1. The War for Europe Major American Battles of the European Theater

2. 1. North Africa  Operation Torch - Plan to attack periphery (edges) of German empire Give soldiers experience fighting Germans Give soldiers experience fighting Germans  Egypt’s Suez Canal – shipping supplies  Americans Eisenhower and Patton start in Morocco and head east while British forces head west from Egypt  Surround “Afrika Korps” led by Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox”  May 13, 1943 – German forces surrender

3. 2. Battle of the Atlantic Problem:  German submarines (wolfpacks) and Luftwaffe wreaking havoc in Atlantic.  Germans sank 360 American ships along the American coast by August 1942.  Unprotected American ships prove to be easy targets.

5. Solution:  Convoy system used with the help of sonar, radar, and depth charges. Allies are destroying U-boats faster than they can replace them.  U.S. building 140 ships/month by 1943.  May, 1941- the sinking of the Bismarck and the British find the German Enigma encoding machines and code books.

6. 3. Battle of Stalingrad  German goals: seize the oil in the Caucasus Mountains and take Stalingrad.  Problems: oil fields were hundreds of miles away and the Russian winter set in.  Operation Uranus (1942): Russian army surround over 250,000 Nazi soldiers. 90,000 captured, while the others are killed (only 5,000 captured survived).  Soviets lose 1.2 million soldiers and civilians.  Major turning point in war for Allies.

8. 4. Italian Campaign  “Soft underbelly of Europe”  Operation Husky- Roosevelt and Churchill agree to launch an Italian invasion through the island of Sicily in 1943.  The problem is that everyone knows that Sicily is the likely target, so they devise a plan to make Hitler think the invasion will take somewhere else, like the Balkans.

10. The Man Who Never Was (Operation Mincemeat)  British intelligence (MI-5)uses a corpse to convince the Germans that the target might be Greece or the Balkans.  Need to find a body, deliver it, and make it look real.  A body later floats ashore in Spain.  It looked as if he was killed in a plane crash, dressed in a British staff officer’s courier uniform and carrying secret documents in a briefcase.  Spain finds the body on April 30, 1943 and it does look legitimate- the courier has unpaid bills, a letter from home, a movie ticket, coins and matches in his pockets.  The Spanish return the briefcase to the British who are able to determine that it was opened.

11.  Spain sends copies of documents to Hitler who sends troops, tanks, AND ROMMEL to the Balkans thinking of an invasion of Greece.  Two months later the Allies stormed into Sicily.

12.  Allies take Sicily and cross into Italy.  Bloody battles like Anzio (55,000 dead) ensue.  April 28, 1945- Mussolini is discovered by anti-fascist Italians who shoot and hang him.  An armistice between Italy and Allies is signed on September 8, 1943.

14. 5. Operation Overlord  Goal- to launch a major invasion force of ships, landing craft, and 3 million troops to attack the Axis across the English Channel (France).  Problem-Hitler is prepared for an invasion. Is it possible to trick him once again?

15. Patton’s Phantom Army (Operation Quicksilver)  The Allies create a fake invasion buildup at the Pas de Calais, which makes sense as it is the shortest distance from England.  Create the fictional First United States Army Group (FUSAG), fake radio transmissions, fake vessels, dummy guns, planes, inflatable tanks, and lost documents.  Did it work?  June 6, 1944- 19 powerful German divisions are guarding the Pas de Calais.  Tricked by inflatable tanks!! !!

17. D-Day – June 6, 1944  Specific weather conditions needed  Omar Bradley leads invasion of Omaha Beach – 2,500 Americans killed or wounded  Invasion succeeded in the end

18. 6. Battle of the Bulge  December 16, 1944 – last desperate offensive by Hitler  100,000 German casualties, loss of equipment

19. 7. V-E Day  March and April 1945, Soviet and American troops begin to press toward Berlin  April 30, 1945 Hitler commits suicide  May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally  May 8, 1945 – V-E Day “Victory in Europe”