after Africa, wanted to invade France and go straight to Germany Churchill wanted to invade Italy instead Allies decided that the invasion of Italy would be next

Invasion of Italy Island of Sicily invaded first – good success, taken in 38 days Allies next invaded mainland Italy (the Boot) Mussolini was overthrown by the Italian people (but would come back later) Germans defended tough at Monte Cassino and Anzio Italy would be hard fighting; wouldn’t fall to Allies until 1945, with Germany

The Atlantic Wall After failing to take England, Hitler had ordered the construction of the Atlantic Wall, a system of defenses to stop the coming Allied invasion of France System of fortifications; concrete artillery emplacements, bunkers, machine gun nests, beach obstacles, mines, etc. The Allies prepared for the invasion of Europe, and they knew the whole world would be watching

Big Questions Main Idea: In order to weaken the Nazi military’s hold on Europe, the United States first fought the Germans in North Africa and Italy. After we complete this section, you should be able to: – Describe early setbacks and lessons learned by the United States military in World War II – Evaluate the importance of these lessons for the United States military