32.4 - The Allied Victory

Allies Turn the Tide of War

• Stalin asked Churchill and Roosevelt to open up a second front in the west (in France), but Britain and the US decided to strike at North Africa and southern Europe first

North Africa Campaign

• Erwin Rommel had already established a German presence in Egypt and Libya, so Britain sent troops to fight the Germans

• The British defeated Rommel and forced him to retreat west

• Operation Torch: Allied forces landed in Morocco and Algeria, led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Rommel was caught between the British troops and the new, mostly American troops — Rommel’s Afrika Korps was crushed in 1943

The Battle for Stalingrad

• The German advance into the Soviet Union had stalled at Leningrad, and the harsh winter made the situation for the Germans worse

• Hitler sent forces to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains, and also to capture Stalingrad, a major industrial center

• Battle of Stalingrad: the Luftwaffe (German air force) bombed the city and controlled 90% of the ruined city before winter set in and Soviet troops launched a counterattack — the Russians trapped the Germans inside Stalingrad and cut off supplies — the remaining German troops surrendered, Stalingrad was 99% destroyed, and the Germans were now on the defensive (moving westward)

Invasion of Italy

• Stalin still wanted the British and Americans to attack France, but they chose to invade Italy first

• Allied forces landed on Sicily and captured it from Italian and German troops — Mussolini lost power and was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III

• Italy surrendered, but Germany seized northern Italy and put Mussolini back in charge

• Soon, the Germans were forced to retreat north, and the Allies were victorious

United States Internment Camps

• After Pearl Harbor, there was a wave of prejudice against Japanese Americans in the US

• Americans’ fear was encouraged by government propaganda and caused them to turn against Japanese Americans

• President Roosevelt called for the internment of Japanese Americans because they were considered a threat to the country

• The US military rounded up “aliens” and shipped them to relocation camps, restricted military areas

  • These locations were hoped to prevent these “enemy aliens” from assisting a Japanese invasion

  • 2 thirds of those interned were American citizens

D-Day Invasion

• The Allies built an invasion force in Great Britain, planning to attack German-held France across the English Channel

• General Eisenhower, commander of this force, planned to strike on the coast of Normandy, in northwestern France

• The Allies set up a dummy army in the seaport of Calais so that the Germans wouldn’t know where the attack was being launched

• The British, American, French, and Canadian forces in Normandy suffered heavy losses, but they pressed on

• The Allies liberated France, Belgium, and Luxembourg — then set their sights on Germany

Battle of the Bulge

• Allied forces moved toward Germany from the west, and the Soviets came from the east, meaning that Germany now faced a war on two fronts

• Hitler counterattacked in the west and broke through part of the Allied defenses, but the Germans were then forced to retreat

German Unconditional Surrender

• In May, 1945, the Third Reich sent their unconditional surrender

• The US and other Allied powers celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)

Victory in the Pacific

• The Allies were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific, who continued to retreat

• The Japanese risked losing almost the entire Japanese fleet in a risky attack on the Allies (the American fleet)

• The Japanese navy was destroyed, leaving only the Japanese army and kamikazes (suicide pilots) — Japan continued to fight

• President Truman had to decide between a potentially costly Allied invasion of Japan and the use of the atomic bomb, developed by the Manhattan Project — the US chose to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• The Japanese finally surrendered