The War for Europe Major American Battles of the European Theater
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
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 Unprotected American ships prove to be easy targets.
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 May, the sinking of the Bismarck and the British find the German Enigma encoding machines and code books.
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.
4. Italian Campaign “Soft underbelly of Europe” Operation Husky- Roosevelt and Churchill agree to launch an Italian invasion through the island of Sicily in 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.
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.
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.
Allies take Sicily and cross into Italy. Bloody battles like Anzio (55,000 dead) ensue. April 28, Mussolini is discovered by anti-fascist Italians who shoot and hang him. An armistice between Italy and Allies is signed on September 8, 1943.
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?
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, powerful German divisions are guarding the Pas de Calais. Tricked by inflatable tanks!! !!
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
6. Battle of the Bulge December 16, 1944 – last desperate offensive by Hitler 100,000 German casualties, loss of equipment
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”