Axis forces are attacking North Africa

• Germany's main target in the Mediterranean region

was North Africa, mainly due to Hitler's alliance with
Mussolini.
• Despite the alliance with Germany, Italy remained
neutral at the beginning of the war. However, with
Hitler's conquest of France, Mussolini knew he had to
take action.
• After the declaration of war on France and Great
Britain, Mussolini entered France with his troops.
• Mussolini took the next step in North Africa in
September 1940.
• He used Hitler's attack on Britain to enter Egypt with
his troops.
 Desert fox
• By February 1941, the British had retaliated in North Africa, so
Hitler sent German tank forces, the African Corps, under the
command of General Erwin Rommel.
• In late March 1941, Rommel's corps attacked the British.
• Surprised, British forces retreated east to Tobruk in Libya. After
fierce fighting for Tobruk, the British began to push Rommel back.
• By January 1942, Rommel had retreated to where he had begun
the offensive.
• But in June 1942, the tide of war turned again. Rommel
regrouped, pushed the British back across the desert and
captured Tobruk - a disastrous loss for the Allies.
• Rommel’s successes in North Africa earned him the nickname
"Desert Fox".
 The Allies strike back
• After the fall of Tobruk, the British government
sent General Bernard Montgomery to take control
of British forces in North Africa.
• By the time Montgomery arrived, the Germans
had advanced to the Egyptian village of El
Alamein, west of Alexandria.
• They were so buried that British forces could not
bypass them. Montgomery concluded that the
only way to squeeze them out was a strong frontal
attack.
• The battle of El Alamein began on the night of
October 23. The hook of about 1,000 British
cannons completely surprised the opposing
soldiers.
• They fought back fiercely and held their position
for several days.
 Defeat of the Axis Powers in North Africa
• However, by November 4th, Rommel's army had
been defeated.
• His forces retreated.
• As Rommel retreated to the west, the Allies
launched Operation Torch.
• Allied forces with more than 100,000 troops -
mostly Americans - landed in Morocco and Algeria.
• US General Dwight Eisenhower led this army.
• Trapped between Montgomery's and Eisenhower's
armies, Rommel 's corps in Africa was finally
defeated in May 1943.
 US enters the war
• Although, the United States had not yet entered the war,
Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly and issued a joint
declaration called the Atlantic Charter.
• The document supported free trade between states and the
right of people to choose their own government.
• The charter later served as an Allied peace plan at the end of
World War II.
• Despite sporadic clashes with German submarines, the United
States will drag the conflict with another member of the Triple
Alliance into the war.
• Early in the morning of December 7, 1941, American sailors
on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) were awakened by the sound of
explosions.
• The Japanese attack has officially begun.
• Over 2,000 people died. On the same day, President Roosevelt
addressed Congress. Congress accepted his proposal - war on
Japan was declared.
 Fighting in the Pacific
• Japanese troops advanced rapidly on the Pacific
battlefield. By February 1942, they had reached
Singapore, taking control of Guam and the
Philippines.
• After a series of battles, it seemed impossible to stop
the Japanese army.
• Doolittle's attack on Tokyo raised American morale
and, in a sense, represented a reversal, despite the
fact that the bombing was not too successful nor did
it do much harm to the Japanese.
• Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 - a new type of
warfare was introduced; the opposing ships did not
fire a single bullet at each other and could not be
seen at all; instead, the ships were attacked by
planes taking off from the aircraft carrier.
 Battle of Midway
• Battle of Midway, June 1942 - Thanks to Allied
code-breakers, Admiral Chester Nimitz, the
commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Fleet,
knew that huge Japanese forces were heading
for Midway.
• Admiral Yamamoto commanded the Japanese
fleet himself. He hoped that the attack on
Midway would pull the entire American Pacific
Fleet from Pearl Harbor to defend the island.
• With American forces hidden behind the
horizon, Nimitz allowed the Japanese to launch
an attack on the island.
• The strategy succeeded. U.S. pilots destroyed
332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers
and one support ship.
• Yamamoto ordered his crippled fleet to
withdraw. By June 7, 1942, the battle was over.
 The Battle of Stalingrad
• After the surrender of the Balkans, Hitler, as we know, suddenly attacked the
Soviet Union, more precisely Moscow and Leningrad.
• In the summer of 1942, Hitler sent the Sixth Army under the command of
General Friedrich Paulus to occupy the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains
and Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd), the great industrial center of the
Red Army.
• All this culminated in the conflict known as the Battle of Stalingrad.
• The Battle of Stalingrad began in August 1942.
• The situation seemed desperate for the Soviets, especially after the
Luftwaffe's night bombings.
• In early November 1942, the Germans controlled 90 percent of the
destroyed city. Ignoring the losses, Stalin ordered his generals to defend the
city bearing his name at all costs.
• Then came another Russian winter. On November 9, Soviet troops launched
a counterattack outside the city and cut off supplies to the German army.
 The Battle of Stalingrad
• General Paulus begged Hitler to order a retreat.
• However, Hitler refused, adding that the city "should have
been held at all costs".
• As early as February 2, 1943, about 90,000 frozen, half-
starved German soldiers surrendered to the Soviets.
• This was all that was left of Hitler's Sixth Army, which
numbered 330,000 soldiers.
• The defense of Stalingrad cost the Soviets more than a
million soldiers. The city was practically destroyed.
• However, the Germans were now in retreat, and the Soviets
were constantly pushing them west.
 Conference in Casablanca
• In January 1943, a conference was held in Casablanca, Morocco.
• Participants: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill who planned a future global military
strategy for the Western Allies. (Stalin refused to attend even
though he was invited.
• The plan was to concentrate their efforts against Germany in the
hope of withdrawing German forces from the Eastern Front and
increasing supplies to the Soviet Union.
• Although they would begin to concentrate forces in England,
preparing for a possible landing in northern France, they decided
to first concentrate their efforts on the Mediterranean by
launching an invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland aimed at
ousting Italy from the war.
• They also agreed to step up their strategic campaign to bomb
Germany.
• On the last day of the Conference, President Roosevelt
announced that Churchill and he had decided that the only way
to ensure post-war peace was to adopt a policy of unconditional
surrender.
 The capitulation of Italy
• While the battle for Stalingrad was at its peak, Stalin continued to
encourage the British and Americans to invade France.
• However, Roosevelt and Churchill decided to invade Italy first - on July
10, 1943, Allied forces landed in Sicily and captured it about a month
later.
• The conquest of Sicily overthrew Mussolini. On July 25, King Victor
Emmanuel III arrested the dictator.
• In September 1943, Badoglio, a former war general of the Italian army
but prime minister during the war and a close servant of Mussolini, went
behind his back to sign a truce with the allies after the fall of Sicily.
• He saw what the future was and wanted to mitigate the damage to his
country, so he went to King Emanuel, who accepted the terms of
surrender.
• Italy capitulated in September 1943, but Mussolini managed to escape
north.