1. Ch. 14: World War II, 1930-1945

2.  Allies must control Atlantic for its shipping lanes to supply Britain & USSR with food/weapons  Germans forced to rely on U-boats again  U.S. lent British ships & offered escort assistance  The Homefront  Mobilize army – millions volunteered/others drafted  Production of weaponry- peacetime industries converted to wartime production  Raise labor force- women & other minority groups moved into industries to produce needed supplies  Rationing of food, fuel, rubber, nylon; scrap drives  By 1943, U.S. winning the Battle for the Atlantic

3.  North Africa of strategic importance  Control of Mediterranean Sea & Suez Canal meant access to Middle East’s oil reserves  1941-’42: British forces under Gen. Bernard Montgomery fought a combined army of Italians/Germans (the Afrika Korps) under command of Gen.Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox) over Egypt & Libya  Nov., 1942: Allied invasion of North Africa  “Operation Torch”- US forces under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower invade No. Africa from the west, placing Rommel in a 2-way trap  May, 1943: Afrika Korps forced to surreneder nearly 250,000 men

4.  Allies invade island of Sicily in July,1943  By end of July, Italians have toppled the fascist government & executed Mussolini  German forces are pushed into Italy to try and resist the Allied advance  The Allies face stiff resistance and high casualty rates as they slug their way up through Italy towards southern Germany

5.  Siege of Leningrad (Summer, 1942)  Having been slowed by Russian winter of ‘41-’42, Hitler lays siege to old Czarist capital of Leningrad (St. Petersburg)  Siege was harsh as an average of 3-4,000 civilians a day died from starvation  Battle of Stalingrad  Nazis ordered to take the industrial center of Stalingrad (vital to wartime production/shipments of food & supplies)  Soviet Red Army refuses to buckle & puts Nazis in retreat westward out of USSR  This victory, coupled with Allied victories in No. Africa & Italy, marked turning pt. of WWII