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

2. Big Questions As you view this presentation, think about the following: – Was the decision to invade Europe and France last of all a good decision, or could the war have been shortened if the Allies had invaded France first? – Were the early defeats that the United States army went through in Africa good for the armed forces in some way?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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